What are Premium Phone Numbers & Their Use?
Whether you are a start-up or an established enterprise, connecting with your customers is integral for acquiring and retaining business. While there are many marketing and communications strategies at your fingertips, phone calls remain an essential tool for your outreach efforts.
Premium phone numbers offer an easy yet effective way to make a memorable first impression. Having a distinct and recognisable business phone number establishes brand recognition, helping to separate your business from competitors and therefore, drive higher ROI on your marketing efforts.
What are Premium Rate Phone Numbers?
Generally, a premium number is made up of memorable or auspicious combinations, personal to your business and distinct from other standard national numbers. Meaning? You’ll be the first business a customer calls!
How to Use a Premium Phone Number
A memorable number has many advantageous uses for a business’s advertising campaigns and is straightforward to set up with the support of the right service provider. It involves several simple steps – largely involving acquiring the number and leveraging it for your services.
1. Select a Phone Number Provider
The first step in the process is to select a telecommunications provider that offers a premium number.
Businesses can purchase a new premium number through the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). However, the benefit of buying your own number through providers like Teleca is that they will offer the crucial support businesses need when obtaining a premium phone number for the first time. Additionally, different telecommunications providers have different policies and fees for acquiring a premium number, so you can choose the one that is most suited to your needs and budget.
Finally, providers can help streamline the process, provide guidance and handle the heavy lifting when it comes to buying the number and synching it to your business.
2. Buy a Premium Phone Number
One of the most appealing features of premium numbers is their memorability. Generally, premium numbers prompt higher recall rates as they typically use number sequences that are easy to remember or have a strong association with your brand.
In the early stages, dedicate time to researching if the provider you are utilising has your desired combination on offer, what levels of customisation they allow and how much it is going to cost your business to set up. Be mindful that the cost structure varies between a 1300 number and a 1800 number, which is the main distinction. While 1300 numbers charge the caller the cost of a local call – which may be higher if the call was made on mobile – 1800 numbers are considered “toll-free” in that the business will cover the cost of the call. 1800 numbers are often preferred by businesses expecting or encouraging a high volume of calls.
Many providers will offer different plans at different price points so that you can choose a plan that aligns with your business and budget.
3. Add Call Features
A lot of providers include standard call features as part of their premium phone number packages, including:
Announcement message: Introduce your business via a pre-recorded message, and play your desired message at whatever stage of the routing configuration you choose.
Voice to email: Get recorded messages sent as emails, along with caller ID, call info time/date and allocated name so that you never miss a message.
Time of day routing: Set patterns or rules for different days of the week or times of the day. For example, set Monday-Friday between 9am-5pm to ring through to mobile while all other times to convert voice to email.
Interactive voice response (IVR): Enable your customers to pick Option 1 or Option 2 with custom recordings.
However, businesses can also opt-in to additional call features for a small fee. These include features such as advanced call analytics to provide actionable insights into your customers’ call behaviours, missed calls and so on.
4. Set Up & Activate Your Business Phone Number
Once you have completed the above steps, setting up and activating your business phone number is relatively straightforward – especially when you have a phone provider like Teleca to support you through the process. Simply fill in the type form with your details, and you number will be up and running in just a few clicks.
5. Optimise Customer Experience & Internal Operations
Ultimately, businesses can leverage premium phone numbers to help optimise the customer experience or streamline internal operations.
1300 or 1800 phone numbers give callers heightened access – free or otherwise – to businesses which in turn, can nurture new customers and foster satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally, with features like call routing, premium phone numbers can streamline call distribution, reduce wait times, and improve efficiency overall.
Benefits of Premium Phone Numbers For Your Business
There are many internal and external benefits of premium phone numbers for your business, including:
Brand Recognition
When a premium number is easy to remember or contains words related to the business, this helps build a strong brand identity. It even drives an increased perception of your business’s professionalism. Both these things compel a caller to reach out.
Increased Call Volume
Customers are more inclined to call up or make inquiries with a business that owns a memorable phone number. This could translate into more sales opportunities down the line.
Streamlined Communications
Not only does a premium phone number drive external outcomes like nurturing customer relationships and brand perception but it also helps streamline internal processes.
Through call features, premium phone numbers can help businesses manage calls more efficiently, ensuring that the right calls get picked up by the right contacts. They can also help centralise numbers by routing all inquiries through to a single number.
Asset Creation
Premium numbers can be sold or leased to other businesses in the future – adding value to the business.
Premium Vs Free Vs Memorable Phone Numbers
Premium, free and memorable phone numbers all share similarities and several key differences, which are summarised in the below table:
| Features | Premium | Free | Memorable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to caller | 1300 - local call cost, 1800 - free to call | 1300 - local call cost 1800 - free to call | 1300 - local call cost 1800 - free to call |
| Cost to business | Calls included in small business plans | Calls included in small business plans | Calls included in small business plans |
| Memorability | Hand-picked Australian premium 1300 numbers | Standard, free, generic type 1300 numbers | Highly memorable 1300 numbers |
| Geographic Flexibility | Not location-specific: often used nationally | Not location-specific: often used nationally | Not location-specific: often used nationally |
Go Premium With Teleca’s Business Numbers
Premium phone numbers are of major benefit to businesses, but leaning on reliable providers like Teleca can expedite the setup process and management of it so that you get the most benefit from it.
With no lock-in contracts, unique plans and Australian-based support, Teleca makes the process of acquiring memorable numbers easy and pain-free. Contact the team today to set up yours in under 5 minutes!
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