Non Geographic Vs Geographic Phone Numbers, Choosing The Best For Your Business

Whether your entire sales process is carried out over the telephone

, or you trade online and simply use the phone for customer service or lead generation, choosing the right phone number for your business is crucial to ensure that you get as many calls from potential customers as possible. You have the choice of using a non geographical number, or many geographic phone numbers, or you could use a combination of the two. Both of them have benefits, as outlined below, so it is a case of deciding which is best for your business needs and for your target customers.

Geographic phone numbers are those with local area dialling codes. For example, phone numbers in Bristol begin 0117, in Manchester 0161 and in London 020. This is then followed by the actual phone number which is unique to each landline. If your phone has the same prefix as the one you want to call you can simply skip this part and dial only the remaining digits. However, to dial a number outside of your local area, or from a mobile, you must first enter the dialling code. A non geographic phone number on the other hand has a set prefix, such as 0800 or 0844, which must be dialled and which can be given to a phone line in any area of the country.

Non geographical numbers have the benefit of appearing more professional, as people are used to seeing big, reputable companies display numbers starting with prefixes such as 0800, 0844 and 0845. It is instantly recognisable as a company number and not as a number that could belong to a member of the general public. It also makes the phone number easier for customers outside of your local area to remember, as they do not need to memorise your local dialling code, only the digits that follow the prefix.

The different non geographic prefixes are charged at different rates. 0800 for example is free, whilst others are charged at a local rate or at an expensive, premium rate. If you opt for an 0800 number, the vast majority of people in the UK recognise this as a free number and they will be more likely to telephone the number if they know that they will not be paying a penny. However, it can be costly for the business to receive calls on an 0800 number, so this is something to take into consideration before making your choice. However, if you expect to receive many calls then an 0800 number can pay for itself.

There is the potential to earn revenue from most non geographic phone numbers if call volumes are high enough. Another great benefit is that call queuing is permitted, allowing you to keep customers on hold if all of your agents are busy, something which is not possible with geographic phone numbers. Whilst you ideally do not want to keep customers on hold for very long, this at least gives you the possibility of retaining potential customers that call during peak times, when they may have simply not called back if they phoned a local number and got the busy tone.

Finally, non geographical phone numbers have the benefit of keeping your advertising costs down because you can show the same phone number on all of your leaflets, brochures, online banners and other adverts, rather than buying multiple local ads with a different phone number on each.

However, that is not to say that geographic phone numbers are all bad. They have plenty of benefits such as making your company appear local to the client, no matter how far away you may actually be. Customers are far more likely to call a local number so if you are based in London but targeting people as far afield as Manchester, using geographic phone numbers with a Manchester prefix can greatly increase your number of calls. Customers may also just feel more comfortable phoning a local number, or may think twice about phoning an 0844 or 0845 number if they are unsure of the cost or believe it to be expensive.

Geographic phone numbers are often easy for local clients to remember however, as they do not need to memorise the prefix as well as the number. They also have the added benefit of allowing you to track online PPC advertising campaigns, for example by assigning a different phone number to different keywords to track which number leads to the highest call through rate. Geographic phone numbers can be very cheap to buy so this need not cost the earth.

To summarise, thanks to phone numbers you have the possibility to make your company appear either more national or more local, so choosing the correct option between a non geographical number and geographic phone numbers is a strategic move that should be weighed up and considered with the utmost importance. Telephone marketing is also a great way to use the phone to improve your business and can help to reduce cart abandonment or increase conversions when done correctly.

by: Sarah Shore

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