Despite or perhaps in light of the flattening of the world in global business, did you ever seek the connection between a phone number located on a browser and that phone number’s location? As of today, you can fulfill this curiosity, for FREE, with Cloudvox’s launch of their new Digits API (check it out at digits.cloudvox.com).
Today’s press release describes the details of the new phone API:
Cloudvox’s Digits API provides the city, state, telecom carrier, date of first use and neighborhood associated with a phone number – making it easy to display this data anywhere that a phone number is published online. The bookmarklet allows any Web user to highlight a phone number in their browser, click and learn where that number is located. Using the Web service, anyone can quickly access information about a phone number by appending it to the Web URL; for example, http://digits.cloudvox.com/2066831234 .
Troy Davis, the Director of Cloudvox for Ifbyphone, explained that the impetus for developing this API came in the form of Cloudvox’s customer requests for a simple way to include caller location in their phone apps. After developing this new Digits API, Cloudvox decided to offer the service to everyone – for free.
Why was it so important for Cloudvox’s customers to have access to these simple location tracking services? How can you use the Digits API? After all, why does the location of a phone number matter to you in your business?
If you’re a business…
- You can route customer calls to your restaurant chain (or any chain store for that matter…) directly to their nearest location, without having to send them through an entire menu of options.
- You can interact with your customers in your IVR menu intelligently, by understanding their location and time zone, and sending them through the appropriate call flow.
- You can offer customers the ability to fill in the locations of phone numbers as part of a package of CRM or address book services.
- Learn more about Ifbyphone’s phone apps, such as IVR, Voice Broadcasting, Virtual Call Center and Call Tracking. Ifbyphone recently acquired Cloudvox).
If you’re a developer…
- You can develop iPhone or iPad apps to target location based advertising. Read PMI’s posts on targeted advertising and the NAI’s (Network Advertising Initiative) recent study that found targeted ads twice as valuable and effective as non-targeted ads.
- You can use your imagination to build any located based apps you can think of, without the struggle of having to research the location of every phone number. Cloudvox’s platform is open source and Asterisk based. The Digists REST API can be used from any programming language.
How is the concept of customer location still important to your business, even in today’s era of international business? In the past week, all we needed to do was check out the news about the airports in Europe and volcano news to realize how much people’s live still depend on being in a certain place at a specific time. While we still live in cities, walk into restaurants, wake up and go to sleep in different time zones, and work in offices (some of us…), it’s somewhat refreshing to think in a positive light about the importance of location for us, our businesses and our customers. How can we leverage the importance of location in our marketing – one simple way is through Cloudvox’s new phone number API.
Related posts:
- Cloudvox Launches Open Source Phone API
- Location on Facebook, Good News for SMBs
- Ifbyphone Acquires Cloudvox, Changes the Game of Cloud Telephony
- Why Location Matters Again
- The Winning Fruits of An Acquisition
