Say Goodbye to Forgotten Contacts – Easy Ways to Remember Business Phone Numbers
No matter how fancy-schmancy productivity and communication tools become, a business phone number is still its most important asset. So, it’s worth putting the time and effort into choosing a memorable phone number for your business.
Make It Memorable
We all have essential numbers that we want to keep in our memory, such as the ones for our significant others, parents, bosses, and best friends. And while we can rely on our smartphones to do the heavy work for us, it’s always good to know how to remember phone numbers if you need to without your smartphone handy.
To help your customers remember your business’s number, consider creating a memorable one that sticks in their heads. These numbers are called vanity numbers and incorporate a word or phrase with inherent meaning into the number sequence. For example, a pizza restaurant could use 1-800-PIZZA-NOW, while a home services company can use 1-800-HOME-123.
Memorable numbers are easier for customers to recall and make your business look more professional than simply a random sequence of digits. Plus, the words or phrases used in these numbers are often a part of your marketing and advertising campaigns, making it even more likely that customers will remember them.
Use a Caller ID
Despite the rise of email, video conferencing, and chatbots, your business phone number remains one of your most important. It grants you a direct line to your customers, even on the road, at home, or hiking in the woods. A unique business number can help you stand out from competitors and establish credibility with potential customers. You can get a local, toll-free, or vanity number, depending on your needs. Local numbers allow you to create a local presence, while toll-free or vanity numbers provide national or international coverage.
A customizable caller ID (CNAM) allows you to show your company name instead of your number on outbound calls. This helps your customers recognize and remember you and avoid the dreaded “Restricted Caller” on their screen.
Keep It Simple
While it is easy to depend on smartphone apps for essential phone numbers, many of us still prefer to keep a few key numbers in our memory. This includes those who can help in a crisis or those we call for general information and support.
This makes ensuring your business’s phone number is easily memorable even more vital. One way to do this is by using a vanity number, which uses letters or combinations of letters and numbers to create a word that relates to the business’s product or service. Examples of this include 1-800-FLOWERS, 1-877-LOVE-ROSE, and a few others.
Using these words helps the brain process the number more quickly and efficiently than a random sequence of digits. Limiting the number of characters used in your phone number and avoiding dropping vowels is also a good idea, as this can confuse you. Instead, it is a better idea to use letters that work together in a way that will spell out a meaningful word.
Make It Toll-Free
The prospect of having to write down or look up a phone number is a major barrier for businesses trying to grow. Toll-free numbers eliminate this problem and help companies add customers and increase sales. Business toll-free numbers are available for purchase from most telecom carriers and are ideal for organizations that serve a nationwide customer base. Toll-free numbers that spell out words are called vanity numbers and have a much higher recall rate than numeric or area codes.
Using a toll-free phone number allows your company to be easily accessible to your clients and doesn’t cost you additional charges on top of standard VoIP rates for North American calls. It also makes your company seem established and trustworthy, which is especially important for newer businesses.
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