Most people have heard of vanity license plates. Those are license plates made specifically for an individual. Sometimes they display some version of their name, a nickname, their occupation or hobby. A vanity phone number is somewhat different. The purpose of a vanity phone number is usually not used for these purposes. Most vanity phone numbers are used by businesses or individuals to make their phone number easy to use by spelling out the number with the letters from the corresponding numbers on the phone key pad. For instance, if your phone number has a 222 prefix, your vanity phone number could have an ABC prefix or any other combination of A’s, B’s and C’s.
You may think that having a vanity phone number for yourself or your business is a good idea, and it may be. Let’s look at some of the possible negatives of having a vanity phone number before you make the plunge.
- Your number gives away your name. If you’re an individual, having a vanity phone number that is made from your first name can have some negative ramifications. People who are not ethically inclined and whom you don’t know, can use this information to appear to be an acquaintance for fraudulent purposes.
- Your name gives away your number. In the case where you’d prefer to keep your phone number private, having a vanity phone number could give away your phone number to people you’d prefer didn’t have it.
- Your name is difficult to spell. If you have a name or business name that is difficult to spell, then using this for your phone number may create more problems than it solves. If people can’t remember how to spell your name, they’ll easily dial a wrong number. The intent of the vanity phone number is to make it easy for people to remember the letters. A difficult name to spell defeats this purpose.
- You’re not a business. The majority of vanity phone numbers are purchased by businesses. They are using it as part of the marketing strategy. They want to make their phone number easy to remember and to stand out from the competition. 1-800-FLOWERS is one prime example. It’s easy to remember the number even if you don’t remember the name of the company it belongs to. If you use something similar to this for a personal phone number, it is quite possible that some people may assume that your number is connected to a business when it’s not.
- Cost. Vanity phone numbers are seldom free. It is possible that you may be able to find a phone number in your local prefix that spells what you want for your vanity phone number but most people purchase toll free numbers for the use as vanity numbers. That means that you will be paying for the cost of every call that comes in on that phone number. If you live in Australia, vanity phone numbers can be very expensive to purchase. Some have sold for over a million dollars and many in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
- Assumed website link. Many of the vanity phone numbers are also used for website names as well. This is another additional expense that you may not want to invest in. However it is becoming so common that many people now will assume that if you have a vanity phone number that you will have the domain name to match.
- Impressions. The vanity phone numbers and vanity license plates are labeled as such for a reason. Not very many individuals have vanity phone numbers. You could truly give the impression of vanity if you chose to select one for yourself for no other reason than to be different.
- Are they truly an effective marketing tool? If you are purchasing a vanity phone number for marketing purposes, you need to consider whether the special phone number will really generate enough sales to pay for itself. Would there be more efficient ways to use your marketing budget?
- Tracking the response. This relates back to number 8. The only way to know for sure whether the special phone number is making a difference in your marketing strategy is to track how often it is used and how the client learned about the number. This requires time and time usually costs you money as well.
- Marketing the number. If you purchase a vanity phone number and no one knows about it, it does you no good. So, in addition to the cost of purchasing and tracking the phone numbers use, you will also need to invest money in marketing the number itself. It will need to be prominently displayed on all your marketing materials in order for it to be noticed.
For each individual or business the answer may be different. You will have to way out the positives and negatives before you decide whether getting a vanity phone number or not is the right thing for you to do.
