0871 numbers good or bad ?

[mrh1275]

i own a mail order business selling musical instruments
and thinking of obtaining an 0871 number..
for telesales..good or bad idea ?
at the moment i use a local number.

[Simpo Two]

Why, so that punters who missed the call and do 1471 will be deterred from calling back due to the cost?

[Aviz]

mrh1275 said:

i own a mail order business selling musical instruments
and thinking of obtaining an 0871 number..
for telesales..good or bad idea ?
at the moment i use a local number.

Unless you;re taking hundreds of calls then not worth putting customers off for the small profit.

Maybe an 0844/0845 number would be better suited ? Allthough, with mobile phones not including any of these in free minutes any more, they have become less appealing.

[Edinburger]

Use a standard geographical number - not freephone, local rate, etc.

I say that because most mobiles and landlines have inclusive minutes or free calls to standard geographical lines. Freephone or local rate numbers will put a lot of people off calling.

Or, if you insist on the 0871 number, at least register the local alternative on saynoto0870.com.

[Mr Overheads]

I would cover all bases - an 0800 for those that use landlines and a Geographic for those that use mobiles to call you.

Perhaps explain your thinking behind getting an 0871 so people can better advise you:
Revenue generation?
Inbound call statistics?
Hiding your geographic location?
Why specifically 0871 and not 0844,0845,0870,0800?

[jon-]

As others have said, not worth it if you rely on inbound calls for business.

We used to use an 0871 for about 3-400 incoming calls daily. It used to bring in a reasonable amount of income (a few grand a month) but the uplift in calls when we switched to our local number more than offset that.

The fact is most people use mobiles with inclusive minutes these days so 0871 numbers are a turn off.

[JustinP1]

mrh1275 said:

i own a mail order business selling musical instruments
and thinking of obtaining an 0871 number..
for telesales..good or bad idea ?
at the moment i use a local number.

Do you make more money by selling instruments than you would getting a few pence off each customer?

[AAT1981]

mrh1275 said:

i own a mail order business selling musical instruments
and thinking of obtaining an 0871 number..
for telesales..good or bad idea ?
at the moment i use a local number.

Use 01/02 geo number, as everyone has ponted out they are included in mobile packages and you can also get call stats on them too. So you can call back customers, if you miss the call......

Also good for marketing purposes, so place a number 0161 xxx xxx in the local paper and monitor the return on advertising.

If you need any numbers/advice PM me I can have you set up in a few hours.

[AAT1981]

p

mrh1275 said:

i own a mail order business selling musical instruments
and thinking of obtaining an 0871 number..
for telesales..good or bad idea ?
at the moment i use a local number.

[mrh1275]

Mr Overheads said:

I would cover all bases - an 0800 for those that use landlines and a Geographic for those that use mobiles to call you.

Perhaps explain your thinking behind getting an 0871 so people can better advise you:





Revenue generation? this is a bonus but only 100-150 calls per day
Inbound call statistics? not required
Hiding your geographic location? yes because i am also based in prague if i could get a divert from an 0844 local rate this would work very well
Why specifically 0871 and not 0844,0845,0870,0800?

..i thought the revenue was higher on 0871 than 0844 etc


after reading all the replies i am thinking an 0871 premium rate number
will put off customers and will be a big mistake!

maybe a local rate number is best 0844 etc
plus an 0844 number gives the impression of a bigger business..
i am a sole trader..

Edited by mrh1275 on Tuesday 28th September 23:09

Edited by mrh1275 on Tuesday 28th September 23:11

[Will_S]

0333 numbers (0300 for charities) might be something you want to consider. Uses inclusive minutes on mobiles, and local rate like 01/02 from a landline.

We use one for national advertising, but still have normal landline numbers for more local stuff. I know I don't like calling 0845's or 0871's especially from a mobile.

[Simpo Two]

mrh1275 said:

plus an 0844 number gives the impression of a bigger business..

Bizarrely (as a customer) I prefer to work with small businesses. However if you're selling to corporates then they do feel more comfortable buying from 'Really Big Inc' than 'Fred Scumbles, 42 Gasworks Street'.

