Delays in service changes for toll-free numbers are solved — for the moment by: admin, December 7, 2009 We're pleased to report that as of Friday, customer record updates (required for service changes for toll-free numbers) are once again being processed through SMS/800, the central administration system for the toll-free number industry. SMS/800 had announced Nov. 30 that requests from Resp Orgs would not be handled until after Dec. 8. However, on Dec. 1 SMS/800 sent out an second announcement saying that it would resume handling customer record updates on Dec. 4. Both the original long delay, and the later short one, are of great concern to us. Customer record updates are required before service changes, such as the re-assignment of a toll free number to a new customer, or to a different account, can “go live.” As a rule, these updates happen so quickly that our customers think of them as almost automatic. According to the original announcement from SMS/800, the processing of service changes was being delayed so that four service control points in the AT&T system could be decommissioned and replaced by new service control points. The means, essentially, that AT&T was replacing older, less reliable systems with new systems. “We’re deeply concerned about any halts or slowdowns in the industry infrastructure that could affect our customers and the quality of the service we provide to them,” said Chris Rugh, CEO of Custom Toll Free. “This is a particular problem if the halts are not announced in advance.” “I’m glad to say that service is now restored and customer record updates are being processed speedily,” Rugh said. He added that Custom Toll Free is looking at the steps it can take so that it, and other Resp Orgs handling toll free numbers, will be notified well in advance of any activities that might cause future delays. Read More
Your toll-free number: Six ways get customers to call by: admin, December 6, 2009 In the current economy customers are slower to spend. So now, more than even, marketing messages need to include key phrases that make the customer pick up the phone and call now. That’s why it’s important to tell people in your ads what’s new and different about your product or services — and why they should pick up the phone and dial your toll-free number right away: The two most obvious phrases are: On sale Limited-time offer But there are some other attractive phrases that command attention and inspire action. They include: Overnight delivery More style options in stock New, improved design Free estimate (or free sample) Make sure your toll-free number appears prominently in your ad, paired with your special offer: “Call 1-800-BIZ-NAME today to arrange a free estimate.” “Call 1-800-BIZ-NAME today and your purchase can be delivered to you tomorrow!” Need a distinctive toll-free number that matches your new campaign or product? Get started right away with our Toll Free Number Search. We can also help you get a great customer toll-free number that’s coming available. Read More
How vanity toll-free numbers power outdoor advertising campaigns by: admin, November 22, 2009 One of the fastest-growing segments of marketing communication is outdoor advertising. Traditional billboards are benefitting from fast, lower-cost ink jet printing technologies, and new forms of outdoor ads are proliferating. These include electronic billboards, bus signs and bus wraps, kiosks, giant banners, LED message reader boards, and even taxi tops. Studies of advertisers reveal that they choose billboard ads for their superior abilities to communicate effectively, to attract new customers, and to increase sales. eMarketer Digital Intelligence predicts that US outdoor advertising revenues will rise from the $7.4 billion posted in 2007 to more than $10 billion in 2011. Outdoor advertising is known for being powerful and streamlined. According to the five principles of billboard advertising, you want to keep it simple: convey one strong visual concept about your service or product, add a tagline or call to action, and provide your company name and contact information. One of the best ways to keep it simple and effective is with a vanity toll-free number. In outdoor advertising, a great vanity toll free number does double duty, reinforcing either your company name (1-800-yourname) or your call to action (1-800-buy-sodas). A good example of a vanity number being used as a call to action is the highly successful outdoor ad campaign used by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to advertise a new tip line for reporting illegal animal fighting. The vanity toll free number they chose was 1-877-TIP-HSUS. Get the most out of your outdoor advertising by prominently featuring a strong vanity toll-free number. Custom Toll Free staff can help you acquire a toll-free number that works with your brand, service, or product and takes advantage of the high-impact outdoor ad medium to capture attention and generate response. Find out more about our toll free number search. Read More
