Bay of Plenty residents can opt-in to receive residential listings

Residential White Pages can be ordered online, while the font size will increase by 10 per cent. Photo / Getty Images

With the rise in popularity of digital searches, a new opt-in approach is being introduced for the Bay of Plenty Residential White Pages, where people will need to order the free book.

In a bid to make it faster and easier for consumers to find business information in the White Pages section of the Bay of Plenty Yellow book, residential listings will this year be published in a separate White Pages Residential book and have a 10 per cent increase in standard font size.

All Bay of Plenty residents will continue to receive the Yellow business directory, delivered from June 14 and featuring local business, Sarah and Adam Jamieson from BOP Plumbing and Gas as cover stars.

Yellow chief executive Darren Linton said the change aimed to address consumer preference, with research showing that digital search for residential information was increasing, while New Zealanders have a greater tendency to use the Yellow print directories to find local businesses.

"Only three in 10 people using the Yellow books are looking up people in the White Pages section, whereas there has been a 20 per cent increase in searches for people on White Online over the past five years, with around two-thirds of site traffic related to people searches.

"With the majority of print-based search seeking out business information, we've decided to separate the residential listings into their own book, which consumers can order online or by calling Yellow," Linton said in a statement.

"People [who] wish to receive the White Pages Residential book can still get it – or they continue to look online – they simply have a choice of how they access the information."

Across the country the Yellow book continues to have high search and stable usage, equating to an average 9.6 million monthly look-ups, 65 per cent of which lead to phone calls to local businesses, the statement said.

Linton said the text size in the White Pages will be 10 per cent larger making it easier to read.

The new opt-in approach has been rolling out gradually in Christchurch, Waikato, Wellington, Otago, Hawke's Bay, and now Bay of Plenty.

However, the residential and business listings will remain combined in smaller regions more inclined to use the Yellow books – including West Coast, Whanganui, Timaru/Oamaru, Marlborough, Gisborne, Wairarapa, Manawatu, Southland, Nelson and Taranaki.

To opt in, Bay of Plenty residents can visit www.ypgbooks.co.nz and provide address details.

White Pages residential books are scheduled for delivery from July 27 onward.