Since last October when the FCC made 855-prefix toll-free numbers available, some have advocated a land grab mentality. With 800 numbers “spoken for”, the release looks like a ripe opportunity for a marketer to grab a vanity number – one that spells out a keyword relevant to their business they can leverage in their advertising. It makes perfect sense. Except when it doesn’t. The following cautionary tale explains why. Behold the folly of Acme Corporation; the name has been changed to protect the ignorant.
Within Dial 800′s bank of memorable 800-prefix toll-free numbers, RapidRecall, analysts detected an extraordinary number of misdials. After some due diligence, it was discovered that Acme was heavily advertising an 877-version of a vanity number that mirrored RapidRecall’s 800-version – to the tune of about 50,000 misdials per month. Dial offered to strike a deal – we would route the misdials to Acme so they could take advantage of the leads and in return, Dial would receive a small fee. The overture was summarily rebuffed. Acme was convinced that consumers would simply redial the correct number to the extent that their management deemed the 800-number wasn’t even worth $5,000. In fact, they declared that they didn’t care if we competed with them.
Given the expense inherent in carrying the misdialing phone traffic, we had no choice but to divert the calls to a competitor. When consumers called, they were told via IVR that they had not reached Acme, but that if they were interested they could learn about a competitive offer. A surprising number of callers were indeed curious; some 15 months later, over 80,000 new accounts had been opened. The power of an 800-prefix number finally resonated with Acme when they agreed to write a check for $6 million to buy the business!
So what explains the misdial phenomenon? Simply put, since 1967 when AT&T invented toll-free, consumers have been conditioned so that when they hear “toll-free” they think 8-0-0. If you need further evidence, just consider how host Ryan Seacrest implores American Idol voters to dial 8-6-6. During the second season of Idol when Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken duked it out for the Idol crown, the New York Times reported that misdials exceeded the margin of votes for the winner.
The lessons are clear: while grabbing an 855 number might appear like a good idea, the results can be tragic. Direct response advertisers should never rely on anything but 800 numbers. They are available from a number of sources including mainline telemarketers and service providers such as Dial 800. The cost depends upon the quality of the individual 800 number‘s memorability so, for example, those that repeat digits or contain “one thousand” cost a bit more. But the incremental expense relative to the return on investment is truly minor. With marketers doing everything they can to optimize their media, call script, offer and other variables, having the right toll-free number – replete with the right prefix – is simply a no-brainer.
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