Do 0800 Phone Numbers Work

Do they cost much.

Are they old hat

Should I get one

I use an 0800 number and I'm always being advised to change it, not sure why. 

Obviously depends on how much you get called - I get quite a lot of enquiries per month and my bill is usually around £40-£60 - I'm with Chess Ltd. Andy Howells (Unleash IT) may be a good bet, he could set you up on VOIP i.e. when you're around an internet connection and with a local number of your choosing. 

In my previous company we switched from an 0800 which we had used for 5 years plus, to a normal number and inbound calls increased massively - mainly from people using mobiles....

One problem is that they are not included in bundled calls on a mobile contract.  Ok for landlines but in many cases a geographic number is a better identity nowadays.

I have an 0800 through Ringcentral at £12.99 per month with 300 minutes. It's a good service that allows me to set seperate extensions and redirect those to alternate numbers Handy when I'm away but to be honest most people ring my mobile. My wife actually said the other night she would be put off ringing an 0800 whereas I always thought it would be an incentive? My thinking was that if I had a local number clients would only think I worked in that area.

It is a case of trying it and measuring the results. I tried it and I got the same results as Roger.

As well as being a pain to call from mobiles (a problem I think is going away soon) a lot of B2B clients seem to like calling a geographical number. There is some sort of security in the callers mind that says this company is not hiding behind a number.

B2C Could have totally different results, so as I said try it and measure the results

As stated by others 0800 numbers are not included in mobile contracts generally, so you could be missing out on business.  We had an 0845 number and it wasnt until someone said to me, they wouldnt call it, even though they knew we were local because it didnt indicate where we were based and as such they suspected we were missing out on a lot of business as a result of having a non geographic number.  We have now gone over to VOIP, thanks to Connect IT, through 4N, and our general enquiry calls have increased and we are now getting more landlords calling us.

Seems non geographic may be old hat after all. 

Thank you all for the input. I think I will stay as I am for now.

Due to many calls coming in from mobiles and that many landlines users have free call bundles too Free Phone numbers are best avoided. A local number gives people more confidence to call too.

Just my 2 cents, but I really find 0845/0870 AND 0800 numbers annoying. Well, more of an inconvenience. It's just that the world is becoming more mobile phone reliant and a lot of mobiles charge you or don't even allow you to ring 0800 numbers.

Plus, I personally feel happier ringing a normal landline number than an 0800 one as it's a bit more personal. 0800 just implies you're going straight to a call centre in Mumbai! But hey, everyone's different.

Interesting!

As someone who deals with 0800 numbers, I've heard a couple of times from people in the industry that they increase enquiry calls by at least 40%.

Personally, I do prefer seeing a landline instead of an 0800 number though. It feels more... 'honest'. Open, real, whatever you want to call it - I prefer it. From this thread though it looks like I'm in the majority, at least amongst 4Ners.

Another idea - I've seen adverts with a landline and an 0800. I like those, because you know where they're based and you have the option to call them for free. Best of both worlds?

I like the idea of having both, but Nigel Botterill is adamant that 0800 are useless. So I have to agree with him seeing as he's built 8 multi million pound business from scratch!

His marketing seminars are very useful!

If 0800 numbers do not work why are people still using them.

May be the best idea is to list both.

I know when I shop around for car insurace i use the 0800 numbers.