B2B transpromo boom
A new report from Pitney Bowes reveals that the use of transpromo – the practice of adding marketing messages to bills and statements and other transactional documents – is being widely used as a marketing tool amongst B2B companies. The survey was conducted amongst companies in the UK, France, Germany and the USA in March 2010. 1000 companies, all of which were B2B, were surveyed in each country.
An average of 34% of B2B companies in the UK, France and Germany indicated that they have put personalised messages on bills, statements and customer service communications. This trend is also reflected outside Europe, with the USA recording a similar figure of 31%.
Business executives are exposed to multiple advertising messages in the same way as consumers. Messages communicated via transactional mail, a medium trusted by recipients, are better equipped to catch the attention of the recipient. As the report shows, businesses are realising that adding marketing messages to transactional documents that are already being despatched has the potential to generate significant revenue. Alternatively, the Transpromo technique can be used to simply inform the customer of new or complimentary products and services; policies or other useful information. At a time when every business is under pressure to generate revenue, transpromo gives companies the opportunity to increase their productivity through cross-selling.
The report reveals that the rise of transpromo is not confined to larger businesses – businesses of all sizes are reaping the benefits – though they might implement transpromo techniques differently. Transpromo has the flexibility to be used in a variety of ways – inserts can be included in the envelope or information can be embedded in the document itself, for example.
Transpromo is an evolving marketing tool and the survey results show that the B2B community is already excited about the possibilities provided by new Transpromo technologies such as full colour envelope printers.
Hina Sharma, head of brand and content development, Pitney Bowes, said: “Whilst transpromo has been widely discussed in the media and in business circles, these findings show that it is now a reality. Previously, much of the focus has centred on transpromo being used to communicate with consumers. These findings clearly show that this view neglects the wider appeal of transpromo to target business decision makers – transpromo is being used by the B2B community, in the same way as by those targeting consumers.”
