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How Well do Phone Words Work for Business?

How Well do Phone Words Work for Business?

Phone words are increasingly being used by Australian businesses as a means of making phone numbers more memorable for customers. Numbers which use phone words are known as Smart Numbers.

Smart Numbers spell your chosen term – perhaps your business name, product or industry – through the phone keypad, where each number corresponds to a set of letters.

Added on to the prefixes 13, 1300 or 1800, phone words are increasingly being marketed as client boosters guaranteed to help make your business easier for customers to find, and engage with.

So how well do phone words work for business?

  • Making it memorable. Phone words are shown to be up to 5.5 times more memorable than a phone number, according to Roy Morgan Research. This gives potential for a 550% increase in both calls and sales.
  • Words beat numbers. Most people find it easier to remember words and phrases rather than numbers. It’s very hard to recall a mobile number heard on the radio or seen on a tradie’s van while driving home. But hearing or seeing a phone word, eg 1800 FLOWERS, stays easily in the mind.
  • Phone words can increase your advertising response. While ordinary phone numbers work well if potential customers have your printed brochure in front of them, we now live in a virtual world. People are travelling and accessing digital media more than ever before. With this comes an ever-decreasing attention span. You have to make your mark instantly, and a memorable phone word gives you a chance to make that now-or-never grab.
  • Fire up your word of mouth referrals. Phone words are so easy to pass on verbally from friend to friend, and business to business. You will be easy to call because new customers don’t have to look up your number. Personal recommendations are a vital part of any business, and anything which promotes them is valuable.
  • Brand reinforcement. A phone word can be smart and punchy enough to do your advertising for you. Think of 1300 ROOFING or 1800 BAKER. Whatever you pay for your phone word can perhaps be recouped through the money you save on extra ads, because every time a customer uses your phone word to call, your business brand is being reinforced!

Phone words or sequential numbers?

A Smart Number can either use phone words, or easily remembered sequences of numbers. A memorable sequence might be more suitable for your business than a phone word when:

  • Your target market is elderly or does not speak English.
  • Your personal or company name is unusual and open to being misheard or misspelt.
  • The phone words you particularly want have all been taken or are unavailable.

Why not talk to us about the best Smart Number for your business, and open up a new world of possibility!