Print YP Ad Study: $24 ROI for Every Dollar Spent

Yellow Pages

March 18, 2014 - The Association of Directory Publishers (ADP) released findings from the ADP Ad Effectiveness Study, conducted by research partner CRM Associates. The study examines the return on investment for print ads published in independent Yellow Pages directories.

Among the study’s findings:
 

• Calls to businesses from print ads increased 28% between 2010 and 2013.

• On average, a YP print ad resulted in 197 calls per year to an advertiser at a cost of $15.50 per call.

• The typical independent Yellow Pages advertiser saw $81,700 in sales generated from a print ad investment of $3,280.

• The ROI of YP directory ads averages about $24 for every $1 spent.

In examining the drivers behind the ROI of independent print directory advertising, Dr. Fromholzer, PhD, president, CRM Associates, suggests one area that differentiates print performance from digital is conversion. “Calls to businesses from Yellow Pages ads have a 50 percent conversion rate, compared with three percent for online. In addition, print sales have a higher per-customer value. One reason for this is that 80 percent of the top print directory headings are service-related and high-value purchases, compared with online and mobile purchases, which tend to be more retail and entertainment-related.”


Study Methodology: The results of the ADP Ad Effectiveness Study conducted March 2014 are based on tracking calls to individual businesses from 212,652 ads, under 1,100 headings, in 1,260 directories, published by 24 publisher-members of the Association of Directory Publishers. Results are taken for each individual ad and aggregated for each publisher (publisher results are taken as the median result for each individual publisher’s set of ads). The industry results reported are the median of the 24 publishers.

The methodology for estimating ROI was reviewed and endorsed by the Advertising Research Foundation and is the standard methodology that has been used for 20 years.

Only calls that resulted in sales were included in total calls to businesses (i.e., this number did not include noise or nuisance calls or “interest” calls that did not result in sales). Conversion rates are based on consumer reports of the number of businesses they contacted prior to purchase. Consumer spending comes from a variety of sources, depending on the heading, including: industry trade associations or trade magazines; industry usage research studies; consumer behavior studies; and government statistics.

Call trend results are based on businesses for which data were available for the same sized ad for two consecutive years, in the same directory (different issues), under the same heading. The study size for trend was 24,000 (5 publishers) for 2010-11; 31,000 (10 publishers) for 2011-12; and 27,863 (7 publishers) for 2012-2013.

Source: BizReport, Study: Yellow Pages still working for many consumers, businesses, March 19, 2014.