Think that yellow pages is dead? You’ll have to modify that assessment argues new survey data from the Yellow Pages Association and two research partners (Burke, comScore). Announced as a new “Local Media Tracking Study,” the findings of this new survey assert that print and Internet yellow pages combine to produce the greatest audience reach of any medium for consumers seeking local business information.
The survey findings also argue that yellow pages are recognized as the most trustworthy and accurate source of local information by respondents. Almost 70% (67%) said “print or Internet Yellow Pages are the source they trust most for finding local business information, compared to 33 percent for search engines. ” Regarding data and listings accuracy, “print and Internet Yellow Pages similarly scored highest with 68 percent, followed by search engines with 32 percent.”
The survey data are based on a combination of Internet (80%) and telephone (20%) surveys with 8,062 US consumers in 2009. Here’s the top-line set of results, verbatim from the press release:
- In total, consumers referenced print and Internet Yellow Pages 16.9 billion times in 2009
- comScore found that Internet Yellow Pages continued to chart growth, increasing from 4.6 billion in 2008 to 4.9 billion references in 2009
- Burke, relying on the new methodology combining Internet and telephone surveys for the first time, found that print Yellow Pages received 12 billion references in 2009
More findings:
- The percentage of those surveyed who said they had used print Yellow Pages within the last month increased 12 percent over the course of the year, from 51.5 percent in the first quarter to 57.6 percent 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 percent growth during the year, with the percentage of adults that used Internet Yellow Pages within the past month growing from 31.6 percent in the first quarter to 37.9 percent in the fourth quarter.
- The frequency of Internet Yellow Pages usage grew 24 percent from the first quarter (0.54 references per week per adult) to the fourth quarter (0.67 references per week per adult).
When I was shown this data, I was skeptical and asked for more in the form of age and geographic segmentation. Search engine usage in the data skews younger, while print and IYP usage is concentrated among somewhat older users. Here are the largest categories of usage of print YP, IYP and search according to the Burke findings (click to enlarge):
Source: YPA/Burke
Compare relatively consistent data from comScore (July, 2009) examining age segmentation and usage of different local media/sources:
I think that we can say a few things about all this:
- These YPA/Burke findings are different than other data in the market showing search engines as dominant in local (e.g., comScore)
- Search frequency is much greater than print or IYP frequency but the value of those YP lookups is potentially higher than search queries (depending)
- Regardless of the precise numbers, print YP is clearly being used by a considerable number of people (SuperMedia has recently asserted growth in print usage owing to the SuperGuarantee product)
- Consumers use a variety of source of information in local (the recent Kelsey data reinforce this)
- The market has segmented somewhat by age and geography
The market is complex and seemingly getting more so all the time for both SMBs and consumers, especially with the advent of mobile. If you’re a marketer, it really pays to know your audience and customers and where they might be looking for your services.
Screenwerk 
March 24, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Greg,
As you know I am not SuperMedia’s biggest fan. Having been with Verizon Yellow Pages > Idearc Media > SuperMedia, I can tell you that it was well known that PUFF Studies (Preference, Usage, Frequency, etc) were intentionally skewed in the companies favor.
For years the industry asked Dennis and CRM & Associates to produce the yellow pages publishing industries research, an organization that was paid and profited from said research.
(It shocks me how short memories are and how folks forget about the YellowBook vs Verizon Yellow Pages battle that took place in New York courtrooms regarding an industry-wide syndicated research)
It’s the Harris Poll question you’ll never see: Does Harris bend its research to favor clients?
In January, Verizon sued archrival Yellow Book, accusing the company of using skewed research — conducted by Harris Interactive — to convince advertisers that Yellow Book is more popular than the Verizon SuperPages. The SuperPages directories claim a circulation of about 111 million; Yellow Book has a circulation of about 71 million. The two compete head-on for advertising dollars in 120 markets across the USA.
In an evidentiary hearing to determine liability, Harris acknowledged that it changed its methodology after Yellow Book complained that its early findings on household usage were too low. After the changes, Yellow Book’s usage numbers rose.
