Century Designs

You may have seen that England and Wales’ animal cruelty charity, the RSPCA now uses an 0300 telephone number as its main contact line – 0300 1234 999. 0300 numbers are part of the wider 03 number range that was launched in 2007. They are non-geographic telephone numbers (like 0845 numbers, 0800 numbers etc.) and enable organisations to smarten up the way they deal with their calls with call management systems (e.g. call queuing, recorded messages etc.) Here are 6 reasons why the RSPCA has opted to use an 0300 number:

1) 0300 numbers are exclusively for charities and public bodies.

2) With an 0300 number, the RSPCA can welcome callers with an introduction message (e.g. “Welcome to the RSCPA”). This lets people know they have called the right place and means they are more likely to stay on the line.

3) The charity can give its callers options (e.g. “press 1 to report animal cruelty, press 2 for general enquiries” etc. This helps them direct callers to the relevant department automatically.

4) 0300 numbers cost people the same to call as regular landline (01/02) numbers even from a mobile phone. This means they are trusted and not subject to any negative publicity.

5) Calls to 0300 numbers can be recorded for training purposes.

6) 0300 numbers can be very inexpensive to run if you seek out the supplier with the most competitive offering on the market.

The uptake of all 03 numbers in the UK is rapidly increasing. Alongside the RSPCA, there are a number of UK organisations now using them including Oxfam, the BBC, the Met Police, Nikon and Pioneer.