To 0800 or not to 0800

[360interactive]

As the poll says, which one would you prefer to see on a website?

0800 *** ****

or

01275 *** ***

Or both? Our 0800 has not had a major effect on leads, in fact, people are still preferring to e-mail, which is good. However, I have heard a lot of talk over 0800 numbers putting people off, and that local numbers are seen as much more 'approachable'. The thing is, we are a UK wide business?

What are your thoughts?

 

[Sphinx]

I have found the opposite, 0800 number has transformed my business. IHowever, you must include the phrase 'free phone number' at all times in all advertising material. You have to assume the general public is stupid, and they usually are. Some people with the new 0800 numbers think they are calling a premium line.

 

[cjd]

Both is best but if you want to know what the real research tells us see this:

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=46850

01 & 02 Geographic – the normal, general purpose, everyday telephone number. Geographic numbers show your location; 020 7, 020 8 and now 020 3, 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 where the caller was but now it’s one charge, 3p per minute (day), regardless.
These numbers are universally understood and should be your first choice for a normal businesses number. Their sole disadvantage is that they cannot be taken with you if you move outside the area of the telephone exchange they are connected to. (However, this is no longer a restriction for VoIP geographic numbers which can be taken anywhere without needing to tell your provider; even abroad.)
They are the only type of number that can be reliably dialled from anywhere in the world.
Importantly, 01 and 02 numbers are included as ‘free’ to dial in mobile contract packages.

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 are 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.
Costs to you. The numbers retail at a range of prices from £5 per month upwards. Look out for set-up charges and minimum usage charges. As the call is free to the caller, the number owner gets charged for the incoming call usually between 3p and 6p per minute.
0800 is a well understood number but because it is non-geographic ie not tied to your local telephone exchange, 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.
A major downside is that they are NOT free to call from mobiles and may not be called from outside the UK.

 

[Sphinx]

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 are a good marketing tool.

Thats why actually saying next to the number it is free to call helps.

 

[360interactive]

Thanks for that Voiphone, although it does not really go into what CUSTOMERS prefer. It seems from the pole that people are mixed in what they want.

 

[FE]

We run a 0800 number for our sales and certainly in the current climate you do not want to put any barriers up for a potential customer to contact you.

If you offer different free mediums for your potential customers to contact you then it may just prove the difference between you and a competitor for very little cost

FE

 

[cjd]

Thanks for that Voiphone, although it does not really go into what CUSTOMERS prefer. It seems from the pole that people are mixed in what they want.

Not following that - it's Ofcom research on how consumers percieve telephone numbers. Without paying for research, that's as good as you'll get. The full report is here:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/numberingreview/research/marketresearch.pdf


Polls and research apart, there are only two downsides to using an 0800 number as far as the customer is concerned:

1. there appear to be about 36% of them that don't know it's a free call - this can be overcome by adding the word 'freephone' after the number.
2. It's not free from a mobile.

That's why I say use both 0800 and an 01 or 02 if you wish to overcome all customer barriers to calling you (and you don't mind paying for the calls).

 

[Speedymail]

I say both.

Don't forget that 0800 actually charge a lot of mobile tariffs as "calls outside of allowance", let's be honest 80% of the public has a mobile and I very rarely use a house line. I will generally avoid calling 0800 numbers if outside the house.

 

[Marzipan]

I'm an old cynic, but I never believe that 0800 numbers are free - the supplier is having to pay for the call so that cost just gets factored into the product price just like any other overhead, so effectively I pay for it in the end anyway. I'd much rather just dial a normal geographic number and pay for my call - or not in the case of inclusive minutes.

 

[Simon-M]

Another option is to have a free call back form. The web visitor comes to your site, sees you will call them back. Fills in a short form which you receive and then yo ucall them back. This way the user knows it is definately at your cost.

Simon

 

[cjd]

Another option is to have a free call back form. The web visitor comes to your site, sees you will call them back. Fills in a short form which you receive and then yo ucall them back. This way the user knows it is definately at your cost.

