Making your customer service accessible via a free 0800 number is a solution to truly putting your customers at the heart. Is this solution easy to achieve or does it require an enormous customer service budget? We will outline the costs so that you can determine for yourself whether the benefits of an 0800 number outweigh the investments.

Short or long 0800 number?

An 0800 number is available in a short (0800-1234) or standard version (0800-123456). A standard number is cheaper to acquire than a short service number.

Cost breakdown

The costs of an 0800 number consist of fixed and variable elements. Additionally, the ACM (Authority for Consumers & Markets) charges costs for monitoring and provision of 0800 numbers. You will also find these figures on the tariffs page. On the current page, we explain the fixed and variable elements.

One-time costs

You pay a one-time fee for purchasing an 0800 number and applying to the ACM. The following amounts apply as a total investment when acquiring an 0800 number:

• Short number: €250 (ContactCare) + €80 (ACM) = €330

• Standard number: €45 (ContactCare) + €26 (ACM) = €71

*currently we have an offer: you don’t pay connection fees when acquiring a long service number.

Fixed monthly costs

ContactCare provides a service number for a monthly fee of €38, regardless of the type of number (standard or short). Additionally, the ACM annually charges an amount for monitoring the 0800 numbers. To make the costs clear, we divide this ACM amount by twelve, so it becomes part of the monthly subscription costs. The following amounts apply as fixed costs:

• Short number: €38 (ContactCare) + €3.42 (ACM) = €41.42

• Standard number: €38 (ContactCare) + €1.17 (ACM) = €39.17

Variable costs

The variable costs depend on the number of phone calls and the duration of the calls. There is a start rate of €0.04 per call, a per-minute rate of €0.06, and a surcharge of €0.15 per call for calls from mobile devices. This applies to both short and standard service numbers. A company decides to offer its customers free telephone customer service via an 0800 number. What does that look like financially?

Eighteen months ago, three partners started an online shop. Business is now going so well that they receive about one hundred calls per week. The three gentlemen think service and accessibility are very important and decide to use a short 0800 number so that their customers can use telephone customer service and sales advice for free. The calls last an average of three minutes, with sixty percent of the calls made from a mobile device.
This amounts to:

• a one-time investment of €330 (€250 ContactCare + €80 ACM)

• fixed monthly costs of €41.42 (€38 ContactCare + €3.42 ACM)

• Variable costs per month of €133.33 (100 calls per week > 430 calls per month with an average call duration = 3 minutes)

View specific example

Your company an 0800 number?

Offering a service number offers several benefits:

• You lower the barrier for your (potential) customers to contact you.

• Increase the number of conversions by providing customers who are unsure with an accessible way to get sales advice.

• It enhances your organisation’s image, an 0800 number appears professional and customer-friendly.

Achieving these benefits requires an investment, but the size of it largely depends on the number of incoming phone calls. Therefore, using an 0800 number is not only for huge multinationals, but also for SMEs that highly value customer friendliness. Would you like free advice on using a service number for your organisation? Feel free to contact us!