[garybristow]

Im sure this as come up before,companies offering 0300 numbers and 0800.
can someone give me the basics of the system
thanks
happy new year

[Colin Day]

I have it, it costs pennies to have... My Dad rings more often than he used to...The tight git....

[Linds Russell]

I've had an 0800 number since I started trading and it costs me an average of £30 a month (it always terminates on my mobile).

I know there are probably cheaper services available but this company give great service and can divert to another mobile at short notice.

[davep]

Other positive is if you move house and can't keep landline number custy with 0800 number can still get you.

[Jim_77]

Personally, I wouldn't dream of it.

Firstly, more and more calls come from mobiles which means they can cost quite a bit, certainly a mental barrier at least for many people.

Who actually calls a number because it is free, rather than the prospect of 30 or maybe 50 pence to make an enquiry?  Not my type of customer for sure!

The most common use of a phone number, obviously, is to advertise locally.  People naturally browse for a company local to them.  Therefore customers look at the area codes because they tell you roughly where a company is located.

I use a local number for part of my area that has a different dialling code.  I have a number on remote call forwarding which costs £4 a month plus the modest diversion costs, usually no more than another few pounds a month.  Don't bother with BT they are rip-off merchants, I use a company called callsure but there are loads others all similar.

[Colin Day]

I offer all 3 numbers. The 0800, the local land-line number and my mobile...

There's nothing wrong with adding more strings to your bow....

[Jim_77]

Don't you think that confuses people?  Which one are they supposed to ring?!

[Colin Day]

I don't really care, as long as they get to speak to me, I'm happy....

Most people actually use the land-line number, because I do ask. As for them phoning from a mobile, it only costs pennies, so I don't really worry about the price.

[Linds Russell]

Personally, I wouldn't dream of it.

Firstly, more and more calls come from mobiles which means they can cost quite a bit, certainly a mental barrier at least for many people.

Who actually calls a number because it is free, rather than the prospect of 30 or maybe 50 pence to make an enquiry?  Not my type of customer for sure!

The most common use of a phone number, obviously, is to advertise locally.  People naturally browse for a company local to them.  Therefore customers look at the area codes because they tell you roughly where a company is located.

My 0800 number provider gives me a full breakdown of calls every month and I am always surprised by the amount of calls from mobiles. It is usually around half of the calls I receive and that is with me advertising my mobile number along with the 0800 number.

[mike roberts]

Personally, I wouldn't dream of it.

Firstly, more and more calls come from mobiles which means they can cost quite a bit, certainly a mental barrier at least for many people.

Who actually calls a number because it is free, rather than the prospect of 30 or maybe 50 pence to make an enquiry?  Not my type of customer for sure!

The most common use of a phone number, obviously, is to advertise locally.  People naturally browse for a company local to them.  Therefore customers look at the area codes because they tell you roughly where a company is located.

I use a local number for part of my area that has a different dialling code.  I have a number on remote call forwarding which costs £4 a month plus the modest diversion costs, usually no more than another few pounds a month.  Don't bother with BT they are rip-off merchants, I use a company called callsure but there are loads others all similar.

I really do not agree with that aproach, local guy to myself is using similar system ie local numbers but also providing fake addresses in order to climb higher on google rankings, this is classed as deception via trading standards as you are implying to cust that you are based locally, he is currently being investigated via ts and was removed from YP for same reason.

I believe in being honest with my customers and offering various means to contact us ie mobile, office line or 0800 numbers. As for confusing them if they search for us online they will see same numbers mobile, one local (office) 2 - 0800 numbers (used for monitoring calls) with your approach they will see numerous local numbers yet you work as a sole trader ?? Curious what number do you show on your website  

[markpowell]

I have 0800 linked direct to mobile and also advertise my mobile too.
Far cheaper than call divert.
Mark

[Jim_77]

Linds maybe some people don't realise it costs them money to ring an 0800 from a mobile, I don't know

Mike, you're talking about two different things.  Providing a local number for people to call is a lot different from using false addresses for google map position - there's one of those comes up in my local google maps search, apparently based in the middle of a pile of rubble - they pulled the building down a few months ago

Just my personal opinion but I think advertising mobile numbers on vans/leaflets/stationery looks very unprofessional.

[mike roberts]

Jim, I do agree about showing mobile only on van  I still have mixed views ref local numbers...

Still curious, what do you show on your website  Mobile 

[Simon Moat]

I average 30% of my calls from my 0800 number, these tend to be new customers, I will be adding an 0300 number in the new year as these are free for people to call from mobiles.

For me the fees well worth the cost.

As an aside, when you ask for your customers contact details at the time of booking how many people give you their mobile number and not house phone?

[Jim_77]

I always ask for their landline number when taking details, people have a habit of changing their mobile number and then you can't get hold of them on the phone in future if needed.

Mike I only advertise my two landline numbers, don't have a dedicated business mobile so wouldn't really want to plaster that all over the internet!

[garybristow]

Thanks for all your feedback,the 0300 number interests me as it is free from a mobile
how about the costs on that approx??
thanks again,happy new year
gary

[Office Cleaning Company]

We used to use an 0800 no but have stopped using it now, partly because more and more traffic comes via smartphones and as said before it cost to call these nos from a mobile. The other reason in having a geographic number rather than non geo imo is it instills some initial trust and helps locate your business which could make the difference in someone calling or not calling.

If you are getting leads via a website having an geographic number and address helps with google maps, showing your local to the client and establishing trust. There is some stuff from ofcom below:

Consumers know what 01 & 02 - local or geographic numbers - are and believe them to be the cheapest number to call
Consumers think there is little difference in cost of calling 0844, 0845, 0870, 0871
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%).

[peter maybury]

A lot of people do say to me that they will not phone an 08 number from a mobile so we advertise an 0845, a local std and a mobile number.
I do get a suprising number of text enquiries as well as mobile calls. For maximum impact you need to cover all bases.
If you use 08 number then you will never get any feedback from people who do not call them (there is a lot).
If you do not advertise a mobile then you will never get feed back from custoimers who like to call mobiles or text  (there is a lot of these as well). A local std will attract a lot of the people who like to do business locally (There is also a lot that fall into this section).
With how dificult it is to get impact from advertising I think that you are better laying out the options.

Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com