If you’ve been looking into toll-free numbers for your business, you may have heard about vanity numbers. Or maybe you’ve noticed that other businesses are using them, wonder how they got them, and how it benefits their business. In this article, we will cover all you ever wanted to know about vanity phone numbers.
What Is a Vanity Phone Number?
A vanity phone number is a phone number that is easy to remember because it either spells a word or phrase or consists of a set of repeatable or memorable numbers like 4545 or 1234. Vanity phone numbers stick in people’s minds, so they don’t have to do a Google search for it and possibly run into your competitors.
Most vanity phone numbers are toll-free. In other words, people from any area code can call the number for free, and the business pays for all the charges. Toll-free numbers can work nationwide or be limited to a specific area like local numbers.
Most people know that 800 numbers are toll-free and that a few other toll-free prefixes have popped up recently. But few know just how many prefixes there are. Here are some of them:
- 888
- 877
- 866
- 855
- 844
- 833
- 800
This wide selection of prefixes gives businesses searching for the perfect vanity phone number a better chance to find one.
How Will a Vanity Phone Number Benefit Your Business?
A new vanity phone number can bring many benefits to your business. Consider a few of them.
People Remember Your Number
This is probably the most popular reason for getting a vanity phone number. The skill of remembering phone numbers went away with the cell phone. It started with speed dial, where you could call ten numbers on your phone without needing to remember them. Now you don’t have to remember a single number. I bet most people don’t even know the phone number of their best friend.
And no one remembers the phone number of a business. They know that Google is only a click away. So why would they want to? But Google is also where your competitors live. The correct vanity phone number will stick in your customers’ minds and keep them from searching.
Improve Brand Awareness
You can include your business name in your VOIP or use one to emphasize the products or services you offer. Many brands use vanity phone numbers for just this reason.
Increase Trust in Your Business
Consumers have many businesses to choose from in any industry today, but it is hard for them to trust a business they have never heard of. But they have heard of toll-free numbers and associate them with well-established businesses they can trust. When you have an 800 vanity number, customers know they are dealing with a proper business.
Steps to Choosing the Best Vanity Phone Number for Your Business
Now that you see how getting a vanity phone number can benefit your business, let’s look at the simple steps you can take to get one.
1. Determine the Coverage You Need
A toll-free vanity phone number will help you extend the range of your business by giving customers outside of your local area a way to call you for free. And that number can be ported to any phone system your company uses, even a cell phone. But just how far do you need to extend this range?
Toll-free phone numbers are bound by restrictions, coverage maps, and the dialing format of the country to which it belongs. So if you only need coverage in the United States, one toll-free vanity number with a U.S. prefix will work for you.
But if you want to extend your coverage internationally, no worries. You can also get vanity phone numbers in up to 60 countries from 800.com. So choose phone numbers in the countries where your customers are located and route each call to your customer service or call center.
2. Choose the Right Word or Phrase for Your Vanity Number
A phone number is 10 digits long, including the prefix. This means you have seven digits available for your word, phrase, or number combination.
Now, you can choose a word that is less than seven characters, but you will have to settle with having a combination of numbers along with your word or phrase. So say you’re looking for a number for your locksmith business. If you think LOCKS is the word for you, your number will look something like 888-55-LOCKS.
You can also choose a word or phrase slightly longer than seven characters; the phone system will ignore the extra characters, but you don’t want to make it too long, or it may be harder to remember. Try to limit it to 10 characters. In our locksmith example, LOCKSMITH would be perfect for a vanity number, resulting in a number like 888-LOCKSMITH.
A great tool to help you find the perfect word or phrase is a thesaurus or an online synonym tool. If you are having trouble finding the right word, search for synonyms, and you may find the perfect one.
3. Use a Vanity Phone Number Generator
Now that you have a few words, phrases, or number combos that will work to make your vanity phone number more memorable, it’s time to see if you can get a number. This would normally be the hard part.
Remember all the toll-free prefixes we mentioned? Searching manually to see if your number is available in any of the possible combinations can take a long time. But not with the vanity phone number generator at 800.com. Just type in your word, phrase, or number combination and, in seconds, it will return a list of possibilities.
4. Choose the Best Plan for Your Vanity Number
You may be at any stage of your business’ growth when you decide it’s time to get a vanity phone number to increase sales, grow your brand, and give customers a memorable way to reach you. If your business is just starting up, you might think that you’ll need the phone service in the future, but now is the perfect time to start branding and find the perfect service provider.
A business phone number is perfect for any business regardless of its size because you can start with a plan that fits your business and adjust it as it grows. Phone systems these days are virtual. A few clicks are all it takes to add more numbers or upgrade your plan and pricing.
Personal Plan
The Personal Plan might be the right choice for most business owners if it needs to reach more customers outside of your local area but doesn’t yet receive a large volume of incoming phone calls. Small businesses and solo entrepreneurs will benefit from this plan.
The Personal Plan gives you access to all the features of 800.com, as well as a custom vanity number. Toll-free minutes are limited to 1,000 per month.
- Personal Yearly: $19/month
- Personal Monthly: $23/month
Unlimited Plan
The Unlimited Plan is best suited to medium-sized businesses or those experiencing growth and relying heavily on customer service and sales over the phone. Additionally, you can create voicemail boxes and extensions for your employees. A centralized dashboard can control all features, and you can even record and upload phone calls.
With the Unlimited Plan, you get unlimited toll-free minutes.
- Unlimited Yearly: $49/month
- Unlimited Monthly: $59/month
Pro Plan
The Pro Plan is an excellent tool for tracking online marketing campaigns or for a serial entrepreneur. It comes with five vanity phone numbers and 5,000 minutes of toll-free service. With five vanity numbers, you can assign each campaign its number.
Your online dashboard provides you with access to all of your vanity numbers and users and detailed analytics on your calls.
- Pro Yearly: $127/month
- Pro Monthly: $149/month
Integrate the Vanity Phone Number with Your Business
When you get a vanity phone number from 800.com, you get a lot more than just a number. Each of our phone numbers come with the following features:
- Standard, Sequential, and Simultaneous Call Forwarding
- Business Texting
- Online Analytics
- Call Recording
- Extensions
- Fax Number
- Call Screening
- Voicemail Boxes
- Voicemail Transcription
So with 800.com, you not only get a number your customers will remember but also the tools to transition your phone system into the modern age, where all your calls and the data related to them are digitized. And this data and analytics on your calls can:
- Improve customer service
- Track marketing ROI
- Get insights into your sales process
And, of course, now that you have a phone number people will remember, it’s time to include it in your radio ads, add it to your website, put it on your delivery vehicles, and add it to billboards.
Get Your Business a Vanity Phone Number Today
When you’re ready to get your vanity phone number, it can’t be simpler. Once you’ve found your perfect vanity phone number using our vanity phone number generator, 800.com will help you get one in just a few steps. Select your plan and checkout. It’s that easy.