Simon

Or you can do it by putting a button on your website for an instant call back. See:

http://www.voipfone.co.uk/PB_Call_Me_Back.php

 

[Simon-M]

Or you can do it by putting a button on your website for an instant call back. See:

http://www.voipfone.co.uk/PB_Call_Me_Back.php

Would I have to change my phone system for that? Can I just use your code and have it work with my own Asterisk server?

 

[cjd]

Would I have to change my phone system for that? Can I just use your code and have it work with my own Asterisk server?

Don't know to be honest. I'l have to ask one of the coders when they appear. (This may not be for several hours, they where working at 2am last night on server-side stuff that had to be done out of hours.)

However, we publish the code, which you can see here

http://www.voipfone.co.uk/callmebackcode.php

if that helps. (You need to be signed in to see it.)

There's a pro version which allows you to brand the button your own way and do things like set business hours and destinations etc

https://www.voipfone.co.uk/callmebackpro.php

 

[360interactive]

Some interesting comments, I also agree about the freephone number being a potential problem for those with mobiles. I know I will only call a freephone from a landline.

I beleive some mobile companies allow free phone numbers to be free, but you have to take the '0' off the number, so it simply starts '800'. Is this correct?

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

I imagine it depends very much on whether the majority of your target market will be using a land line or mobile. If a substantial no. of them use a mobile I would say avoid 0800 nos.
Barrie

 

[360interactive]

Thanks Rhyl, taken on board. I think we will start to publish both our landline and the 0800, play it safe for now.

 

[Sphinx]

I agree i think you just need to make it as easy as possible for everyone in your target market to be able to contact you. Especially at the moment, there really must be no barriers.

 

[sjt]

I'm having the same dilemma at the moment...

I'm a new start, and am not doing the business full time, so will have the numbers diverted to my mobile, which will cost me around 20p/min on the 0800, and 15p/min on the geographical....

 

[who_me]

We use an 03 number, it's included as part of most peoples mobile and landline bundles, so whilst it's not 'free' in most cases being part of thier bundle makes it as good as?

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

We use both. The majority of people call on the 0800 number but then it's regarding a service that people wish to talk about due to large amounts of uncertainty etc.

It depends on your trade.

 

[cjd]

We use an 03 number, it's included as part of most peoples mobile and landline bundles, so whilst it's not 'free' in most cases being part of thier bundle makes it as good as?

I'm a big fan of 03 - one of Ofcom's better ideas - my only concern is that people don't know what they are yet so might be reluctant to call them.

 

[cjd]

Would I have to change my phone system for that? Can I just use your code and have it work with my own Asterisk server?

Apparently it'll work just fine.

 

[Trish Barker Telecom]

We have a brilliant service avaliable we can provide an 0800, 0844 0845, geograhic numbers. The numbers sit on a platform where you have lots of free services available to you, auto attendant, where you can make your business sound large and efficient, press 1 for sales, 2 for accounts and so on, you can have numerous destination numbers like a round robin on one number, you can also set it to different destinations at different time of day, you get call recording, voice mail, welcome messaging. It is like having a mini telephone system at your disposal ! Asda and ticket master currently use this platform. Our customers love it. We can set these up for you or you can manage them yourself with your own logins. You do not pay for these extra services, and our rates on the numbers are competitive, so at least if you or your customer are paying for the call you get something extra free.

Trish 0800 1959011

 

[sjt]

do you have a website?

We have a brilliant service avaliable we can provide an 0800, 0844 0845, geograhic numbers. The numbers sit on a platform where you have lots of free services available to you, auto attendant, where you can make your business sound large and efficient, press 1 for sales, 2 for accounts and so on, you can have numerous destination numbers like a round robin on one number, you can also set it to different destinations at different time of day, you get call recording, voice mail, welcome messaging. It is like having a mini telephone system at your disposal ! Asda and ticket master currently use this platform. Our customers love it. We can set these up for you or you can manage them yourself with your own logins. You do not pay for these extra services, and our rates on the numbers are competitive, so at least if you or your customer are paying for the call you get something extra free.

Trish 0800 1959011

 

[Trish Barker Telecom]

Yes we do but our Marketing guy is planning on doing some changes to it so it may be have some downtime this week. The site will not let me post URL until I have 15 posts We are barker telecoms on google then hit the home page, can just give one of our friendly staff a call and they will give you any information you require

 

[URBAN COLOUR]

I agree that although a lot of people know 0800 is free, some dont and are confused with the amount of numbers out there and of being ripped off.

