Looking to buy 0800 number

[nish]

I am researching to buy a 0800 number for my business; hoping this will help to increase sales. Can anyone shed some light what's the best deal around and do you have any experience having a 0800 number? Did it really help to increase sales / is it worth the cost ?

 

[cjd]

An 0800 number from us costs £5 per month and 3p per minute for the inbound cost.

But really, they're rarely worth it these days as they're not free from mobiles, a normal everyday 01 or 02 number is probably best now. Do you have a particular reason why you think you need an 0800 number?

 

[Nomis Connections]

Different types of numbers tend to give different messages - if you're marketing your product or service to local areas and want to seem like you have a local presence then UK virtual numbers are a great idea.

For more of a national presence, non-geo numbers like 0800 and 0844 are good. Free phone numbers can work for B2C environments to encourage sales calls but don't tend to be so necessary for B2B as, for example, staff will ring whichever number they can find - be it free phone or not.

As mentioned above, what are your reasons for looking into such numbers?

Hope that helps!

Matt

 

[nish]

Thanks Matt, appreciate your time. I thought having a 0800 number will help because;
- Engage with customer more for ongoing business
- Increase possibility of receiving that 1st call
- Opportunity to explain why customer should buy our services

then again...will i end-up receiving too many marketing calls?
I am debating myself

 

[cjd]

Thanks Matt, appreciate your time. I thought having a 0800 number will help because;
- Engage with customer more for ongoing business
- Increase possibility of receiving that 1st call
- Opportunity to explain why customer should buy our services

The statistics are rather against you I'm afraid. The 0800 services pre-date mobiles and also originate from the days when telephone calls were fairly expensive.

These days 0800 is only free from a landline and ordinary national calls are cheap and also included in mobile packages - so you've got the ludicrous situation of 'freephone' numbers now costing and chargeable numbers being free.

Also, not all people know that 0800 is free anyway - tho' most do - they are sometimes confused with other 08xx numbers. So generally if you use one at all we advise both explaining the number is free - "call our FREEPHONE number now!" AND displaying a regular 01 and 02 number too.

They were also sold as 'a number for life' because they wen't tied to your local exchange so you could keep it if you moved away, but with VoIP you can take any number anywhere in the world and it works like it did in Hull or Aberdeen.

They were also sold as 'national numbers' - they made your company look bigger than it actually was - but if that's what you want it for, an 03 number is a better choice as it's cheaper for both you and your customers.

They do have their uses, but they're mainly restricted to heavy duty sales campaigns now.

 

[Nomis Connections]

Hi Nish, no problem.

It's worth keeping your overall marketing strategy in mind when you're deciding these things - will having a free phone number incentivise potential customers to call? There are other national numbers you can provide if you wish to have a national presence without displaying a free phone number.

It's true that mobile operators do charge for calls to 0800 numbers, but this is being addressed by Ofcom.

Out of interest, what's your current phone set-up at the moment?

Finally: Am I correct in saying your market is more B2B than B2C?

Will you end up with too many sales/marketing calls? That probably depends on where and how much you advertise the number.

 

[surecall]

why use an 0800 number when a 0845 / 0870 /0844 will make you some cash maybe.

 

[fisicx]

why use an 0800 number when a 0845 / 0870 /0844 will make you some cash maybe.

That has got to be the contender for the most ludicrous post of the day.

 

[S-Marketing]

That has got to be the contender for the most ludicrous post of the day.

Don't speak too soon, the schools chuck out soon. That's when the real 'experts' arrive.

 

[lazypbx]

In many cases I think geographic numbers can actually encourage people to pick up the phone more if they think you are local. If you are thinking of a national marketing campaign, perhaps it might be worth using a different phone number for each area. This has the added benefit of you being to track the success of your campaign and see quite easily where the calls are coming from. If you are using VOIP, or something like our LazyPBX solution then it's quite easy and not expensive to get the numbers and direct them all to wherever they need to be answered.