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Comment by teej | Hacker News Reader

I'd love to see how the presence of a phone number affects web-only conversions.

Through enhanced confidence. Many consumers like to see a phone number on the site (especially for companies/services they are not familiar with) even if they have no intention of calling (at least in the purchasing phase).

It is psychologically reassuring to think you will be able to call if you have a problem.

I agree with you. I think it would increase confidence as well. But I like to back things up with numbers.

More importantly, with those numbers, you could decide whether it's really worth the hassle (or expense, if you're hiring sales people)...

Agreed, it's what sold me on at least 1 web-based service (rsync.net). I didn't call until after I had subscribed for quite some time... to get voicemail that was apparently ignored.

What if you say you offer toll-free tech support to paid plan users?

Me too - I suspect it does though. I hate to admit it, but there's definitely a part of me that likes to see call us now 1-800.... on the top right of online stores when I'm browsing. Or how newegg has a contact page that lists a phone number with hours of operation

Now does that actually mean I buy from newegg more often as a result? Who knows ;)

I'm so used to ordering from big sites like Amazon and Ebay that I usually don't even check to see if there's a phone number. I expect one to be there.

Nice looking Web 2.0 websites just look reliable, so I don't check for phone numbers on them. The older the page looks, the more i look for a number.

> I'm so used to ordering from big sites like Amazon and Ebay that I usually don't even check to see if there's a phone number.

Well, in those cases, neither make their phone number easy to find. Amazon has it hidden very deeply in their "help" site, and eBay requires an account to get at their number. I assume, anyway -- I browsed for a few minutes and didn't find any phone numbers at all.

Big companies prefer email just as much as small ones.

I think its similar to having a domain name (and a nice, simple one). It shows that you've committed to the business by investing in a domain, phone number, nice sign, etc.

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