TransPromo Summit A Success

The first TransPromo Summit brought more than 300 people from 33 states and 15 countries to New York to learn about the benefits of incorporating promotional messages onto transactional documents.

“It’s a new market opportunity that is about to explode,” proclaimed organizer Charlie Pesko, founder and president of InfoTrends, the research and consulting company that organized the two-day summit.

Keynote speaker Jeff Hayzlett, chief marketing officer of Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group, got to the heart of the matter in his second-day keynote address: “TransPromo is a hot topic for a good reason: it works,” he said. “Smart marketers...are using new digital print technologies to turn traditional statements and routine correspondence into personalized, revenue-generating promotional vehicles. TransPromo can take a cost center and turn it into a profit center.”

One who has done exactly that is Dennis McClure, invoice marketing manager of Ford Motor Credit Co. In what was perhaps the best session of the summit, the fast-talking McClure described how Ford leveraged its invoice statements for marketing purposes. He cautioned others to develop guidelines for messages, so the same ads aren’t repeated until they lose their impact.

“Campaigns and messages need to be refreshed constantly,” he said.

At times, he added, the marketing message should not try to sell but to inform, as when Ford used the space on invoices to tell customers about awards the company had won.

TransPromo should be used to reinforce company marketing messages being sent out by other means, such as direct mail offers, McClure said. Offer expiration dates and other information must be consistent with other ads.

After holding customer focus groups, Ford learned that customers expect to hear about new products, so they are open to reading about them on their statements. They love seeing photos of new products. But excessive advertising will turn them off.

McClure, like many speakers at the event, said measuring and tracking the results of a Transpromo campaign is crucial. His group tracked responses from both target and control groups. Without giving any numbers, he acknowledged that Transpromo has generated sales for his company.

Much of the summit was devoted to promoting the value of Transpromo. Among the points made by speakers:

• Transaction documents command more attention; customers spend 1-3 minutes reviewing statements.

• Since companies already mail statements, Transpromo is cost-efficient.

• Transpromo can cut through the clutter. Customers receive less than 12 transaction documents monthly.

• Transpromo documents are addressed to a well-known target market: current
customers.

To succeed, Transpromo messages must be relevant to the recipient and offer them some value, said Barb Pellow, of InfoTrends. Also, they must have a quality design that communicates the message effectively.

Other speakers noted that campaigns must be designed to get a specific reaction. One suggested changing the position of ads from statement to statement so customers don’t learn to tune out anything in a particular spot.

All of the major printing equipment vendors clearly support Transpromo, judging by the fact that they were all there as sponsors. Their equipment is now fast enough to provide the necessary digital color imaging at a reasonable price.