I went to a company Web site to read more about its products and possibly place an order. Unfortunately, there was a huge barrier plastered all over the site — “Call if you want more information!” Call … call … call … this toll free number. No online chat. No e-mail. No contact form. Nada. I used the customer service form (not for new orders or questions) and asked for a way to communicate by e-mail. No response in over a week.
The company had a qualified lead and lost it. While I could use the product, the barriers made it easy for me to decide not to buy. I’m checking out the company’s competitors’ products.
Some companies prefer to have people call in so they can upsell or drive the sale home. AOL was one of them — if you wanted to unsubscribe to the free trial plan, you had to call. And in making the call, the customer service personnel challenged us in preventing our unsubscribing every step of the way.
Toll free numbers are worse than regular numbers. They tend to have a recording that lengthens the relay call and bumps up the frustration level.