Whenever you think of the toll-free number market, you think flowers, contact lenses, or safe autos. But today, many parents are using personal toll free numbers to keep tabs on their kids. Parents worried about their college-bound youngsters are resting better at night with toll-free numbers.

We all know it’s hard to get little Suzy or Johnny to call home everyday, but if the call is free you might have a better chance of hearing that phone ring. While normal cell phone plans were once the popular route, they can be highly expensive.

In fact, research shows that 90 percent of people in the United States are dialing toll-free numbers. Additionally, response rates increase an average of 14 percent when advertisements contain toll-free numbers.

Who are the regular people using toll-free numbers today?

•    Parents and grandparents
•    College students
•    Parents of teens and tweens
•    Military families
•    Frequent travelers
•    Those in a long-distance relationship

Custom Toll Free can design a minute plan that is just right for your special toll free needs. You just might bond with your kids, friends and other loved-ones better. Well, maybe or maybe not, but you WILL save money!

There is more good reason to harness the power of a toll free number: you save customers money. Let’s face it, the economy is first on the minds of consumers. If they have the option of two phone numbers in front of them, they are going to be more apt to call the toll-free one and save money.

There’s even toll free directory assistance. It is accessed by dialing 1-800-555-1212, of course this is a completely free call to make. But not all phone numbers are subscribed to the service. So if you have a toll free number, make it available for customers to look it up through the toll-free assistance service.

To reinforce my point, not all toll-free numbers are listed in the directory, only the ones that subscribe are listed. However, the FCC has a plan in the works to review the promotional aspect and competition among multiple providers, such as directory assistance options for toll-free numbers.

Custom Toll Free can help you learn more about what’s on the toll-free horizon.

Be sure you closely review your minutes and service options when you go with a toll free company. At Custom Toll Free we keep our customers closely abreast of all of their monthly minutes. And by offering a wide variety of minute plans, we can help customers better service their clients, too. 100 minutes per month completely free of charge to all our customers.

Friendly e-mails
Communication is everything in this business. Along with extensive minute plans, Custom Toll Free can supply you with a helpful courtesy email to alert you when getting close to your minute cap. In this hectic world, this is a good idea for those who don’t have time to monitor their minutes and need a little bit of extra help.

For example, you could get an e-mail alert when your calls reach 75 percent of your limit. Then, you can get an additional courtesy e-mail when you reach your per-month limit.

Signature minute plans
A toll free number is not hard to figure out. Really, it works very much like a regular cell phone plan. What toll free number holders have to realize though is that a number won’t work if there are no minutes left on a plan.

But at Custom Toll Free we don’t want anyone to miss a call. That’s why we are able offer a special “automatic minute increases” to our customers. When you go with a custom toll free number, you have an easy way to navigate the minutes used. Always remember to look at the plan options for your phone package. Anytime you want to upgrade, a company should be able to help you navigate what is best and how to do it.

Supposedly the government has been reserving some 855 numbers to be able to deal with the toll-free number shortage. This is meant to help resolve the dwindling supply of 800 numbers. Only the 855 numbers have not been made available yet. When they do, you know Custom Toll Free will do what we can to help clients access these new numbers.

Consumers should harness an 800 without haste. Here are some good reasons to secure an 800 toll-free number:

•    Increased sales and fewer missed calls
•    A great marketing tool
•    Added word-of-mouth referrals
•    A decrease in item returns
•    Ensure vanity number availability

Learn how Custom Toll Free can help secure effective numbers.

800 numbers and notification e-mails
Today, “toll-free” has become a comprehensive service. When a business goes with a service provider or a toll-free company, they can monitor things like usage with call notification emails.

Monitor your toll free number via automatic e-mail notification systems. Many of our clients here at Custom Toll Free decide to go this route. Especially if they want to monitor things such as caller ID and the time of day the call comes through.

Going the toll-free route takes more forethought than simply getting a good vanity number. Let us help you.

Available 800 numbers are on the decline. That being said, there has never been a more urgent need for companies to get 800s if they have not already. It’s been over a decade since the federal government tried to help bolster the supply of toll free numbers. In fact, 800 numbers seem to be hard to come by, and it might be getting worse. Over the years the government has tried to safeguard 800 numbers in various ways.

Not so long ago, 866 saved the day
We all remember when 877 or 866 prefixes were the new digits on the block. With the technology boom and the expanding role of Internet (the emergence of matching vanity numbers with domain names) those newer digits slowly became in short supply as well.

