NEW ORLEANS — List management provider MasterFiles Inc. yesterday introduced an Internet-based national directory service at the DMA annual conference and exhibit here that hopes to help direct marketers save money on their call center operations.
The service, Reach411.com, would allow customer service representatives to access updated phone numbers online instead of calling a telephone operator. The directory, which is made up of new homeowners and some of their information, also would serve as a key marketing tool for companies.
“The service will help companies find the phone numbers of people they don’t have access to because they moved,” said MasterFile’s president, Ike Morton. “Call centers need current information, and that’s exactly what this service represents.”
Before Reach411, MasterFiles searched for more than 100 million people for database companies. With the service now on the Internet, he said, companies can access the information themselves.
MasterFiles, Dallas, works with a number of Bell companies across the country, including Southwestern Bell and PAC Bell, and updates the new phone numbers and information in real time, Morton said.
Morton said Reach411, which charges 33 cents per query, could potentially save companies a significant amount, since some directory services charge as much as $1.40 for each question.
