The FCC defines a vanity number as a telephone number where the letters associated with the number's digits on the telephone spell a name or word of value to the subscriber. A vanity number can spell your company name, personal initials, or special acronym that you select.
Notable vanity numbers:
- 1-800-CALLATT
- 1-800-COLLECT
- 1-800-FLOWERS
According to the FCC: of 7.7 million possible 800 numbers, there were over 300,000 "Vanity Numbers" in use by 1996. The original 800 series toll-free numbers lasted almost 30 years before being exhausted in 1996.
The FCC/SMS introduced the 888 series in 1997. 888 ran low in only 2 years. To meet the demand an 877 series was introduced in 1998. 877 started running low in early 1999. This demand has increased because business owners have discovered that vanity toll-free numbers are reliable marketing tools.
Studies show that "saved ad clippings" and "writing the number down" are the main ways that people remember a telephone number. Therefore, if a person can automatically recall your 800 number then your competitors won’t get phone calls, you will.
Vanity numbers should be considered for marketing messages where the time and space allowed for communicating a phone number is very short, such as Radio, TV, Newspapers, Yard Signs, Vehicle Markings, and Billboards. The need for vanity phone numbers in marketing messages presented in printed materials that have a longer hold time, such as Yellow Pages, direct mail, letterhead, business cards, are more suited for numeric toll-free numbers. However, using the same number in all messages and formats increases repetition and conveys uniformity, which are two important characteristics of good advertising.
