Financial services direct mail increased in 2006
Both credit card and insurance acquisition mail volumes have shown substantial growth over 2005's figures, according to competitive intelligence firm Mintel Comperemedia.
The company reports that these areas have made clear gains during the past year due to an increase in campaign launch activity. In the credit card sector, more than 9.2 billion acquisition direct mail pieces were distributed to American consumers in 2006 to solicit new and continued business.
Top mailers Chase was the top mailer for the year, sending out more than 1.7 billion acquisition direct mail pieces. This is a 4% decline from 2005, where Chase still held the top spot. Rounding out the top five for 2006 were Capital One Bank, American Express, Citibank, and Bank of America. Capital One posted at 13% gain over 2005 in their direct mail activity, demonstrating the biggest gain of the top five.
Just missing the top five, both HSBC and Discover are credit card direct marketers of note, increasing their direct mail acquisition activity between 2005 and 2006 by 25% and 29%, respectively.
"Emerging campaigns have been the key drivers in the overall mail volume increases," said Jenny Roock, director of Mintel Comperemedia. "As companies continue to look for new ways to attract consumers to their products and services, several of the newer campaigns over the last year have focused on tailoring their cards to specific consumers with unique needs."
Robust growth in insurance The insurance direct mail sector has also demonstrated robust growth from 2005 to 2006. More than 6.8 billion acquisition direct mail pieces were distributed to consumers in five key areas: auto, health, life, property & casualty, and travel. Health insurance reported a 21% jump, while travel insurance declined sharply by 41%.
"With the boomer market moving into retirement, many companies are strategizing to capture their business," said Roock. "New health programmes and initiatives continue to build, and companies are aggressively getting the message out to these potential consumers. Travel insurance is still a healthy market, but several other companies are rolling travel insurance into other packages and key benefits."
Future prospects For the future, Mintel Comperemedia predicts that further increases in postal charges and the emergence of more e-mail-based marketing will certainly have an impact on direct mail volumes this year.
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