Yellow Pages – What are you used for?
Last weekend I questioned people on Twitter about what they used their Yellow Pages for.
Why?
Well I have seen numerous TVC’s recently promoting how grand the Yellow Pages are, you know the end of buying season ads that run, validating the cost of advertising. The adverts reinforce for me how useless statistics can be in promoting fact.
The script goes along the lines of “90% of people who look in the Yellow Pages make a phone call”. I am not sure about you but I do not often remember the little YP genie being over my shoulder when I looked in the book and watching me make the call. Well of course they would have died waiting but that is beside the point. And of course if 10 people use the book and 9 ring that constitutes 90%.
The truth of it is some / a number of people do use the Yellow Pages books. I am sure the advertising revenue is considerable for Yellow Pages, as much as I am sure that revenue would be falling progressively.
My question was to get a sampling of what people who use Twitter do with their Yellow Pages.
There were some funny comments, and out of everyone that replied only 1 admitted to having used them in the last 12 months. (I did not ask people about the Yellow Pages website, this was purely about the dead tree version).
Some of the uses:
- ergonomic monitor stand
- lighting the fire at nanna’s
- I rang them and told them to stop delivering 2 years ago
- killing spiders
The main question was to see a) what use people had and b) when in the last year they actually opened one of their copies.
I know we only use them to prop up monitors here in our office, and only 1 person had looked / used them from the small group.
I would like to know a bigger sample, see how useful they really are and apart from a revenue raiser are they doing more harm than good.
Feel free to add your use or how often you use them below. I would like to know.
We will be requesting them to stop being delivered to us, I already have enough monitor stands.
Well that’s what Ireckon anyway.
[Legal note: Yellow Pages and all items relating to it are trademarks owned by the company / companies that own those trademarks. Our use of their trademark is purely for the purpose of discussion and we have no connection or interest in those trademarks. Etc...]
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Must admit, I have used them for extra reach when changing light bulbs.
Should have to call to get one, not call to stop getting them delivered.
A couple of points to inform any following discussion:
- the stat used in the TVC that 90% of people using the directory go onto contact a business and of those, 70% make a purchase, comes from qualified research conducted by TNS
- advertising revenue for Yellow Pages print directories continues to increase, which indicates advertisers are getting a return on their investment
- you raise a good point about your survey sample.
Contributors to social media/tech savvy people won’t provide a representative sample. Always good to get their thoughts however
- last point on usage: Roy Morgan shows an average of almost 7m people a month use Yellow Pages print directories and they use them about 4m times on average per week.
- Sensis is doing plenty on the enviro front, with more to come http://bit.ly/KpfCd
So true. I have used my copy to kill a cockroach or two. Never even crossed my mind to use it for it’s intended purpose. I was born in the online directory generation!
Thanks Steve
Always interested to see sampled data. Not sure I would agree with it all or that all results from these ‘authoritative research’ surveys are truly indicative of real life either, but I also don’t presume to say users don’t use them. Lots of qualified research of the type you mentioned would tell you users saw a TV ad for a product that never ran on TV only billboards for example. Stats are stats and can be qualified / used in anyway.
Social Media people are pretty indicative of the wider community though, in case you hadn’t seen Facebook users make a very significant representation of older (aka purchasing) people in this country. While a twitter user group would not be indicative of the whole community I am sure with enough time and represent the people who use the internet (pretty big group) are tending away from print to online, which includes your online product.
Glad to see they are going more enviro but fom my perspective I think the books should be opt in not opt out. Not good for ad dollars but much better for true participation figures.
Me, I pulled out all my YP ad spend including online – proof wa sin th estatistics, we measure every phone call and electronic inquiry and qualify it. i have other peers for who YP book or online works. But the photo above is in our office is where they live for us.
Thanks for feedback and for paying attention to discussion.
Our developers use the book the same way (this also says something about LCD manufacturers understanding customer needs) but I still think there is a qualitative dimension to assessing advertisers which isn’t captured in online adverts yet.
Isn’t it fairly easy for a small business e.g. panel beater/plumber to assess yellow pages as a lead source, so the if they were not producing sales wouldn’t the size of the books have reduced to the point where they won’t hold up monitors any more?
Maybe Sensis Steve has his research broken down by ASIC code and that might tell a very different story.
Thanks for your article Darryl, Very thought provoking.For the record, I have recently cancelled my YP advertising in every category, and I will be cancelling the delivery of the books today.
Yellow Pages is a dead dinosaur, and it needs to be buried because it is starting to STINK! In an environment where we are debating whether we should allow a pulp mill to be built by Gunns in Tasmania, I can’t believe we can allow the huge waste of natural resources called Yellow Pages to exist!
It’s interesting to see Steve@YellowPages is following your blog.
He quotes market research from Roy Morgan to back his spin. Here is an interesting exercise…. I looked in the Brisbane Yellow pages under Market Research and guess what? Roy Morgan has the CHEAPEST inline listing you can buy! Obviously Roy Morgan does not believe their own market research????
If you want empirical evidence that Yellow pages advertising is a bad decision, consider this:
Of all the possible business types listed in the Yellow Pages, which would be the most qualified to advise you on what might be a good advertising medium? HHHHHmmm? How about an advertising agency? In the current Brisbane book there is less than ONE page of Advertising Agency listings, mostly inline or free ads. There are only 2 display ads, none major companies.
Now let’s compare that to a similar niche market. I’ll go out on a limb here but let’s assume that there are about as many Excavator businesses in Brisbane as there are Advertising Agencies. (give or take)The Excavating category in Bris-Vegas YP has TWENTY FIVE pages!
I think I will take the lead from an advertising agency over a back hoe driver when it comes to placing my advertising dollar, thanks!!
Hi Dave
I don’t think Steve is following my blog, I would suggest he has Google Alerts or similar and just saw their product name in it and jumped on over.
Thanks for your comments.
Interesting analysis of “proof in the pudding” where do agencies and others advertise.
Darryl
I’ll feel a similar sadness when newspapers go completely online. What will I use to squash flies and wave like a batten when making a heated point?
uumm, im pretty sure that YP is only used as a point of contact. if i want to advertise, ill do tv, billboards blah blah. when i want the customer to call me ill make sure i come up in searches, be listed everywhere just make it as easy as possible for someone to find me no matter what medium they use. for anyone who is biased… ur a tool. theres no wrong or right, theres just trial and error. try something, weigh cost vs return and either keep it or decrese it. advertising and marketing is about getting across the board, making sure ur business is known and easily accessable.
so in relation to this thread, YP print… there are still ppl that use… google for me is more for infomation on stupid shit that i search because i get bored, or i go to youtube. i use business directories to find businesses… simple. and weather i choose online or print. whatever is closer to me when the need arises. if a pipe bursts out comes the book, if the power goes out, out comes the book. if a fire breaks out…000 duh… ill use online when i know what/who im looking for other than that the book is just easier.
Note from Darryl:: checking out the IP Address of Eddie (who commented here) seems this comment actually came from a Sensis.com.au IP address.
Without abosolute proof, I can only use what we investigated Ip wise to determine that this comment is actually one coming from within the company that Creates and Distributes Yellow Pages in Australia. If so this is not really a real comment and shoudl be taken with that in mind. [ unless sensis now resells Ip addresses and internet access to the public the fact the IP this comment was submitted from resolves there is the best indication we have of the authenticity of it (or not) ]
Additionally this is the sort of non transparent corporate behaviour in social media that leaves a bad taste in the mouths of people who seek some transparency.
D