Not necessarily a mistake — but only if you replaced it with something.

Removing the number solves a real problem. Therapists describe doing it for two distinct reasons: they can never answer during the day and were never going to call back promptly, or the line had become mostly spam. Both are legitimate, and practitioners who've done it generally report it was the right call for them. One describes being glad removal was even possible, aware the directory warned it might mean fewer contacts, and willing to take that risk.

What it doesn't do is make you reachable in some other way. That has to be a separate deliberate act — a form, an email address, a booking link — and it has to be at least as prominent as the number was.

Two things to check before you remove it. First, whether any listing you depend on requires a phone number to stay listed. Second, whether removing it actually removes it: one therapist notes they could take the number off their profile and their website and would still get calls, because other provider directories they don't control also carry it.

What does it actually cost?

Some inquiries, and you won't be able to measure which.

The directory may tell you as much when you remove it — a warning that it could result in fewer contacts. That warning is probably accurate, though it comes from a party with an interest in your listing being complete.

Two groups of people are affected differently. Someone comparing therapists on a website will happily use a form. Someone who has been referred by their family doctor and given your name on a slip of paper will often try to phone, and if there's no number they may not persist.

There's also an intangible one. A practice with no phone number reads as less established to some people, particularly older clients and referring professionals. That's a soft cost and it's real.

Set against that: prospective clients contact several therapists and go with whoever gets back to them. A number nobody answers, with no callback and no alternative, is worse than no number at all, because it converts a possible client into a person who has already been let down once.

What has to replace it?

One obvious way to make contact. A short form or an email address, above the fold, not on a separate contact page three clicks in.

A stated response time. "I reply to inquiries within one business day" does more work than the number ever did. It tells the person their message goes somewhere.

A booking link, if you offer consults. This is the strongest replacement, because it removes the waiting entirely — and it eliminates phone tag, which is what several practitioners describe as the actual thing they were trying to escape.

Something for the person who can't use a form. Not everyone will fill one in. An email address covers most of the gap.

Is there a middle option?

Yes, and it's what most practitioners land on eventually: keep the number, stop trying to answer it live.

That means a real greeting that says you're in session during the day, when you return calls, what to leave, and where to go if it's urgent. Some go further and redirect entirely — one therapist's outgoing message says don't leave a message, use the website to book a consultation. Another states plainly that they don't return calls without a voice message and asks people to email instead.

Both keep the number visible while removing the obligation to answer it. The caller gets an instruction rather than an unanswered ring, which is most of what was wrong with the original situation.

If the reason you're removing the number is spam rather than time, know that removing it from your own website helps less than you'd hope. Listings you don't control keep it circulating, and the number is already scraped.

What if a listing requires a number?

Some do. Practitioners report insurance and provider directories requiring a phone number to be listed at all, and one notes that even after removing it from their own profile and website, calls kept arriving from other directories.

If that's your situation, the practical answer is a number you can afford to publish and not answer — a separate line with a greeting doing the redirect work. That's a different purchase from a line you're expected to pick up, and it's the version most people should be buying anyway.

How will I know if it was a mistake?

You mostly won't, and it's worth being honest about that rather than pretending the decision is measurable.

The signal that matters isn't inquiry volume, which moves for a dozen reasons. It's whether people who find you can obviously act on it. If your site has one clear route, a stated response time, and you honour it, removing the number is unlikely to be what hurt you.

The version that does hurt is a site with no number, a contact form buried on a sub-page, and no indication of when anyone replies. That's not a phone decision. That's a practice that has quietly become unreachable, which is a different and more expensive problem.

The short version

Removing the number is a reasonable choice if you replace it with something visible and honour a stated response time. Check first whether a listing you rely on requires it, and know that other directories will keep the number circulating regardless.

The middle path — keep it, never answer it, let the greeting do the work — costs less and loses less.

About Rivet

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