Much like your business name and social media handles, your fax number is another piece of digital real estate that serves a function beyond allowing people to contact you.
Indeed, choosing the right fax number can have a significant impact on your business.
In particular, a fax number that’s customized in such a manner that the numbers spell out a phrase (800-55-MYFAX) is a surefire way for people to remember it.
Conversely, you can make life easier for your international customers by using a toll-free line.
In this article, we’ll discuss four benefits of choosing a fax number that’s right for you, including heightened professionalism, increased privacy, enhanced branding, and greater convenience.
Whether you’re a small-business owner or a large corporation, selecting the right fax number can make a difference in how your company is perceived and how efficiently you correspond within and outside your company.
How Do Fax Numbers Work?
A fax number is a unique combination of numbers assigned to a fax machine or fax server for the purpose of sending and receiving messages.
Typically, they’re formatted like regular phone numbers to include country codes and area codes, where applicable.
You can also choose to get a toll-free fax number, as mentioned above. Fax numbers can be obtained from telecommunication providers or online faxing services.
The flexibility involved in choosing a new fax number offers a lot of benefits, and we’ll be looking at some of them next.
Fax numbers also come in different formats, which are used in different regions and countries throughout the world.
But as a rule of thumb, the general format is as follows: [+ or 011] [country code]-[area code or city code]-[local number].
For instance, anyone sending anything to a US-based fax number should look like +1-907-555-1234. The digits in this number refer to the state of Alaska in the United States.
1. Improved First Impression
First impressions matter in business. That’s why having an easy-to-remember and unique fax number can generate positive first impressions in the minds of those who receive your faxes.
Additionally, it also makes it easy for your clients and customers to reach you through fax when they need to.
This ease of access will heighten their opinions of your business. And it, of course, represents good customer service.
2. Increased Privacy
There are several options to consider when trying to secure and improve the privacy of your fax transmissions.
Choosing the right one for your needs will help prevent your faxes from unauthorized access or interception.
First, you can use private or unlisted fax numbers, reducing the risk of any nefarious activity. You can also consider using a dedicated fax line that feeds to one machine instead of to a communal office machine.
This will be useful for official communication. Another option is to use an online fax service that offers encryption or other methods of securing your faxes.
Choosing the right options for your needs will greatly improve the privacy of your faxes.
3. Enhanced Branding
As mentioned above, fax numbers that are customized in such a manner that the numbers spell out a phrase serve a useful purpose in branding and advertising.
Also known as vanity numbers, the letters obviously serve as numbers when you dial them. For example, a small-town dentist, knowing there are no other dentists nearby, can have his fax number read 800-DENTIST.
This makes it easy and obvious for anyone to identify his business from his fax number.
A dedicated fax number not only will help make it easier to identify what kind of business you do, but also help set your venture apart from competitors.
The custom number also adds a bit of personality to your business’ contact information, which would otherwise be quite boring and forgettable.
4. Greater Convenience
A well-chosen fax number makes life easy for both you and your customers. As previously mentioned, a toll-free number allows for international faxes, while vanity numbers make it easy to find your business.
If your business uses multiple fax machines or servers, creating a continuous set of fax numbers (with only the last numbering differing on each machine) can make it effortless to sort messages.
Improving Your Business Communications with the Right Fax Number
Choosing the right fax number is the first step in creating a great faxing system. With new and innovative online services working to bring faxing to the forefront of business communications, there are a host of options for you to choose from.
Pick a number that reflects and clearly identifies your business and, before long, your correspondence will be greatly simplified.