Toll-Free Vanity Numbers and Domain Names

Misdials are an important consideration

Some numbers have a significant number of misdialed numbers.

There have been very successful businesses made out of securing a big companies phone number that is prone to fat fingering, typos and transposing phone numbers.

This is especially true of the newer toll free area code 877 which may be confused for the 800 version. This is not the case with the 888 vanity numbers since there are so many companies using 888 now that it is almost as popular as the 800#’s. It’s important to stress in your marketing that 877 is Toll Free since it looks like any other new area code and many people don’t realize that it’s toll free. You must anticipate a 10% loss to the 800# if you are using an 877

Another type of misdial is the O.

The O along with the M and N is usually recognized as the 6 key, but much to the dismay of 1-800 FLOWERS, they found that a significant number of callers misplaced the zero key as the O. And despite trying to stress it in their advertising, they found they were losing a number of calls. If they were customer service calls, that might not be as critical, but in sales that often results in lost revenues or customers.

This brings up the benefit or the down side of misdials. Because if you don’t consider the misdials your competition might, or if your competition has a powerful vanity number you might be able to pick up leads by getting a misdial of it.

Qs and Zs are also dangerous and should be avoided. Most older telephones still don’t have them on thier keypad. The only way to use a word with a Q or Z is to push it off the end of the word. If the Z is the eighth digit it will be ignored.

Transferring a Vanity Number is Simple

There are two basic ways to transfer a number.

The typical process is to complete a RespOrg Transfer form which you get from the carrier you are transfering the Vanity Number to. On the form, make sure you that the name and address match exactly the name and address on the bill so it is a good idea to include a copy of the bill. Some carriers also require the original, since one of the grounds for refusing is the quality of the signature and form. The problem is that this often requires a two step process since you can’t usually change the carrier and the owner in one step.

If you are a big company with a sales rep with clout, you can treat it as nearly one step. However, you need to realize that you are changing the carrier with the RespOrg form, and that may require a separate authorization letter to release the number from the old customer to the new one. The process is easier if the new customer can set up an account and use the existing carrier.

The other option, especially if the 800 number is on a separate account, is to just change the name and address and contact information on the account. Depending on the carrier, this may be faster easier way that can sometimes be done with just a phone call.