What If Print Yellow Pages Become ‘Opt-in’?

In the context of online advertising there has been considerable talk about consumer “opt-in” vs. “opt-out” methods and measures over time. In one way of looking at it, print yellow pages has always fallen into the latter category: opt-out. Books are delivered and distributed without the request or consent of consumers. Historically this has never been a problem because print yellow pages was always a valuable tool – and still is for a large number of consumers.

But there has been a recent outcry from environmentalists and others: print books get dropped off and just go into the recycling in some cases. This and the larger cultural movement toward all things green has prompted the yellow pages industry to expand and publicize environmentally friendly policies.

Recently, I was told something very provocative by a couple of yellow pages employees that I didn’t know. There’s apparently an effort afoot to make receipt of print yellow pages “opt-in.” In other words, consumers would somehow have to manifest a desire to receive the printed directory. My sources said there were some rumblings and discussions “in Washington” to this effect. How such a program might work is unclear (telephone outreach to consumers?).

Regardless, if such an opt-in program were to be mandated legally it would have an uncertain but potentially dramatic impact on print yellow pages usage. It’s unclear how many consumers would decline to opt-in, but any such program that requires “affirmative action” by the consumer would likely mean that fewer books will be distributed.

Part of the move to push this is because there’s a growing sense that the Internet provides all the local business information one needs, which also motivates the early recycling by some. Even though the Internet is now the primary consumer medium (IYP + search in the aggregate) for local business lookups, print yellow pages isn’t far behind and still ranks as the “stand alone” primary medium and the number two medium in terms of reach vs. search (based on TMP Directional Marketing and Nielsen-WebVisible data).

I want to stress that what I heard was speculation and there’s nothing formal or pending as far as I know. But if the government got involved and required a consumer “opt-in” it would greatly accelerate usage migration to online sources, which is both amazing and ironic in a certain way.