The best things in life are 03: the difference a free-to-call number can make

Naturally, as a business owner, you want to keep unearthing new ways of saving money here and there and so keeping your operations financially trim, so to say. However, stripping your company to the bone in this respect could wreak havoc on its efficiency – as in the case of phone numbers.

Unfortunately, as a general rule, the less you spend on corporate phone numbers, the more your customers usually have to pay to call them. However, is there any “holy grail” of a phone number that allows you to keep both your company’s financial health and that of its callers in check?

A free-to-call number has obvious appeal

When you want to draw customers to your business, surely a no-brainer approach – though there is a “but” to this, as we will later explain – is to set up what is known as a Freephone number. This is an instantly recognisable term signifying that people can call the number without being charged.

Research bears out the appeal of the 0800 numbers which fall into the “Freephone” bracket. Advertising one of these numbers spurs a 185% increase in responses – hardly surprisingly in light of the statistic that 90% of people recognise these numbers as free to call.

Are there free-to-call alternatives to Freephone numbers?

The reassuring answer is “yes”. Admittedly, it’s initially hard to look past those Freephone numbers when you are eager to attract customers; after all, since 1 July 2015, those digits have been free to call from both landline and mobile phones, due to Ofcom disposing of the previously-imposed mobile charge.

However, if you are strategic and meticulous about which alternative numbers you choose, you can still gain many of the benefits that would be customary with the Freephone counterparts. Consider the example of 03 numbers – which, though not technically free to dial, can be as good as such in practice…

Fortunately, most landline and mobile packages cover, as a matter of course, minutes spent calling 03 numbers. Hence, most of your customers are unlikely to feel the financial pinch when calling an 03 number of your company – especially if they rarely use up all of their monthly minutes anyway.

Even those rare customers whose inclusive minutes packages don’t cover 03 numbers won’t find calling them any costlier than dialling an 01 or 02 number also not covered by their package.

Where 03 isn’t quite… well, free

Still, as 03 numbers can’t quite be dialled free of charge in every single instance, we urge you to carefully read the small print and watch out for the pitfalls, perhaps by checking out our post on how much does it cost to call an 0345 number? That way, you can advertise the number more effectively to potential callers.