When it comes to a major buy like an air conditioning system, consumers rely on Yellow Pages to provide the trusted local business information they need to get started on their purchase. In fact, over the course of the year, more than 32 million references will be made to air conditioning contractors and systems in Yellow Pages directories—with the highest number of references occurring in July— according to the Local Media Tracking Study commissioned by YPA and conducted by Burke.
A review of the data also show that:
An air conditioning heading user spends $1,497 on average, significantly higher than the all-headings average of $440.
The average user seeking to purchase an A/C system looks at approximately 5.4 ads, higher than the all-heading average of 4.9 ads.
Because air conditioning equipment is an infrequent purchase, most consumers are in a search mode when shopping. Fifty-six percent of Yellow Pages users either have no name or multiple names in mind when looking at the heading, providing an opportunity for advertisers to influence consumers’ decisions about where to purchase. Moreover, 70% of shoppers end up doing business with an establishment that they have never used before.
Data also show that hot weather is a larger driver than cool weather to Yellow Pages directories.
As this data indicates, consumers who reference air-conditioning contractors and systems through a Yellow Pages directory are likely to consider a larger number of businesses before making their purchase—and willing to spend a lot, too. That means that those local businesses who invest in advertising in this category have a higher likelihood of attracting the high-quality local leads they seek the most.
According to the story, SuperGuarantee—which promises consumers will be satisfied with services found in its listings—has helped fuel double-digital percentage growth in the number of people who use SuperMedia’s print directories in many cities across the U.S.
The program, introduced last year and expanded in March, ensures that customers of participating SuperGuarantee businesses can rely on SuperMedia to help resolve any service issues they experience—or SuperMedia will reimburse the customer up to $500 of the cost of labor for the service.
If SuperMedia’s newfound growth is any indication, print will remain an important component of local search as the industry continues to find new ways to bring value to the directory. It’s all part of the industry’s strategy of aligning print with increasingly popular digital and mobile platforms to create a truly integrated experience.
Each month, we highlight Yellow Pages headings that are most popular with consumers during particular times of the year. While some headings references stay relatively stable year-round (i.e. “veterinarians”), others like “caterers” experience seasonal spikes around major events like holidays, wedding season and graduations. One thing I find particularly interesting about catering advertising is the amount of consumer research that goes into finding the right caterer – and the ability of Yellow Pages to aid consumers in their search and ultimately drive business sales:
Prior to opening the Yellow Pages, nearly three quarters of users (72%) have a decision to make, meaning they do not have any particular business in mind, or are deciding between two or more places.
Nearly three quarters of consumers looking for caterers look at one or more ads and among those looking at ads, the average is 5.7 ads referenced (both values are notably higher than the all-headings average)
60% of purchases made under this heading are made by customers new to the business (compared to 43% for the average heading)
Yellow Pages is a helpful tool for those who want to research what local caterers have to offer before committing to a specific business for their next big event. The catering heading receives more than 22 million references in print and Internet Yellow Pages each year.
Depending on the industry and business, different Yellow Pages platforms and offerings may work better than others to attract new business customers. That’s why it’s important to work with a Yellow Pages sales representatives on the best portfolio for your business.
While Yellow Pages continue to be one ofthe most widely-used mediums for local business search, the industry’s offerings are rarely discussed in college and university marketing and advertising classes— leaving the next generation of advertisers and marketers in the dark about the benefits of multi-platform local advertising.
Five years ago, the Yellow Pages Association launched a competition designed to raise awareness for print and Internet Yellow Pages advertising among college and university advertising and marketing students, as well as increase the likelihood that instructors would cover Yellow Pages in their course materials.
The Yellow Pages Advertising Challenge asks undergraduate students at two and four year U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities to create print and Internet Yellow Pages advertising for a local business. The program provides valuable “real-world” experience for students just starting their academic careers in curricula including marketing, advertising, and graphic design. It also increases their exposure to Yellow Pages, their overall positive experiences and/or attitude towards its offerings, as well as their perceptions about the role Yellow Pages plays in the advertising mix.
