Call Forwarding for Business: How to Set It Up Right

A customer who calls your store and hears nothing rarely calls twice. Many small businesses still publish a personal mobile number, and then every call, whether from a customer, a supplier or a courier, lands in the middle of everything else. Call forwarding fixes that. You publish one business number, and the system decides which phone rings and what happens when nobody answers. This guide explains how call forwarding for business works, what to configure, how voicemail fits in, and how to set it up on a business number bought inside StoreChart.

What call forwarding does

Call forwarding sends a call made to one number to another phone. The caller dials the business number, and your mobile rings instead. The caller's own number is shown on your screen, so you see who is calling before you pick up.

The business number is the stable part. You can change the phone behind it, or switch it off for the weekend, without changing anything that customers see on your site, invoices or packaging.

When forwarding beats a personal number

• Separation: customers reach the business, not you personally, so an employee's or owner's mobile never appears on a label.
• Continuity: when the person who answers changes, you change one setting instead of reprinting everything.
• Control: you choose when calls reach you and when they go to a message.
• A number for WhatsApp: the same business number can serve as the store's WhatsApp number, so calls and chats use one identity.

How a forwarded call works in StoreChart

Every incoming call is checked before the phone rings. It rings your mobile only when all of these are true:

1. The number is active.
2. Forwarding is switched on and a valid destination is saved.
3. The account's plan includes phone numbers.
4. The number still has forwarded minutes left in the month.

If any of these is false, the caller reaches voicemail. That rule protects you from surprises: a call never rings a phone that should not ring.

Ring time and busy lines

The phone rings for about 25 seconds. That is long enough to reach for the phone and short enough that the caller does not feel abandoned. A busy line skips the wait and sends the caller to voicemail.

The announcement before you connect

Turn on the announcement and you hear a short message before the call connects, telling you it came to the business number. It matters when the same mobile takes personal and business calls, because you answer differently.

Voicemail that customers actually use

A caller who reaches voicemail decides in a few seconds whether to leave a message. Two things help:

• A prompt in the caller's language: Israeli numbers play Hebrew prompts, and other numbers play English.
• A short limit: a message can last up to two minutes, enough for a name, a number and a reason.

Each call appears in the number's list of recent calls with its result: answered, not answered, busy, voicemail, or minutes used up. A voicemail has a play button in the same list, so you can return calls from one screen.

Minutes, limits and switching forwarding off

Every number includes a monthly bundle of forwarded minutes, and the number's page shows how much has been used. When the bundle runs out, callers go to voicemail until next month.

This is a design choice worth understanding before you buy. Forwarding costs real minutes on every call, so a business that expects long, frequent calls should check the bundle first, and treat the business number as a front door rather than a call centre.

To stop calls for a while, switch forwarding off. Callers reach voicemail, which suits evenings, holidays or a day at a trade show.

Example: a store that takes phone orders

Illustrative only. A store selling custom furniture buys an Israeli local number and prints it on its packaging:

1. The number forwards to the owner's mobile, with the announcement on.
2. On busy days she misses calls, and callers leave voicemails of about a minute.
3. Every evening she plays the day's messages from the call list and calls back.
4. At weekends she switches forwarding off, and callers go straight to voicemail.

She spends no time on missed-call detective work. The call list already shows who called and what happened.

Setting it up in StoreChart

1. Buy the number on the phone numbers page: choose a country and type, then confirm the price, which follows your plan's billing cycle.
2. Enter the destination phone, in Israel, the United States or Canada.
3. Decide on the announcement and check that voicemail is on.
4. Place a test call from another phone and listen to the prompts.
5. Optional: connect the number to WhatsApp, so customers can also message the same number in your WhatsApp inbox.

Buying a number needs a plan that includes phone numbers, and some number types need a one-time business verification. Cancelling and changing forwarding are always available, and a cancelled number keeps working until the end of the paid period. See pricing for which plans include phone numbers.

Reading the call list

The list of recent calls is the quiet part of the feature that pays back fastest. Each row shows the caller, the length and the result, and the results tell you what to change:

• Many voicemails during the day: nobody is reaching the phone in time. Move the destination to a phone that is with you during business hours.
• Calls marked minutes used up: the bundle is too small for your call volume. Decide whether calls are worth the cost, or move routine questions to WhatsApp.
• Calls marked busy: you are on another call. Voicemail catches them, but a return call within the hour keeps the customer.

Once a week, spend two minutes on the list. It is more reliable than memory.

Mistakes to avoid

• Publishing the number before testing it: call it from a phone that is not the destination and check both paths, the answered call and the voicemail.
• Forwarding to a phone you rarely carry: choose the phone that is with you during business hours.
• Leaving voicemail unplayed: a message nobody listens to is worse than no voicemail. Give one person the daily job of playing messages and calling back.
• Long calls on a small bundle: treat the business number as a front door. Move long conversations to a scheduled call or a chat.

What call forwarding does not do

Expectations matter, so here is what a forwarded number is not:

• A phone system: forwarding rings one phone at a time. There are no call menus or queues.
• A team line: if several people answer calls, one of them needs to take the forwarded number.
• SMS on every number: Israeli numbers take calls only. Numbers that do support SMS get their own inbox.

Summary: one number, your rules

Call forwarding turns a phone number into a business line you control. Customers dial one number, your mobile rings when you choose, and everything else lands in voicemail with a record of the call. A business number in StoreChart adds two things a plain forwarding service does not: it lives next to your orders and customers, and the same number can carry your store's WhatsApp.