Comments on: Why vanity phone numbers can kill your ad copy

By: Gavin Scholes

Gavin Scholes — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 21:36:59 +0000

Dean don’t agree people only dial then and there when they see a print ad, however as mentioned the simple way around this is to show the word and the number.
VANITY NUMBERS, are about building brand and keeping customers out of directories, when l search for a lawn mowing service on google or Yellow Pages what l see is all of your competitors, by having a Vanity number it makes it simple for these customers to remember how to contact you.

Nic in regard to your comment likening them to hand dryers that don’t work I would be surprised then why 39 out of the top 50 above the line advertisers in Australia, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Telstra now use PhoneWords as we refer to them in Australia. Last time l checked an extremely large number of Fortune 500 companies in the US also use Vanity Numbers, maybe you are right Nic and collectively some of the best Marketers in the World are all wrong, however I doubt it very much.

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:21:35 +0000

Nic: To be clear, I didn’t say vanity numbers aren’t useful. I simply said they make dialing harder. In a printed piece, it’s best to show the numerals of the phone number.

By: Nic

Nic — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 06:34:27 +0000

Thank you!!!

I have always thought that these numbers are a product that are pervasive more because of their promised value proposition than their usefulness. Like those hand dryers in toilets that don’t work; really easy to sell (saves costs on paper etc) but, very often, they don’t work so well.

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:41:40 +0000

@Gavin: Why would you assume the caller is dialing a day later? Generally speaking, if someone doesn’t dial immediately, they won’t dial at all. And I mentioned in the article that including both is the best solution.

I wrote this to point out that advertisers who choose to include ONLY the vanity number are making a mistake, especially in direct marketing … depending on the context. Some research shows that vanity numbers are good for radio, for example, because of easy recall. However, other research shows that when someone thinks they’ll remember the number, they actually end up forgetting it because they made no effort to write it down and they don’t call immediately.

Things are not always what they seem.

By: gavin scholes

gavin scholes — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:24:12 +0000

I think we are missing the point, just might be mili seconds difference in dialling times however your assumption is based on the customer dialling the number as they read the print ad. My assumption is the client dialling the number a day later and actually remembering the word as they wont remember the number. Easiest solution is show both in a print ad then everyone is happy. As for Vanity Numbers not being used outside the USA as we are aware they are huge in Canada, Now also in the UK and Australia, NZ, and other parts of Europe the keypad standardization globally has really assisted their global growth.

By: Brad Coopersmith

Brad Coopersmith — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:47:04 +0000

The era of difficulty dialing vanity numbers is over. Here is why, BB can automatically covert the words into numbers and the other major phone manufacturers are starting to do this too. Also, skype, googletalk and all the other VOIP providers will automatically convert the letters into numbers as well.

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:33:15 +0000

Jeanne:
This wasn’t a knock against vanity numbers. I’m simply pointing out that are designed for memory, not for easy dialing.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:19:56 +0000

Dialing a vanity 800 number is really not that hard! If it takes longer for a person to dial 1-800-TOP-LAWN, it’s probably just milli-seconds. And, the phone pad is in fact universal in the United States, and other countries have adopted it as well.

Independent consumer research studies have shown that consumers have a much higher recall rate of vanity 800 numbers versus toll-free numeric numbers, and even over URLs.

And, from another perspective, business case studies have shown that people recall a vanity 800 number months after they see an advertisement, and they make the call! So, a company’s advertising dollars pay off even after a campaign ends. You cannot measure response rates or results only during the life span of a campaign, you have to consider that residual calls are going to come in as a result of the campaign and it’s memorability factor!

By: How to write a radio ad that generates calls or traffic

How to write a radio ad that generates calls or traffic — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:17:16 +0000

[...] numbers against ordinary toll-free numbers and says ordinary numbers work better. It could be that vanity numbers are easy to remember, but hard to dial. Or it may be that if a number seems easy to remember, there’s a temptation to put off [...]

By: Antti Kokkonen - Zemalf.com

Antti Kokkonen - Zemalf.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:11:38 +0000

I don’t pay attention to phone numbers unless I specifically need to make a phone call to someone and then I’d go and look for a number from their website — if the number was only in the “vanity format” I’d probably curse it as I’d had to look up what the heck the actual number is (what the letters goes in what number is not an universal standard).

Also note that those 1-800 numbers don’t mean anything (or very little) to the non-US customers, something which many US-based businesses forget. Online business? There’s a great chance that the customers are located somewhere else.
.-= Antti Kokkonen – Zemalf.com’s last blog … 3 Ways To Use Google Reader Like a Pro =-.