All indicators state that unless you are in rural America and over 50 years old, most likely you are going to use the internet to find a local product or service. This also correlated to the responses from my clients over the last 9 years.
This study also does not take into consideration the number of books. That has increased ten fold.
As far as the comments on the SuperGuarantee, it was good for 10-20% points. Let’s see the social media backlash on working with SuperGuarantee going forward. I have heard from inside sources at SuperMedia that they do not have the subscriptions to the program that they expected. In my opinion they are just too late to market.
Print has yet to be displaced by mobile search and WebTV search.
Like with any research it depends on where/who you are asking.
If we ask people near downtown Dallas what phone book they have/use, you will hear AT&T YP, yet if you ask folks in Denton or Plano Tx just a few miles north, you will hear Verizon YP as a predominant response.
March 24, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Mike I believe you are right ‘all indicators state … most likely you are going to use the internet’. The industry needs to recognise that unless it shifts its mentality and model, and quickly, it will see its demise accelerate especially in print. In 2007, co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates said yellow-pages use among people under 50 would drop to zero in five years. Why: Seat, Pages Jaunes and Yell Struggle for Ad Sales as Unused books Pile Up: http://bit.ly/6AfUBx
The focus should shift straight to mobile for many. The traditional media owners and directory publisers have the opportunity to own the MOBILE local space – but only if they get going. A post; What matters most in local mobile advertising: Real Reasons Why Traditional Media Can (Still) Win Big: http://bit.ly/cZZLN3
March 24, 2010 at 2:50 pm
[…] Yellow Pages Claims Greatest Local Media Reach « Screenwerk […]
March 24, 2010 at 3:16 pm
I see very few if ANY indications of IYP referals in analytics. They certainly work in a few industries but not in any that I deal with.
March 25, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Are your customer’s advertising in IYP? I wouldn’t expect to see referrals from free listings, but from paid http://www.yellowpages.com listings they should be seeing some measurable results.
March 24, 2010 at 3:18 pm
I was quite skeptical when I first heard this. That’s why I asked for the demographic information.
What it showed was that there are clear difference among age groups and in different regions, which are discussed above.
That data for me lends credibility to this study.
March 24, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Mike B.
I think if there’s any takeaway here it’s figure out what media are being used by your prospects.
But do you think these data are flawed or biased, as Mike S. suggests by implication above?
March 24, 2010 at 4:42 pm
[…] Reported with some additional analysis on Screenwerk. […]
March 24, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Interesting to note that many people are jumping on the social media band wagon but very few people regardless of age are using it as a local source. Maybe this will change over time.
March 24, 2010 at 4:50 pm
I am not qualified nor do I have the information to say whether the research is valid. Obvoiusly a survey can easily skew results based on how a question is Asked or what category an answer is placed in.
For example the above was segmented by Search and Local Search engine. Does a user care whether their search takes them into Google Maps? When you add up the two categories which would make sense it changes the way the results are perceived.
Above mike points out the fragmentation in the YP books, there is even greater fragmentation in the IYP sites. One can only guess how many were counted.
March 24, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Troy:
Social media have the highest frequency/engagement, especially among younger users but a site like Facebook right now isn’t set up to be a good source of local content unless you’re using it for Q&A: “Does anybody know a good . . . “
March 24, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Greg, do you think that social media can be successfully “commercialized” by businesses in general or would it be a more no commerce zone?
March 24, 2010 at 5:09 pm
I think it can be commercialized and offer more utility along those lines but it has to be done carefully. Longer discussion there
March 24, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Tell ya what, since my focus is local Dallas (urban/suburban area) small business marketers, I can show analytics for a very traditional under-educated print user demographic related to the criminal defense industry. You will see that he gets very little from IYP. IYP only works well when those keyword phrases rank. BTW, the concept of using PPC from Google to meet click-thru minimums is interesting, as well as giving away UV credit between domains. The worst is an 85% burn rate requirement on campaign managers for SMLocal…..let’s wait and see what happens when those jobs are shipped to India and these American workers speak out. You guys need to go undercover and work in the sales trenches……Mgmt is horrible and unethical at some YP companies!
