References | Phonewords – Your most valuable marketing weapon
REFERENCES
Phonewords have already achieved massive popularity in North America (the USA and Canada), and have recently also enjoyed rapid and extensive expansion in Australia. The trend is currently rapidly developing in several European countries.
In Spain, companies such as Grupo Telefonica de Espana, Repsol Butano, ING Car Lease, and Clickair have already started using their Phonewords, while in Norway, companies such as ISS, Fortum and Shell are also underway with theirs. In Sweden, Hyrbilen, Skanska and Choice Hotels were quick to get in on the act, while in Poland we see that Nordea Bank was quick off the mark in getting hold of its own Phoneword.
Phonewords have for many decades been a very visible concept in the USA and Canada, where most of the major companies are enthusiastic users. In North America, in the early 1980’s, agreement was reached regarding a standard keypad, on which the different alphabetic characters were located on the identical location on every telephone. This decision was crucial if exploitation of the concept was to expand. In addition, the monopoly was removed from the market so that numbers became more easily available.
In Europe and the rest of the world, agreement regarding keypad standardisation was not reached until the year 2000. Such a decision was vital for the introduction of the concept. In addition, there were outstanding problems linked to telecommunications monopolies as monopoly companies showed little enthusiasm for various new solutions. Since year 2000 a gradual deregulation has occurred in several different countries and accessibility has been improved.
In recent years, perhaps the best global example of a successful Phonewords is that of the Australian 1300 HOME LOAN (where 1300 corresponds to the Spanish 902). This number was bought at an auction during the autumn of 2004 for a little over Euro 250,-. At that time Phonewords were almost unknown in Australia. In August 2007 the number was sold for AUD 1.2 million (the equivalent of approximately Euro 750.000,-). The value had thus increased 3000 fold in less than 3 years, and the buyer was convinced that he had maid a bargain!
In Norway, in February 2008, a population survey was conducted by the market research analysts Synovate which demonstrated how poor people are at remembering numeric telephone numbers. A large number of people were asked if they knew the telephone numbers of the largest banks, insurance companies, electrical utility companies, cable and mobile telephone companies. The results revealed that normally only between 0 and 2% managed to answer correctly – and these were well-established companies conducting extensive advertising campaigns incorporating extensive promotion of their numbers. Even for companies with almost 50% of market share, the survey demonstrated that less than 10% of their own clients could remember their number! Of course, their contact numbers would not be expected to be prominent in the minds of potential new customers.
In the USA, so-called “vanity numbers” are now in widespread use. Surveys conducted by the Response Marketing Group reveal the following:
43% of the Fortune 500 (the 500 largest American companies) use a Phoneword
55% of the companies listed in the Fortune 500’s financial services sector used a Phoneword
34% of companies listed in the Fortune 500’s energy sector used a Phoneword
46% of companies listed in the Fortune 500’s computing sector used a Phoneword
30% of companies listed in the Fortune 500’s insurance services sector used a Phoneword
It is worth noting that American numbers must have a minimum of 7 alphabetic characters, a factor which has made it difficult to find suitable Phonewords for companies with short names. Nevertheless, this has not discouraged extensive use of these numbers.
Surveys also reveal that 79% of all 15-second radio advertisements in the USA incorporate Phonewords. This is because experiments have shown that 58% of people remembered a Phoneword after only a single radio exposure, whereas only 8% of respondents correctly recalled a numeric telephone number .
An experiment was recently conducted in Australia in which a Phoneword and a standard numeric number were incorporated side by side in otherwise identical radio and TV adverts as part of a marketing campaign. On average, advertisements incorporating Phonewords generated a response three times (290% to be exact) greater than those incorporating the standard numeric number (Source: Roy Morgan Research).
Other, comparable, research data have shown that Phonewords have performed even better than this:
Published July 31, 2001
Copyright © 2001, 800 Response. All rights reserved
1-800-Vanity Number on Radio Gets 14x More Calls Than a Numeric
- IBC Toll Free News- January 20, 1999
Vanity phone numbers dramatically increase advertising response rates, according to a new study. The results of this study are overwhelming evidence that vanity numbers are truly indispensable.
Burlington, VT US - (ICB TOLL FREE NEWS) Vanity phone numbers dramatically increase advertising response rates, according to a new study by Michael J. Motto Advertising in New Providence, NJ. The study found that radio ads with a vanity 800 number drew fourteen times more calls than those with a numeric 800 number.
Vanity numbers are those that translate into words for easy recall.
“The results of this study not only confirm conventional wisdom that vanity numbers draw more calls, they remove even the slightest doubt,” said Sandra Murray, president of Response Marketing Group, Burlington, VT, the marketing firm that provided the shared-use vanity 800 numbers used in the study. Michael Motto, president of Motto Advertising, added, “I’ve always recommended easy-to-remember numbers for my clients, but the results of this study are overwhelming evidence that vanity numbers are truly indispensable.”
The ads were produced for Denville Nissan in Denville, NJ. “It’s very easy for listeners to remember vanity numbers,” said Bobby Bonser, general manager. “They also stick in their minds longer callers heard the number on their way to work and remembered it until they could get to a phone.”
Smart Communication AS