Vanity Numbers:
In the present competitive business world, there are a number of producers for every product and service that is conceivable. Hence for the commercial organizations, various advertising media and innovative marketing techniques play a prominent role in determining their market share. Marketing professionals, aided by rapid advancements in the field of telecommunications are always on look out for innovative ways that can have an ever lasting impression of the brand in the minds of the people so that whenever the need arises to buy the product/service, customers recall that brand with ease. The usual practice adopted to achieve this objective has been to use catchy slogans, promotional competitions and present personalities from the world of sports and entertainment as brand ambassadors. All these methods help customers recall the brand name of the company in course of their buying process even in the presence of other competing brands. However, the effectiveness of any advertisement is commonly measured in terms of volume of sales turnover and customers would like to make an informed decision regarding the features of the product, its price and durability and relative merits of different brands before finalizing the brand of the product to be bought.
Toll free numbers have become indispensable for consumers spread across diverse locations to contact the company. They are not only a convenient and cost free to the caller for making enquiries about the product but also help in getting official assistance whenever any malfunctioning is noticed after buying the product. The difficulty however is that it is cumbersome to remember eight or ten digits of this number and also there arises confusion in the presence of toll-free numbers of the competing brands. Hence, along with toll-free numbers, vanity numbers are becoming widely prevalent with the companies. Unlike a toll-free number which consists of only the digits, a vanity number is a combination of digits and words i.e., it is alphanumeric. The words denote a particular purpose for which the vanity number is being used. For instance, a toll- free number is of the form 1 800 265 5893 where as a vanity number is of the form 1 800 CARLOAN, 1 800 FLOWERS etc. By looking at these number one can easily guess that these numbers can be used to make customer calls to the companies dealing with car loans or selling flowers.