Clients more likely to call salon’s landline number than mobile

Salons only listing a mobile contact number could be losing out on valuable client bookings, according to a recent experiment. The research, carried out by Essex salon Extensionique in conjunction with virtual phone service Everreach, found that clients are six times more likely to call a salon’s landline than a mobile number.

They placed two identical adverts for the salon on a local listings website, one with a landline contact number and one with a mobile number. After a week, some 58% of viewers had responded to the advert with the landline number listed, compared to 10% who responded to the advert with the mobile number.

Some 29 potential clients viewed the advert with the mobile number, with three calls made to the salon, while 19 people viewed the advert with the landline number and 11 calls were made. Salon owner Olesia Borovskaya said, “When I set up my salon, I did everything on a shoestring budget to keep costs down. I knew I needed a landline number so potential customers would relate to us as a local business, and I wanted my advertising to look more professional.”

Professor Vince Mitchell, from the Cass Business School at City University London, said, “Particularly with services such as hairdressers or plumbers, consumers look for signals to have confidence in the service provider. A landline number is one such signal that acts both consciously and subconsciously on the mind to subtly alter our beliefs and attitudes signalling trust because it implies a fixed presence, that the business is doing well enough to afford a separate business landline and therefore is more likely to have existing happy customers.”