WhatTheyThink.com’s Cary Sherburne talks with Gilles Biscos of Interquest about the firms North American Transactional Printing: Market Analysis & Forecast

A few weeks ago Heidi Tolliver-Nigro pondered what coattails are marketing messages riding. Citing a InfoTrends study that found 63% of customers prefer promotional pieces over purely transactional documents Heidi asked, “I mean, another way to put this is that, if you’re talking about transpromo credit card statements, for example, and if credit card statements irritate people (which they do), you’re hoping that your marketing message catches the coattails of something that people fundamentally don’t like and that irritates them.”

In the comments Michael Josefowicz provided his take saying, Maybe one way out is to consider the frame of mind of the person who is getting the credit card bill. For example, if the person runs a large balance at golf stores and pays on time, it might be a good moment to present some ads for a high end golf clubs from an exclusive outlet. The neat thing about a credit card statement is that by analyzing the content of the statement you can get a pretty good idea of the mindset - at that moment - of the “eyeballs.”

Today at OutputLinks Denise Davert takes a look at going beyond the monthly statement:

There are transactional documents, and there are documents that represent a transaction. The former is the document that gets all the hype, such as the traditional billing statement that arrives each month from your bank, wireless provider, or credit card company. The second category, equally useful in cross-selling and building customer loyalty, includes individual or small-batch documents such as late-fee letters, overdraft notices, and confirmation letters. Some of these are not the most popular envelopes in the mailbox. Nevertheless, these documents can be a way to connect with the customer in a positive way even while they deliver what may be an unpopular message.

There is opportunity in Transpromo if you have the right data and good marketing. So the next question is, what is the right data?

My colleagues at InfoTrends have been extremely busy over the past few months conducting an extensive study on the North American TransPromo market. InfoTrends Group Director Barb Pellow, Associate Consultant Cary Sherburne, and fellow Senior Research Analyst Matt Swain have put together “Trans Meets Promo… Is It More Than Market Hype?” Some of the study results were previewed at our annual TransPromo Summit in New York City last month.

The study builds upon prior InfoTrends research on the future of mail and transaction documents, as well as the future of commercial printing, and also includes comprehensive survey data on the TransPromo market from consumers, document owners, direct marketers, and print service providers. From the press release:

While the North American market for TransPromo communications printed in full digital color stood at 1.7 billion impressions in 2007, InfoTrends projects this number to reach an astounding 12.8 billion by 2012, for a CAGR of 68%. 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.

This growth is not surprising.  TransPromo provides a cost-effective way to communicate educational and promotional messages to customers. TransPromo documents leverage opt-in relationships and incorporate relevant and compelling promotional or educational messages in the white space of transactional documents. By leveraging TransPromo communications, document owners can reduce the number of mailings that must be sent, which translates to substantial savings in terms of postage and printing costs.

Just as document owners continue to embrace the TransPromo opportunity, an increasing number of print service providers are implementing TransPromo in their offerings. One factor that is catalyzing this change is the availability of affordable high-speed inkjet devices with lower running costs. For print service providers with 20+ employees, nearly 60% are considering the purchase of one or more of these devices within the next two years, with 14% stating that they would consider such a purchase within the year. In addition, software providers are starting to introduce easier to use solutions that are enabling mid-market print service providers to add this valuable offering to their portfolios.

The study is rich in fresh information about the TransPromo market, but also significantly covers the direct mail market. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some of the results of our study to spark more discussion on these growing markets. In the meantime, if you’re interested in purchasing the full study results, please contact Matt Swain at 781-616-2100 ext. 204, or via email: .

Bryan Yeager is a Senior Research Analyst in the Production Workflow and Customized Communications Services group at .

Eliot Harper blogs Vodafone Australia recent announcement to discontinue the use of printed statements:

As of October 1 2008, all new & existing customers will be sent an Email Bill. Customers can still choose to view their bill via My Vodafone if they do not wish to/cannot provide an email address

It it is interesting to compare Vodafone Australia announcement to Telstra (Australia’s biggest telecommunications company) who adopted TransPromo with a statement redesign earlier this summer.

As Harper points out, TransPromo arrived too late for Vodafone.

While the value of incorporating TransPromo elements in a full colour printed statements TransPromo are obvious, and Telstra are already incorporating TransPromo in their new bill for their 9.6 million fixed line and 9.3 million mobile subscribers, it seems the opportunity for TransPromo has arrived a little too late for Vodafone.

Over the last 12-24 months in presentations, articles and blogs I have participated regarding Transpromo I have chimed in about the “relevance” of information, which certainly seems to draw concurrence from those who have responded.

But, Heidi brings up a good point with regards to the “attitude” towards the statement by the recipient based on content and timing. The data within a document sets the attitude whether it be credit card or 401 statement.