In addition to having their work showcased on the YPA Academic website, and competition winners and faculty sponsors share nearly $10,000 in total award prizes.
Today, I’m happy to see that our Australian member Sensis—which I cited in the article—also shares my view that generating local business visibility across various channels increases the opportunity for meaningful results.
In a post on the company’s blog, Speaking Sensis, Wayne Aspland discusses two recent studies which show that despite common perceptions, both digital and traditional media usage are up recently. As he explains, increases in online usage have not come at the expense of traditional usage – instead, digital and traditional usage have grown together.
Given this data, Wayne argues that “we should put an end to these phony media wars and start realizing we’re all in this together…because, clearly, that’s what consumers (and advertisers) want.”
In my Search Engine Land article posted today, I talk about how in today’s digital world, the most successful local search campaigns are those that create integration and leverage audiences across technologies.
That’s why a multi-platform approach, championed by our industry, makes the most sense for local business advertising. It realizes the benefits and opportunities available across all forms of media, whether they’re in print, online or on mobile.
Over the past few months, we’ve released new data that reinforces the ongoing value of print and Internet Yellow Pages to local businesses. Now a new advertising campaign by Sensis, an Australian Yellow Pages provider, shows that when put to the test, our findings match up closely with the real world.
As The Australian reports, Sensis opened a new Melbourne restaurant, the Hidden Pizza Restaurant, in the basement of an alleyway earlier this month. Flyers distributed in the local area, as well as the restaurant’s website and Facebook page, offered a free pizza to consumers who could find its location during a two week period. The restaurant’s blog told consumers to, “just look us up the way you would any other business.”
Data collected during the campaign, which concluded April 25, found that of the 8,000 consumers who located the restaurant, 70% found their way via a paid Internet Yellow Pages listing, through paid search engine listings that Sensis placed, or from a print Yellow Pages directory (which were delivered shortly before the campaign began). Blogs, social media, and other forms of word-of-mouth accounted for the other 30% of customers, the company said.
We’re very encouraged by the results of this campaign, which we believe illustrate the strength of Yellow Pages’ multi-platform advertising model in driving real leads for local businesses.
As you may already know, today marks an important day to encourage environmental awareness and appreciation of our natural surroundings. Earth Day turns 40 today and we thought there was no better time to issue our first-ever Yellow Pages industry sustainability report.
Leading the development of this report has been a big, but rewarding job. I am pleased to work with so many Yellow Pages companies that are making great progress on the sustainability front. We’ve come a long way since we launched our environmental guidelines in 2007, but unfortunately many of the efforts aren’t widely known or publicized. I’m hopeful this report helps us get the word out and clears up common misperceptions about our industry’s environmental impact.
Yellow Pages industry successes include:
Launch of consumer choice programs (www.yellowpagesoptout.com) to give consumers a choice to reduce or stop directory delivery.
Use of directory paper that contains recycled content and fiber derived from lumber byproducts – making it unnecessary to use new trees to produce Yellow Pages.
A 29% reduction in the use of directory paper since 2006, as a result of programs to reduce the size of directories, use of more efficient pagination systems, and expansion of digital and mobile search products.
Implementation of soy-based inks and nontoxic dyes that pose little threat to soil or groundwater supplies and adhesives in the binding process that are eco-friendly and non-toxic.
Support of recycling and up-cycling programs that ensure directories have a life after use.
Of course, this effort isn’t only about celebrating our progress but also setting the stage for where we need to go. While we’ve made good progress, we must focus on continuous improvement and have outlined our vision and goals for the year ahead.
In the spirit of today, I would also encourage you to check out the Earth Day Action Center website to find out what green events are going on in your area.
In my column this week on Search Engine Land, I talk about the need for local business advertisers to separate perception and reality about how people are searching for business information.
The marketplace is full of misleading commentary about whether print Yellow Pages is dead, without regard for the research that shows healthy usage, especially among certain age groups and in certain geographies.
