When you think about what you’ve been told regarding online advertising, it’s pretty hard to know what to trust. Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising was supposed to the a great value and drive traffic to your site and make you tons of money. Well, if you did it then you know it works sometimes and sometimes it does not work at all. You also know that it brings in some business, but not so much that you can stop doing all other kinds of advertising. Google is now focusing on “Call Only Campaigns,” that are designed to have people click to call your business from their search.

Google is focusing on Call Only Campaigns because they found that phone calls are worth at least 3x more than clicks to a website. We’ve known this for a long time and agree with this statement, except that our data shows a call is worth 14x more than a click. Here’s why: Besides the most obvious reason of being able to speak with someone and answer their objections on the spot, your likelihood for making the sale or booking an appointment increases as well.

There are a variety of other factors that show the phone is the best way to generate more sales. For example when somebody clicks on your site and fills out an online form, you are then either responding back to them by email, waiting for them to respond in an instant chat, or you’re following up with them by phone based on the information they provided to you in the form. Now if that person doesn’t answer their phone, you leave a voicemail and then they call back. Maybe you miss the call or its after hours. Now you’re not stuck in phone tag mode and you have to allocate your resources to reaching out to this lead. All this effort and money could have been saved by just directing them to the phone, answering the call when it came in and talking to the client at that moment. Not only would you not have to put the resources into trying to contact them, but you would have already made a sale if you would have just spoke to them. A person who calls into a business is three times more likely to make purchase or book an appointment vs an online lead. Another way to say that is “people who call a business buy faster.”

So now Google wants to push their call only campaigns like it’s a new idea, but we’ve been saying this for a long time. Customers should be able to click on the ad and call you, and they should be able to see your number in your ad. That number should be a vanity number.  The reason it should be a vanity number is that a person clicking your ad may not remember how to find you a 2nd time around. Just clicking and calling doesn’t guarantee they’ll remember how to reach you. If they have to search for you and click your ad again then maybe you’re paying for the click to call twice .

If they just remembered your number you would not have to pay for that second click . You want to drive people to the phone, you want them to refer you, and you need something that’s as simple as pie in order to accomplish this. That’s why a vanity number is so effective. If you need a drywall contractor and you ask your friend and they simply tell you to call 1-800 Drywall, what could be easier? Nothing .

On a final note, if the customer clicks your ad and calls your business, then uses their call log to call you back at a later time Google does not track that second call, only the initial one. With Ignition and our vanity numbers, every call is tracked and recorded.

Hybrid phone number. Partial vanity. Whatever you call them, business phone numbers that mix letters and words are BAD for sales. Numbers like 888-423-PAIN just don’t work, and produce far worse results than just using a regular phone number. 800-HURT-911 and 866-4-Cookies are the rare exception, can you think of any other variations like these?

Just look at the photo below. Not only is the toll free number totally confusing, but they include another number immediately below it, making it even more difficult for the person trying to read it. Investing in a high quality toll free business line is essential to your brand and your bottom line. You don’t want your customers to remember the competition.

Often is the case that someone will try to make their marketing more effective but what ends up happening is the opposite. Here are some examples that we’ve documented to show you what we’re referring to.

Here’s an examples of something truly confusing to consumers, trying to create a vanity phone number by using the numbers in the area code. The company above is using an 877 toll-free phone number and trying to use the last 7 of the area code as an “S”. Consumers just don’t understand these numbers and it make dialing them very confusing.

The above is actually a great example of very good business phone number next to a very bad one. Enterprise obviously invested in their main phone number, 1-800-RENT-A-TRUCK, but was not as concerned about the number used to sell their trucks, 1-877-4-trk-sales. It is pretty clear which number is better, but you won’t believe the difference it actually makes. A bad partial or hybrid number like 4-trk-sales can result in 70% or more fewer calls, and that equates to a staggering loss in sales. The rules here are simple – complete phrases only: no abbreviations.

The last two images are two examples of perfect vanity numbers. Easy to spell and direct. If you have questions or would like to learn more about good vs bad numbers gives us call.

Vanity numbers are common sense marketing tools. In order for them to work you need to include them in your marketing and in your business. Our friends at Taylor Door understand this. That’s why they are one of the most successful Door companies in Metro Detroit.  They’ve have had their vanity number for years and continue to have success because they’ve made it part of their brand. Everybody knows Taylor Door’s number in Metro Detroit.  Check them out at www.800-newdoor.com