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Each month, nearly a fifth of the mail collected by the Who’s Mailing What! Archive, a direct mail research service maintained by North American Publishing Co. (parent company to Target Marketing) comes from the financial services sector. With that much volume, the Archive often sees a number of interesting trends pop up among these mailers. Here’s a look at five areas where these mailers had some compelling activity in the first half of 2006.
• APRs. Looking at APRs within the credit card sector can yield a number of interesting findings. For example, in the first half of 2006, the dominant APR was 0 percent, accounting for 71.3 percent of all applicable credit card offers (about 52 percent of the Archive’s total financial services volume). APRs in the range of .1 percent to 5 percent were second at 12 percent; 15.1 percent to 20 percent was third at 10 percent; and the 5.1 percent to 10 percent range was fourth at 2.9 percent. Almost half—42.3 percent—of these special APRs applied to both purchases and balance transfers. Some 34.3 percent were used just to drive balance transfers, and 23.4 percent applied only to new purchases.
Looking into that popular 0 percent APR, 41.1 percent of the time that rate was good for more than a year. In 26.4 percent of offers, it was applicable for exactly a year, and 14.4 percent of efforts offered it for six months. In 3.7 percent of efforts, card holders got to hang on to their 0 percent APR for life. In presenting these time periods, the majority of mailers—63 percent—opted to give a specific end date, such as “0 percent APR through September 2007,” rather than a number of months, such as “0 percent APR applies to first six billing cycles.”
• Premium/freemium use. Aside from the tchotchkes offered by local bank branches, premiums within the financial services sector are relatively scarce. Overall, they appeared in 27.9 percent of financial mailings in the first half of 2006; most of those were monetary in nature, such as cash refunds, airline miles, loyalty points or a best price guarantee. But tangible gifts were not completely unheard of. Union Fidelity, for example, offered a three-day/two-night vacation for two to Las Vegas, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco or Reno with the closing of a refinanced loan; Universal Savings Bank gave out Dell Notebook computers to its credit card customers; Chase Manhattan promoted a free DVD player; Citibank made a B-to-C pitch with an iPod shuffle and a B-to-B offer of an HP Officejet printer; and MBNA tempted with T-shirts, jerseys, golf balls and photographs in efforts for its NFL, PGA and MLB affinity cards.
Until mid-2005, there was nothing much to say about freemiums in the financial services sector. But in May of that year, a variety of mailers, such as American Express, Capital One, MBNA and Discover, started using magnets to lend weight to their mailings and help their messages stick around. That year ended with freemiums in about 1.7 percent of financial services mailings; this number has almost doubled so far in 2006 to 3 percent, a jump driven almost exclusively by magnets.
• Envelope Sizes. It should be no surprise that envelopes are by far the most dominant format in the financial services sector. Some 86.9 percent of financial mailings received by the Archive in the first half of 2006 were envelopes—leaving just 13.1 percent for self-mailers, most of which fell into the banking category. It is, however, interesting to note that while the #10 was once the most dominant envelope size by far, it has lost some ground lately. In fact, while 31.7 percent of envelope efforts were #10, a higher 39.3 percent were a slight variation on this size, such as 4” x 9-1/4” or 4-1/4 x 9”. The most popular of these variations is 4-1/4” x 9-1/4”, which accounted for 22.4 percent of all envelope efforts—more than all of the other standard sizes combined. Financial mailers only made use of a few other sizes: 6” x 9” (4.4 percent), #9 (4.1 percent) and 6” x 11” (2.3 percent).
• Formats. Just because most of these financial services offers were mailed in envelopes, it doesn’t mean all financial services efforts were alike. Some unusual formats have appeared in recent months. Snap-packs were an interesting sighting, including efforts from Bank of New York, Chase Manhattan Bank, and an unusual one from Advanced Financial Services, which is designed to look like a manilla folder, complete with a preprinted tab that reads, “LOAN DOCUMENTS,” and interior components that are bound together like a booklet. Priority and special handling designs also seem to be popular among financial mailers right now, with Capital One, Citibank, Chase and National Education Association using outer envelope creative that focuses on their priority handling, confirmed delivery, tracking codes and “air saver xpress” status. Financial mailers, such as American Express and Capital One, also have been reaching out to best customers and high-end prospects with upscale mailings using such techniques as linen, card stocks and invitation formats.
• Sweepstakes. While sweeps did not make much of a splash in the financial services pool in the first half of 2006—less than 1 percent of efforts—all the sweeps the Archive did receive came in June, indicating that this number might climb as the year progresses. One such promotion came from Capital One, with a free gas sweepstakes offer. In 2004, this mailer buoyed financial services sweepstakes to an all-time high with its Win an Island promotion; if this gas promotion has legs—and the timely nature of the giveaway suggests it might—Capital One could have a similar influence on 2006’s numbers as well.
