Ever wondered why some big businesses have always stuck with vanity numbers? Simply because it works!
The reason is very simple: increased revenue. Calling is still the #1 way people contact a company about their product or service.
Companies with a vanity number are more likely to get a bigger slice of the market than those using a traditional number. In fact, studies have shown a 60% improvement in recall rate for a vanity number compared to a generic phone number.
You want a phone number that’s easy to remember and/or dial. If you make it easier for consumers to call you in order to drive up your revenue, you want a Vanity Phone Number.
Will a Vanity Number Really Increase Incoming Calls?
Vanity business numbers first started appearing over 50 years ago, long before the digital age. This begs the question “Do Vanity Numbers really make any sort of impact for businesses anymore…?”
Yes! According to a 2021 study conducted by NumberBarn, it revealed the use of Vanity Phone Numbers helped businesses increase their sales.
Vanity Number Stats
Stand Out in a Crowd = 85%
- 84.97% of people are more likely to remember a Vanity Number than a non-Vanity Number after seeing or hearing it in an advertisement.
- A vanity phone number allows your customers to easily remember how to reach you.
- What’s worth noting from this information is that Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to remember a Vanity Number, both at over 90% (91.44% and 90.48% respectively), with Gen X close behind at 88.19% and Baby Boomers the furthest behind at 80.38%.
Increase Incoming Calls = 35%
- 35.59% of people are more likely to call a business with a vanity number than a non-vanity number.
Offering SMS: Texting a Vanity Number = 21%
- 21% of people have attempted to text a Vanity Number, with Generation Z being the most likely to text a Vanity Number.
- You are missing out on potential customers if you don’t offer SMS with your Vanity Number.
Increase Market Share of Gen Z = 28%
- 28.57% of Gen Z’ers (people born after 1997) choose to do business with a company that has a vanity number.
- What’s significant about this finding is that although younger generations seemingly prefer to communicate via digital channels, phone numbers aren’t going out of style any time soon.
Increase Sales = 18%
- Businesses with a Vanity Number close 18.14% more sales by using a vanity number.
- If you don’t have a Vanity Number, that’s 18.14% of people whose business you’re losing. That’s a big deal.
How Vanity Phone Numbers Bring You More Business
Brand Awareness
Having a memorable local or toll-free number that’s unique to your company is great for building your business’s brand image and inspiring brand recognition. Just some of those benefits of having a memorable vanity phone number for a small business include:
- Customers easily reach you because your number is easy to remember
- Increased brand loyalty & recognition
- Improved Customer Experience
- Improved advertising response rates = More Calls / Sales.
- Increased traffic
- Increased word-of-mouth referrals leading to better recommendations
- Gain competitive advantage / Increased competitiveness by your number standing out
- Ability to match number to your website domain name
1) Make it Easy for your Customers
A vanity number helps prospective customers remember your business, as well as what it provides. In addition to being short, clever marketing, a vanity phone number makes your business immediately memorable to new customers and returning ones. A person is more likely to call a number that they can recall easily, and it will always be easier to memorize a word than a string of random numbers.
While a Vanity Number by itself may not lead customers to call you, their exposure to you as a brand and their understanding of what you offer along with an easy, catchy phone number to remember, you’re more likely to get that call.
2) Improved Brand Image
Vanity phone numbers double as marketing tools and create a more distinctly-branded experience. Associating your brand with a vanity phone number that is relevant to your industry can go a long way in making you a recognizable figure and improving your brand’s image.
Just some creative ideas of how to integrate a vanity phone number is printing your phone number and company logo on vehicles, website, print, radio, etc. All of this helps you get the word out about your business. Vanity phone numbers are a very affordable form of advertising and branding.
3) Improved Customer Service
A memorable phone number will inevitably make your customer’s experience significantly smoother. This is particularly true with existing customers, who won’t need to spend time researching your phone number again when trying to reach you.
All in all, a vanity phone number lets your customers know that you have taken extra steps to ensure that they will always have a consistent and easy way to get in touch.
4) Advertising Response
If the phone number on your ads is just that – a string of numbers – anybody who sees it is likely to disregard or forget. That means potential customers are disregarding and forgetting your brand. Not good. Vanity numbers have a powerful brand recall making your phone number and business more memorable. If your number is memorable, they wouldn’t even have to scour the internet. When the time comes for the customer to purchase your product or service, s/he will remember you and your phone number — ahead of your competition.
5) Increased Traffic
A vanity phone number is meant to be simple to remember. This can translate to increased traffic for your business because it ensures that your prospective audience will be more likely to be able to get in contact with you for further information (e.g., discount deals, customer feedback, etc.).
Additionally, vanity phone numbers tend to reflect a certain degree of authority, which can make you seem more trustworthy and legitimate to first-time customers.
6) Easy to Refer
How else are you marketing your brand and working to get more calls? Do you ask for referrals? Do your current customers spread the word for you?
Having a vanity number makes it easy for your current customers to tell their friends about your product/service and how to reach you.
7) Increased Competitiveness
A unique and easy to remember vanity phone number coupled with outstanding customer service, consistent brand image, and increased traffic can contribute to making a business more competitive.
8) Consistency
Being able to spell out a word that corresponds to what your business does and flows from website to ads to phone number can be very effective marketing. It positions your company as one of the experts in the field, and most certainly a toll-free number with a word or two in it will look good in any advertising.
