Insights

Toll-Free vs. Local Phone Numbers: Which Adds More Value to Your Business?

Aug 17, 2017

While customers are moving away from social media ads more and more these days, it doesn’t mean that mobile advertising isn’t still a key revenue driver for most brands & businesses. In fact, as more potential customers enter the marketplace, the standard mobile marketing tactics of yesteryear will fall aside as brands & businesses look for news ways to engage and retain Millennials and Generation Z (Gen-Z).

Studies show that Millennials and Gen-Z do most of their shopping on mobile, but in a shocking twist, Gen-Z prefers personal communication with brands (i.e. phone calls or in-store interactions) over digital communications such as online chat and email.

This is great news for small business owners and entrepreneurs as platforms on Search and Social are offering click to call mobile friendly ads to empower more consumers to make their purchase decisions from their devices. What this means is that in the coming years, more and more brands will have a new opportunity to make a great first impression on their customers, and it all starts with a phone number!

Somos, the nation’s leading Toll-Free Telecommunications provider, has this quick guide to helping you determine which type of phone number will add the biggest boost to your brand. To learn more about the amazing uses of Toll-Free, check out Somos', “Toll-Free Can Do (Almost) Anything!” campaign here.

Whether you’re managing a huge call-center with hundreds of employees or answering phones and handling customers all in under one roof as a small business owner, getting qualified leads to your business is always a key goal. While local numbers can help businesses in more remote locations, the average business offers more than one service or branch of customer care. Having Toll-Free numbers can help you direct customers to appropriate areas, reducing their time spent in your sales cycle, and improving customer satisfaction and wait times. 

Why spend hundreds or thousands on your marketing programs if you can’t get the best insights from your efforts? Local numbers can be equipped with call-tracking if you’re using a third-party advertising platforms such as Google Adwords or Microsoft Bing Ads, but these services are often pricey and time-intensive. However, with Toll-Free Numbers, most providers offer basic call tracking services such as the ones listed below.

How many clicks does it take before your first interaction with a customer? Marketers and businesses can spend up to $135 per customer on Google Search alone trying to get them to take a desired action such as a phone call or a purchase.  Local ads in particular fall victim to this as customers unfamiliar with the area often have to perform secondary research to gauge whether your product or service will work for them. Using a standard number or a vanity number, such as 844.HEY.SOMOS,  conveys your brand’s purpose to all of your customers regardless of location and can end up saving you money. 

No matter who or where you are, there’s a good chance that you know at least one Vanity number off the top of your head. That’s because Toll-Free Numbers are a great way to help your customers remember your business, service or promotion!  Vanity numbers, much like Vanity URLs, can lead to high retention rates, up to nearly 76 %.

Ultimately it all adds up, the more money, time and energy spent overcoming the hurdles of qualifying a local number, figuring out who you customers are, and retargeting them to drive conversions, everybody wins when you go toll-free!