The marketing power of a dealer locator is super charged when used in conjunction with a toll-free vanity number. Using the letters on touch-tone keys to spell company or product names, marketing concepts, or generic words that can be associated with a marketer creates vanity numbers. The following are a few FAQ’s regarding vanity numbers and their use.

Why use a toll-free vanity number? Simple, they attract attention and are easy to remember – two of the most fundamental goals of any marketing message. If the number matches the marketer’s name, product or service, a compound marketing affect is created each time the number is mentioned. However, the single most important reason is their ease of recall. This fact not only increases marketing response rates where vanity numbers are used but it lengthens them as well as the numbers can be recalled more easily if a buying decision is not immediately made. The power of vanity numbers was shown by a 1999 study conducted by Michael J. Motto Advertising (New Providence, NJ) that found that 1-800 NEW WHEELS pulled 14 times more calls than its numeric equivalent when used in identical radio spots.

A vanity numbers will produce incremental calls, leads, inquiries or referrals that lead to increased revenue and sales.

Where should vanity numbers be used? Vanity numbers should be considered for marketing messages where the time and space allowed for communicating a phone number is very short, such as Radio, TV, Newspapers, Yard Signs, Vehicle Markings, and Billboards. The need for vanity numbers in marketing messages presented in printed materials that have a longer hold time, such as Yellow Pages, direct mail, letterhead, business cards, are more suited for numeric toll-free numbers. However, using the same number in all messages and formats increases repetition and conveys uniformity, which are two important characteristics of good advertising.

What should the number spell? In general its best for the number to spell all or a portion of the company name or product or convey the main feature or benefit of the company. Toll-free phone numbers are 7 digits in length plus the 1-8xx prefix. If the company name is less than 7 digits use numbers in front or behind the vanity portion to complete the 7^th digit, i.e. 1-8xx-45 TIRES or 1-8xx-TIRES 45. Often adding a call to action to a short vanity name is a good idea, for example 4, GO, GET, BY, or MY whatever.

In some cases, a vanity number can be obtained to match the marketer’s industry or product/service category i.e. flowers, rent-a-car, contacts. This can be very powerful because the category, which is already a common term known by the target customers can become associated with the marketer driving thousand, hundreds of thousands or millions of calls to the marketer. Linking a toll-free number to the category is a simpler process than trying to create awareness of a particular company and its unique phone number that serves the category. The most famous example of this is probably 1-800 Flowers. Category vanity numbers are very difficult to obtain but the cost and effort is well worth the reward. New toll-free exchanges such as 888, 877, 866 and soon to be released 855 increase the chances of obtaining good vanity numbers, however the new exchanges do not immediately communicate "toll-free" like the 800 exchange. As such, the words "toll-free" should be used in conjunction with any non-800 toll-free exchange.

FYI
If one carrier cannot provide a certain vanity number, the other carriers won't be able to either.  All vanity numbers are researched through the national SMS database [an industry clearing house in charge of researching and assigning toll-free numbers, including toll-free vanity numbers]. Finding a toll-free vanity number that works for you IS possible, you just have to be creative and be willing to consider alternatives.

Why are some vanity numbers longer than the actual numeric phone number? Marketers publish the extra digits needed to complete a word even though the telephone network does not recognize digits entered after 7^th digit. For example, the "G" in 1-8xx-CLEANING is a superfluous digit and is not read by the telephone network. This is a problem on cell phones where the device dials the number after the SEND or TALK key is pressed. Cell phones will not process more than the 7 digits after the prefix and will return a network "fast busy" tone or some other dialing error message. If cell phones generate a high percent of incoming calls make sure the numeric number is published under the vanity number or use only a 7 digit vanity number.

What are vanity number misdials? Misdials are common spelling or dialing errors for a particular vanity number. For example, they can be versions of a word spelled with a 0 (zero) instead of the letter O or versions with digits that often get "fat fingered" when dialing a vanity number. Misdials can be important. One 800 Adept client receives 10% of its total call volume on one misdial version of its main toll-free vanity number. Misdials can also be a source of irritation for companies that are unfortunate to have a toll-free number that is a frequent misdial of a popular or highly marketed vanity number. The recipient of these unwanted calls can be quite irate and will often want compensation "for taking all your calls." Keep in mind that just because your company may have spent millions on marketing a vanity number, it gives no rights to other toll-free numbers that may be misdials of your number.

