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Transpromo - the future of direct marketing

By Paul Haglich, Marketing Manager, production systems group, Xerox division at Bytes Document Solutions.


Johannesburg, 01 Nov 2011

It`s a familiar scenario: You`re busy at work, and when the post arrives, you hurriedly open and scan it for anything that needs immediate attention. Some mail can wait until later, and in many cases, some goes straight into the bin. Direct mail inevitably accounts for much of the binned post, and the same is true in the home, where an estimated 70% of blind mail shots are dumped straight in the bin.

Direct mail exponents will argue that the return they get on a standard mailing campaign more than justifies the outlay. Even if this is true, it still means a huge amount of wasted paper to reach relatively few people.

Fortunately, businesses are slowly waking up to the fact that this waste is unnecessary, says Paul Haglich, Marketing Manager, production systems group, Xerox division at Bytes Document Solutions. Many have a ready-made audience for direct marketing in the form of their existing customer base. In most cases, the businesses already communicate with this audience via transactional documents such as bills and statements, which also provide a perfect vehicle for marketing.

This convergence of direct mail and transactional documents is known as `transpromo`, and there are some compelling statistics to support its use. Consider that an estimated 80% of new business currently comes from existing customers. The piece of mail that almost all customers read at least once is their statements or bills, and most people only see about 12 transactional documents per month.

Conversely, only 7% of direct mailings received are ever read at all, and the average person is exposed to about 3 000 advertising messages per day.

What is missing from the picture, of course, is new customer acquisition. Transpromo definitely plays a part in this via incentives to existing customers to sign up friends and family, for example, but clearly other marketing tactics are better suited to attract new customers.

Telecommunications and finance sector industries have experienced significant success with transpromo. For example, Xerox recently helped a charge card company with a transpromo trial that added colour promotional messaging to the summary page of the company`s billing statements. Response levels doubled compared with campaigns that placed promotional leaflets with standard statements.

Transpromo communications have a higher success rate because, if produced effectively, they target customers with more relevant, more memorable messages. When designing and implementing these communications, there are some important considerations:

* Know your customer: Without the right customer data to support the campaign, transpromo is little more than direct mail. Many companies have CRM systems with information on the purchasing histories and preferences of current customers. Data management experts can also provide market research and other information to increase the relevance of promotional content.

* Understand your market: For a transpromo campaign to succeed, you need to consider differences in consumer behaviour, business cultures, and data/privacy legislation. For example, the European transpromo market is different from that of the US. In the European market, the sharing or selling of personal data is forbidden, unless consumers have given prior approval. The transfer of personal data to non-European countries that do not meet the European "adequacy" standard for privacy protection is also prohibited.

* Use colour: Don`t underestimate the power of colour. Today`s digital technology makes it possible to produce cost-effective, colour transpromo documents that will enhance the customer experience and improve brand image.

* Think beyond print: Transpromo documents can be delivered via traditional mail, through e-mail or even SMS text messaging, or a combination of these methods. Consider your target audience when deciding how best to communicate with them via transpromo.

* Continuously improve: Throughout the campaign, continue to evaluate and adjust strategy based on lessons learned. As additional customer data is collected, make sure you increase the relevance of promotional offers.

* Use a proven partner: An effective transpromo programme typically involves several steps ranging from strategy and data management to delivery and campaign analytics. Consider an outsourcing partner to advise on the most profitable applications and develop and manage the programme.

By following these best-practice guidelines, organisations can quickly start to reap considerable returns on a relatively modest investment.

The crucial thing to remember is that every point of contact with a customer, from Web activity to telephone queries, and even customer complaints, should be tracked so that there is as much meaningful data available for marketing purposes as possible.

Investing time and money in these processes will bring an organisation several steps closer to what Toby Bell, Research Director, Gartner, describes as `holistic customer communications management`, the aim of which is "to provide the right content to the right person at the right time in the right format for the right reason". Transpromo is the future of direct marketing.

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Editorial contacts

Frank Heydenrych
Predictive Communications
(082) 550 2797