Loading...Despite the growth of the Internet over the past seven years, the use of toll-free phone numbers in television advertising continues to grow, indicating that the telephone remains a prevalent response tool, according to a recent study.
The 2005 Toll-free Numbers in Television Advertising study, commissioned by 800response, concluded that 35 per cent of all television commercials feature phone numbers, and 82 per cent of those phone numbers are toll-free.
Furthermore, 74 per cent of the toll-free numbers in television ads use the 800 prefixes. Of the 800 numbers, 61 per cent are “vanity” numbers, meaning they spell out a word or company name.
A similar study conducted in 1998 concluded that 24 per cent of TV commercials displayed toll-free numbers. At that time, just 55 per cent were vanity 800 numbers.
The 2005 study of 5,524 television commercials from four networks in four major markets found that vanity 800 phone numbers are increasingly prevalent in today’s television ads, up approximately 6 per cent.
The 800 prefix remains the leader as a direct response tool over 866, 877 and 888 prefixes. The study found that these prefixes come in far behind the 800 prefixes for usage in television advertising at 6 per cent, 8 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.
“Over the last seven years, advertisers continue to understand that using a unique and memorable mechanism in television advertisements increases their response rates,” said Mitchell Knisbacher, president of 800response, a provider of vanity 800 numbers and toll-free service.
“The two TV studies, over the past seven years, prove that 800 toll-free and vanity number usage in advertising is still strong, and growing.
Advertisers continue to provide their customers with phone numbers so they can make contact with a live person, notwithstanding the spectacular growth of the Web.”
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