It is vital that when you start a business, you select your phone number carefully. It is advisable to use a marketing number, which does not pin your firm down to a geographical location. These numbers can be effective marketing tools, helping you attract consumers nationwide and generate greater revenue. There are various options with marketing numbers. Here is Turner Little’s guide to business phone number options.
Freephone numbers
These numbers, prefixed with 0800, are free for customers, so your firm pays for calls. Freephones come with key benefits. Over 60% of UK consumers are more likely to contact business’ with freephone numbers, making them effective lead generators which deliver return on investment. They also give your firm a national profile and help you build relationships with customers, generating repeat business.
Lo-call numbers
Prefixed with 0845, lo-call numbers oblige customers to pay a local rate charge, wherever they are in the UK, with your firm footing the remainder of the bill. Lo-call numbers can help your firm attract consumers beyond your region and can generate three times the response rate from customers. Lo-call numbers can also instill your firm’s public profile with an air of professionalism, promoting your enterprise as a trusted provider of products and services, creating new business opportunities.
National rate numbers
National rate numbers (0870) supply your firm with payments for every call, serving as solid income generators. Consumers pay at the national rate and with every minute, you earn additional revenue to offset against the cost of other calls. These can dissuade consumers from contacting your firm, so it is wise to use them for functions like providing technical support, when consumers need to get in touch. As part of our corporate services, Turner Little can set up 0870 national rate numbers for your firm.
0871 and 0844
These numbers can sometimes be more effective revenue generators than national rate numbers. 0871 numbers are like local numbers, with customers paying between 1p and 5p per minute. 0844 numbers are like national rate numbers, with callers paying between 6p and 10p per minute. You gain larger profit margins with these numbers when a large proportion of calls come out of hours, as callers are charged at fixed rates.
Premium rate numbers
Prefixed 090, premium numbers see callers charged at high tariffs, with some going as high as £1.25p per minute. The customer pays for the entirety of the call and the income accrued is divided between your firm and the telephone operator. These numbers are useful when your business uses things like phone-ins and competitions, where demand is very high, but they come with strict user guidelines.
Alphanumeric numbers
Alphanumerics are designed to be memorable and easy to use, serving as great promotional tools. Here numbers are substituted for letters on a phone keypad and these tools can be freephone, local or national, but memorable ones can be expensive. For example, ‘freephone mechanics’ would be ‘0800’ for ‘freephone’ then ‘632 426 427’ for ‘mechanics.’ Alphanumerics have six character minimum limits.
Personal numbering
Starting with 070, these tools provide you with control of incoming calls. You can route one number to forward calls to as many as three other numbers. For instance, you could forward calls to your office phone, mobile and home phone at various points in the day, to suit your schedule. You can change forwarding instructions from anywhere in the world at any time, just by typing ‘070’ and then a six digit code into your phone, so these numbers are great for business’ whose employees travel a lot e.g. sales.
Connecting with consumers
It is key that you remember that in the digital world, consumers often search online to find your business’ phone number. Therefore, it is vital that you set up an effective website for your business, to ensure you can generate leads with marketing phone numbers. Turner Little provides a range of internet services, including website development, helping you increase your business’ customer base.
Turner Little
Turner Little was founded in 1998 and it has since become a well-established UK based professional Company Registration Agent, Registered Bank Intermediaries and Business Consultants, as well as Trust provider. You can receive our monthly newsletter by signing up using the form below.
