When AT&T introduced the first toll-free number — beginning with the prefix 800 — in 1967, it was an immediate success. Designed to allow customers to call businesses without asking them to incur the arbitrary and expensive long-distance charges that dominated the landline-based telephony structure of the time, the toll-free concept soared until growing demand necessitated the creation of the 877, 866 and 855 prefixes. With the mobile revolution, however, came minutes-based cell-phone plans and a payment structure that ensured that any 10 digits dialed — no matter where the call originated or landed — would come with the exact same cost. In a country where 128 percent of the population has a cell phone and only 46 percent have landlines, the importance of toll-free calling has been hotly debated. While other industries weigh the relevance of toll-free numbers, retail and direct sales still depend on toll-free numbers as a boon to business.
Toll-free numbers continue to drive at least half of inbound marketing sales. Although online purchasing has made huge inroads into how retailers do business, experts point out that for every item purchased online, there is still a toll-free number lead to match it. Customers associate a toll-free number with a live human being — a rarity in the modern customer-service world and one of the key elements that holds back customers from purchasing online. Also, a live person who fields a call through a toll-free number is in a position to upsell, and businesses can create specific campaigns built around a dedicated toll-free extension.
As stated in a report by industry writer Lyndsi Decker, vanity numbers — numbers whose corresponding letters spell out a business, product or service, such as 1-800-FLOWERS — are especially vital in direct sales. Although most customers don't need a toll-free number to call a business without extra charges, a vanity number is easy to remember — a vital component for radio and television advertising — and can help branding so dramatically that the vanity number can actually become the brand name. Research indicates that a toll-free vanity number can boost orders by 30 to 40 percent.
A Texas-based wireless dealer began using toll-free vanity numbers two years ago, and the benefits are irrefutable. With 29 retail locations in two states, their previous strategy of placing each local branch's individual phone number in different ads fell short on several levels. First, they had to run unique ads in each location with multiple, unmemorable phone numbers listed in every ad. More importantly, they had no means by which to track leads and sales or monitor the campaign's progress. By scooping up the 800, 877, 866 and 888 variations of the easily remembered number NEW-DEAL, they have assumed total control over their advertising campaign, gave themselves the ability to monitor their progress, and took the onus off of the customer to remember several different arbitrary numbers.
As the rest of the business world debates the necessity of toll-free numbers in the modern, mobile world, the retail and direct-sales industries continue to rely on toll-free numbers as a central backbone of communication. Toll-free numbers help to establish credibility, drive sales, and give customers a human outlet to ask questions, register complaints and place orders if they are leery of shopping online. Vanity numbers especially play a crucial role in establishing brand recognition and memorability for an increasingly distracted customer base. Readily available and cost effective, there are few credible arguments against toll-free numbers in retail and direct sales.
