The Customer Pulling Power of Different-sized Yellow Pages Advertisements

David N. Laband and Avery M. Abernethy

In this paper, we analyze a sample of 745 yellow pages test advertisements to empirically estimate the influence of purchases of different sizes of yellow pages advertisements on customer call rates in the marketplace, controlling for different competitive situations, different market sizes, and the different call levels routinely generated by different yellow page headings (e.g., pizza delivery versus roofing services).

The Customer Pulling Power of Different-sized Yellow Pages Advertisements

Avery M. AbernethyandDavid N. LabandAuburn University

The yellow pages comprise an $11.9 billion advertising market with revenues exceeding those of magazines and local radio (Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1999) and reach 98 percent of U.S. households (Mangel, 1992). Sixty percent of the time consumers use the yellow pages, they make an immediate purchase (Mangel, 1992). For many local advertisers, the yellow pages are a 'must buy' because they represent the link between other marketing efforts and the contact the customer makes with the supplier of the...

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