In order to make an informed decision, however, local businesses need to be up-to-speed with current usage patterns as they relate to both traditional and new digital advertising options. They also should be aware of how Yellow Pages companies are integrating new platforms into their portfolios in order to deliver a hybrid model that maximizes consumer reach and drives business results.
Nearly two years ago, we began the process of reshaping how we collect Yellow Pages usage data. We wanted to create an index that measured Yellow Pages usage better than anything we had before, and to have the ability to compare that data with other sources of local information.
Today, I’m glad to say that hard work has paid off with the release of our first annual Local Media Tracking Study. Because this survey included 80% online interviews and 20% telephone interviews, I’m confident this reflects the population better than our previous survey, which was only conducted by telephone and focused solely on Yellow Pages usage.
Conducted by Burke, the study found that the Yellow Pages industry continues to have significant reach in local search, and that consumer trust in Yellow Pages remains strong. It also found that our reach and frequency grew between the first and second half of 2009, following the general economic trends we saw on a macro level.
Yellow Pages Products Capture Greatest Reach
In the survey, consumers were asked what sources they used in the last month to look up information to find a local business, or to look for a product or service in their local area.
In answer to that question, 65% said they used print and/or Internet Yellow Pages – more than any of the other sources. When analyzed individually, print Yellow Pages was 54% and Internet Yellow Pages was 33%.
Search engines scored 58%, followed by flyers/coupons, newspapers, and magazines. Because Yellow Pages companies have formed partnerships with search engines, it’s fair to say the Yellow Pages reach is quite high across a number of platforms.
Yellow Pages Continue to Maintain Consumer Trust
Trust has always been a big talking point for the Yellow Pages industry, and the data show why.
More than two-thirds of consumers (67%) said that print or Internet Yellow Pages are the source they trust most for finding local business information, compared to 33% for search engines.
When polled on accuracy of local business information, print and Internet Yellow Pages scored highest with 68%, compared to search engines with 32%.
Print and Internet Yellow Pages Generate 16.9 Billion References
In total, consumers referenced print and Internet Yellow Pages 16.9 billion times in 2009.
Separate research from comScore found that Internet Yellow Pages continued to chart growth, increasing from 4.6 billion searches in 2008 to 4.9 billion in 2009. Burke found that print Yellow Pages received 12 billion references in 2009.
The results also indicated growth in the reach (the number of U.S. adults who use Yellow Pages) and frequency (how often Yellow Pages are referenced per adult) in both print and Internet Yellow Pages between the first and second half of 2009:
The percentage who said they used print Yellow Pages within the last month increased 12 percent, from 51.5% in the first quarter to 57.6% in the fourth quarter.
Respondents also turned to print Yellow Pages more frequently as the year progressed. In the first quarter, there was an average of 0.93 references per U.S. adult per week. By the fourth quarter, that had grown 19 percent to 1.11 references per adult per week.
Internet Yellow Pages saw an even sharper 20% growth in reach during the year, from 31.6 percent in the first quarter to 37.9% in the fourth quarter.
The frequency of Internet Yellow Pages usage grew 24% from the first quarter (0.54 references per week per adult) to the fourth quarter (0.67 references per week per adult).
A Reflection on the Data
Overall, I’m pleased to see very solid performance by Yellow Pages. Of course, these results reflect the overall U.S. population, so there are differences between age groups and geographies. Not surprisingly, print Yellow Pages is less popular with the 18-24 crowd than other age categories, while print Yellow Pages reach is stronger with rural consumers than with urban and suburban. Internet Yellow Pages reach ranked highest with consumers under 55, and most popular with suburban users as compared to urban and rural.
I’ll blog more about these data points in the days and weeks ahead, but I believe they demonstrate a critical point: advertiser’s can benefit from the Yellow Pages industry’s new agency model – where depending on your business, target customer, and geographic location – you can work with your Yellow Pages rep to put together a program that will work best and focuses on the right kind of advertising. Whether that’s a display ad in the print directory, a video ad on an Internet Yellow Pages site, or a robust SEO/SEM program or sponsored YP listing in Bing – it’s up to you and your Yellow Pages rep to create a program that generates the sales the business needs to win.
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