0800 vs local number

[altwebdesign]

Just out of curioisty,
Are you more likely to dial an 0800 number or a local area number such as 0121?

I have a 0800 and some people are hesitant to ring it, just want to get a feel for he more wider picture....

 

[Chunkford]

It would depend on what I used to make the call.
I would use an 0800 if ringing from a landline, and use a mobile if ringing a local number.

 

[Posilan]

Just out of curioisty,
Are you more likely to dial an 0800 number or a local area number such as 0121?

I have a 0800 and some people are hesitant to ring it, just want to get a feel for he more wider picture....

I prefer a normal geographical number anytime over 0800.

Steve

 

[fisicx]

Not just 0800. Any 08 number can lose you business.

Put the 08, local and mobile number on your site. Make it real easy for people to contact you.

There is also a trust factor - local hints at a real person, 08 indicates a call centre.

 

[anthonyd]

As others have said, I'd go local number, more and more people are using mobiles nowadays, and most 08 numbers will cost from a mobile.

 

[cjd]

Ofcom have published some research on this. I summarised it a while ago:

Telephone numbers are designed for different purposes. Telephone companies talk of them as ‘products’ – they are not all equal.

Consumers also perceive telephone numbers differently. How they feel about a number and what they think it costs them to dial it, can radically affect what they think about your company and whether they will call you or not.

In short, telephone numbers are part of your brand and image and once the number is on your stationery, your shop signage and the side of your van, it’s not easily changed so it’s important that you consider the type of number to use carefully.

Ofcom research tells us that:
Consumers know what 01 & 02 - local or geographic numbers - are and believe them to be the cheapest number to call
64% of consumers know that 0800 are free to call
Consumers think there is little difference in cost of calling 0844, 0845, 0870, 0871
Consumers always overestimate how much all types of calls cost.
Consumers are less likely to call numbers that they perceive to be more expensive to call and/or are unfamiliar to them.
Crucially, 65%-78% of consumers either won’t call, or are unlikely to call, telephone numbers used in adverts if they use these types of numbers: 0845 (65%), mobile (70%), 0870 (73%), 0844 (76%), 0871 (78%).
Source:
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...etresearch.pdf

If you read no further than this; normally, it’s best to choose an 01 or 02 number for your business.

There are really only two other types of numbers you would normally consider:
0800 can be useful if you actively need customers to call you or are running advertising campaigns. (But note reservations below.)
03, if you really want to look as though you have a ‘national’ presence.
Unless you have a specialised reason for choosing any other type – don’t.

01 & 02 Geographic or ‘local’ number – the normal, general purpose, everyday telephone number. Geographic numbers show your location; 020 is London, 01273 Brighton, 0151 Liverpool etc. Calls to these numbers from BT landlines used to be charged at either local or national rates depending on distance to the caller but now it’s one charge regardless.

These numbers are universally understood and should be your first choice for a normal businesses number. Their sole disadvantage used to be that they could not be taken with you if you moved outside the area of the telephone exchange they were connected to. However, this is no longer a restriction as VoIP technology allows them to be taken anywhere in world.
Importantly, 01 and 02 numbers are included as ‘free’ to dial in mobile contract packages.
These are the only type of number that can be reliably dialled from anywhere in the world.

0800 – Freephone numbers are used for marketing or for sales lines where the strategy is to attract customers to call you. Most people (64%) know they are free to call - so they’re a good marketing tool. They are often used for short term marketing campaigns; different numbers can be used per advert to help tracking and calculating the relative success of different campaigns.
As the call is free to the caller, the number owner gets charged for the incoming call so they can be relatively expensive to use. But this extra cost should be regarded as a marketing investment.

0800 is a fairly well understood number by the public so it is quite useful but a major downside is that they are NOT free to call from mobiles and may not be called from outside the UK.

0800 is a non-geographic number ie not tied to your local telephone exchange, so you can take it anywhere in the UK when you move. For this reason it is sometimes marketed to you as a number for life. VoIP though makes this distinction rather irrelevant these days.

If you use this number on your marketing material make a point of saying “call us for free on xxxx” so that the 36% of people that don’t know they are free, still call you. It’s also wise to display your 01 or 02 number alongside it so that mobile phone users aren’t put off.

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=230796

 

[QuickHomeBuyers]

Exactly my views, for a new project I am using an 0800 number and below that a landline number for mob/int users. I think this has been discussed in greater detail in this forum if you search for it.

 

[RevaxMedia]

Just out of curioisty,
Are you more likely to dial an 0800 number or a local area number such as 0121?

I have a 0800 and some people are hesitant to ring it, just want to get a feel for he more wider picture....

