The benefits of Premium Rate numbers

At the end of August five councils in the north of England took a hit in the press for the amount which their employees spent on calls to premium rate numbers. Calls to the speaking clock and directory enquiries featured within a total premium rate spend of some £50,000.

In fact these councils are not alone with other local authority and government bodies across the land having been brought to book for similar offences in the last year. Headlines such as these combine to create an entirely negative impression of premium rate numbers. However, used properly, they can also be an important part of a businesses marketing and sales strategy.

Let us say that your company is organising an event. All the information relating to the event may well be found on your web site but certain potential clients require information to be sent via a brochure. Charging clients via a premium rate line for ordering brochures may go some way towards covering the costs of producing the brochure without penalising those people who are happy to find the information on line. Similarly, a premium rate line may help to pay for the costs of running a competition or providing an information or help service.

Providing information via the telephone can come in many forms. For example, you may wish to offer clients sports results, access to special offers or you may run a tipster club. In all of these cases a recorded information line is ideal for providing quick access for clients without the need to employ substantial numbers of staff. Information can be changed as many times as required and can be uploaded via text to speech, over the telephone or by using a voice recording artist. Whichever method is chosen, the use of a premium rate call facility will either subsidise the information or enable the business to make money from the service provided.

One myth about premium rate calls is that they will cost the earth. This is not necessarily true and organisations can set premium rate charges at as little as 10p per call. Options are available to charge either per call or per minute for added flexibility. Setting up a premium rate number is simple with a quick online registration with the regulator PhonepayPlus being the first step.