Do you have your personal cell phone number on your business cards?

What about the auto-signature of your email?

If you’re self-employed or you own a small business, you want to be available to prospects and customers.

But you probably don’t want your personal cell number as the “contact us” number on your website.

Gmail Phone: Your New Personal Answering Service

We’re pleased to announce a new service called Gmail Phone.

Gmail Phone isn’t like Google Voice or the standard “second line” services you’re familiar with.

Those services are designed to act just like a normal phone number.

Gmail Phone isn’t that at all.

Instead, Gmail Phone is an instant, automated personal answering service—for just $4.99 a month, a tiny fraction of the cost of a traditional answering service.

It lets you protect your phone number—while still making yourself available to anyone who wants to reach you.

Oh, and if you’re one of those people who hates answering phone calls and wishes everyone would just text you instead? You’re welcome.

Here’s how it works:

Creating a Second Number

When you sign up for Gmail Phone, you’ll get a new phone number you can use on:

• Business cards
• Email signatures
• Your website
• Invoices
• Receipts
• Anywhere else you need a contact number

You get to choose the new number from a list of suggestions, including local numbers from your area.

Once you sign up for Gmail Phone, anyone can call or text your new number to reach you.

The difference is: phone calls to your new number don’t ring your phone.

They go to your Gmail instead.

Voice and Text Messages Go Straight to Gmail

When someone calls your Gmail Phone number, it doesn’t ring your phone the way your normal number does.

Instead, it immediately prompts the caller to leave you a message.

That voice message is then emailed to your inbox, letting you review incoming messages at your leisure, just like a personal answering service:

Text messages work the same way.

If someone texts your Gmail Phone number, their text message won’t buzz your phone with a new text alert.

Instead, it’ll be forward an email to your Gmail account for you to check whenever you have a chance.

Reply at Your Convenience

What you do after receiving the message is your choice.

If you click “reply” in Gmail and send a reply email in return, your email will be sent as a text message to your contact’s phone number:

You can also combine Gmail Phone with our Send Your Gmail to SMS (text) Chrome extension to trigger text alerts on your phone when you receive a call or a text to your Gmail Phone number.

In that way, prospects can reach you, and you can reply quickly when you need to—all the while preserving the privacy of your personal phone number.

Perfect for Those of You Who HATE Answering the Phone

Finally, for those of you who get extreme anxiety when your phone rings, Gmail Phone might just be the perfect solution for you.

It gives you a way to be available by phone to those clients and customers who like to call (instead of email or text).

But you never have to worry about being interrupted by a call from a business contact, especially if it’s about a topic that really should have been handled by email.

Also Perfect for Educators Trying to Help Students Without Giving Out Their Personal Number

If you’re a teacher or a professor, Gmail Phone can give you a number you can give to your students.

Your students will be able to get in touch with you anytime they need—without them having access your personal phone number.