Telmetrics’ Bill Dinan released data a couple of weeks ago about leads and calls coming out of print yellow pages, direct mail and online. Dinan argues that print yellow pages should move to a PPCall model and his data support that position. The top-level data put out by Telmetrics were the following:
- Print Yellow Pages ads average 20.5 calls per month at 2.7 minutes in length
- Internet Yellow Pages ads average 20 calls per month at 1.3 minutes in length
- Direct Mail ads average 8.4 calls per month at 1.7 minutes in length
- Interactive/SEM ads average 6.4 calls per month at 1.3 minutes in length
Richard Rosen a call-tracking veteran, who now runs FastCall411, made several comments on my post reporting the data, not about the wisdom on going to a PPCall model for print yellow pages but about why IYP calls were half the length of print (so are SEM ads). He offers his own thoughts on the data in a blog post:
With several years in the call measurement space serving Yellow Page publishers, I concur that Print YPs deliver leads and should not be afraid to report them. However, the difference in the data – average call length of IYP (1.3 mins) vs PYP (2.7 mins) – strikes me as unusually high. I look at the Telmetics data above and I do not see the superior quality of PYP leads and an argument for pay-per-call, I see a fundamental issue with IYP call tracking and an opportunity to solve the challenge revealed within the data: Why are IYP leads 50% in quality compared to PYP leads?
Rosen’s full post is here.
Screenwerk 
October 5, 2009 at 3:54 pm
As always, thanks for keeping us updated on industry news.
The Telmetrics press release is interesting, but I’d like to see:
1. the methodology used
2. the raw data
3. what disinterested 3rd party conducted the study for Telmetrics.
There is too little data available to derive what the actual reasons are for the call length disparity.
October 6, 2009 at 4:14 am
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October 6, 2009 at 4:01 pm
work for a large telecommunication company……………just came out of PPC (pay per call, not click) training…………Ramping up
SMB’s want more on ROI vs print, IYP, Pay per click…..evolution of change………..interested in any industry data on pay per call. Certainly not for every business
October 18, 2009 at 12:28 am
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