“vanity numbers more than 7 digits long are less than worthless in the age of mobile phones.”
A customer recently expressed this to me and went on to say cell phones think you’re dialing an international number. I’ve personally had my number 1-800 MARKETER which has 8 digits for 20+ years and I don’t find that at all. Plus, my customers usually only find me via the web, so if they can’t get through on my number, they can still chat or email me. Plus being in THIS business, people would tell me my vanity number doesn’t work, more than they would anyone else. So, I can honestly say with more than a little bit of authority, that almost nobody in the past 20 years has actually said my number doesn’t work for them.
I could give you zillions of large companies spending billions of dollars collectively with numbers more than 7 digits, but the real solution if you feel people won’t look at the number on their phone screen, hit back and send and then get through, there’s a simple solution. Just put the numeric digits in parentheses with it. That gives you the best of both worlds, a memorable term you’re already repeating in your ad, and the digits for anyone that has difficulty or prefers that.
Most cell phones also differentiate toll free area codes and they may not put a longer number through, but they’re not going to default to international calls when the area code is a toll free one, the way they do for other local area codes.
I don’t list the digits myself for two reasons. First, I’m obviously in the vanity number business, but I also know that the goal of all advertising isn’t to make it easy to dial, it’s to stick with your customer. And customers are never going to remember 627-5383, but they will remember me as the 1-800 MARKETER.