Transactional and Direct Mail – Part 1 – 18th March 2009
Transactional documents are a necessary evil, direct mail is a typical occurrence in everyday life- often dubbed in the negative as junk mail, third class post or nuisance mail. None of us likes receiving bills, we tend to chuck the direct mail into the bin, we tenuously scan the loyalty card statement- but we soon get our communal dander up if anyone should dare suggest that we go online in future to look at our bills rather than have a printed statement. Why? Because a printed document is comfortable and safe, it is tactile, it is flexible, it can be easily stored, it is quick to locate, it can be kept for future reference, it can be notated upon. It is a good safe of reference and solid verification if things should go wrong.
Although transactional printing is a mature market- and for many has bottomed out, there are interesting activities going on just below the surface. A new route to market is emerging today that is opening up opportunities for transactional printers and the marketers that they work with, and that is transpromo printing- a conventional transactional document that bears a proactive promotional message. Meaning that those bills, statements and policy documents we all receive, now become a revenue boosting communication. It is only through recent advances with digital technology, that the full value of transpromo- personalisation and variable data in runs of one- can blossom. This type of messaging could never have been achieved before, nor could it be carried out with any other technology. And, with environmental claims that direct mail is harmful to the environment, and even hints about possible legislation being bandied about to stop unrequested mail being delivered, the time may come when the only way to get your direct marketing message across will be in the form of transpromo documents- after all, there are many people who will keep asking for these printed bills and statements. It wont be until the new generation of the ‘screenagers’ of today have grown up and themselves become bearers of credit cards, monthly bills, and mortgages that things may really change- and even then, many will still want a printed document for all the reasons already stated.
Marketing is not just about increasing sales, but also about spreading millions of cheques, invoices, and statements that are printed, it is the ideal mix for marketers wanting to spend as little as they can to get the most return as possible.
According to studies from the Direct Mail Information Service (DMIS), on average a customer will spend 42.5 seconds looking at a bill- better than direct mail where most is simply confined to the waste. In fact, two out of three customers rarely or never read the direct mail leaflets included with their bills.
Transpromo means less waste, less paper use, reduced, cost of time in production, reduced storage, improved effectiveness, and the flexibility for the advertisers to change the message whenever he wants to, as well as to up sell and cross sell his services.
Transpromo, as the new form of transactional printing, does however pose questions of its own that will need answering, to add to those inherent in transactional mailings- security, integrity of data (there is nothing worse than receiving a Saga holiday brochure if you are only 30!), getting designers, creative and advertising agencies to understand the benefits, competitive media, relevance and creating the right image- I doubt that your M&S credit card statement would look good with a Jo’s Pizza advert on the top! However, if used intelligently, relevant information will enhance the end customers experience, whilst gaining more sales for the printers’ customer- a Tesco loyalty card statement, for instance, with information and special offers/vouchers for the companies it has working co-operations with-each statement personalised to a specific individual carrying offers on things that he buys regularly, rather than a blanket coverall where offers received may be on things you never but. Transpromo is already here, and it looks like a market that is certainly set to grow.
To provide insight into this substantial market, InfoTrends has recently completed a study- Trans Meets Promo… Is It More Than Market Hype? – In the United States. The research builds on two previous Future of Mail studies conducted in 2003 and 2006. It focuses on direct marketing, billing, statements and notifications. According to the report, ‘While the North American market for transpromo communications printed in full digital colour stood at 1.7 billion impressions in 2007, InfoTrends projects this number to reach an astounding 12.8 billion by 2012. Also compelling is the fact that 63% of document owners surveyed stated that they currently add marketing messages to statements or are planning to within the next 36 months’.
Advertising through transpromo will rise to become a serious force, with predictions of its value reaching around £0.5 billion in the UK alone.
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