Toll-free Numbers in Magazine Advertising

Introduction

The use of toll-free numbers as a response mechanism in advertising continues to grow. In the 30 years since the toll-free 800 number was first introduced, the telemarketing industry has grown from seven million calls in 1967 to over 34 billion in 1997⁵. In 1997, this amounted to $157 billion in goods and services being traded over toll-free lines⁶.

Researchers have found that a properly managed toll-free number offers three principal benefits to a company: improved customer satisfaction, leading to brand loyalty and increased sales; reduced customer service costs; and increased customer information, leading to improved product/service design, production, and delivery^7,8. All of these factors relate to building strong, long-term relationships with customers while keeping costs low.

Consumers have incorporated toll-free numbers into their daily activities and use them for everything from ordering products to making financial transactions. Toll-free numbers are free, easy to remember, convenient, and simple to access. Researchers have found that over 50% of consumers use toll-free numbers frequently, while only 3% never use them⁹. Overall, 89% of consumers use them¹⁰, with one-third of Americans making 60 or more toll-free calls per year¹¹. Toll-free numbers have achieved a high level of acceptance with a broad range of consumers in many areas of the marketplace — consumers have even begun to expect organizations to have a toll-free number¹². Ten years ago, only half of the nation’s largest firms offered toll-free numbers; today, nearly 90% do. Large businesses receive about 3,500 toll-free calls a week, compared with 260 letters or faxes¹³.

As companies continue decreasing their marketing and sales costs through the integration of technology into their relationships with customers, toll-free numbers will become an ever bigger part of satisfying both parties.

Objectives

This study documents the use of toll-free numbers in consumer magazine advertisements. Our objective was to see how prevalent their use has become in this medium. Also, we wanted to learn which toll-free prefixes were being used (800, 888, or 877).

We also wanted to determine:

• Types of magazines in which toll-free numbers are used
• Industries using toll-free numbers
• Preferred sizes of advertisements using toll-free numbers
• Prevalence of Internet addresses and other forms of direct response in advertisements

Methodology

Magazines were studied for their advertising content. For the purposes of this study, the following types of magazines were analyzed:

This yielded a total of 4,066 magazine advertisements.

An independent contractor reviewed the magazines, collecting the information required for the analysis. The data was then tabulated and compiled by an independent information systems contractor.

For each advertisement, the following data were collected:

• Phone number
• Product/Industry
• Prefix (800/888/877/900/Local)
• Prominence of phone number display
• Internet address
• Prominence of Internet address display
• Other direct response mechanisms
• Size of ad
• Premium location
• Magazine type
• Advertiser

Published March 16, 1999
Copyright © 1999, 800 Response. All rights reserved.

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