Hi there, Derek Johnson with tatango.com.
And today, I'm talking about vanity and non-vanity short codes.
So a short code is five to six digits long and essentially it's a little phone number
that is used by brands to communicate to consumers.
There's two different kinds of short codes.
There's vanity and non-vanity.
A vanity short code is selected specifically by the brand for the phone number.
A non-vanity short code is given to the brand at random.
So sometimes it might be a good-looking phone number, sometimes it might not be a good-looking
phone number.
So let me go through some of the top campaigns in the United States and tell you whether
it's a vanity short code, or a non-vanity short code, and why here at Tatango we always
recommend a vanity short code.
So let's look through these.
As you can see here dressbarn, and again, I'm not 100% sure if it is vanity or non-vanity
because they don't actually tell you this, but you can look at the phone number and you
can kind of assume whether it's vanity or non-vanity.
So dressbarn, their short code is 212-26.
I'm guessing most likely that is vanity because it's a good-looking phone number, it's easy
to remember.
Then you do down to Aeropostale, a retailer, they have the short Code 237-687.
You know, most likely that is a non-vanity short code.
There's a few tells that I can look at a short code and kind of determine.
First is usually a brand will not select a six-digit short code when they can select
a five-digit short code because a five-digit short code is just easy to remember and easier
to type into the mobile phone.
And then, secondly, as you can see, it really doesn't have any structure the number, there's
no repeating numbers.
It's not like a good-looking number.
Now, the one caveat here is it's possible that this number actually spells something
that is related to the brand.
So a short code, if you type in the number on the phone pad, it could spell out something.
Now the reason we usually don't recommend clients go down that path is right here as
you can see, it really doesn't matter what this spells.
I have no clue what this phone number is, and because most likely phone numbers that
spell something, they don't actually look very good and aren't very easy to remember
from a phone number standpoint.
So I'm guessing most likely this is non-vanity.
Again, non-vanity, I think though this spells, let's see, one, two, three, four, five.
One, two, three, four, five.
It might actually spell KOHLS, but as you can see, you know, it's not that good-looking
of a phone number.
I'm guessing this is a vanity phone number, 577-58.
You know, it's a decent phone number, it's good-looking.
That one most likely non-vanity.
This one obviously is a vanity phone number.
727-272, now they chose a six-digit number, I would recommend a five-digit number.
It's just easier to remember.
But if you can find something that's six digits that's easier to remember and has some kind
of repetitive pattern, then go for it.
Let's see.
Some other ones here, this one obviously a vanity, but a six-digit, 323-232.
This one is obviously vanity, 955-55, that one is very easy
to remember.
422-29, another vanity short code.
This one is most likely non-vanity because there's really no organization of the numbers
that's special and easy to remember.
Now again, it might spell something on the mobile phone, but again the consumer won't
really know that.
And as you can see here Guitar Center, 327-00.
That's definitely vanity.
And Papa John's, 472-72, that's another vanity phone number.
So again, you can quickly and easily tell from most phone numbers whether it's a vanity
short code, or a non-vanity short code.
Now the difference is a vanity short code, to lease a vanity short code is going to cost
you $1,000 a month, and a non-vanity short code is gonna cost you $500 a month to lease
that non-vanity short code.
So there is a price difference between the two.
Now, the difference between $500 and a $1,000 at least in the eyes of Tatango and our clients,
they usually pick a vanity phone number not only because it looks good, but it's easier
to remember and easier to type into the mobile phone.
So when a consumer is opting into a text messaging campaign, it makes it an easier process.
And when you make it easier on consumers, more consumer are going to actually opt-in
to your text messaging campaign.
So hopefully that helps you today understand the difference between vanity short codes
and non-vanity short codes.