International phone numbers appear as local phone numbers to customers regardless of whether the company the numbers are linked to has a physical presence in the customer’s area of residence. An international number carries the same country code as its corresponding area of business operations.

All calls can be redirected via this number to one or several other numbers of your choice. An international phone number works both ways:

• calls made by your customers to the international number are forwarded to other numbers

• when your agents call a customer, the local number is displayed rather than the agent's actual number

International numbers are valuable to business as it gives the impression to customers that they are interacting with a contact person located nearby, which builds trust, reputation and ease of communication.

Modern providers like Aircall power international phone numbers through VoIP (Voice over IP) technology. Rather than using a traditional telephone network, the IP protocol allows voice to be transmitted virtually via the internet. This functionality is then integrated into a company's CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) software.

CTI enables agents to use a browser or app to manage the company's call tasks directly from existing devices like laptops, PCs or smartphones. This is a powerful and sophisticated way to manage a call center, especially when integrated with CRMs and Helpdesk tools.

By creating virtual international numbers, your company can reap the benefits of possessing accessible local numbers in the regions or countries of your choice. When your customers or prospects call your chosen local phone number they are redirected—unbeknownst to them and at no additional cost—to one or more predefined ‘actual’ numbers. In this way, agents can respond ‘locally’ even if they are halfway around the world.

International phone numbers also work the other way round. When an agent dials a customer located in another region or in another country, the virtual local number shows up on the receiving end, making it much more likely that the recipient will answer without suspicion or fear of foreign call charges.

An international phone number is an essential tool if your employees need to make outbound calls to customers abroad. Benefits of local numbers include:

• call drop rates decrease since recipients believe the call is local

• local prospecting and business opportunities improve significantly

• the volume of calls from customers increase

• your customers aren’t billed with any additional calling costs

• customer satisfaction rises when calls are redirected to agents with the right technical and language skills, something made possible by skill-based routing

With Aircall, you can create international numbers for more than 100 countries. This empowers your agents with a virtual local number for every part of the world where your company operates. Agents can easily switch from one number to another depending on the location of their contact before they dial resulting in optimized worldwide reach without requiring an expensive physical presence everywhere.

A local number or geographic number is specific to one region (like a country, town, or city). Local phone numbers are frequently used by businesses based in one country but operating in another (or several others) to place outbound calls to customers, for all the reasons we’ve covered above. They can also be used for inbound calls, billed to your customer at the same national rate as normal phone calls.

Local numbers include country code prefixes. Each country has an assigned country code of its own. There are two further codes embedded in phone numbers that are equally important to know about. The first is the Exit Code, also known as the International Access Code/International Direct Dialing (IDD) code that automatically redirects phone calls to a foreign country. The second is the National Trunk Prefix which is only used in the number when dialing locally within a country.

Common country codes include:

• USA & Canada: +1

• France: +33

• Spain: + 34

• UK: +44

• Germany: +49

• Australia: +61

A toll-free number is a phone number that's free of charge for the customer placing the call. Any call fees are incurred by the company on the receiving end. However, toll-free numbers can only be called by numbers with the same country code. Toll-free numbers are ideal for designated free support and sales lines where large volumes of customers dial in, but are less effective for outbound calls.

Aircall offers both local numbers as well as toll-free numbers, to suit all your sales and support phone needs. What’s more, Aircall transforms your existing devices into advanced call center systems that do so much more than generate international phone numbers.

It’s easy! Aircall’s solution enables you to claim legitimate international numbers for 100+ countries quickly, legally, and safely. We help you every step of the way to ensure compliance with local legal regulations and guard your data.

Request a demo with Aircall for more details and discover the plethora of Aircall’s productivity boosting call center features along the way. We’ll get you set up with your very own international phone number in a matter of minutes.