Don’t stone me for blowing my whistle. Analytics show 0.9% of traffic for $200.00 per month. For 12 month spend. And they want folks to sell that crap! They also say that internal clicks don’t count. LOL. Sure! The data quite possibly says otherwise.
Mike Stewart
March 24, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Greg,
The majority of our SMB clients are recovering YP/IYP advertisers–I frequently serve as a sounding board for angry business owners to vent about blown ad budgets with nothing to show.
The YP/IYP’s simply cannot generate customers nor provide ROI anywhere near targeted organic and paid search engine campaigns.
Yes, I am biased towards search engines, but if YP/IYP’s or other interactive directories were producing similar results I would recommend them as part of the marketing mix.
March 24, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Seriously, they lie about so much….. does this mean that working as a research firm for yellow pages now makes you less credible? Why is it that every other industry outside of YP shows a huge decline in usage, yet phone book publishers still say more. Even considering fragmentation they try to inflate usage stats. Tom, I was the only media consultant recommending clients incorporate Google Analytics, when I discussed the issues with folks in the organization, all Idearc Media would do is tell me to have another glass of KoolAid!
Let’s look at it from the perspective that since you have been known to mislead both investors and clients (and employees) {Heck, Kathy Harless lied to Ivan repeatedly about earnings and he punished her by dumping her company off!} how about you force them to prove the information from multiple sources or allow for INDEPENDENT RESEARCH that THEY don’t pay for!
Is it really that big of a challenge? Maybe the truth hurts. It is time to realize that if you are late due to creativity and focus, as is the case with SuperMedia my former employer, you find the closest coat tails to ride the storm out with or get to work! Stop LYING!
March 24, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Like Mike S, I can’t help but think that this is a PUFF study as he indicated. Having worked for one of Canada’s largest CMR’s myself I’m well aware of how all the major YP publishers inflate stats or skew them. Truth of the matter is that qualified Google traffic yielded 10-20X as many visits as from IYP platforms for service clients when I was there. IYP CTR’s were also very very very poor (think 0.004% CTR) with massive impressions and no actions.
March 24, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Dev, the horrible CTR’s and lack of conversions is likely due to 100 accts per campaign manager (unrealistic goals of sell it and we will try to service it mentality that SuperMedia is not moving away from) and 85% burn rate requirements on managers.
Let’s see someone, maybe Greg, actually ask hard questions vs accepting the KoolAid!
And folks think I am just some disgruntled employee. I have nothing to gain for sharing my experience other than a negative reputation as a former employee who is “disgruntled”.
Let’s ask agencies to submit analytics screenshots to http://www.YellowCrooks.com and I bet you will find out some interesting details.
Even the bankruptcies were fraud! Like a rotting body that won’t die and become a corpse… or do what it takes to re-incarnate itself!
October 22, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Mike…I have got to say…the hate runs deep for you. Listen bud, why don’t you save all the BS and run a post about how you hate the yellow pages and keep it simple. Honestly dude did you not get your paycheck. If you notice you keep stating your not disgruntled and you keep digging the industry as a whole just because you think you have uncovered something covert! Your problem is with Idearc, leave the rest of us out of your Crap fight. In utah we have awesome usage, come up here and I will show you. Give me a break. Want to know the real problem people like you! Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and try buying advertising yourself! I honestly hate people like you! You self righteous cry baby. stop bashing the industry just because you got the boot! I work in Utah, come here and tell me your BS to my face!
