Posts Tagged ‘DexOne’

Digital Coupon Use Grows 100% Year-over-Year

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

We’ve noted several times in recent months how important digital coupons are becoming to the local shopping experience. This year alone, increased consumer usage has helped drive new digital coupon services from Yellow Pages companies such as DexOne and SuperMedia, which are eager to help local businesses generate additional leads through this increasingly popular marketing tool.

Now, new research released this week by Coupons.com shows that digital coupon revenues at the company grew an astounding 100% during the 12-month period ending June 30. According to the company, more than $1 billion in digital coupon saving was printed or loaded to a store loyalty card via its website and online network during that period, outpacing the growth of coupons distributed in newspapers 10 to 1.

Coupon.com said that 46.4 million American consumers—or 20.8% of the U.S. population—are now using online coupons, up from 40.2 million in 2008. The company also noted that of the 46.4 million consumers now using online coupons, 12.9 million do not read any part of the Sunday newspaper, an 18 percent increase over 10.9 million in 2008.

Other interesting stats from the release include:

  • Searches on Google for “Printable Coupons” increased 67% year-over year.
  • Access to exclusive deals or offers like digital coupons were the number one reason consumers followed a brand on Twitter or Liked a brand on Facebook, according to a report by Razorfish.
  • Consumers who print digital coupons have an estimated average household income of $96,000, a 14 percent higher income level than the U.S average. Adults with household income of over $100,000 are twice as likely to have redeemed coupons printed from an online source than adults with household income less than $35,000.
  • 33.4% of those who print digital coupons have a college degree (up from 30.4% in 2008), compared to 28.9% of those who use newspaper coupons and 26.1% of the general populace. Also, adults with college degrees are almost twice as likely to have used coupons in the past six months as those who didn’t graduate from high school.

Given the fast growth of this online product, I’m excited about Yellow Pages’ existing presence in the space and look forward to seeing how our members’ offerings generate additional leads for local businesses.

For more information, including the popularity of digital coupons by product category, read the Coupons.com press release.

July 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment
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Chief Marketing Officers Discuss Pathways to Innovation and Revenue Growth

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

In an informative panel discussion at the YPA Annual conference today moderated by Amdocs Vice President of Customer Development Rocky Wolf, members were treated to insights and updates from four CMOs on the frontlines of industry transformation.  Sharing notes on emerging technology challenges and the innovations driving new paths to revenue, it was interesting to see how many similarities there were across the companies represented in the panel.  Here are some of the highlights:

Question: What’s the next big thing in technology?

Answer: Social and Mobile

According to Stephane Marceau, CMO of Canada’s YPG, baking social and mobile into all user interfaces is a top priority.  “80% of our users in Canada use Facebook, so we need to integrate it into all of our solutions,” he said.  YPG sees opportunity in building further social and mobile solutions for what they call “local lifestyle”.

Building on that thought, DexOne CMO Maggie Le Beau, added that in the development of new mobile and social applications, the most important thing is to adapt to these new environments.  “There were a lot of lessons learned when we went online that we don’t want to repeat with mobile – the goal is not to replicate the product in the new medium.  We don’t want a static experience of a desk top or a print product,” she explained.

Question: What are you doing to adapt the sales channel?

Answer: This is still a work in progress, but it all comes down to leveraging relationships.  Arming the channel with data-driven solutions is essential to success.

According to Berry CMO Kathy Geiger-Schwab, “Access to the SMB is everything to us and that is our key to moving forward.”  She shared details of Berry’s new go-to-market approach that empowers their marketing consultants to provide prescriptive recommendations to customers on all elements of their advertising approach based on analysis of their rich geography and heading-specific data.

Question: How are you building and providing new value to your customers?

Answer: Demand creation and communicating return on investment are the name of the game.

“We’ve invested in building one simple solution for customers to be able to see the ROI of their local advertising programs all in one place,” said Ken Ray, CMO AT&T Advertising Solutions. “Providing pay-per-call models is also a new priority.”  In this space, there have been many key learnings, he said.

“Lesson #1: print is alive and well.  We should be cautious not to jump too aggressively into digital while overlooking a very effective medium in print.  Lesson #2: We’ve inadvertently set up a system where vendors are fighting over the same call, which is sometimes causing unwanted results.   We want to generate more leads for our clients, not customer support hassles,” cautioned Ray.

The workshop was packed with attendees and they expressed interest in hearing more about social media challenges.  Watch this space for future items on the subject.  Thanks to all our panelists for an insightful session.

April 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment
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Australia’s Sensis Announces Carbon Neutral Certification

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Our Yellow Pages member from the Down Under, Sensis, made a major announcement last week that’s generating headlines in Australia.

In what Sensis describes as a world-first for a major directory publisher, the company’s Yellow Pages and White Pages directories have been certified carbon neutral through the Australian Government’s Greenhouse Friendly program.

In short, this means that Sensis will offset emissions generated throughout the complete lifecycle of its Yellow Pages and White Pages print and online directories—including their production, use, disposal, and distribution—by taking part in Greenhouse Friendly accredited programs and projects in Australia.

The company will also work to identify and reduce its largest areas of environmental impact. According to Sensis CEO Bruce Akhurst, the company is also hoping to cut its operational greenhouse gas footprint by 5% annually.

Here on the Western Hemisphere, Yellow Pages companies have also introduced various programs and changes to help improve the environmental impact of their directories. Here are just a few:

  • Earlier today, the UK’s Yell Group announced what it’s calling the most significant revamp of its directory in more than 40 years: the introduction of a smaller compact version to replace its traditional larger format.
  • Last year, we announced YellowPagesOptOut.com, a site that helps consumers simply and effectively stop directory delivery or adjust the number of directories they receive. All major publishers have also  introduced their own opt-out programs.
  • SuperMedia and DexOne have launched efforts to put consumer choice and recycling information on the covers of their print directories. They are also sponsoring recycling programs in their local areas.
  • No new trees are necessary to produce Yellow Pages. Publishers use recycled newspapers, telephone books and leftover woodchips from the lumber industry.
  • The basis weight of directory paper has been reduced by 11% over the past five years.
  • Yellow Pages are printed with vegetable-based ink that poses no danger to ground water.

Our members are constantly looking for additional ways to reduce our environmental footprint. Sensis’ announcement is another step in the right direction for our industry.

February 10, 2010 | 2 Comments
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