The government is clamping down on the use of premium rate numbers for after-sales care; but what are the new rules and how will they impact your business?
By David Bell, Digital Marketing Executive at Tripudio Telecom
New regulatory changes enforced by the government are going to force companies to stop using non-geographic 084, 087 and 090 premium rate telephone numbers for post sales customer support; however it does not stop their use of these numbers for general sales lines.
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What does this mean for businesses?
Businesses will no longer be able to use premium rate numbers as a way of generating revenue from callers to offset or subsidise the cost of their operational support and (sometimes outsourced) customer service teams.
Premium rate numbers were often used to dissuade unnecessary calls, for example, a hotel receiving a lot of ‘rate shopper’ enquires, often from rival hotels that don’t actually result in a booking.
What do I do if I have a 084, 087 and 090 premium rate phone number?
Companies using these numbers will need to examine how their current customer service management is set-up.
They may wish to consider using two telephone numbers, where new sales and general enquires still use their existing non-geographic number, but all post sales, returns and customer support enquires use a standard rate number with a 01, 02, 03 prefix, or perhaps a 0800 toll-free number.
A 0800 toll free number would cost my company too much to use, but I still want my business to retain the national presence the non-geographic premium rate number provides. What can I do?
In unison with these forced changes, the UK regulator earlier released new 0300 and 0330 prefixes and these numbers, whilst non-revenue generative, allow your business to retain its national presence as your 01 or 02 area code will not be shown.
When do I need to have my new post-sales telephone numbers in place?
In the next few months it is critical that enterprises review their existing systems and customer support philosophy.
However, no knee jerk reaction is needed as the changes don’t come into effect until June 2014, so it’s worth seeking out a telecom partner that has experience in this area; ideally one that are well versed in advising, designing and deploying solutions that best support your companies – and that of your consumers – needs across a spectrum of market verticals.
For more information on these new requirements visit www.tripudiotelecom.com.
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