March 24, 2010 at 6:47 pm
With regard to the act of ‘referencing’ the print/Internet for local business information – do they ever break out:
a) what percentage is ‘discovery’ (need something, don’t know who to contact)
b) what percentage is ‘reference’ (looking up the phone number or address of the vendor/store/professional that I already know, but don’t have contact info handy)
I’d guess is that YP is over-represented in case b, while search engine / Yelp / etc. score better with ‘a’ as part of consumer online research process (at least in many categories), which if true would jibe with comments above why search engine traffic better to get new customers. In any case, It would be interesting if that data is available.
March 24, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Mike Sawyer, they get alot more “business name searches” that help with the numbers vs “local product/service” inquiries.
Does this answer your question?
I can get a breakdown from one of the largest IYPs if you REALLY want it!?
March 24, 2010 at 7:02 pm
I cannot help but be skeptical when I see a study that shows print directory usage increasing, when I see other information sources indicating continuing decline is likely.
I’d really like to see more demographic information, and more info on how the study was conducted.
Off the top of my head, I’d like to know whether those surveyed via telephone were properly mixed between landline and mobile phone users — as I showed in a previous YPA-funded study, lack of surveying of the growing mobile-only household demographic could seriously skew the results.
I’d also be curious to see the questions that were presented to users as well. For instance, simply asking about print yellow pages books could easily skew the results — I strongly suspect that if survey respondents were asked open-ended questions without being offered options to select from, that a good many of them would not mention yellow pages books whatsoever. There are heavy indications that a good percentage of the younger demographics may not even know what a yellow pages book is at this point.
As I’ve said before, I think it behooves the industry to make survey process information readily available. We need to see how representative the sampling methods are, when we’re faced with quite a lot of anecdotal feedback from small businesses that they’ve seen considerable attrition in the value of their print YP advertising.
March 24, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Chris, this study does not show either an increase or decline in print directory usage. Since this is a new study methodology, we do not trend the data to past years. Next year we can trend the data.
For reach, the question asked was: “We would like to know when, if ever, you last used some potential sources to look up information to find a business, or to shop or look for a product or service in your local area. Please include your use at home, at work, or elsewhere.” Then we listed a number of options including PYP, IYP, search engines, magazines, newspapers, etc. in a randomized order.
Greg posted the demographic reach data in the blog. You can see the differences in reach between age and geography in those charts.
80% of the surveys were conducted online, 20% were by telephone. One of the reasons we went to the Internet panel was to pick up mobile phone users – the 80/20 split was not picked randomly. It was meant to replicate the online/offline population. Our previous usage studies only included land line telephone numbers, so we believe the addition of online is a big improvement in the methodology.
March 24, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Thanks for the clarifications around the methodology and trending Larry
March 24, 2010 at 10:42 pm
Larry,
Do you have additional information on the study? Was it a YPA study?
Mike
March 25, 2010 at 2:41 am
Guys, some interesting comments and points of view but from someone who is currently working in the industry, the simple reason many people are going full circle and going back to the books is simplicity.
Many people have said to me that they like using the books because everything is there, presented in front of them. They dont have to worry about what keywords are relevant, they dont have to wade through lists and pages of optimised garbage, they dont have to worry about whether the content presented to them is local, the book they are using is usually for their area.
Much like newspapers, it is tangibile and people can decide what they want to look at and whenever they want to look at it. The most important thing and it seems to be missed in the discussion above, is that businesses like getting click throughs but they love getting phone calls or walk ins.
All the geeks sitting in dark rooms in their boxer shorts love quoting CPC and all that crap but I challenge those blinded by the Google light to run a comparison where a Metered phone number in a well designed ad in a YP book vs a Google whatever campaign and see how many real contacts that will result in a transaction are actually generated.
One customer i worked with had been running ad words for 3 months on a good spend and generated a truckload of clicks, however there were no calls, no walk ups and no emails. Essentially 10K flushed. With the same spend in a YP book that same business generated over 30 calls in 1 month, one of which resulted in $90k worth of business. The one proviso here is that an ad must be designed well to be effective.
The Yellow Pages is still and will for some time reman an effective medium for reaching customers when they are seeking a product or service. Yes love Google and drink the cool aid if you like but as has happened regularly over the last 50 years something else will come along to replace google as the next hot ad platform. Anyone remember Yahoo, Alta Vista AOL.
