Nowadays, there is a strong movement towards online marketing. However, the phone number will always remain an essential business identifier, and is often the first real contact that a customer has with a business.

A vanity number has been proven to be an effective technique for making the right impression with your customers and adding visibility to your company, forming an integral part of a successful company branding strategy.

What is a vanity number?

A vanity (also called ‘golden’ or ‘special’) number spells out a specific word or a phrase when using a phone dial pad, or consists of a distinct sequence of digits, such as repeated digits or special number combinations. These are easy to remember phone numbers, such as 1-800-LAWYERS, 1-212-NYPIZZA, or 1-888-2477777.

If you are in the process of considering a vanity number for your business, voip.review is here to help you make up your mind by providing a list of benefits supporting this solid marketing technique, as well as the set of things you should consider before choosing a vanity number provider.

Benefits

Easy to remember

The number one benefit that comes to mind, is that vanity numbers are easy to remember. These days, when most people don’t even take time to learn the numbers of their closest family members, your business number will be readily recalled, even without the use of a contact database.

Branding and identity

Your vanity phone number may form an integral part of your branding strategy by selecting a number that spells out your company name, contains a slogan, or any other word(s) related to your products. Clearly, this is an effective way to increase your brand recognition and visibility. Or perhaps you can benefit from selecting a number that speaks for itself, such as 1-800-FLOWERS, and show your prospective customers instantly what you are all about.

Credibility

Whether you are a new company or a mature business, using a vanity number will add to your professional image and make you seem prestigious from your customers’ perspective. High profile companies priding themselves on superior standards of customer service tend to choose memorable numbers for their call centers, such as 1-800-GOFEDEX or 1-800-HOLIDAY. Therefore, selecting a carefully thought out vanity number for your customers to call will elevate your business to the level of these recognized, customer-oriented companies.

Easy to recommend

While customers will find your number very catchy and easy to remember, a memorable vanity number will make it easier for them to spread the word about your business. Clearly, if your customers are satisfied with your products and services, an effective vanity number will make it simpler for those customers pass your contact information on to others.

Tracking interest

If your business consists of separate divisions or offers different products, it may be difficult to track the interest of customers and the ROI of marketing campaigns. Opting for vanity numbers specific to each product, service or division can not only add to the success of promotional campaigns, but also assist in analyzing call traffic data to improve the effectiveness of future marketing campaigns.

Reachability

It may be that your company does not currently have a contact phone number for your customers to call; rather, you provide online methods such as email or live chats for customer interactions. While there is a tendency to move to web-based communications, there are still prospective clients who prefer speaking on the phone, instead of emailing or chatting online. You will extend your reachability and make it easier for customers to get in touch with you by providing several methods of communication, including a vanity phone number.

Uniqueness

The use of vanity numbers for business is by no means a novel marketing technique, yet it might be a differentiating factor that makes you stand out amongst your competitors. With this in mind, take the time to think of and search for a unique, catchy and effective vanity number,  leaving no reason for your prospective customers to look any further than your business.

Things to consider before choosing a vanity number provider

If you have already set your mind on buying a virtual vanity number for your business, here is a list of things you should think about before choosing the right provider:

• Online vanity number search tool – essential for allowing you to search for hundreds of possible options for your vanity number without having to send numerous requests to your vanity number provider, and being forced to wait for a response to see if any of your options are available;
• Types of vanity numbers available – most businesses choose toll-free vanity numbers, but you may want a local or mobile vanity number for other marketing or personal reasons;
• Number coverage – you might be looking for a vanity number in one specific country where your business is located, but if you need customers to conveniently reach you from all over the world, it would be wise to look for a provider with global coverage;
• Online management platform or portal – the use of self-service portals with access to a functional and feature rich user interface is extremely important;
• Inbound and outbound calling – many businesses use toll-free vanity numbers only for inbound calls, however having an outbound calling option can be very beneficial, if you want your customers to recognise the phone number if you return a call;
• Trunk and forwarding options – businesses that handle large call volumes usually set up their call centers on a phone system with extensive forwarding functionality, making it advantageous to have flexible options for creating trunks, as well as the ability to include a fully-featured phone system;
• Flexible capacity management – your business might start growing fast and you will have to handle many concurrent calls, so it is important to explore the capacity (call channel) options before buying a vanity number;
• Local and global reachability – depending on the type of business, you might want customers outside your city or even country to be able to reach you on your vanity number, therefore you should explore the local and global voice connectivity options;
• Possibility to port out/in your numbers – being able to port numbers is crucial, since vanity numbers are an important part of your brand identity that you must keep, even if you change your voice service provider;
• Additional price for a vanity number – some communication service providers base their businesses on vanity numbers and set extremely high prices for popular phonewords, but there are providers who offer a vast selection of vanity numbers, free of any additional charges;
• 24/7 support – you want to be sure that you can get help anytime of the day to support  your business and ensure reliable phone access for your valuable customers.

We have created a comparison of a few well-known virtual number providers based on some of the previously mentioned factors:

All in all, a vanity number can be a very beneficial investment for your business, and should increase your brand awareness, set you apart as a prestigious and trusted company, and add value to your overall marketing strategy.

*voip.review magazine is sponsored by DIDWW