Consumers may or may not know that The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does have a plan in place for solving 800 numbers from becoming extinct.

While the remaining 800, 888, 866 and 877 become less and less available, phone companies and consumers feel the pain. This could have far-reaching implications on new and existing businesses and how they communicate with customers and clients. Many companies have come to realize that their toll-free numbers a seamless way to help market and grow their businesses.

When it seems like you can’t find a good toll free number, let Custom Toll Free help you secure the right one for your business needs (one point of our service is that we DO get numbers that are not available).

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Every week a new group of highly desirable vanity toll-free numbers is released into the marketplace. They’re freed up by companies that may have changed business or gone out of business, as well as by companies that may have been using a number in limited service areas.

With widely applicable word combinations like “man-power” “my-loans” “pizza-joint” and “out-of-debt,” these custom toll-free numbers get snapped up rapidly.

Here’s are just a few of the hot new numbers with toll-free 1-800, 1-888, 1-877, and 1-866 prefixes available at the time this blog post was published.

1-800-HOME-OWNER

1-877 -MAN-POWER

1-888-OUT-OF-DEBT

Please contact  us here at Custom Toll Free to find out more about fresh vanity numbers now available or coming available soon. Or use our toll-free number search tool (also known as reverse number lookup)  to find out the availability of the number you’d like.  Custom Toll Free can notify you if and when that number becomes available, or even help get this number assigned to your company.

At last, you’ve got it: Your new vanity toll-free number. It’s catchy and memorable — and powerful. But only if you get it out there where prospective customers can see it. While you certainly have plans to use it in the next big direct marketing campaign you roll out, keep in mind that there are many other ways you can a vanity toll-free number to boost business and improve ROI.

• Update your advertising. Redesign your ads and get new versions to all the publications, websites, and broadcast outlets where you currently advertise.
• Update your printed materials. This includes business cards, envelopes, packaging, invoices, brochures, and signage. It’s amazing how many people may drive by your bricks-and-mortar business every day and not stop in, but who will call as a result of seeing your 1-800 number.
• Update your website. The new custom toll-free number should be prominently displayed on the home page and any sales pages — not buried on the “Contact Us” page or at the very bottom of the web pages.
• Update your phone message. If people who call your current number get a recording (when you are closed, or if they are on hold), take advantage of those recordings to inform them about the new toll-free number. It will make it easier for them to call you next time.
• Explore new types of advertising that are now open to you with an easy-to-remember vanity toll-free number. Those include vehicle signage, t-shirts, and all manner of corporate memorabilia, from mugs to license-plate frames.

When it comes to toll free vanity numbers, you don’t need to mind your P’s and Q’s. What you need to watch out for is the letter “O.” That’s because many people make the mistake of dialing the numeral “zero” instead, and end up either talking to a different company or simply getting frustrated. (In some cases, they’ll wind up reaching a competitor of yours who has snapped up an available toll free number for exactly that reason.)

If your name includes an “O,” you can still make it part of your toll free vanity number. But you’ll want to make sure to secure the version of the number that uses a “zero,” as well.

We know many other insider tricks for setting up the perfect toll free number for your business. Give us a call, or contact us using our comprehensive email form. You can also get started by using our convenient vanity number look-up tool.

No question about it—TV advertising remains one of the best ways to get a time-sensitive marketing message in front of prospective customers. Pair it with a vanity toll free number, and you’re maximizing the chances of a direct response to your campaign.

TV viewers not only see and hear your number—they see and hear it at a time when it’s convenient for them to take action. (This is in contrast to radio and billboard advertising, where the potential customer may be driving a car, in a hurry, or otherwise distracted.)

Yet, since few people watch TV with pen and paper at hand, it helps enormously to use a highly memorable toll free vanity number in your TV ad. It’s no surprise that the proportion of TV ads featuring toll free vanity numbers continues to grow.

A 2005 industry study found that the majority of toll free numbers in TV ads (using the prefixes 800, 866, 877, and 888) are vanity numbers, spelling out words associated with the advertiser’s name or service. Some advertisers claimed that switching from purely numerical toll free number to a vanity number for TV-centric campaigns more than doubled their call volume.

If your business is one of the many bolstering marketing efforts for this holiday season and using TV ads in your campaign, you’ll want to make sure the number you feature is an easy-to-recall vanity number.

Please contact us for more information on getting the perfect toll free number for your business.