Marketing magic: The power of names and numbers by: admin, October 21, 2009 Octane Magazine recently published an article by Custom Toll Free CEO Christopher Rugh with strategies for selecting company names that attract business. Not surprisingly, many of the tips Christopher has for naming a company also apply when you’re selecting a vanity toll-free number. As you look for a number, aim for one that meets one of these criteria: Easy to pronounce. This is particularly important if you will be using radio and television advertising. Plus, easy-to-pronounce words are easier for people to remember. If your business name is difficult to pronounce, consider choose a vanity toll free number than focuses on your product or services instead. An example: 1-888-Pet-Walks. Easy to visualize. People are far more likely to remember a business concept that they can “see.” Think 1-888-Red-Paint. Or 1-866-Big-Boat. Distinctive. In recent years, there has been a trend in the technology and consumer products sectors toward colorful “nonsense names” — such as Google, Yahoo, Zappos (shoes) and Talking Rain. The best of these are highly memorable. If your business or service has one of these unique “nonsense” names, you may find yourself way ahead in the vanity toll free number game. Your custom toll free number will not only be memorable — it should be relatively easy to acquire. A toll free number is a key marketing and sales tool, and selecting that number is a major business decision worthy of a strategic approach. We invite you to get started exploring the databank of available toll-free numbers using Custom Toll Free’s powerful automated lookup tool. If you need a more customized approach, or want to inquire about getting a number that is not currently in the available pool, please contact us. At Custom Toll Free, we have experience helping companies find exactly the right vanity toll-free number — and the toll-free services that match their business needs. Read More
The evolution of toll-free services by: admin, July 5, 2009 Let’s start with a little history: Toll-free numbers first appeared in 1960, introduced by the US Post Office. But they really began to change the shape of business calling in 1967, when they were adopted by the old AT & T. In those days, toll-free service was known by the name of IN-WATS (Inward Wide-Area Telephone Service). You might remember hearing someone refer to a “WATS line.” It didn’t take long for major companies to see the advantages of using toll free numbers to make it easy for customers to reach them. Not surprisingly, the early adopters included companies in the hotel and car rental industries. They set up call centers serving customers who were away from home and facing long-distance calling from a relative’s phone, an expensive hotel phone, or a cumbersome public pay phone. Customers loved the convenience, and companies found that toll-free numbers generated substantial ROI. In the 1980s, vanity toll-free numbers (spelling a phoneword like 1-800-COMPANY) appeared on the scene, and companies clamored to get the best numbers. Today some vanity toll-free numbers are valued in the millions. Custom Toll Free has experience in helping businesses select not only a powerful custom toll-free number, but also the toll-free services that best fit your company’s budget and business model. An entire suite of basic services is yours for free when you activate a toll-free number with us. In additional we provide an extensive choice enhanced services including virtual PBX, hunt groups, call announcement, call recording, and VoIP termination. We make the entire process of getting a custom toll-free number convenient and fast. Contact us for more information, or get started researching a vanity toll-free number using our Available Tollfree Number Search. Read More
Radio ads go hand-in-hand with custom toll free numbers by: admin, June 22, 2009 Radio advertising accounts for just under 10 percent of all advertising dollars. It’s effective, universal, and mobile. That’s why many Custom Toll Free clients do direct response marketing over the air waves. The folks at Radio Lounge USA are in the business of producing direct response ads for their clients. They advise companies to make the call to action clear and give listeners a URL or phone number that’s memorable. “If you are driving users to a toll free number, make sure you are not advertising some random ten digits that are difficult to remember. Use vanity phone numbers,” is their advice. Here are a few general tips for using radio advertising with your custom toll free number: Know your audience. Pick stations and time slots that best match your audience demographics. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Once you’ve chosen a particular time slot or show, stick with it. That guarantees enough repetition of your ad and your toll-free number with a particular audience (morning drive time, gardeners, talk show fans) that your information will be remembered. Try “roadblocking.” The term “roadblocking” means running your ads on several stations during the same weeks. Businesstown.com explains why roadblocking can be highly effective. You’ll also find some great advice for successful radio advertising here. Read More
