With nearly a decade of testing and measurement experience in both print and online Yellow Pages, I can tell you one thing for sure: service-related businesses should be advertising a local phone number. Why, you ask? Because local phone numbers have been shown to bring upwards of 68% more leads in total, on average to a business. Research shows when faced with a toll-free, faceless phone number or a local phone number – most people call the local line.

In fact, DAC has current testing and measurement under way that demonstrates that local lines are getting 156% more phone calls than their toll-free counterparts. Seventy-two per cent of all calls are going to the local lines for this advertiser, thereby increasing the value of the advertising significantly.

This dynamic is not just seen in Print Yellow Pages. It exists online as well within the Internet Yellow Pages. For a travel vertical, we implemented trade listings on the Internet Yellow Pages, and results were remarkable. For this vertical, DAC saw a 200% increase in performance to the ad and that 98% of the traffic was driven from the local trade listing component. The bottom line? When consumers are looking to do business locally, it would serve you well to be using a local telephone number in addition to any toll-free number that you advertise.

Interested in finding out more? Contact us today!