Can you persuade your customers through a number?
The answer to this may be hard. However, one thing is certain - customers are not what they used to be. For example, a recent survey made by ING Direct in the UK has asked people where will they head for the summer holidays this season. Even 40% of the people surveyed said that they are not planning to go on holiday this season.
This brings us to a simple conclusion. Nowadays, it is definitely crazy to set barriers and deter potential customers. But in the same time, it is the exact reason why travel companies are supposedly doing when asking their customers to call the 0845 numbers and make a booking or enquiry.
Also, there was a slight drop in the cost of calls to geographic numbers over the past few years. This has made the 0845 numbers comparatively very expensive. In fact, even the landline calls to such number cost over 10p per minute at any time.
However, a lot of companies take the leap forward and shift from non-geographic 08 numbers to the standard dialing codes. The main idea behind this is to get rid of the hefty charges for every customer and getting a positive feedback from every call.
It's simple - customers prefer calling the standard (and cheaper) option over 0845 numbers. In fact they value their money more than ever. That is why every company should provide an easy and affordable way to get in touch with its representatives. This can also result in greater credibility on the side of the brand - and higher customer satisfaction on the side of the customer.
If you want to check all the companies that still use the 0845 numbers and consider them as a strong 'No', there is a website for it - 08translate.uk. It serves as a directory of landlines for most of the culprits.
Although gambling, construction, package travel and timeshare, vending machine purchases, telecommunication solutions and some other services still have their right to set a higher price tag on their call services (with 0845 numbers), it is illegal for any business to use a premium rate number for most of their contact numbers.
In the end, we can conclude that the 0845 numbers are one of the things that blocks potential customers to every brand and creates discomfort when contacting the support team. However, if you call a premium-rate number that is incorrectly advertised, you have the right (by law) to be refunded of the charges incurred.
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