Eighty-Six Percent of FORTUNE 500 Companies Utilize Toll-free Numbers; 50% of These are Vanity Numbers, Study Finds

    BURLINGTON, Vt.--Nov. 29, 2001--Toll-free numbers are being used by a vast majority of FORTUNE 500(SM) companies; a study released by Response Marketing Group found that 86% of companies on the FORTUNE 500(SM) list utilize toll-free numbers. Of these companies, 50% have a vanity number (numbers that translate into words for easy recall).
    Researchers have found that a properly managed toll-free number offers four principal benefits to a company: it confirms customer service orientation; it reduces customer service costs; it increases customer information; and it overcomes area code confusion. All of these factors relate to building strong, long-term relationships with customers while keeping costs low.
    The study found that the industries on the FORTUNE 500(SM) list utilizing vanity toll-free numbers the most are financial companies (94%), energy companies (82%), computer companies (78%), and insurance providers (75%).
    "Businesses pay attention to the innovative ways in which FORTUNE 500(SM) companies do business," remarked Laura Noonan, Vice President of Marketing at Response Marketing Group. "Smaller companies can utilize this study, and FORTUNE 500(SM) companies' usage of toll-free numbers, as a way to better respond to their customers' needs and subsequently, improve and grow their business."
    The 800 prefix, which was introduced in 1967, is the preferred choice of toll-free numbers over newer prefixes (877, 866, etc.). Ninety-three percent of companies FORTUNE 500(SM) with a toll-free number have an 800 prefix. The 800 number will continue to dominate, as consumers have been familiar with it for 30 years.
    Conducting an advertising campaign around a vanity toll-free number, as in the case of 1-800-CALL-ATT, can be extremely beneficial to a company as the repetition of the number further engrains it into the consumer's mind. It can also serve the duel purpose of driving traffic to the website, as 1-800-WWW-DELL does.
    The study, Toll-free Numbers on the Internet: FORTUNE 500(SM) Companies entailed research of FORTUNE 500(SM) companies' websites to compile toll-free numbers found in any area related to a specific company.

    Response Marketing Group, based in Burlington, Vermont, specializes in direct response marketing. Principals at Response have over 30 years of experience in the industry and have been featured in major industry publications, including Advertising Age, DM News, and Entrepreneur, as authors and subjects of articles on direct marketing and innovative ways for businesses to market their products and services.