More digits mean more options when choosing a vanity toll free number by: admin, June 16, 2009 Many callers don’t even notice, but there are often extra digits in vanity toll free numbers. Almost all phone systems are trained to ignore the extra digits, so the call will go through even if eight or nine, rather than seven, digits follow the toll-free prefix. Vanity toll-free numbers drive sales by making it easy for consumers to remember your number. While the ideal is to find a seven-letter message that translates to an available seven-letter number, what’s most important is that the message be easy to remember. If using eight or nine letters creates a truly memorable message, you can go for it. 1-888-INSULATE, 1-866-LAWNCARE are examples of eight-letter messages where having the extra letter makes all the difference. You’ll also see an extra digit or two added at the front to differentiate your custom toll-free number, such as 1-877-99-LAWNCARE . Custom Toll Free provides some great tools, including our Available Toll Free Number Search, to help you create memorable vanity numbers. Use words you have in mind, and take a look at some of the alternatives words our tool will suggest for you. You can even adjust your search to generate results that fit the monthly price range you want to pay. Read More
LIMITED TIME OFFER!! – 30 day trial for just $5.00 by: admin, June 10, 2009 Offer Expires 11:59 PM (PST) this Saturday, June 13th. So hurry and get your number today! READ MORE TO FIND OUT HOW! Just $5.00 Activates your number and pays for your first months usage. Simply click on this special search link, your normal monthly fees will be displayed until the final approval page where you will see your $5.00 special price. There’s no better time to try a custom vanity number for your business. Just $5.00, there’s nothing to loose! Read More
5 ways to please callers to your vanity toll free number by: admin, April 25, 2009 One of the best ways to strengthen the power of your vanity toll free number is to use it in all your marketing materials. That includes putting it in your telephone greetings. Think about it: Clients dial “1-888-PET-CARE” and the greeting they get is “Hi, this is Johnson’s Pet Supplies.” But they could be hearing “Hi, you’ve reached 1-888-PET-CARE, Johnson’s Pet Supplies.” This is a no-cost way of helping customers recognize and remember your custom toll free number, increasing the likelihood that they’ll call your business again in the future. Here are five ways to use phone greetings to turn those vanity number calls into sales — and increase customer satisfaction. As often as possible, have a live person answer the phone and present your message during business hours. Studies show that customers expect and prefer it, and it’s the ideal during a sales campaign when you want a sales person to have immediate access to a prospect. After all, studies show that customers who make purchases over the phone order more merchandise, and 95 percent of the time they order more expensive merchandise than customers who are ordering from print or online catalogs. If you are using your toll-free number for non-sales purposes, it’s not as critical that the live person greeting the customer be on your team. A good answering service can handle the caller and then send you a convenient email message. If you need to use recorded messages, be sure to record separate ones for business hours and for after-hours. Why? See tips 3 and 4. When your callers do get a recorded message during business hours, it should mention your 1-800 number and your company identity. Then tell the caller, quickly, how to get to the department they’re calling or the information they want. Example: “Thank you for calling 1-888-PET-CARE, Johnson’s Pet Supplies. A representative will be with you in one minute. If you need to reschedule a delivery for tomorrow, please press 3 for the shipment desk. For all other business, please stay on the line.” The message callers get after hours should (again) reinforce your business identity by mentioning your toll-free number and business name. Then let people know when you’ll be back in the office and what they can do to get a message to you in the meantime. “You’ve reached the after-hours line for 1-888-PET-CARE, Johnson’s Pet Supplies. We’ll be back in the office at 8 a.m. Please call back then, or press 2 to leave a message with our answering service.” If you have a website that allows people to view products or schedules, place orders, or send email, be sure to mention that website in your phone greeting. For some callers, this is a plus. But keep in mind that many callers to your toll-free number prefer to talk directly to a live person. Read More
Prescription for success: custom toll free numbers by: admin, April 17, 2009 Sales, customer service, and survey research — all these departments in your company can boost their effectiveness using toll free numbers. And a vanity toll-free number that helps prospective callers remember your company’s name, services, or products, will have an even greater effect. Quite simply, vanity numbers are easy to remember. A distinctive toll free number, or even a funny toll free number, sticks in people’s minds. Whenever your product or service in mentioned, your custom toll free number is right there with it. The prescription for success is not difficult to follow: While many 10-digit 1-800 numbers are already taken, there are a wealth of great toll free numbers available that begin with the newer prefixes 1-888, 1-877, and 1-866. Check out our Available Tollfree Number Search, and contact us at our own vanity toll free number, 1-800-CUSTOMIZE. We can help you find a memorable, effective number that will maximize your return on investment. Read More
