0845 or 0333

[king arthur]

For a business providing a service mainly to other businesses but probably also private customers now and then. Which would you choose right now? Does it make a lot of difference?

[surveyor]

A timely post.

I run a business that attracts business from the t'internet. A lot of people call our 0845 number, but I wonder whether I should not go to a few choice geographic or even 0800.

Was not an issue 10 years. Now, I think it might be.

[nyt]

Don't most cellular providers charge to call 0800/0845 and most people can call geographic numbers free with their inclusive minutes.

Mind you, my dad always hunts out 0800s for his landline.

[Hoofy]

0845 might look professional but it's just as poorly regarded as 0870 and 090 from many consumers. If you're primarily marketing to businesses, then they won't care.

If your business is mainly B2C then have a proper local number eg 020, or buy an 0800 ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33330163 ).

I'm in B2C and would never rent an 0845 or 0870 number.

[mcflurry]

Definitely an 03 number IMHO - they are included in "free" mobile minutes whereas an 084 number costs the 7p a minute to you, plus my phone companies 10p, making it a premium number.

[MrReg]

Neither.
Geographic number all day long for me.

[DSLiverpool]

Hoofy said:

0845 might look professional but it's just as poorly regarded as 0870 and 090 from many consumers. If you're primarily marketing to businesses, then they won't care.

If your business is mainly B2C then have a proper local number eg 020, or buy an 0800 ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33330163 ).

I'm in B2C and would never rent an 0845 or 0870 number.

This times 100, whilst 0333 is cheap etc people are suspicious of anything not 0800, nowadays there are too many 03 / 08 / 07 and people worry.

I suggest you put Zopim live help on your site, make it easy for people to contact you.

[king arthur]

This business will be a nationwide service so it has to be a non-geo number. The trouble with 0800 is - I don't know the situation for all networks but certainly until recently O2 would not connect it and instead you would get a message asking you to redial without the leading '0', whereupon you got charged for the call. Which is why I'm leaning towards 0333 at the moment, I'm just wondering if enough people understand what it is.

[Hoofy]

king arthur said:

I'm just wondering if enough people understand what it is.

Definitely not. There'll be one of three types of people
1) They know what it is and know it's covered by their package.
2) They won't know what it is, will google and come back to call.
3) They won't know what it is and will google a competitor.

I suspect most will be (3).

[truck71]

Hoofy said:

Definitely not. There'll be one of three types of people
1) They know what it is and know it's covered by their package.
2) They won't know what it is, will google and come back to call.
3) They won't know what it is and will google a competitor.

I suspect most will be (3).

This. I avoid anything that isn't geographic unless I absolutely have to- too confusing. I'm also;
1) suspicious as to why a business would want to hide their location.
2) put off that non geographic numbers will lead me to a centralised customer call centre- the worst perception of them all!

Edited by truck71 on Tuesday 24th November 08:50

[Mr Overheads]

0800 numbers are now FREE from mobiles
Other 08 numbers have gone up massively in price from the 1st July since OFCOM changed the regulations.

I've analysed 08 calls pre and post 1st July for about 10 different providers and the average increase is 230% for 0845 and 320% for 0871

So from the OP's point of view 0800's will start to come back into use and the consumer will re-learn they are now free from mobiles in time. So go for an 0800 and a normal 01/02 to give consumers a choice.

[bad company]

I would go for the 03 number.

I have never called an 0845, 0844 or 0870 number. If I can't find an alternative on 'Say No To 0870' I go elsewhere.

When I owned a company I made sure that we also did not call these very expensive numbers.

[Simpo Two]

king arthur said:

Definitely not. There'll be one of three types of people
1) They know what it is and know it's covered by their package.
2) They won't know what it is, will google and come back to call.
3) They won't know what it is and will google a competitor.

I suspect most will be (3).

I know 0845 is free in my calling package but the first time I saw 0333 I was suspicious - because premium numbers keep changing as people learn to recognise/avoid them. It turned out that that one (Environment Agency) was indeed free to call - but I remain suspicous of others. I ask myself why they would use an unknown prefix instead of a known one.

If as you say they are free to call from mobiles and 0845 are not, then it makes more sense, but I didn't know that until just now.

[Deisel Weisel]

bad company said:

I would go for the 03 number.

I have never called an 0845, 0844 or 0870 number. If I can't find an alternative on 'Say No To 0870' I go elsewhere.

When I owned a company I made sure that we also did not call these very expensive numbers.

Very expensive? I always thought 0870 was about 8ppm to call, maybe that esculates rapidly when calling on a mobile. Otherwise I've never really understood this 'Say No To 0870' paranoia.

[Hoofy]

Deisel Weisel said:

bad company said:

I would go for the 03 number.

I have never called an 0845, 0844 or 0870 number. If I can't find an alternative on 'Say No To 0870' I go elsewhere.

When I owned a company I made sure that we also did not call these very expensive numbers.

