“Freephone numbers increase the response to adverts”
Right? Or Wrong?
It seems like the majority of the marketing departments of our great UK companies think that they do. When I look in my Yellow Pages, and turn to insurance or banking, there’s an avalanche of 0800 numbers. They are all over the place. But have all these so called ‘expert marketeers’ got it wrong? I think they might.
My daughter’s 21, bright as a button, wonderful personality (just like her Dad) and studying at Leeds University. And I would imagine that she’s exactly the type of customer the giant insurers and bankers want to get hold of. If they take a long term view then all of these financial service companies can make a fortune out of her with all of their fancy mortgages and must have insurance policies.
Now she’s not got a landline, in fact I can imagine in her lifetime she’ll never get one, even my 78 year old father is questioning why he’s got one.
So how much does it cost her to call one of these “freephone” numbers? 20p a minute that’s how much. Not free but two quid for 10 minutes.
She can feed herself for a day for about the same money as it costs her to have a 15 minute chat with one of your sales staff.
According to Ofcom, 2010 could be the year that more calls are made on mobiles than from landlines. So if you want my daughter to call you and not your competitors advertise both the freephone number (after all, if the caller’s using a landline the call’s free and that’s got to be good for business) and a geographic number because these are cheaper to call from a mobile than 08 numbers.
We’ll be going through the Office Response website to make sure that we’re not penalising mobile users but if you need to call a freephone with your mobile this service claims to save you money http://bit.ly/TtDwK
by Martin Blain
Sales Director
Great question, and certainly I’m never 100% just quite how much an 0800 (or 0845 for example) will cost off the mobile…. However I think the positives of:
1) It’s genuinely free from a land line
2) It’s a non location based number
3) The perceptions that somehow you’re a bigger company if you can afford such luxuries!
Make it a good move for most businesses if they are able to work on a national scale where it doesn’t matter where people call from. However I think if you were a plumber I think having a recognised area code can help ensure you’re not called by people on the other side of the country.
0800 calls are good for business if you are a mobile phone provider! But when do you call a free phone number? Usually for insurance / double glazing quotes…………………. Our business is all about the outbound sales calls we make, so we don’t see the need for 0800 numbers. But if I sold insurance I would have one!
Matt,
You’ve made some good points here I’ll deal with each in turn;
1) Yes calls from landlines to 0800s are free but Ofcom is predicting there’ll be more calls made from mobiles in 2010 and mobile users can pay as much as 20p a minute. So for every person encouraged to call from a landline there could be more who are discouraged to call from their mobile.
2) Yes there are benefits in the non geographic aspect of 08 numbers. We used to advertise nationally in Yellow Pages (YP) with local accommodation addresses and a 0800 number. It worked very well. Nowadays the response from YP ads no longer justifies the expense.
There is a relatively new range of numbers starting with 03 that are non geographic but they are included in mobile phone tariffs. We’re currently investigating using them. Further details here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/03_numbers
3) Yes using a freephone number can send messages about the type of business you are which can help you win business. And, as you’ve said here with your example of a local plumber, it can also say things about you that discourage people from enquiring.
Confusing is’nt it? I think this all illustrates that there’s a lot to think about when you are choosing what type of number to use. But I think the argument is now against using freephones.
I primarily make outbound calls from my mobile, not least as I’m often out meeting clients. My mobile package includes hours worth of free calls, which is particularly handy when phoning call centres that can take ages – with piped pop music – to answer.
As a result, like many other people, I often resort to crawling a company’s website for a land line to ring instead of their prominent not-so-free phone 0800 number.
Hopefully the phone industry will start to address this over the next two years and begin lowering tariffs to non-geographic numbers. I’m not holding my breath though!
In the meantime I certainly think businesses should consider publishing secondary geographic numbers for mobile users and tracking what percentage of enquiries come through that route.
For mobile web development it’s also possible to detect if the propect is using a mobile. So presenting the geographical number more prominently in that context would be user friendly and help break down the barrier to an enquiry.
Alternatively mobile users can use services like http://www.0800buster.co.uk to get around the high call charges – although I don’t think most people are aware of these services.
Colin,
I’ve not tried the 0800buster service that you mention.
Do you have any feedback for new users?
I’m in the process of scrapping my 0800 and getting a geographically specific number. The majority of my work comes from the Yorkshire region so calling me will be the cost of a local call at most and people calling from mobiles will usually get the call for “free”. I think this will only help my business
Hello, my first post on this blog
I have also been looking to 0800 Numbers recently and have thought of a few interesting points of interest.