It depends on which service you are ringing, I belive most people still have some sort of block that if the number is not a landline it will cost more regardless of the 08 extension. Personally, local landline but we do offer both. If we are advertising in the area we use local landline - external marketing is done via our 0800 number.

 

[I Love Spreadsheets]

I think a lot of the success of an 0800 number depends on the business.

When I started to use an 0800 number the number of calls I was getting almost halved over night. This went back to normal when I switched back to the geographical number.

I believe it is because I'm B2B rather than B2C. Buyers are not that fussed by an 0800 number as the phone bill is not their problem so they dont care about saving a few pence on a call. There used to be a problem with dialing an 0800 number from a mobile forcing the caller to redial altering the 0800 code - I dont know if this is still the case.

 

[RevaxMedia]

One thing I will say about the 0800 numbers, some people download apps to their phone which looks for an alternative landline numbers for 0800 numbers so it's cheaper to call from a mobile and in most cases it will bring up the registrants phone number, so if you used a third party company to register your 0800 number it will display theirs, it was a pretty big problem for us initially.

 

[altwebdesign]

Thanks for the feedback guys, will make some changes!

 

[Office Cleaning]

We used to use an 0800 no - but found the same as many of the above. Seeing as many people now access sites via a smartphone/tablet etc and adwords now includes a call button this may put some people off from making the call if its not a local number.

Also non geographic could be an issue if location is a factor when choosing a business. I think the location factor is rather important when trying to instill trust via a website and having a corresponding local number to where your business is/operates could help with this.

 

[altwebdesign]

I'm going to be offering a local and 0800 number, with the main emphasis being on the local number

 

[QuickHomeBuyers]

Sorry to hijack this thread. I am looking for a new 0800 number and would like to pay for a memorable number. Any pointers? Which companies to touch and which to avoid?

Thanks

 

[fisicx]

Sorry to hijack this thread. I am looking for a new 0800 number and would like to pay for a memorable number. Any pointers? Which companies to touch and which to avoid?

Have you not read the thread? Everybody is saying don't use 0800 (or 08 anything) as your primary telephone number.

 

[QuickHomeBuyers]

Have you not read the thread? Everybody is saying don't use 0800 (or 08 anything) as your primary telephone number.

I am using both, 0800 and a landline for the people who do not have access to the landline.

 

[cjd]

I am looking for a new 0800 number and would like to pay for a memorable number. Any pointers? Which companies to touch and which to avoid?

Happy to sell you numbers

Two ways, either call or email us asking what we have or, sign up and choose from the site. Memorable numbers cost between £50 and £1000 depending how good they are.

Whoever you get a number from, make sure you can transfer it (port it) from them easily - you don't want to buy an expensive number then not be able to take it with you if you need to change telcos for any reason.

 

[leemason]

I'd go for a local number or an 03 number which are generally included in most inclusive call tariffs for landlines and mobiles.

 

[RoseRover]

I was thinking of getting an 03 number but I'm veering towards a local number as I'm not convinced that people understand 03 numbers as yet...

Do people agree? I think if people aren't sure whether it will cost them then they won't dial.

Views welcome.

And I agree about 08 numbers. I've used them in the past but I think the world has moved on in the last couple of years.

 

[cjd]

03 numbers are excellent but, as you say, not widely understood yet which means that some customers won't call them. They're the best choice of a chargeable non-geographic number though.

If you use one, I'd always recommend putting a bit of an explanation underneath.

 

[mickeym]

Local numbers are best. I feel that anything along the lines of 0800, 0844 etc makes it look like you are trying to hide your location or you don't have some sort of fixed address (i.e - you could disappear easily).

 

[QuickHomeBuyers]

Local numbers are best. I feel that anything along the lines of 0800, 0844 etc makes it look like you are trying to hide your location or you don't have some sort of fixed address (i.e - you could disappear easily).

You could so the same with VOIP.

My concern is that if I list both i.e a freephone number and below that in slightly smaller font a landline number, people can choose what they find more convinient and hence more enquiries?

In my new project I think I will be the only business to offer a landline alternative. All the others (all the ones I could possibly find on G) have a freephone number only, so well I feel better for doing things differently.

 

[altwebdesign]

You could so the same with VOIP.

My concern is that if I list both i.e a freephone number and below that in slightly smaller font a landline number, people can choose what they find more convinient and hence more enquiries?

In my new project I think I will be the only business to offer a landline alternative. All the others (all the ones I could possibly find on G) have a freephone number only, so well I feel better for doing things differently.

Thats the approach I am about to adopt, hopefully it pays off...