Every business wants to be productive in delivering various operations in-house or to customers. That is when companies and brands started relying on software solutions through cloud telephony services. To increase operational productivity in call centers, companies are leveraging solutions like toll-free numbers and IVRs. Many businesses think that both toll-free and IVR are the same thing. But, there are differences that one must know before utilizing them. This article is a detailed guide on the toll-free number, IVR number, and Toll-free solution vs. IVR solution.

What are Toll-Free Numbers?

Toll-free numbers are customer communication numbers provided by a brand that usually starts with 1800. It is a free service and an effective way to communicate with the business or brand. Business owners often utilize toll-free numbers to enable customers to contact the company. Using toll-free numbers, customers will not show concern for any looming cost while making calls. A survey revealed that around 94 percent of customers opt to call the brand once they explore & decide to buy a product online. On average, toll-free numbers can boost sales by up to 200 percent. It shows why toll-free numbers can be an excellent choice in apprehending the customer's demands and queries.

What are IVR Numbers?

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are menu-driven calling systems that enable automated call-receiving service for increasing the productivity of sales & solving customer queries seamlessly. IVR tells the customer or caller to press the number pad for identifying, segmenting, and routing customer calls to the most appropriate agent. The cost of leveraging IVR numbers is also significantly low. According to Industry Arc's prediction and report, by 2025, the global market size of Interactive Voice Response solutions will reach 6.11 billion USD. That will give a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.31% between 2020 and 2025. These facts vividly show that the IVR market will flourish as demand increases.

Toll-Free Solution vs. IVR Solution

Although there are lots of similarities, like both help in call centers and are used primarily for inbound calling services, there are differences that businesses must know before employing them. Let us explore the differences between toll-free solutions vs. IVR solutions.

Toll-free numbers

• Toll-free numbers can allow you to contact free of cost to the right customer care agent directly, primarily if it contains direct inward dialing.

• Toll-free numbers are for customers, mainly to make cost-free calls. These are inbound calling solutions.

• Toll-free numbers are exact numbers starting with 1800, allowing callers to connect the business directly.

• Toll-free numbers do not have conversational AI.

• Toll-free numbers are not that intrinsic & time-consuming. The toll-free number enables the caller to connect with customer care executives directly.

• Toll-free numbers help in branding and marketing campaigns. Multiple customers can reach the brand with queries without hesitation to pay the bills for calling.

• Toll-free numbers help to increase brand reputation.

IVR solutions:

• In IVR systems, the customers have to go through a series of pre-defined menu-driven systems to reach the exact agent.

• There are inbound & outbound IVR software solutions for both inbound (customer to business) and outbound (business to customer) calling services.

• IVR systems use voice and menu-driven techniques to contact customers initially.

• IVR systems contain conversational AI to guide the customers to the right agent.

• In IVR solutions, customers need to follow automated phone menus to reach the call centre agents to solve their queries. Doing it multiple times becomes annoying.

• IVR solutions help control the customers as per requirement by routing them to the right customer care agent.

• Inbound and outbound IVR software does not contribute to increasing brand reputation.

Conclusion

We hope this article catered to a clear idea of toll-free solutions vs. IVR solutions. It highlighted some contrasting features that bring distinction between them. If you want enterprise-grade top-notch toll-free solutions and IVR numbers, contact Knowlarity. It is one of the leading call-center solution providers that deliver high-end toll-free services and IVR numbers at an affordable cost.