Growing Revenues with Transpromo Marketing Like many department budgets these days, marketing budgets tend to be shrinking, making the goal of growing revenues more challenging. Yet successful marketing is the primary factor in revenue growth for most companies. So how do you sustain the messaging necessary for continued sales growth with a lower budget? The answer lies in a company’s ability to implement the most cost effective ways of sending marketing messages to customers. Go Transpromo If you are not utilizing transpromo capabilities to piggyback marketing and cross-sell messages on your customer communications, you are missing out on an extremely valuable and practically free marketing opportunity! The marketing industry term “transpromo,” short for “trans-promotional,” refers to including promotional marketing messages on existing customer communication components that are not primarily produced for promotional purposes. Messages can be included on physical and digital communications. Commonly used placement in print includes the outside of the envelope and room at the bottom of invoices and statements. Placement in digital communications includes the bottom of the e-mail, call outs and sidebars. Transform Non-Marketing Mail Into a Powerful New Marketing Channel Your organization is probably already sending certain types of non-promotional mail to customers on a regular basis, such as monthly statements and invoices or account updates and reminders. Transpromo technology makes it simple to print virtually any marketing message or image, in color, on any mail piece. Now a simple bill or statement can become a flexible, consistent and highly affordable marketing communications medium. And because transpromo messages are delivered using existing communication channels, there’s practically no cost.

Today, many businesses use transpromo technology to print:

• A coupon on the bottom of a customer statement or invoice • A product cross-sell message, often with a discount • A sale or promotion announcement • Point totals on a rewards or loyalty program • Online URLs and related online promotions • “Coming soon” information • Customer “thank you” or appreciation messages

© 2011, Pitney Bowes Inc. Reproduction prohibited.

2 Growing Revenues with Transpromo Marketing

Transpromo Messages Get Read Another favorable aspect of transpromo marketing is the high probability that the message will be seen. According to recent studies, 83% of people open and read their mail right away when it is non-promotional and appears to be a statement, invoice or important information from a company with which they have an existing relationship. So when customers recognize the mail as something they need to open, they see tailored marketing messages in full color. Transpromo Marketing Saves Money Some messages don’t require an entire separate mail package in order to be effectively delivered. Taking advantage of transpromo marketing can greatly reduce production, mailing and overall marketing expenses in two major ways: • Transpromo messages can take the place of separate mail campaigns, allowing communication with

customers in already existing mailings while saving thousands of dollars on production and postage costs.

o Consider replacing Anniversary Kits with a simple transpromo acknowledgement on an invoice and envelope

o Include a message about an upcoming sale, event or product introduction o Reference other communications, for example, “visit us on Facebook for special discounts” o Print a QR code linked to a web page or video cross-selling a product

• Transpromo printing technology is easy to use and can be brought in-house to eliminate the expenses associated with third-party vendors.

Mailing fewer direct mail campaigns and reducing production costs with in-house printing allow you to maintain and even increase your messaging opportunities with customers on a much smaller marketing budget. Leverage Transpromo Variable Messaging on Envelopes Up until now, we’ve been reviewing the benefits of piggybacking transpromo messaging on non-promotional or non-marketing-related mail. In some cases, however, a separate direct mail package is still the most effective communications method. The same transpromo printing technology can be utilized on the envelopes of promotional and marketing mail campaigns. Printing on envelopes with customized capabilities creates savings by: eliminating the cost of pre-printed envelopes (blank envelopes are far less expensive); printing on an “as needed” basis; and printing exactly the messaging you want on the outside, for any campaign. Think about making the outside of the envelope mirror the message on the inside. Examples are discounts, coupons, websites, etc. This can greatly improve the chances that your mail is opened and read.

© 2011, Pitney Bowes Inc. Reproduction prohibited.

3 Growing Revenues with Transpromo Marketing

Color Messages and Images Get Your Envelopes Opened More Often An online survey conducted in early 2010 by the independent research firm Leflein Associates was designed to measure current preferences, attitudes, and behaviors related to receiving physical mail, with an emphasis on determining what factors increased the likelihood of an envelope being opened. Study participants were asked to imagine they were sorting through the envelopes in their own mail and choose which they would open first. The survey results indicate that certain factors, especially messages in color, markedly improve envelope open rates. Below are a few highlights from the survey results: • Adding a color headline and graphic to the front of an envelope increases its open-ability rate at home

by 69% compared to the same envelope with no headline or graphics. • The use of color headline and graphics improves the open-ability of the envelope at work by 23%

compared to the same envelope with no headline or graphics. • 44% of respondents said they notice the back of the envelope when receiving mail at home and

at work. • There is also a marginal increase in open-ability when adding a color headline and graphic to the back

of an envelope.

Ultimately Transpromo is About Growing Revenues Once you’ve implemented transpromo into your marketing mix you will be able to communicate with your customers more frequently and get more envelopes open—even with fewer mail campaigns and fewer vendors. It’s easy to see how revenues can quickly grow when you are spending less and communicating more. There are reliable companies that offer fast and easy access to transpromo technology and equipment and also provide free consulting to help you get the most out of your new marketing channel. The small investment up front is easily worth the long-term marketing benefits because once you have the equipment in-house, you can print unlimited marketing messages at little cost.

Study Shows Physical Mail is Still the Preferred Communication Method

Results from Leflein Associates 2010 online survey also illustrate that, although consumers regularly use digital communications channels such as e-mail and cell phone text messaging, physical mail is still the preferred channel for many types of communications. Here are a few of the highlights of the survey results related to communication channel preferences: • Only 12% of Americans are on a “do not

mail” list. • Nearly 95% of responders regularly

open physical mail, such as letters and packages.

• Consumers prefer mail to e-mail delivery, phone calls and text messages for most content, especially catalogs and transactional (invoices) and promotional items.

• Even 18-34 year olds are more likely to read through their mail vs. e-mail.

• Mail is more likely than e-mail to be considered safe, secure, private and confidential.

• Mail is usually perceived to be coming from a trustworthy source.

© 2011, Pitney Bowes Inc. Reproduction prohibited.

Source: Leflein Associates. “Envelope Open-Ability Study.” Feb-March 2010.