People change phone numbers regularly, causing headaches for customer service representatives and data managers across organizations. Maintaining a database of active phone numbers constantly challenges data-driven organizations.
However, businesses with proper phone verification processes deliver a positive customer experience. Finding the best method for checking a mobile number’s active status allows your organization to save time and maintain better customer relationships simultaneously.
Why is checking my phone number important?
Accurate contact data is one of a business’s most valuable resources. After all, the best businesses are transparent, communicative, and responsive to their customers. However, inaccurate phone numbers are a significant obstacle in that relationship. Knowing how to check if a phone number is active goes a long way toward maintaining strong relationships with customers and keeping an open line of communication.
Checking that you have an active phone number for your customer is a necessity for organizations as accurate data can be used for various purposes, such as:
- Contacting a customer about a transaction
- Verifying a customer's identity
- Updating customers about their order status via text message
- Reaching customers through marketing campaigns
- Receiving customer feedback through phone surveys
- Connecting customers to a loyalty program
Improper phone number data hinders these processes and negatively affects customer relationships.
Despite the importance of knowing a mobile number’s active status and having accurate data, maintaining accuracy can be easier said than done. Phone data can grow outdated as people change numbers, making it harder to keep up with active, usable data. If you don’t have a system to check if a phone number is active, you and your team may waste valuable time and resources contacting inactive phone numbers.
How to tell if a phone number is active or not
Businesses wanting to stay ahead must know how to check if a number is still in service quickly and efficiently. An efficient process supports consistent customer communication without straining employee workloads. There are three ways to check whether or not a phone number is active.
Contact the recipient
The first and most obvious way to verify a mobile number’s active status is to call it directly. Prepare a script explaining why you are reaching out to the customer and touch on the information you want to share or gain from them.
However, if the phone number isn’t working, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is not an active phone number, as the information may have been inputted incorrectly. To double-check, you can contact the customer through other channels to verify their information. For example, you can email your customers to confirm their phone numbers, although this is a time-consuming method that prevents your team from accomplishing other tasks.
How to know if a number is active without calling
If you wonder how to know if a number is active without calling, the simplest method is to use verification tools. All you need to do is type the number into the tool, and you will receive feedback on whether it is an accurate and active phone number.
Phone number validation tools send a non-disruptive ping to the phone number in question through the network. If the tool receives a response, the number is active; if not, it is no longer in service. This instant process gives quick feedback allowing you to take action based on the result.
Phone number verification tools are great because they can verify the accuracy of a single number or cleanse entire lists of inactive numbers. Using these tools periodically lets you maintain a database of accurate data.
Real-time phone verification
The best way to maintain a database of active phone numbers is to prevent inaccurate or invalid numbers from entering it. Real-time verification immediately tells you whether the customer added an accurate and active phone number so you can vet and correctly format numbers at the point of entry. This tool can be integrated directly into a customer relationship management (CRM) tool or a customer-facing website.
Real-time phone verification performs the same as standard verification tools but works directly within a system for immediate feedback. For example, when a customer service representative enters a new customer’s data, the CRM tool verifies in real time the mobile number’s active status or whether it needs to be corrected. The system is also useful when a customer creates a profile on your website and can prompt the customer to make changes if necessary.
Integrating a real-time verification tool into your current systems helps you avoid guessing whether or not you have active numbers. Although you should perform list cleansing periodically, real-time verification also saves time in the future by reducing the number of phone numbers that need to be corrected.
The benefits of phone verification tools
Knowing how to check if a phone number is active without calling is highly valuable for a business. Using phone verification tools improves customer reach and enhances the customer experience by reducing inaccuracy.
Altogether, using phone verification tools offers multiple benefits:
- Providing organizations with confidence in reaching customers
- Saving time and money by eliminating the need to check numbers manually
- Ensuring better customer experience through improved contact
- Allowing bulk phone number verification
You can use phone verification tools at the point that data enters the database or at various points in time to check for outdated phone numbers. By integrating verification tools into your current systems, you can streamline your process for maintaining accurate phone numbers and allow your team time to focus on strengthening customer relationships.
How to check if a phone number is active with Experian
Active phone numbers are crucial for maintaining positive customer relationships and maintaining reliable contact. With Experian’s phone verification tools, you can enjoy convenience and peace of mind by simplifying your processes for checking whether phone numbers are active. Our tools will save you time and energy by providing you with immediate and reliable feedback.
Contact Experian to learn more about how to check if a phone number is active without calling and how to use our phone number verification services to improve your customer relationships.
