Work and business
A customer support line for a small business, without a call centre
A support number customers can call and text, with hours, voicemail, forwarding and a record of every contact, on the phone you already carry. Enough for most small businesses, at a fraction of a phone system.
Small businesses put off having a support number because they picture a call centre. The reality most customers want is simpler: a number that is answered during stated hours, a clear message outside them, and a reply to their text. A second number on a mobile does that from the first day.
Publish one support number
Get a local number in your customers' country, name it "Support" and put it on your website, receipts and packaging. It is separate from your personal number and from any sales line, so you know a support call is a support call when it rings. See Set up a work line for the set-up.
Hours and a greeting
Switch on voicemail with business hours. Inside the hours the line rings; outside them the caller hears your greeting, which should say the hours, that you will call back, and where to email. That single greeting eliminates most of the frustration of an unanswered line.
Share the line across the team
One person answers at a time, but not always the same person. Forward the support number to whoever is on duty and switch it back at handover; customers keep dialling the same number. See Forward your calls to another phone.
Texts as a support channel
Many customers prefer to text a photo of the problem. With an SMS/MMS number, those messages arrive under the support number on the Messages tab, and you reply from it. Voice notes work too, for the customer who would rather explain than type.
Keep the record
Every call, text and voicemail is listed under the support number. Missed calls sit under Recents → Missed until you return them; voicemails have the caller and the duration. If you switch on call recording, you can record complaint calls where the facts matter, subject to the recording laws where you and your customers are, and to telling the caller.
Expenses shows what the line costs, call by call, so the support line's cost is separable in your accounts. See Check missed calls, voicemails and recordings.
When to graduate
If several people need to answer the same number at the same moment, with queues and transfers, you have outgrown a single line and want a business phone system. For a business where one person handles support at a time, which is most small businesses, a second number on a mobile is the whole solution.
Frequently asked questions
Can customers tell they are calling a mobile app rather than an office line?
No. A local number rings and takes voicemail like any other. The customer experiences your hours and your greeting, not the technology.
Can two of us have the app and answer the same number?
The number rings in the account that owns it. Use call forwarding to send it to the colleague on duty, and switch it back; both of you can hold your own Second Phone numbers as well.
What about a number in another country for customers there?
Get a local number in that country; up to ten numbers can sit on one account. Customers call a local number and it rings on the same phone.