How are vanity numbers obtained? Obtaining a vanity number is accomplished by submitting a request to a RespOrg agency, such as 800 Adept, a long distance company or selected service bureaus. A RespOrg (Responsible Organization) is a business that has been authorized by the FCC to control the acquisition, distribution and management of toll-free numbers on behalf of their clients. RespOrgs can search for specific numbers or they can conduct a "wild card" search where portions of a numbers are matched, i.e. 8xx-xx2-3456 where "x" can by any digit. RespOrgs have direct access to the SMS800 Database which is the central government depository for all toll-free numbers –see "How do toll-free numbers work?"

What do vanity numbers cost? There is usually little or no cost to obtain a vanity number that is in the "available" pool, which are unassigned numbers in the public domain. If a RespOrg requires a large fee to search for numbers or wants to charge an "acquisition" for a publicly available number, you are dealing with the wrong company. Vanity numbers that are unavailable are another story. Carriers, RespOrgs, and other types of telecom companies often reserve large blocks of numbers and vanity number "acquisition" agents will often submit requests for thousands of numbers hoping to create a pool of numbers they can then market, either on a shared use or individual use basis. The FCC prohibits the sale or brokering of toll-free numbers , however vanity number specialists will charge "consulting fees" or other "compensatory or consideration fees" for arranging for the acquisition or transfer of a non public domain number. Sometimes you can get lucky and find a number that is unavailable and not in use that can be transferred to your carrier of choice.

Because of the uncertainty over this process, acquisition costs are rarely reported and are often concealed as part of "consulting fees" or clouded by other misnomers. However, acquisition costs for vanity numbers can range from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. As evidence, in the November 29, 2000 issue of USA Today, it was reported that 1-800 Contacts was acquired in the mid 1990’s for $163,000 paid over 5 years.

Can you own a vanity number? No. Toll-free numbers, and all phone numbers in general, are not physical assets that can not be owned per se. Even if you have a trademark on a vanity number, the trademark in the eyes of the government does not give you "ownership" of the number itself on which the vanity concept is based. All toll-free numbers are ultimately controlled by the North American Numbering Plan (NANPA) which is a government agency established by the FCC to control the introduction of new toll-free and local area codes and exchanges. The users of toll-free numbers are granted a "license" to use the number for as long as they desire providing they fulfill their payment and contractual obligations with their 800 carrier and adhere to and obey all FCC regulations regarding 800 use. This issue is a constant source of litigation and debate and is currently being re-evaluated by the FCC. 

How do toll-free numbers work? Since toll-free numbers are non-geographic in nature and transfer payment responsibility from the caller to the called, a central process must be used to control their distribution and store billing and carrier data. This is done through the SMS800 Database, which is currently managed by Lockheed Martin through a long-term contract with the US government. The SMS800 Database is a central electronic depository for all toll-free numbers that contains information on the Resp Org of each number, the carrier, routing parameters and much more information. When calls are made to toll-free numbers, the local exchange carrier (LEC) uses fast network links to query the SMS800 Database to determine the inter-exchange carrier responsible for billing and carrying the toll-free call. The inter-exchange carrier picks up the call, applies any specific feature functionality as requested by their client, creates a call detail record for billing, and routes the call to the delivery number, trunk ID, or circuit ID to which the toll-free number is programmed to ring. This entire process takes milliseconds and is virtually transparent to the caller.

Vanity Number Awareness

Believe it or not, many of your customers may already assume that your company has a toll-free number and that the number matches your company name. A study conducted by an 800 Adept, Inc. client found that 4% of the respondents of their annual consumer awareness survey, when asked if they knew the company’s toll-free number, said it was 1-800 followed by the company name. This was double the number of respondents who correctly gave the company’s toll-free vanity number!

The same concept holds true for category vanity numbers. Consumers in the market for a particular product or service will often assume (or guess more aptly) that a marketer of that product or service can be reached by calling 1-800 plus the product/service name. 1-800 Contacts is a prime example of this. In the Nov. 29, 2000 issue of USA Today, Jonathan Coon, CEO of 1-800 Contacts stated that they automatically received 2000 new calls per month when they obtained and activated 1-800 Contacts which in turn generated $38,000 in additional sales. Before being obtained by Jonathan Coon’s company, 1-800 Contact was not published and when called, went unanswered. Consumers wanting to purchase contact lens were guessing that a company that sells contact lens would answer 1-800 Contact! This is what makes category numbers so valuable, and at the same time, so difficult and expensive to obtain.