NEW TOLL FREE STUDY RELEASED

The results show that vanity numbers offer significant advantages to advertisers. After listening to a radio spot only one time, 58% of the subjects could recall a vanity toll-free number. This compared favorably with 'hybrid' numbers (combinations like 800-639-HOME), which were recalled by 44% of subjects, and especially numerics, which only 8% of respondents could remember. The impact of particular toll-free exchanges on number retention was also measured. While 58% of respondents could recall a vanity number using the 800 exchange, numbers from the newer toll-free exchanges - 888, 877, 866 - could be recalled by only 41% of the subjects of the study.

'Telephone Number Recall in Radio Advertising' also measured consumers' recognition of the 800, 888, 877, and 866 exchanges as 'toll-free'. While 95% of subjects recognized the 800 exchange as toll-free, this trailed off for the newer toll-free exchanges. The 888 exchange, which has been in use the longest of the three new exchanges, was still not recognized as toll-free by 20% of the subjects. Recognition diminished dramatically for the newer exchanges - '877' was not recognized as toll-free by 67% of subjects, and 82% did not recognize '866' as toll-free.

"This is a groundbreaking piece of research," said Laura Noonan, Vice President of Marketing at Response Marketing Group. "From our own experience, we know that people hear 'toll-free' and instinctively dial '800', even when the number uses one of the newer toll free exchanges. We also wanted to quantify how people retain numeric, hybrid, and vanity numbers in a real world, advertising context. This is the first study that specifically examines these questions, and the findings are of considerable interest to anyone using vanity and toll-free numbers as direct response tools."

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