Case Study

800 VANITY NUMBERS INCREASE ADVERTISING RESPONSE RATES

Effective use of toll-free numbers can substantially increase advertising response rates. The results of this study, focusing on the use of toll-free numbers in radio advertising, show that an advertisement using a toll-free vanity number (a number that translates into words for easy recall) yields 14 times more phone calls than an advertisement using a toll-free numeric number. Sixty-seven percent of these calls are local calls (originating from the same area code).

Findings
"Vanity" Toll-Free Number "Numeric" Toll-Free Number
Phone Number: ‍800-NEW-WHEELS Phone Number: ‍800-465-7643
Number of Commercials: 33 Number of Commercials: 33
Length of Commercials: 60 Seconds Length of Commercials: 60 Seconds
Ratio of Phone Calls to Numeric: 14 to 1 Ratio of Phone Calls to Vanity: 1 to 14
Percentage of Phone Calls: 93% Percentage of Phone Calls: 7%

Details of Study
Methodology: Commercials were rotated equally throughout the day. Calls were tracked and recorded electronically.
Radio Station: WDHA 105.5 FM - Cedar Knolls, New Jersey
Conducted for: Response Marketing Group - Burlington, Vermont
Conducted by: Michael J. Motto Advertising & Public Relations - Clark, New Jersey
Source: ICB Toll Free News, Judith Oppenheimer