Very expensive? I always thought 0870 was about 8ppm to call, maybe that esculates rapidly when calling on a mobile. Otherwise I've never really understood this 'Say No To 0870' paranoia.

Please hold while one of our agents becomes available. You are 25th in queue. Your call is important to us.
10 minutes later.
Please hold while one of our agents becomes available. You are 25th in queue. Your call is important to us.

Annoying enough when it's free. Utterly frustrating when you're paying for the pleasure. Well, I suppose it's fine if you run an anger management business as you can really make sure a customer is angry.

[bad company]

Deisel Weisel said:

Very expensive? I always thought 0870 was about 8ppm to call, maybe that esculates rapidly when calling on a mobile. Otherwise I've never really understood this 'Say No To 0870' paranoia.

Friday last week Mrs BC needed to call a company with an 0844 number. The call lasted 38 minutes so the cost would have been 38 x 5.1p per minute = £1.94 plus 15 connection fee, total £2.09. I found an alternative number on the Say No site so the call was free as included in our BT calling plan.

Paranoia if you like but I have saved a lot over the years by refusing to call premium rate numbers.

[king arthur]

truck71 said:

This. I avoid anything that isn't geographic unless I absolutely have to- too confusing. I'm also;
1) suspicious as to why a business would want to hide their location.
2) put off that non geographic numbers will lead me to a centralised customer call centre- the worst perception of them all!

Edited by truck71 on Tuesday 24th November 08:50

Think of a breakdown service. That isn't the service I'm providing but it's a good example - if you were stuck in Yorkshire would you call a breakdown service with an '020' number or one with a non-geo number? Your immediate assumption might be that the one with the London number is based in London and therefore may not be able to help you.

I didn't know 0800 is now free from all mobiles until I read that link. This is getting confusing now!

[Hoofy]

king arthur said:

truck71 said:

This. I avoid anything that isn't geographic unless I absolutely have to- too confusing. I'm also;
1) suspicious as to why a business would want to hide their location.
2) put off that non geographic numbers will lead me to a centralised customer call centre- the worst perception of them all!

Edited by truck71 on Tuesday 24th November 08:50

Think of a breakdown service. That isn't the service I'm providing but it's a good example - if you were stuck in Yorkshire would you call a breakdown service with an '020' number or one with a non-geo number? Your immediate assumption might be that the one with the London number is based in London and therefore may not be able to help you.

I didn't know 0800 is now free from all mobiles until I read that link. This is getting confusing now!

In other words, your business is national. In that case, your only option is 0800.

[All that jazz]

king arthur said:

truck71 said:

This. I avoid anything that isn't geographic unless I absolutely have to- too confusing. I'm also;
1) suspicious as to why a business would want to hide their location.
2) put off that non geographic numbers will lead me to a centralised customer call centre- the worst perception of them all!

Edited by truck71 on Tuesday 24th November 08:50

Think of a breakdown service. That isn't the service I'm providing but it's a good example - if you were stuck in Yorkshire would you call a breakdown service with an '020' number or one with a non-geo number? Your immediate assumption might be that the one with the London number is based in London and therefore may not be able to help you.

I didn't know 0800 is now free from all mobiles until I read that link. This is getting confusing now!

If a breakdown service is your best example then frankly you're worrying about nothing. People won't care what the number is if it gets them out of whatever st they're in.

Like others I won't call 0844, 0845, 0870 or 0871 out of principle. If I can be arsed I'll look at sayno site to see if there's a geographic number but more often than not I'll just go elsewhere.

The message hasn't really got out about 0800 and 0808 numbers yet. I only recently became aware myself that they can be dialled free of charge from mobys now and 0300 and 0333 numbers were also alien to me until recently. I suspect that the majority of the population is still unaware of the situation and will avoid dialling them.

You stated that just about all your business will be B2B with very little (if any) B2C so just use a geo number and stop fretting about it. The only people that look at geo numbers to see if they can pinpoint the location are generally old duffers who are still stuck in the dark ages. The vast majority of people will be more interested in whether the number is included in their "free minutes" and not care that it's not a local number.

[truck71]

king arthur said:

Think of a breakdown service. That isn't the service I'm providing but it's a good example - if you were stuck in Yorkshire would you call a breakdown service with an '020' number or one with a non-geo number? Your immediate assumption might be that the one with the London number is based in London and therefore may not be able to help you.

I didn't know 0800 is now free from all mobiles until I read that link. This is getting confusing now!

I see your point, however most contact via phone will be as a result of a) visiting a website first or b) a number provided by an existing or known organisation. At that point you don't really care about the location of the business as you've either sussed that from the website or know they're national/local etc. What you really care about is not getting charged excessively for making a call and that it will be answered by someone useful.

There was a time (pre internet) when telecommunications were the primary contact medium, its no longer the case; giving a national identity isn't dependent on phone numbers anymore.