What steps to follow when choosing your business phone number

choosing a phone number

That may seem so, but a business phone number is never just a number – it’s also an integral part of your brand, appearing across your firm’s marketing materials, with an especially memorable one potentially making a big difference to how many relevant people call you.

So, what are the steps that you need to follow to make sure your business phone number serves your firm well for years to come?

First… decide what you need your phone number for!

No business phone number serves the sole purpose of getting people to call that business. If, for example, you want the perfect number for an advertising campaign, an 0800 one may be your best bet, not least as 90% of people recognise these numbers as being free to call.

As a matter of fact, since 1 July 2015, all Freephone numbers beginning with 0800 or 0808 have been free for consumers to call from mobile phones as well as landlines, thereby eliminating one of the few remaining disadvantages of these enduringly popular numbers with businesses and customers alike.

0800 numbers are also associated with a whopping 185% rise in advertising response rates compared to the alternatives, so they really can represent a money-making investment for your business.

Second… how big a factor is locality?

We may now be living in a globalised world in which everyone seems to know everyone else, but at heart, many Britons still like to have that ‘local corner shop’ experience, dealing with businesses that are based near them and that they therefore feel they can trust.

Does your business being a local one – or at least, giving the impression of such – make that big a difference? It certainly does – according to a YouGov survey, 81% of people trust ‘local business’, compared to the 57% who trust business as a whole.

If, therefore, your business is based in one area but you would like to appeal to another locality, adopting a number associated with that second locality from a virtual number specialist like Planet Numbers can make a big difference to how prospective customers perceive your firm.

Then, it’s time to do the sums

Naturally, money will also come into the equation when you choose a business phone number.

An 0800 number may seem an obvious pick in this sense, removing the cost barrier of a prospective customer contacting you – however, this only makes it all the more crucial to consider the charges that you will incur from your end.

Does the number provider that you are considering offer a competitively priced monthly bundle, with a certain number of landline and mobile minutes for a predictable flat fee? What about additional calls – what do they cost from landlines or mobiles, and are calls billed by the minute or by the second? Is there a low minimum charge?

There’s a lot to think about when you are choosing a phone number for your business, but you can rest assured that the right decision from the very beginning will save you the considerable time and hassle involved in changing your number at a later date.