How To Check If a Phone Number is Active?
For a business, verifying the numbers in your customer database is important to ensure they are active. But how do we do it?
Well, there are multiple ways to do it, each having advantages of its own.
Based on your requirements and process of collecting the customer data you can choose the method that suits you the most. However, before we dive into the ways for checking if a phone number is active there are certain things to be kept in mind.
Well, there are multiple ways to do it, each having advantages of its own.
Based on your requirements and process of collecting the customer data you can choose the method that suits you the most. However, before we dive into the ways for checking if a phone number is active there are certain things to be kept in mind.
Table of Contents:
Understanding The Status of Phone Numbers
Having accurate and up-to-date phone numbers is crucial for any business. But phone numbers can change status over time, causing headaches for communication and outreach efforts. Here's a breakdown of the different phone number statuses and why they matter:
1. Invalid or Fake numbers:
These are simply non-existent phone numbers. They could be typos, randomly generated numbers, or deliberately misleading information. Businesses might end up with these numbers in several ways:
- Typos during data entry: Manual data entry errors can easily lead to invalid numbers.
- Scraped data: Data scraping from unreliable sources might contain fake numbers.
- Fake lead generation: Dishonest lead generators might provide fake contact information.
Why They're a Nightmare:
- Wasted resources: Sending messages or making calls to invalid numbers wastes time and money.
- Lead validation issues: Invalid numbers make it difficult to verify and qualify leads.
- Communication breakdowns: You can't reach existing or potential customers if their numbers are invalid.
- Compliance concerns: Depending on the regulations in your region, contacting invalid numbers could be a compliance violation.
2. Valid yet Inactive
These are real phone numbers that are no longer in use by the intended recipient. This can happen for several reasons:
- Switched Phone Numbers: People frequently change phone numbers, especially with mobile contracts.
- Cancelled Service: The phone line might be inactive due to cancellation or non-payment.
- Lost Phone: A lost phone could result in a deactivated number.
Inactive numbers pose problems for businesses because:
- Delivery Issues: Your messages and calls won't reach the intended recipient, hindering communication.
- Lower Engagement Rates: You might see a decrease in response rates due to the number of inactive contacts.
- Skewed Data Analysis: Metrics like call completion rates can be misleading if a significant portion of your contact list is inactive.
3. Valid & Active
These are the golden numbers! They are real, in service, and can be used to reach the intended recipient. Here's what makes them valuable:
- Successful Communication: Your calls and texts will be delivered, allowing for smooth communication with customers and prospects.
- Improved Engagement: Higher delivery rates can lead to better response rates and increased customer satisfaction.
- Accurate Data Analysis: Valid contact information allows for a more accurate picture of your outreach efforts.
By understanding these phone number statuses, businesses can implement data-cleaning strategies to remove invalid and inactive numbers.
Now getting straight to the “HOW TO” part…
Now getting straight to the “HOW TO” part…
How To Check If a Phone Number is Active?
Currently, it is not possible to determine the current status of a phone number through any direct tool. The reason is PRIVACY!
It is illegal to track the exact status of a number as it would be a violation of privacy laws.
However, you can still determine if a number is valid, which helps weed out fake users and improve your outreach efforts. Here’s how:
It is illegal to track the exact status of a number as it would be a violation of privacy laws.
However, you can still determine if a number is valid, which helps weed out fake users and improve your outreach efforts. Here’s how:
1. Real-time phone number validation
This method helps validate a phone number at the point of entry.
This means when a user is filling up a form, real-time phone number verification checks if it is valid and only then allows the submission of the form.
This minimizes the cases of typos during data fill-up and abusers trying to create fake accounts.
Hence, by investing in real-time verification you can keep your database genuine and save the money that would otherwise be spent on approaching or re-validating invalid leads.
This means when a user is filling up a form, real-time phone number verification checks if it is valid and only then allows the submission of the form.
This minimizes the cases of typos during data fill-up and abusers trying to create fake accounts.
Hence, by investing in real-time verification you can keep your database genuine and save the money that would otherwise be spent on approaching or re-validating invalid leads.
2. Bulk phone number validation
Bulk validation allows you to validate your existing database or contact lists. As data decays over time, validating your database helps you maintain a healthy database.
Some tools also give you additional information on the phone numbers allowing you to plan your outreach campaigns better.
Some tools also give you additional information on the phone numbers allowing you to plan your outreach campaigns better.
3. SMS/Calling
While this method can confirm if a number is active, it's not ideal for large-scale validation due to:
- Time Consumption: Calling or texting each number is a slow and resource-intensive process..
- Unscalability: It's impractical for validating a large phone list.
- Verification Limitations: A successful call or text doesn't necessarily mean the person is actively using the phone for your intended purpose (e.g., receiving marketing messages).
Use this method for:
- Validating a small number of contacts when other methods are unavailable.
- Following up with specific individuals after initial verification attempts.
How ClearoutPhone Makes Validating Phone Numbers Easier & Accurate?
ClearoutPhone is a global phone number validation covering 240+ countries with line type and carrier look-up.
It is surely one of the most important tools to make your call and SMS campaigns a great success. Here’s why:
It is surely one of the most important tools to make your call and SMS campaigns a great success. Here’s why:
- Real-time validation- Performs multiple checks to confirm the status of a phone number. The data is returned in fractions of seconds with high accuracy, making it highly reliable to validate the incoming leads.
- Quick validation- You get a quick validation option that lets you validate up to 10 phone numbers at a time.
- Bulk validation- The bulk validation option lets you upload or import your contact lists and validate all the numbers in one go. Bulk and quick validation both return the validity status of a phone number, along with other important details, such as:
| Line Type | This helps identifying if the validated phone number is mobile or a landline. This information can be useful in avaoiding sending text messages to landline numbers. |
| Carrier | This provides the information regarding the company/network the validated phone number is associated with. |
| Location | This provides information regarding which area in a country this phone number belongs to |
| Country Name | Name of the country where the phone number is associated with. |
| Country Timezone | The details regarding the exact timezone whrre the phone number belongs to. It is helpful as there may be multiple timezones for a country. |
| Country Code | Universally identifiable country codes based on the coutry names. |
| International Format | Phone numbers should be formatted properly for the CRMs to import the data into them. |
| Local Format | Provides the phone number with the area code identified from the phone number, which can be identified for local dialling. |
| E164 Format | This provides the international standard, that defines a numbering plan for the worldwide public switched telephone network. |
| Can Be Internationally Dialled | Provides details if the number can be dialled or not. |
| Verified At (UTC) | This provides the verified time for every phone number to ensure the freshness of your list. |
| Time Taken (ms) | This provides the response time taken for every phone number validation. |
- Integrations- You get readily available integrations with forms and tools that make it easy to validate your database. You also get a seamless API option to create custom integration with your choice of forms, databases, apps, and tools.
The best part is integration process is super-easy and you get 24/7 guidance that eliminates the need to depend on a developer to get validation started.
So, the benefits you get out of using ClearoutPhone?
So, the benefits you get out of using ClearoutPhone?
- Reliable leads & high-quality database.
- Line-type (fixed or mobile) & carrier-type information is crucial in SMS/phone outreach.
- Additional data helps with database segmentation and outreach personalization.
- Saves you from the bulk amount wasted on the wrong strategies such as sending SMS on landlines, calling leads after office hours, communicating in the wrong language, etc.