So, you’ve just received the latest edition of the Yellow Pages and thought, “who even uses them these days?!” as you tossed them unceremoniously into the recycling. Our thoughts exactly.
Here’s how to opt-out of your Yellow Pages delivery in four simple steps.
Cancel your Yellow Pages in four steps
Step One: Visit this link
Step Two: Enter your street address (and relevant age group).
Step Three: Select the “Yellow Pages & White Pages” option and click cancel book.
Step Four (optional): Enter your email address to receive a cancellation confirmation.
4 reasons to opt-out of the Yellow Pages
With the entire internet’s worth of information in our back pockets, we’re hardly likely to reach for a book to solve our burning problems. Gone are the days of dusting off the enormous directory to find a list of emergency plumbers while your kitchen rapidly floods from a burst pipe. But there are more reasons to opt-out of the Yellow Pages than it going out of fashion with the Macarena – here are three reasons cancelling your Yellow Pages is a good idea.
Reason #1 – Choice
When Telstra subsidiary, Sensis, introduced the choice to opt-out of physical copies in 2011, distribution of the Yellow Pages fell by 98%, from 1,500,000 copies to just 46,000 (in Sydney & Melbourne). With only 2% of its original user base left, fewer and fewer businesses choose to advertise in the Yellow Pages – leaving you with way less choice.
Reason #2 – Credibility
One crucial piece of information is missing from the Yellow Pages– customer reviews.
Through a basic Google search of “plumber”, you can access an abundance of Google My Business results for plumbers in your local area, including written reviews, ratings and recommendations – all in a matter of seconds.
Reason #3 – Environmental Impact
If you fall into the majority of Australians who don’t plan on using their copy of the Yellow Pages, consider opting out to reduce waste. Thryv Australia (formerly Sensis) reports that 98%, or 19,000 tonnes, of copies are recycled, however, this is still harmful through chemical, water and energy wastage. Therefore, opting-out stops this unnecessary recycling process in its tracks. The environment, and your plumbing, will love you for it!
Reason #4 – Visibility
When looking up plumbers in the Yellow Pages you’re left with an inconveniently small snippet on “WhY We ArE tHe RiGhT pLuMbEr FoR YoU!”. You need more than a 10cm square ad to make an informed chocie. Rather than paper cuts, visibility is at your fingertips through Google search results, or sites such as www.localsearch.com.au (pictured below).
Sites like LocalSearch allow you to filter results based on your preferences i.e. price, trading hours, and even ways to pay, and provide direct links to business websites, where you can read more information. This allows you to make the most informed decisions (with no paper cuts attached!).
Final thoughts
The Yellow Pages were once the holy grail of advertising in Australia, but with the rise of Google, the big old book has been obsolete for years. And, with highly effective and measurable advertising channels like Google Ads and Facebook Ads so readily available, Australian businesses have long since put their advertising dollars to better use elsewhere.