If the credit card balance is zero, maybe happiness and time to spend. If the balance is close to the credit line, maybe stress. If payment was late and there are late fees maybe frustration or even anger. 401K goes up or goes down, happiness or frustration.

Even the most sophisticated Transpromo application is relevance based on assumptions. Not emotion, nor state of mind. It would be interesting to quantify different Transpromo ads against the content.

How powerful would it be if we could create a “personal virtual relationship” with customers we most likely will never meet by providing timely, relevant “what’s in it for them” information. Not a “day to day” relationship but one that reflects their interests, hobbies, future plans, from their eyes, not our assumptions. Kind of an ongoing “opt-in” dialogue. A relationship based on trust and boundaries that they establish.

Web and print technology along with trends in human behavior enable this and it will come …. but that will be the next buzzword.

Hint to my cell phone company …. send me a discount coupon for my birthday! (You know when it is.) I need a new phone, mine is two years old. (you know that too). I will be in a good mood. (because I just told you) Don’t tell anyone else. (I don’t want to receive 1,000 emails !)

Hansa Direct a business unit of Hansaprint Group has been very successful at helping their customers leverage TransPromo and Multi-channel Communications.

Jouko Haapamaki, Business Development Manager for Hansa Direct sat down with WhatTheyThink.com’s Cary Sherburne to create two video case studies on these topics.

How Hansa Direct Uses Transpromo

Leading Print Customers to Multi-Channel

In Barb Pellow’s latest article on TransPromo at WhatTheyThink.com, she provides this juicy fact on the market for full color TransPromo applications:

InfoTrends recently completed its multi-client study entitled Trans Meets Promo… Is It More than Market Hype?. In conducting this study, InfoTrends surveyed more than 1,000 consumers, 600 direct marketers, and 230 print service providers to understand the strategy and direction for TransPromo implementation. Based on this feedback, InfoTrends projects that the North American market for TransPromo applications printed in full digital color represented 1.7 billion impressions in 2007. By 2012, the number of impressions is expected to reach 22.8 billion.

According to an article I recently read by InfoTrends, 63% of customers prefer promotional pieces over purely transactional documents. For this reason, “incorporating promotional messaging in transaction documents can both boost the appeal of a transactional document and generate a higher read rate for the marketing message.”

When I read this, I had to stop and think about that again. Putting a promotional message on a transactional document can “generate a higher read rate for the marketing message.” On the surface, this makes sense. Use something people like more (promotional messages) to boost readership of something people like less (transactional documents).

But as usual, I had to re-think it in a contrarian way. You are hitching the more desirable (the marketing message) to the less desirable (the transactional document). In some ways, you could argue that, by doing so, it’s like putting flat tires on a sports car. Of course, you could argue the other way, too, and that’s what is being done here. Bills have nearly a 100% open rate. You can’t say that about most direct mail, even highly personalized direct mail. By attaching the marketing message to the transactional document, you are increasing the chance of eyeball exposure.

I guess what struck me was its over-simplicity. As analysts and consultants, we are prone to blithe and pithy statements that make great pull quotes. But we need to be careful not to over-simplify.

I mean, another way to put this is that, if you’re talking about transpromo credit card statements, for example, and if credit card statements irritate people (which they do), you’re hoping that your marketing message catches the coattails of something that people fundamentally don’t like and that irritates them. Those marketing messages better be cheap to add!

It’s just another way to look at it. I’ll be available for tomato throwing later

Over at Transpromo-Live, Lee asks a very important question: Do you know what your junk mail is doing?. A poll conducted by the site found that “56% of the respondents did not read any of the promotions (inserts or flyers) which accompanied their bills while 39% said they “sometimes” they read the flyers and only 6% said that they read the inserts.”

As pointed out in the article, this creates a lot of waste and creates an opportunity for embedding promotional messages within transactional documents.

Lee sums it up by ending with:

Wouldn’t it be easier to place the advertisement/relevant promotion and or educational messaging in the unused white space that already exists on the bill or statement? Hundreds of millions of trees a year could be saved using transpromo best practices.

WhatTheyThink.com Senior Editor Cary Sherburne has posted some notes from the first day of InfoTrends’ second annual TransPromo Summit. Sherburne reports that attendance is up 30% with about 400 people in attendance.

A theme set by Barb Pellow at the event is that of simplexity:

Industry veteran and InfoTrends Group Director Barb Pellow kicked off the session by introducing to the audience the concept of Simplexity – the title of a new book that talks about how complex things can be simple and simple things complex. This is the perfect concept to help kick TransPromo to the next level. The technology infrastructure for TransPromo is now the simple part. The complex part is more human-related—organizational issues, and even a lack of creativity and vision on the part of implementers.

Simplexity: The consumer sees a simple, elegant interface, and the complex inner workings make it all happen. This is the mantra for the future of TransPromo.