👉 Got a website with a phone number on it? Try this...
Hello everyone,
TLDR; I'm looking for feedback for a side project I've made which lets website owners show visitors a phone number that's local to them: https://localnumber.app
Longer version: 7 in 10 people won't phone an international or out-of-state number they see on your website. These global visitors are all potential customers! I realised this with some other projects I was building and I've spun out a service to help me (and maybe other people too) overcome this problem.
How does it work?
- As the website owner you sign up then specify any phone numbers you have for your business already - maybe one phone number in your home country, or maybe a few numbers in different countries. This is completely free. Optionally you can also rent extra forwarding numbers in 5 other countries (including USA, Canada, UK, etc)
- You get a line of HTML code, or are pointed to a Wordpress plugin or Shopify app, which you add to your site.
- You then edit your site and simply write the shortcode [localnumber] wherever you want a phone number to appear.
- When visitors go to your site, my widget will replace that [localnumber] shortcode with a phone number that's local to your visitor, making it easy for them to get in touch with you.
I would love some feedback on this!! Particularly:
- Does this proposition make sense? Is it a problem you have?
- How easy is the app to use?
- Does the signup and installation process make sense?
- What felt difficult or unclear throughout?
Thank you in advance to anyone that checks it out!! I would also be happy to share some discount codes for great feedback so feel free to DM me or reply here.
"7 in 10 people won't phone an international or out-of-state number they see on your website. "
Is that really the case? I can see why that would be the case with international numbers. But why would anyone be so hesitant calling an out of state number?
Hi, great question. I used Google Consumer Surveys to understand peoples' views on this and the numbers were pretty similar across UK and USA. It's a fair point that the question was 'international or out-of-state' so perhaps people were more oriented towards international than out-of-state; but I would imagine that at least for some, having a number in one's own state would make the company feel more "local"? Open to your thoughts on this...
Hey, thanks for your response. I asked because I have come across many reports that say people are more likely to pick local numbers than out of state numbers that they suspect is spam. But this is the first time I read that people also prefer calling a local number.
Hi Adam,
Who are your target audience and how big is the market size?
If someone is looking for a local company, example, IT support company, Digital marketing or plumber. Chances are they will look for someone else once they discover company is not local.
Alternatively, why not use a toll free number?
Also, will it always show same phone number for each city?
Hi @IndieHacker12! Great questions, thanks for taking the time.
The primary target market is SaaS companies with a shadow target of dropshippers/e-retailers. Qualification criteria are (i)a phone number on their website who (ii) targets global customers from one site. Size of market is substantial and sufficient.
Tollfree numbers are something I've looked at, but due to a quirk in the billing system I'm holding on those for a potential version 2 (if demand is there) as it'll add some complexity.
In terms of whether it'll show the same number for each city - you can specify the number that appears for most visitors at a country level but by state for the USA and by province for Canada, given the sizes of states/provinces in those countries.
Hope this answers your questions - did you get chance to sign in to the product itself?