I think 0800 numbers are a image thing which comes at a price, that much is simple cost/benefit calculation. However I think you also have to consider who you are likely to get calls from.
B2B phone calls are all usually Land Line to Landline so thats a 0800 win. However I dont think I want the bussiness of a B2B client who is either so ‘hard up’ or, driven so much by price that a 0800 number would change there mind on anything.
On the other hand B2C companies are a completely different Beast. Price and good will is everything here. Having read Steve Krugs book “Dont make me think’” I think of this issue as one of the things which will increase the bank of good will a customer/user will have towards a site. A bank which it is easy to erode and empty.
Dan,
I’m particularly interested in your second point where you say “I dont think I want the business of a B2B client who is either so ‘hard up’ or, driven so much by price that a 0800 number would change there mind on anything”.
We too like to think that decisions to become our customers are a little more considered than merely focusing on if we use a 0800 or not.
Martin Blain
We encourage our own customers to think about the overall benefit of our services to them rather than to get bogged down with small cost details
I must say, having moved to London from New York, it’s beyond belief that the UK doesn’t do toll-free #s. I mean, in the civilized world, toll-free means free from any phone (landline, cellphone, payphone, whatever) so why would you get to pay ANYTHING if the business is likely paying for that too?
I have STOPPED DOING BUSINESS with all companies who don’t list a local # as a result of some exorbitant charges in my first month here. That was 3 years ago. I have switched to Citibank as that’s the only bank that lists a local 020 customer service #. And so on.
For those greedy businesses I am having absolutely unavoidably the need to call (like UPS to ask to hold my package etc) I use http://www.saynoto0870.com/ — a free site where you can punch in any 08 # and get the local equivalent. To my North-American friends that would sound like we live in the stone age but for all of us in the UK it’s a blessing. Until someone realizes they are losing a hell of a lot of business and makes toll-free #s really FREE.
Interesting one, this.
One of my clients publishes a membership magazine with a 550,000 reader base with a mature, low income demographic; largely C2 downwards, average age 52. I mention the demographic because it affects their perspective on mobiles, the internet etc.
Every bit of feedback we take reflects suspicion and antipathy towards 0845, 0870, 0844 numbers. “How dare they charge me to discuss becoming their customer” is a typical reaction. We get calls on our 0207 number asking if we have alternative numbers for suppliers offering only an NGN. There is a feeling that, although calls to these numbers are, in theory, standard rate there is an element of profiteering (that word gets used a lot in the reader dialogues) by the suppliers.
However, not once have we had an instance where that negative response has been directed to an 0800 number.
My view is more mature callers are more inclined to use land lines, so the mobile charges are less of an issue. When they don’t – and my instincts tell me this may well apply across the board – their antipathy would be directed towards the telecoms company charging for a call that the customer feels should be free rather than the company they are calling.
Maybe the way through this is for the mobile telecoms companies to block 0800 numbers unless they have with the 0800 number provider a commercial arrangement to levy payment from that provider rather than the caller.
There are definitely arguments for and against NGNs. There is still some merit in the concept of not expecting your customers to pay to talk to you and looking big. On the other hand if your business wants to appear local I think a geographic number is possibly more powerful. You don’t need to be based in that code area any more either.
One benefit of NGNs to the business that sometimes gets overlooked is their ability to enable busineses to track return on advertising spend. Not on one side or the other!
There is a way of getting the best of both worlds… Try an 0300 number. These are usually free from mobiles and landlines alike (as most contracts include 01, 02 and 03 numbers). I think these are specifically for the not for profit sector but I wonder if they could be utilised elsewhere too. There is useful information published by Ofcom about number options and the related call costs which can be found here:
http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/files/2010/01/numbering.pdf
Personally it drives me up the wall when I have no choice but to call an 08 number. As a consumer, I want options and flexibility. Even my GP surgery has an 0845 number now!
Hi Martin,
I am being a little too general there to be honest, but I am lucky enough to be in a position where I can pick and choose my clients.
What I meant was that to do business with someone, I personally think that if someone wont call me because of the small small price of a phone call (because they can’t afford it or they are not willing to spend the tiny amount money) they are not the kind of person to spend the amount of money my services cost. Or if they are that they are more likely to be a difficult customer because they are not living in the ‘real world’.
Again, I am guilty of making a generalisation there.
You could EVEN argue the opposite; that someone who won’t even pay the relatively small amount for a 0800 number is too tight of a business man to work with… but I think that is not a generally held idea as it is common not to have 0800 for a SMB.
Hope I cleared that up a little