Communicating intelligently with existing customers is critical, and marketing spend is heavily weighted towards this pool. But businesses cannot afford to neglect prospecting activity. So, what techniques can businesses adopt to ensure that the search for new customers is both targeted and cost-efficient ?

A more recent technique - trans-promo - lends itself quite gainfully to the affinity method. ‘Trans-promo’ marketing is the term given to the use of marketing and promotional messages on bills and statements or other transactional documents. For the sender, trans-promo makes perfect sense. These businesses are duty-bound to despatch transactional communications. And research show that the attention consumers give to transactional documents far outweighs that typically given to standard direct mail promotions. Thus, the sender is able to use its existing, regular communication with the customer to cross-sell or up-sell, at little additional cost.

To date, within Europe, trans-promo has been used solely by businesses as a means of cross-selling or up-selling their own products or services. In other words, the messages appearing on bills and statements are marketing the sender’s own products or services — not those from a third party partner. But, across the globe — initially in Japan and subsequently in the USA — businesses are quickly recognising the two-way benefits of affinity trans-promo.

Undoubtedly, these trailblazers have been spurred on by technological advances in digital colour production printing. The combination of relevancy and colour has been shown to increase response significantly and such a combination is now both possible and cost-effective. Crucially, trans-promo is achievable at any scale due to the relatively low cost of digital colour and the fact that businesses of all sizes now have solutions to analyse and segment customer data.

So, European businesses look poised to embrace affinity marketing through trans-promo mail. But are consumers ready for billboard bills and showcase statements? Will European consumers welcome these integrated third-party messages?

According to our research, consumers in the romance countries are most-receptive to the idea of third-party messaging. But UK and German consumers also show a healthy appetite. If the message fits, there is real scope for successful cross-border promotions.

If the trans-promo approach to affinity is adopted, care must obviously be taken that the promotional message fits sensibly with the host-document — and the recipient. A utilities bill reminder may not be the best vehicle to deliver promotional messages regarding energy-hungry appliances. Similarly, if a credit card customer is continuing to miss monthly payments, he or she is unlikely to be a current prospect for high-value goods or services. As ever, the onus comes back to careful data management and clear communication between both parties.

Certainly, there is a significant and receptive European market for mailed affinity messages. These may simply be incorporated within the direct marketing of the host company — leveraging the power of joint branding.

Affinity marketing offers a cost-efficient, low risk strategy. Whilst the concept of affinity mail is not new, the rise of trans-promo as a vehicle to deliver these affinity messages is a trend set for rapid and expansive European growth.