Introduction - a Brief History of Vanity Toll-Free Numbers
For the past 40 years, we have used vanity toll-free numbers for branding and to drive consumer telephone calls to call centers for anything from sales to technical support to applications for employment. For a vanity toll-free number to be more than just another phone number on a website or at the end of a TV commercial, it must be, (1) “easy” to remember and (2) unique to the advertiser’s business brand.
However, vanity toll-free numbers, which were once incredible marketing tools, have become overused, cumbersome and passe. Some vanity toll-free numbers have withstood the test of time, such as, (800) Flowers, (800) Lawyers, (800) Mattress and (800) 54-Giant. The owners and licensees of these and several others vanity toll-free numbers jumped on the opportunity to get and market vanity toll-free numbers before other companies.
Our Hashtagcodes are the Vanity Toll-Free Numbers of 40 Years Ago
There are 300,000,000 cell phones in use in the United States today. Landlines are already disappearing. According to the National Health Interview Survey conducted in 2013 regarding cell phones vs. landlines, 41% of households no longer had a landline.
These phenomena have resulted in “clicking on” phone numbers rather than dialing ten (10) digit phone numbers. And the situation is even worse for companies that have invested in eleven (11) digit toll-free numbers, such as (800) Mattress or (800) Attorney who find that eleven (11) digit phone numbers cannot used on cell phones.
Hashtagcodes are a New and Untapped Marketing Tool,
Much like the First Vanity Toll-Free Numbers & .com Domain Names
What makes a Hashtagcode different from vanity toll-free numbers? We all love easy, cool, unique, new and fun ways to use our cell phones. It is all but an international pastime. Hashtagcodes offer consumers an easy to recall and fun to use a phone number to dial on their cell phones rather than looking for a phone number to click on.
Hashtagcodes are unlikely to go the way of the vanity toll-free phone number because they are difficult to get. Unlike typical phone numbers that work on ALL wireless carriers once provisioned, each individual wireless carrier must provision new Hashtagcodes.