As a service provider that controls tens of thousands of toll free numbers through our RapidRecall service, at Dial 800 we make it our business to understand the important nuances that are going to give direct marketers the very best results.  Well here is the 411 on toll free numbers (TFNs): not all TFNs are created equal!  Even though 888, 877, and 866 prefixes have now been around for years, consumers are still programmed to dial 800 first.

The proof?  Just last week 2,652 people accidentally dialed our number 1-800-XXX-CELL instead of 1-877-XXX-CELL in an attempt to reach a low coast cellular service provider.  And that was just in one week! Imagine how many lost opportunities that represents over the course of a campaign and/or business' life -- literally tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of missed sales!

Many marketers and their agencies are under the misperception that 800 numbers are simply unavailable.  Not true!  Service providers like Dial 800 allow marketers to lease numbers, often at a cost of what adds up to a nominal cost per lead, that can have a marked impact on results.  A good quality 800 TFN may cost a few hundred dollars per month, but let's break down the math.  If the marketer cited above lost 10,000 leads due to misdials and each inbound lead was worth a conservative $5, that's $50,000 worth of leads lost in a single month.  The monthly cost to lease the 800 version of their number and gain the advantages of Dial 800's call tracking, call routing and call recording software?  About 38 cents per lead.  Calculate average closure rates and revenue and the cost versus the ROI is obviously through the roof!