Yell links directory and mobile services
Yell, the directories company, is launching a new mobile internet service in a bid to join together its 118 247 directory and Yell.com mobile offering. The service will launch on August 6.
The move, which aims to build on its mobile portfolio, will use a two-channel approach to target consumers. Callers will receive an SMS when calling the directory service from a mobile phone. A hyperlink on the text will take the consumer to a “landing page” that gives company content in text.
It will include information a 118 call handler would give to a consumer, such as prices, e-mail addresses and web addresses of businesses.
It will also provide maps and directions to find the advertiser – a service that Yell claims is the first of its kind.
Launched last month, Yell.com mobile maps is a downloadable application enabling consumers to locate any address in the UK. The advertiser content can also be accessed through the company’s Yell.com mobile internet service.
The directories company says the service intends to take advantage of the growth of mobile phone usage, as a “significant number” of calls to its 118 24 7 directory service are now made from mobile phones.
The company also recently launched a sponsored SMS service for large national advertisers. For example, when consumers call to find the top companies in a particular sector, advertisers can pay to have their name appear at the top of the searched list on the basis of classification, geography, time of day, or day of the week.
Yell’s services include Yellow Pages directories, Yell.com and 118 24 7. Yell.com, which launched in 1996, has a database of more than two million UK business listings, including 209,000 searchable advertisers.