• APRs. Looking at APRs within the credit card sector can yield a number of interesting findings. For example, in the first half of 2006, the dominant APR was 0 percent, accounting for 71.3 percent of all applicable credit card offers (about 52 percent of the Archive’s total financial services volume). APRs in the range of .1 percent to 5 percent were second at 12 percent; 15.1 percent to 20 percent was third at 10 percent; and the 5.1 percent to 10 percent range was fourth at 2.9 percent. Almost half—42.3 percent—of these special APRs applied to both purchases and balance transfers. Some 34.3 percent were used just to drive balance transfers, and 23.4 percent applied only to new purchases.
Looking into that popular 0 percent APR, 41.1 percent of the time that rate was good for more than a year. In 26.4 percent of offers, it was applicable for exactly a year, and 14.4 percent of efforts offered it for six months. In 3.7 percent of efforts, card holders got to hang on to their 0 percent APR for life. In presenting these time periods, the majority of mailers—63 percent—opted to give a specific end date, such as “0 percent APR through September 2007,” rather than a number of months, such as “0 percent APR applies to first six billing cycles.”
• Premium/freemium use. Aside from the tchotchkes offered by local bank branches, premiums within the financial services sector are relatively scarce. Overall, they appeared in 27.9 percent of financial mailings in the first half of 2006; most of those were monetary in nature, such as cash refunds, airline miles, loyalty points or a best price guarantee. But tangible gifts were not completely unheard of. Union Fidelity, for example, offered a three-day/two-night vacation for two to Las Vegas, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco or Reno with the closing of a refinanced loan; Universal Savings Bank gave out Dell Notebook computers to its credit card customers; Chase Manhattan promoted a free DVD player; Citibank made a B-to-C pitch with an iPod shuffle and a B-to-B offer of an HP Officejet printer; and MBNA tempted with T-shirts, jerseys, golf balls and photographs in efforts for its NFL, PGA and MLB affinity cards.
Until mid-2005, there was nothing much to say about freemiums in the financial services sector. But in May of that year, a variety of mailers, such as American Express, Capital One, MBNA and Discover, started using magnets to lend weight to their mailings and help their messages stick around. That year ended with freemiums in about 1.7 percent of financial services mailings; this number has almost doubled so far in 2006 to 3 percent, a jump driven almost exclusively by magnets.
• Envelope Sizes. It should be no surprise that envelopes are by far the most dominant format in the financial services sector. Some 86.9 percent of financial mailings received by the Archive in the first half of 2006 were envelopes—leaving just 13.1 percent for self-mailers, most of which fell into the banking category. It is, however, interesting to note that while the #10 was once the most dominant envelope size by far, it has lost some ground lately. In fact, while 31.7 percent of envelope efforts were #10, a higher 39.3 percent were a slight variation on this size, such as 4” x 9-1/4” or 4-1/4 x 9”. The most popular of these variations is 4-1/4” x 9-1/4”, which accounted for 22.4 percent of all envelope efforts—more than all of the other standard sizes combined. Financial mailers only made use of a few other sizes: 6” x 9” (4.4 percent), #9 (4.1 percent) and 6” x 11” (2.3 percent).
• Formats. Just because most of these financial services offers were mailed in envelopes, it doesn’t mean all financial services efforts were alike. Some unusual formats have appeared in recent months. Snap-packs were an interesting sighting, including efforts from Bank of New York, Chase Manhattan Bank, and an unusual one from Advanced Financial Services, which is designed to look like a manilla folder, complete with a preprinted tab that reads, “LOAN DOCUMENTS,” and interior components that are bound together like a booklet. Priority and special handling designs also seem to be popular among financial mailers right now, with Capital One, Citibank, Chase and National Education Association using outer envelope creative that focuses on their priority handling, confirmed delivery, tracking codes and “air saver xpress” status. Financial mailers, such as American Express and Capital One, also have been reaching out to best customers and high-end prospects with upscale mailings using such techniques as linen, card stocks and invitation formats.
• Sweepstakes. While sweeps did not make much of a splash in the financial services pool in the first half of 2006—less than 1 percent of efforts—all the sweeps the Archive did receive came in June, indicating that this number might climb as the year progresses. One such promotion came from Capital One, with a free gas sweepstakes offer. In 2004, this mailer buoyed financial services sweepstakes to an all-time high with its Win an Island promotion; if this gas promotion has legs—and the timely nature of the giveaway suggests it might—Capital One could have a similar influence on 2006’s numbers as well.
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