Guys I would be focussing on mobile as the next hot platform. Customised apps with click to call to generate traffic and encourage interactivity all in the palm of someone’s hand – thats hot! I dont carry my laptop around but I do my iphone ALL THE TIME.
Studies, stats, blah blah, get out and get some sun, theres a whole bunch of people out here in the real world transacting by phone, text and in person and I dont see a search engine or anyone worring about their ppc anywhere in sight.
March 25, 2010 at 2:58 am
Sorry Chris! You must have missed me. I have been around DFW enough to know who does and doesn’t use the phone book. Seriously. The best business is word of mouth and the yellow pages have by far one of the worst reputations for ROI for many advertisers.
Not so much in your neck of the woods, but when you have DOUBLE DOUBLE trucks and FORCED TABS or AAAAA Plumbing company skyscraper listings in front of you, the Yellow Pages is really only good game for those that have seniority in big markets like Dallas.
I have never witnessed a situation for an SMB in a well planned Search Campaign get a lesser response than Print Yellow Pages. Now, I also am selective on WHO I CHOOSE TO WORK WITH. This also makes a difference in ones ability to achieve results. Not all business owners can dominate search engine results like they can with the DOUBLE DOUBLE PAGE folks!
Cheers!
BTW, let’s not discuss how unfair yellow pages advertising became due to the “you cut back 1/3 but you lose 85% of your ad size” business model of grinding an axe….. blame that on greedy margins and bad business models that didn’t look very far forward!
One day I will write a book about the http://www.DeathToYP.com story!
-Sorry Greg, a shameless plug! lol
March 25, 2010 at 4:01 pm
[…] it means: There is a huge debate on the validity of these numbers happening on Greg Sterling’s blog. Personally, I have no doubt the Yellow Pages category, when combining print and online is still […]
March 25, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Thanks for the follow-up comment, Larry. The sampling methods appear to me to be considerably improved upon those of earlier studies.
Further – thanks for the clarification that the study observed apparent increasing usage of PYP across the one-year timeframe, and that this was not intended to be compared to a previous year’s count yet, until you have another year’s data collected in consistent manner.
I think there are a number of possible explanations for the increase across the quarters of the 2009 year. In correspondence with you, you theorized that it was likely due to some amount of recovery from the economic downturn, and that usage picked up some as consumers resumed making purchases and such that they’d been delaying — this makes sense. I also think some normal seasonal trends could have affected this as well.
March 29, 2010 at 12:01 pm
[…] by Burke on behalf of the Yellow Pages Association (YPA). The telling part can be found in the partial spreadsheet of demographic results from that study, which may be seen in Greg Sterling’s post. In it, one can see that younger […]
March 29, 2010 at 9:33 pm
[…] by Burke on behalf of the Yellow Pages Association (YPA). The telling part can be found in the partial spreadsheet of demographic results from that study, which may be seen in Greg Sterling’s post. In it, one can see that younger […]
March 30, 2010 at 3:32 am
[…] by Burke on behalf of the Yellow Pages Association (YPA). The telling part can be found in the partial spreadsheet of demographic results from that study, which may be seen in Greg Sterling’s post. In it, one can see that younger age […]
March 30, 2010 at 5:58 pm
[…] Yellow Pages Claims Greatest Local Media Reach « Screenwerk […]
April 1, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Hi Greg,
Great post! Thanks for Mike Blumenthal for referring me to this article.
I must say that for me, the most interesting factor is in what states this survey took place (?). From the companies I’m representing, I can see a great use of PYP in Canada & the Mid-West (US).
IYP have a great use in TX & CA (for the industries I’m working with). in TX- SuperPages is leading while in CA YellowPages is leading.
With some of my clients in those areas, I get more traffic thru those sources then I get from Yahoo Local, which putting those 2 as # 2 after Google Maps.
in general I’m VERY happy with my campaigns with both Y.P & S.P, although their customer care is s#ck.