I always add "Call us free" or "Free call" to my sites/ advertising to drum it in

There are always the people though who don't mind paying for a call because they want to use someone local

 

[08 Number Man]

Hi

I provide 08 numbers and local codes - my advice to clients is to use both in adverts. 0800 great to genearte response, but can be expensive from mobiles. Normally a 01 or 02 number is included in the contracted minutes on a mobile so it can still be free for people to call.

With my online control panel, you can enable features and also use different 08 numbers in different adverts to monitor the response to each advert.

Hope this helps you

 

[cjd]

Jeeze - every man and his dog now sells numbers. Looks like the anyone can be a Telco all of a sudden. Must be a big re-seller push on somewhere ;-)

 

[360interactive]

I have just looked at local numbers, I have been looking at Bristol ones so I can transfer it easily to different numbers if needs be, they are a hell of a lot more expensive than 08 numbers. I have been given quotes of £20 a month line rental.

 

[cjd]

Before you choose a number or service provider please read this:

http://www.voipfone.co.uk/How_to_Get_A_Telephone_Number_For_Your_Business.php

 

[08 Number Man]

give me a call on 0800 056 04 04 and I can hopefully quote you a lot better deal than that

 

[360interactive]

Thanks CJD, i'll give it a read.

 

[cjd]

give me a call on 0800 056 04 04 and I can hopefully quote you a lot better deal than that

umm better than what?

You haven't even read it - I posted at 12.09 you posted at 12.10.

It's a neutral post offering advice about choosing telephone providers - not a sales pitch for my company's services

 

[08 Number Man]

sorry cjd - i think our posts crossed. i was replying to the cost of £20 per month for a local number that maatybaz had refered to. apologies for any confusion. Iwasn't knockinh your post or link

 

[cjd]

sorry cjd -

no problem

 

[faststaff]

My 0800 number gets some use, and I tend to advertise it everywhere, but on my Business Cards and letterheads etc I have both the 0800 and 01274 number.

It has been really useful recently as we have just moved office so there was very little disruption for our customers.

 

[08 Number Man]

My 0800 number gets some use, and I tend to advertise it everywhere, but on my Business Cards and letterheads etc I have both the 0800 and 01274 number.

Hi faststaff

A thought......if you use your 0800 number in advets and only get some use it sounds as if not all you advertising is working. To find out exactly which adverts work I suggest a unique 0800 number in each advert - all linked to your 01274 number. my on-line system gives you feedback on the usage of each number and lets you see which adverts are working - or not !!

 

[Trish Barker Telecom]

There is also a service called whisper available that you can record a prompt that only you will hear before the call is connected, for example you can tag one number as your web advert 1 number, one number as web advert 2 number, you will get the whisper message as you pick up the phone so you can see where your call is coming in from, a good tool if you want to look at the effectiveness of particular types of advertising.
And as mentioned above you can also gain access to download daily, weekly, monthly call records. It might be worth considering opting for a package of minutes so you have a fixed cost each month, we do 0800 numbers at £4.95 per month with 1000 free minutes.

 

[Trish Barker Telecom]

You can also get geograhic- non geographic numbers eg 0161 so it gives the appearance of being a local number but it is actually a non geographic number with all the services of the platform it is on open to you to utlise eg voicemail, auto attendant, whisper, call records, call recording etc, you can set up multiple destination numbers for different time of day.

 

[faststaff]

Hi faststaff

A thought......if you use your 0800 number in advets and only get some use it sounds as if not all you advertising is working. To find out exactly which adverts work I suggest a unique 0800 number in each advert - all linked to your 01274 number. my on-line system gives you feedback on the usage of each number and lets you see which adverts are working - or not !!

Sorry, when I said it gets some use, I meant it gets SOME use, as in "That is SOME car!"

The Freephone number is KEY to the business. No matter what marketing or sales activity we do, quite often Courier services are an impulse or emergency purchase, and at that point any advantage I can get is worth it.