First of all, you must not disregard that there are over a million businesses that use these 0800 numbers and publicize them very vocally during your decision devising process.
There are a few critical issues you are required to consider in order that you can analyze the importance of these 088 numbers numbers to your business. So what changes can 0800 numbers create for your business.
The first thing the 0800 number gives is an image makeover; the image of a national level company helps allay various apprehensions which usually bother the first time customers. A regular number hardly creates this impression, if ever. But does it prod prospective customers to pick up the phone and actually call you? This is a very naive question; a study says that every two out of three persons preferred 0800 numbers over regular numbers, for apparent reasons. Once your customer is talking to you, you know how to convert it into sales. Another study by Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, concluded that 40% of people surveyed chose companies with 0800 numbers purely because they were free.
If I don’t talk of the ripple effect the 0800 numbers bring about, I would not be doing any justice. Your customers gain confidence in your products or services resting assured that it is free to contact you . This is precisely because many companies use free phones for handling after sales service calls.
It is time to get back to our original question, whether to go for the beneficial 0800 numbers at a cost which could be out of your control. This reminds me of the classic chicken and egg situation which is impossible to resolve but still we value both of them. If your indecisiveness stems out of budgetary constraints, you try out a non-contractual basic plan which costs around £4 a month.
Secondly , if you purchase a 0800 number, you may want to advertise it to draw maximum out of it. You will step by step but surely realize that 0800 numbers really pays back and increases business after reaching the critical mass.
Ask yourself whether or not you would initially choose a business that is advertisng with a freephone 0800 number over a mobile or landline telephone number. Your gut instinct would normally take you to the free option, so naturally you will receive a greater percentage of calls due to this, as it is only human to initially seek out the free option, and then if that fails it would be a landline, followed by the most expensive option of a mobile.