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Q: How can you use 0800 phone numbers to benefit your business?

Mar 18 2008

Answered by: Chris Lindsay     Ask a question

Numbers beginning with 0800 are one of the most widely recognised freephone services and offer benefits to companies of all sizes. However, they have to be considered as part of your overall business strategy, rather than a stand-alone, in order for them to be effective.

The benefits of using freephone numbers can include improved customer relationships and an increase in new business, because people are more likely to call a number that they recognise to be free.

They are also not location specific, unlike 01 or 02 telephone numbers, which means that even a very small company can give the impression of being national, enabling you to compete with much bigger businesses.

There are now telephone services, such as BT RingCentral, that are specifically designed to help small businesses present a more professional image and include a freephone number as a part of the standard package, along with features to manage customer contact.

On the downside, you pick up the cost of each call that is made using the 0800 number, but this is often lower than the cost of a regular call using a standard calling package.

 
Comments [1]
Comment by Nikki Hardy
Thursday 3rd April 2008

This is all well and good, but please do not forget that many customers (especially domestic) use their mobile phones to make a vast majority of their calls. Contract packages are great value nowadays, but unfortunately non-geographic (0800, 0845, 0870 etc) numbers can work out very expensive. Perhaps consider showing your landline or mobile number too, as many customers like to know where you are based, can have the choice, and consider their carbon footprint too


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