April 5, 2010 at 1:35 pm
[…] pages (print) today in a column at Search Engine Land, and further unpacked the recent study I also blogged about: In order to make an informed decision, however, local businesses need to be up-to-speed with […]
April 13, 2010 at 5:39 pm
[…] ‘Ready to Buy’ By Greg Sterling Last month the YPA released third party data that argued yellow pages offer the greatest local reach and trust of any competitive ad medium. Today comes […]
April 19, 2010 at 7:31 pm
[…] phone apps are where younger demographics are looking-to in order to find business information. The Yellow Pages Association’s recent Burke/comScore study shows that 18-to-34 year-olds look to search engines far more than print yellow pages for product and […]
June 14, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Interesting Stuff
August 27, 2010 at 8:09 pm
[…] who still uses the Yellow Pages to find local information. So I Googled Yellow Pages vs Google and found this interesting article from last year that included this chart that shows who still uses the Yellow Pages and who is using […]
September 18, 2010 at 7:22 am
Mike , I agree all the way being from the same area as you and knowing idearc’s terrible managment and sales studys I know my company is doing in lets say denton, 90% organic and ppc and 10% yp’s and that is with a leader ad,1 page full color, and 3/4 page in denton plano 2 years ago verizon book got double truck and only recieved about 100 calls denton 1page about 300 but know I am in the organic world with a good site the internet is doing more every year it seems and I belive organic will always do better than ppc but you have to do both I have learned to get great results.
September 18, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Ken, Idearc refused to publish DFW market studies that were not favorable. Denton is the #1 market in DFW thanks to va strong telco presence and print monopoly that is hust now being attacked by fragmented usage amongst increase competition. They have all but killed the book for new or smaller advertisers with Double Double Truck ads.
Organic is 1/2 the volume. I am now segmenting traffic in analytics for smbs at the initial login view level (vs only on reports side) and making things easy to understand and identify. With a strong ($2k ) PPC budget for most industries, strong effort on local search, and organic link building and on-page content strategy, I often see organic driving more conversions for the time and effort….Go tell that to YP! I use Google and Woopra (real time) analytics… IYP companies provide false data. BTW, they must include “web events” that occur without touching the site server, otherwise I can attest: THEY ARE LIAR!. It is one thing to lie to sell, it is another to lie to renew!
September 23, 2010 at 2:04 pm
[…] pages (print) today in a column at Search Engine Land, and further unpacked the recent study I also blogged about: In order to make an informed decision, however, local businesses need to be up-to-speed with […]
October 21, 2010 at 10:28 pm
A disclaimer: I am in the Yellow Pages Industry. I am in an area where demographics trend to very good Yellow Pages print useage and I have been in the business over 25 years on 4 continents and with three languages. I have also been in Sales, Distribution and Marketing and am currently running a very large operation.
Let me be clear, I have not worked with Verizon or SuperMedia, but I have and currently do work with other incumbent telcos. I absolutley refute the notion that in the areas that I have worked and the companies I have worked for altered surveys. I do not want for people to assume that the guy above that used to work at Supermedia speaks for everyone in the business.
I have been part of these surveys and I have worked with them. I have seen skewed data…where companies do try and throw odd scopes and add products that are not in the same scope as the survey is trying to show a dominance of some sort (not apples to apples as we would say)…but that is not what we do. In fact it is a code of conduct violation in my office for a sales representative to mis-state or alter the data in any way…it is what it is….
