How to Effectively Use Direct-Response Tools in Ad Campaigns

Using multiple response tools allows for optimal lead generation by the advertising business, and therefore success in growing their business.

Here is an overview of the benefits of several response tools, and how they’ll improve campaign performance:

1. Phone Numbers: The original direct response method and one that is still very much alive today. That said, there are many different types of phone numbers now available. And not all of these phone number types perform well in advertising. A vanity 800 number is the strongest tool in terms of being remembered by customers, and in turn generates more leads.

In June 2011, an independent survey of over one thousand consumers tested recall of vanity 800 numbers, numeric toll-free numbers, and URLs in advertising. The study data shows that consumers have a 75.4 percent average higher recall for a vanity number over a numeric phone number. Vanity 800 numbers, like numeric toll-free numbers, provide businesses with critical call data via call tracking systems, but vanity 800 numbers are better at building strong credibility and brand image for a business. Think of the companies you know of that use a vanity 800 number, 1-800-GOT-JUNK®, 1-800-FLOWERS®, 1-800-CONTACTS®. These successful businesses have built impressive reputations all around their vanity 800 numbers.

It is, however, common to see businesses advertising a numeric toll-free phone number. This may be because they could not obtain a vanity toll-free number. Either way, a ten-digit numeric toll-free number can be effective at tracking leads, but it is not as easily remembered by customers, nor as effective as a vanity 800 number at generating leads.

For businesses that do not spend a lot of money on advertising – typically smaller businesses – using a local phone number on marketing materials can be effective. In rural areas, where competition is less intense, a local business using a local phone number may resonate with their local customers. For larger businesses, or those in more competitive markets, it is not always the best response tool. Today, when a business lists their local phone number, they most often have to include the area code as well, making it a full ten-digit phone number, which is nearly impossible for people to recall when they need to. In fact, the research shows that when presented with two options, a ten-digit local phone number or a vanity 800 toll-free phone number, 57 percent of respondents stated that they would prefer to dial the vanity 800 number over the local phone number, citing reasons such as “because the vanity number is easier to remember” and “is more professional looking.”

2. Websites: It is undeniable – a company’s website is becoming increasingly important as a resource for their customers, but it is still not always the preferred, or most easily remembered, method of contact for those customers. Infosurv, Inc. research shows that consumers have a 57.6 percent average higher recall for a vanity 800 number than a URL after being exposed to both response tools in advertising.

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Contact us for more information on advertising with vanity 800 numbers, tracking your incoming calls, and monitoring those calls for quality assurance with CallFinder speech-detection.