Data from the Second TMP Local Study

Unfortunately I don’t have the time to do an in-depth write up of the data from the second TMP/comScore local study at the moment. The data were gathered from an online survey of 3,000 US adults. Here’s the topline:

First sources for local information:

• Search Engines (31%)
• Print Yellow Pages or White Pages (30%)
• Internet Yellow Pages Sites (19%)
• Local Search Sites (11%)

Compared with 2007’s data, search has gained a point and print YP has lost three points. Search is now officially number one in its own right.

When I said, after last year’s report, that we’d reached a “tipping point” (sorry) regarding the shift to online for local information, some people were critical/skeptical. If there was any question last year, there’s no doubt now.

Contact method following a lookup:

Following online local searches, consumers most often contact a business over the telephone (39%), visit the business in-person (32%) or contact the business online (12%).

Mobile searches:

TMP/comScore also apparently found that 20% of people with Internet-enabled cellphones had done a local mobile search. The number goes up for smartphone owners to 50% (aside: lots of data on this issue over at LMS.). They also found that people were using 411 and free alternatives for local business lookups on mobile devices.

Me: DA use going forward will very much be situational and/or driven by handset and whether the individual has a data plan. While it has it’s place, free/ad supported DA is NOT emerging as the dominant modality for local business search on the go.

Print yellow pages:

In the TMP study, print appears to be holding its own, contradicting anecdotal reports from the field about usage declines:

• 30% of respondents still rely on directories as their primary local business research source, despite a 3 percent decline from 2007 to 2008
• While respondents are more satisfied with the business information provided by online sources, 73 percent are extremely or somewhat satisfied with print Yellow Pages – a 4 percent increase from last year’s study.
• 90 percent of those surveyed find directories a valuable source for business information.
• 86 percent of respondents have a print directory in their home

Me: In terms of the outlook for print usage, it’s going to be market by market and category by category. It will be very strong in some markets and categories and quite weak in others. Mobile’s impact is a bit of a wild card at this point: does it cannibalize print, Internet or is it largely “additive” to either or both. Final nuggets from the TMP data:

• Traditional IYP sites account for 60 percent of local IYP business searches, while Local Search sites such as Google Maps, MapQuest, Yahoo! Local, etc. account for 40 percent of local IYP business searches. (me: this bears some further investigation.)
• Usage of consumer reviews by IYP and Local Search Site users increased to 22 percent among IYP searchers (+6 percent from 2007) and to 32 percent among Local Searchers (+6 percent from 2007).  (Me: not quite sure what this means.)

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