The benefits of TransPromo

By Elise Hacking Carr

TransPromo: A Case Study

Scott Baker, vice president of business development, GMC Software Technology, was asked to demonstrate a successful TransPromo campaign. He offered the following case study involving American Banknote:

American Banknote is one of the world’s leading secure document printers, generating $2 billion each year from its global operation, producing credit card and bank statements, plus other transactional black-and-white printed correspondence. Its Brazilian operation—ABnote SA of Sao Paolo—is a pioneer in the implementation of TransPromo communications.

At the 2008 TransPromo Summit in New York, Bradesco, one of the world’s largest banks and Abnote, its transactional print service bureau, were on a fact-finding mission to assess the value of adding promotional or educational messages to transactional correspondence. Consequently, American Banknote installed its first HP Indigo press and the GMC PrintNet software suite in August 2008.

GMC then set to work to help Abnote meet its tight deadline. The pilot project had an amazingly short timeline, but within a month and a half they had hardware and software installed, people trained and the application tested. This is a process that often takes many months, but with the sense of urgency at Bradesco and an efficient implementation team, we were able to compress the process.

In September, 20,000 pilot TransPromo statements were in the mail. Bradesco saw preliminary results in October. Additional test runs of 500,000 statements in October and again in November provided a good base for assessing the return on investment. Bradesco is not disclosing the exact figures; suffice it to say, they were very, very pleased with the results.

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. The two marry and live happily ever after.

Now, apply this concept to TransPromo. Simply put, think of this technology as a marriage between transactional documents, such as financial statements from credit card companies, banks or utility providers, and an explanation of benefits or invoices from your healthcare insurer and promotional messages. The "Promo" part can be promotional offers including those typically found in direct mail, coupon mailings, cross or up-sell offers, inserts rewards or loyalty programs, explained Scott Baker, vice president of business development at Boston-based GMC Software Technology.

"What it's really describing is a document with more than one purpose, a multifunction document that is specifically designed to use regular communications that the recipient is expecting, such as bills and statements and other transactional correspondence (the 'Trans' in TransPromo). Also, TransPromo is not limited to print. TransPromo communications can be delivered via e-mail or by a personalized Web page or PURL," he elaborated.

And, while TransPromo is essentially a union of transactional data and marketing messages to bring about a sales-based response, it serves other purposes. For instance, it can be educational, provide money-saving tips or offer advice. Companies can potentially profit from each customer communication, and an exchange is created that maintains a healthy, prosperous relationship.

When creating a TransPromo document, first, companies need to identify the space for their message. This can be done by finding existing white space within the statement design and/or the leftover space at the end of the transaction, Baker explained. TransPromo doesn't always have to be delivered in color, but color is preferred because it makes a message pop, garnering higher response rates.

When it comes to TransPromo, successful marketers often look to their past. Art Waganheim, vice president of operations for Davie, Florida-based Paitec USA noted many TransPromo marketers find it advantageous to sell transactional recipients with personalized ads based on what they've previously purchased. "For example, if a plumbing wholesaler can pinpoint a customer whose invoice includes sprinkler parts but who has never purchased sprinkler pumps, that wholesaler can add a special sale coupon for pumps on that invoice," he said.