Also, be real…not every location is Urban New York City…LA…there are more places with strong YP Print usage than the bloggers want folks to beleive…
Regarding this survey…one thing I constantly see missing is this: Where are your potential customers? Mr. Plumber, Mr. Atty, Mr. Chiropractor are 18-19 year olds your customer? The Yellow Pages is not designed for the segment of heavy search engine users…If you look at the people who have money – 35 to 65 year olds, they use the Print Product the most. The difference between print and search with all categories involved is 27.8% PYP and 31.3% search…even adding the highly skewed 18-24 demographic that generally will not be making Yellow Page type purchases there is a very small gap in who uses what. And finally Greg hit the nail on the head…clicks are great..but calls and leads and actual purchases are better/more valuable. That is what pays the bill…I have a client that got 2800 clicks from his Google program..got 7 phone calls. The same period generated 308 YP centric calls. This was not my data..Client paid an outside vendor to monitor 80 telephone numbers he uses for various advertising he does. A YP call or look up is more valuable…
The Key? Today’s SMB simply must use both…Used to be when I started it was YP and Newspaper or radio – some TV combined. Now…YP and Search…two peas in a pod…all still needs to be done right…too big of an ad in the print will hurt as bad as too big a spend on the net….and the industry must stay sharp because to be sure…soon in a few short years, those 18-19 year olds will have jobs and will have money…where will they go??? That’s not now in every place in America as many people want to beleive, but its on the way…we have to evolve and be ready for that…mobile is on the way…
December 14, 2010 at 2:37 pm
[…] Via Greg Sterling at Screenwerk: […]
December 18, 2010 at 11:24 am
[…] by Burke on behalf of the Yellow Pages Association (YPA). The telling part can be found in the partial spreadsheet of demographic results from that study, which may be seen in Greg Sterling’s post. In it, one can see that younger […]
March 24, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Hi Greg,
I noticed that this post was dated March of last year, any updates of present study on this?
In our case, we just hit the streets of Melbourne and listen to what people say on where they go if they are looking for information online. Let me share a snippet of the results here:
Q1. How often do you use the print version of the Yellow Pages?
* 7.69% use it regularly
* 23.08% once a month
* 15.38% once a year
* 53.85% never use it
Q2. How do you search for products and services you’re looking for?
* 92.86% use Google.com
* 7.14% use Yellow Pages
Respondent Quote: “I reckon the yellow pages is obsolete, why would you spend money on the yellow pages when they’ll just as easily find you on Google.”
Q3. How often do you use Google?
* 100% use Google.com everyday
Respondent Quote: “If I need information I go straight to Google.”
Google won the battle in that interview. How about you? Have you had that random survey recently?
Cheers,
Dave
May 8, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Amazing how many people forget the lawsuit between Verizon and Yellowbook for usage information? Didn’t Yellowbook produce data that was flawed or in the companies favor?
Who wants to argue if a Yellow Pages publisher has altered data?
How about call counts? Do they backout the repeat calls or just provide sale literature with the total call volume?
Seriously. Not throwing sticks and stones, the truth is the truth.
November 17, 2011 at 12:51 pm
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March 25, 2012 at 9:00 pm
Greg, I am late coming to the party here; but one thing that struck me when reading the charts is the use of PERCENTAGES of the total people surveyed. Nowhere in the data is it stated that the demographics of the surveyed group, match the demographics of the US population. If you assume that the that the ages of the responders is equally distributed across the age groups, you could to try to put an actual number of people that might correspond to the percentages by multiplying the percentages of the responders to the percentage of the population that actually exists for that age group and get quite different results. So without telling us how many people were in each age group, the numbers are meaningless. For example, using the Burke table data, lets say that the 8600 responders by age group happened to be distributed as follows beginning with the youngest and in age order to the oldest:3000; 2000; 1500; 1500; 600. That would mean that the actual numbers of people in each group when multiplied by the percentages shown in the chart fall out as follows: Total internet users: 3599 Total YP users: 2687 this certainly would not show the combined YP as having the greatest audience as claimed. As a 2nd comparision, I assumed the responders were distributed in the same ratios as the 2011 US demographics as published by the census bureau and came up with these totals: internet users: 81,098,800; combined YP users: 81,667,140; newspaper users: 18,779,570. A combined YP majority of about 600,000 out of 160 million is not really significant either.
August 1, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Do you have any statistical or case studies ? Was it a YPA study?