[AAT1981]

mrh1275 said:

Mr Overheads said:

I would cover all bases - an 0800 for those that use landlines and a Geographic for those that use mobiles to call you.

Perhaps explain your thinking behind getting an 0871 so people can better advise you:





Revenue generation? this is a bonus but only 100-150 calls per day
Inbound call statistics? not required
Hiding your geographic location? yes because i am also based in prague if i could get a divert from an 0844 local rate this would work very well
Why specifically 0871 and not 0844,0845,0870,0800?

..i thought the revenue was higher on 0871 than 0844 etc


after reading all the replies i am thinking an 0871 premium rate number
will put off customers and will be a big mistake!

maybe a local rate number is best 0844 etc
plus an 0844 number gives the impression of a bigger business..
i am a sole trader..

If you need a 0845/0844 I can set up in a few hours with you in control within the day to make any changes.

Edited by mrh1275 on Tuesday 28th September 23:09

Edited by mrh1275 on Tuesday 28th September 23:11

[Mr Will]

mrh1275 said:

i thought the revenue was higher on 0871 than 0844 etc

after reading all the replies i am thinking an 0871 premium rate number
will put off customers and will be a big mistake!

maybe a local rate number is best 0844 etc
plus an 0844 number gives the impression of a bigger business..
i am a sole trader..

An 0871 number will cost me 35ppm to call you, so I won't bother and will phone someone else.

An 0844 number will cost me 20ppm to call you, so I still won't bother and someone else will still get the business.

Just have a geographical number. Please.

[jon-]

Mr Will said:

mrh1275 said:

i thought the revenue was higher on 0871 than 0844 etc

after reading all the replies i am thinking an 0871 premium rate number
will put off customers and will be a big mistake!

maybe a local rate number is best 0844 etc
plus an 0844 number gives the impression of a bigger business..
i am a sole trader..

An 0871 number will cost me 35ppm to call you, so I won't bother and will phone someone else.

An 0844 number will cost me 20ppm to call you, so I still won't bother and someone else will still get the business.

Just have a geographical number. Please.

This.

If you REALLY want the perception of size get yourself an 020 number.

[Stu R]

Mr Will said:

An 0871 number will cost me 35ppm to call you, so I won't bother and will phone someone else.

An 0844 number will cost me 20ppm to call you, so I still won't bother and someone else will still get the business.

Just have a geographical number. Please.

This.

I've been canvassing for opinions on this from a load of people lately as I'm trying to get all the telephony stuff sorted for my new business, and without exception everyone is of the opinion that a geographical number is preferable. For bigger businesses, or corporate facing ones an 08xx number is fine, but as this thread goes some way to showing, most people don't like anything that begins in 08, especially when they're paying for it.

For retail at least, I don't think you can go wrong with geographic. If you're wholesaling or you sell to a lot of bigger businesses (which as it's musical instruments I'm taking a wild guess that you're not), I'd probably have both a geo and non-geo number.

Edited by Stu R on Wednesday 29th September 08:22

[ShadownINja]

mrh1275 said:

i own a mail order business selling musical instruments
and thinking of obtaining an 0871 number..
for telesales..good or bad idea ?
at the moment i use a local number.

I only call 0800 and local numbers. Why should I pay to call an 0870/1 or 0845 number if I'm considering giving you money? (Well, that's how my tariffs work on my landline and mobile.)

[ShadownINja]

Stu R said:

For bigger businesses, or corporate facing ones an 08xx number is fine,

No, it isn't. I won't call any 08xx (x!=0) for insurance quotes. They can go fk themselves. I'll take the 0800 any day and let's face it, the 0870 business' quality of service isn't 40p/minute better than an 0800 business.

[Simpo Two]

What really cheeses me is when, on the odd occasion I'm forced to call a premium rate number, and I say 'Before I go any further, can you gve me your real number please so I can talk to you for free, and they say 'We're not allowed to give that out but this is only standard rate sir'. Rage.

[ShadownINja]

http://www.saynoto0870.com/ can be useful or phone one of their various 0800/local numbers and just ask to be put through to their X department.
</king of the tight-fisted gits>

Edited by ShadownINja on Wednesday 29th September 10:54