Consumers warm to affinity marketing messages

A new report from mailstream technology specialist Pitney Bowes reveals that 33 per cent of EU consumers would actively respond to mailed affinity marketing messages.

Affinity marketing is the process of 'piggy-backing' another company's communications in order to target a marketing message to a wider, verified prospect pool.

Usually, the company chosen will operate in a related market, making the affinity partnership immediately rational to consumers.

Pitney Bowes makes the parallel between this healthy response to third-party affinity messages and the rise of marketing messages on bills and statements (now referred to as 'trans-promo' marketing).

Previously, trans-promo has been used to up-sell or cross-sell the biller's own products or services.

But the UK is set to follow trends in Japan and the US where transactional communications feature prominent affinity marketing messages from third-party businesses.

The survey targeted consumers in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy to ask: "If a company that you already deal with mails you a communication featuring an offer from a third party, are you more likely to respond to that third party?" David Jefferies, Marketing Director, Pitney Bowes, stated: "There is a healthy welcome for affinity marketing from consumers across Europe.

"The technique of affinity itself is nothing new - although usage on mailed communications is not particularly widespread.

"The exciting development comes with the opportunities afforded by trans-promo communications.

"Astute European businesses tasked with sending volumes of transactional mail are already looking for partnerships with affinity companies in order to produce billboard bills and showcase statements, and affinity marketers recognise the appeal of marketing on transactional documents.

"Research proves that consumers pay closer attention to transactional documents and retain them for longer periods.

"Suddenly, the bill or statement becomes valuable document real estate - used not merely for self-promotion but as a means of offsetting communication costs by partnering with ambitious third-party businesses".

Methodology: a balanced sample of over 1,000 consumers were interviewed in each of Europe's five main economies - Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain.

Fieldwork was conducted by Harris Interactive.

Each respondent was asked the question: "If a company that you already deal with mails you a communication featuring an offer from a third party, are you more likely to respond to that third party?".

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