A new poll examines what Americans are looking for when they do a local directory search on their phones. And as it happens, most of us are looking for a nosh.
The survey, conducted for directory services wholesaler TellMe Networks by Harris Interactive, looked at both mobile and landline use of 411 directory services. But the study, which polled 1,400 U.S. respondents from April to June this year, found that 55% of those surveyed said they had called 411 services from a mobile phone in the last year — a sign that mobile directories are becoming an important way to find listings.
Harris found that 43% of all U.S. adults calling 411 in the last year did so to request a business listing for bars or restaurants. That compares to 36% who sought listings for retail stores and 24% looking for hotel information. Twenty percent of U.S. adults requested listings for movie theaters or other entertainment venues, and only 10% have used directory services to find taxis or airlines.
Pizza is the most frequently searched menu item, the study found, with most calls for pizza parlor listings coming at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Some age and gender distinctions show up in the survey results. For example, those in the 18-to-28 age group are more likely to use the phone directory to search for a restaurant or bar listing: 50% report having done so in the last year. Generation X, those 29 to 40, beat the norm in using 411 to find retail stores (42% in the preceding year.) Women look for retail store listings via phone directory more often than men (42% to 30%); men are more likely to call information for lodging info (28% versus 20% of female respondents.)
In terms of emerging services, 47% of 411 callers said they would most value the ability to search directory assistance for a business category and location, such as “pizza parlors in Chicago”. Forty-four percent said they would like to get a return text message of the listing, and 42% said they’d like that message to include maps and/or directing directions.
Local mobile Internet search is being touted heavily as a location-based marketing channel, but it has yet to take off in part because relatively few users access the Web via wireless handsets. But responses to a question about “alternatives” users employed if they couldn’t get a listing from mobile 411 services indicates how important directory content can be to users on the move. Fifty-eight percent said they called a family member and 46% called a friend, while 27% called a work colleague.
More creatively (and dangerously), 7% booted up a laptop while driving, and 5% said they had driven around town to find a wireless hotspot and accessed the Internet for the information. Twenty-nine percent said they had pulled over at a phone booth, either to call a different voice directory service or to use the phone book — from which 7% admitted to having torn pages.
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