Latest research by database and loyalty marketing specialist GI Insight reveals that just under half of UK consumers are driven to visit a company website by an item of direct mail. Despite the growth of email and proliferation of other digital channels, the research shows that online traffic is largely driven by direct mail, with 47% of UK consumers saying that ‘more often than not’ they are prompted to check out a website by something they have received in the post.

Just over a third (34%) of respondents declare that most of the direct marketing they receive, notice and take action on comes through the post, and 33% say they are more responsive to email-only communications – leaving another third who are not driven solely by marketing activity across a single channel, but are more likely to take action if they receive a combination of post and email communications.

The continuing importance of direct mail in a multi-channel era was also highlighted by the finding that more than half of UK consumers (52%) declare that they receive most of the promotions and special offers they redeem in-store or online though the post. And 43% of respondents also say that direct mail items they keep around at home act as reminders to visit the sender’s website or shop when they have the time to do so.

Andy Wood, managing director of GI Insight, comments: “These findings clearly demonstrate that direct mail is still an extremely powerful tool, even in the digital age, and plays a pivotal role in any business’ efforts to contact consumers – despite increasing use of email and regardless of the channel that consumers choose to actually purchase through.”

Additional findings of report include:

• Surprisingly, 53% of digitally savvy 18 to 24-year-olds say they most often go to check out a website because of something they have received in the post – while fewer than half of all other consumers do so

• Over a third of consumers – 35% – say that if they receive a notice through the post that is backed by a subsequent email, they are more likely to take action

• Men are more likely than women to take action because they have received an email reminder as a follow-up to an item of direct mail they were sent – 37% versus 32%

• Close to a third of consumers – 34% – say they regularly receive at least two catalogues containing products they buy, whether in-store or online, with a higher proportion of men getting them than women

• Women are more likely than men to visit a website because of something that they have received through the post – 49% compared to 44%

Wood notes: “The report highlights that the UK customer journey from marketing communication to in-store or website purchase is anything but linear. There may be a number of messages that influence the consumer’s behaviour. Evidently, one of the real drivers of many purchases is the reminder – whether it is a piece of post set aside, or an email sent to reinforce a mailer. To ensure that these reminders are pertinent and part of an organic strategy, all dialogue with the customer must be informed by data and analysis.

“Only by embracing full customer insight and responding aptly to customer behaviour with relevant messages and offers can companies communicate more effectively and personally with individual consumers. By using data and analysis to better understand how customers are making their purchasing decisions, firms can find the most engaging mix of channels for each customer and gain a decisive edge on competitors.”

The role of direct mail today

Effectiveness of different channel combinations

About GI Insight
GI Insight specialises in database marketing and loyalty schemes, having created and managed more retail loyalty programmes than anyone else in the UK. The Leicester-based company offers a full range of database marketing services including consultancy, database design/build/host, data capture, analysis, segmentation, profiling, campaign execution and measurement, available as a whole or on a ‘pick and mix’ basis. The analysis and interpretation of your sales and customer data enables you to influence customer behaviour. This knowledge helps you to reliably increase profitability by:

• Getting more new customers (acquisition)
• Getting existing customers to:
o Spend more often
o Spend more per transaction
• Reducing Customer Attrition (retention)

For more information, please visit www.gi-solutionsgroup.com

UK investors relinquish more than £1 billion in their rightful returns

A new report from GOAL Group, the leading tax reclamation services specialist, reveals that $17.39 billion (£10.72 billion) of global investors’ rightful returns from their cross-border shares and bonds are likely to be lost from last year’s earnings because withholding tax on dividends and income is not being properly reclaimed. This represents around a quarter of all reclaimable tax on cross-border securities. UK investors chalked up the second highest losses behind the US, with investors forfeiting $1.65 billion (£1.02 billion).

As cross-border shareholdings have become more popular, lost returns through unreclaimed tax have escalated at a significant rate since 2005 when GOAL last examined the situation. According to statistics from the International Monetary Fund and from global stock exchanges, the market capitalisation of global equities rose 79% between 2001 and 2009, whereas the value of cross-border equities investments rose 163% over the same period. Cross-border shareholdings have therefore risen at something around double the market rate.

2010 has also seen a resurgence in equity dividend payments as markets grow; this trend is likely to continue in 2011 amid enhanced corporate confidence and economic recovery. In parallel, the value of bonds listed on global markets has escalated across the decade. In light of the increasing popularity of dividend payments and cross-border securities, unreclaimed tax will continue to rise unless reclamation levels improve.

Income earned on cross-border securities is subjected to withholding tax in the country of origin, but a portion of that tax may be reclaimed by custodians on behalf of their clients. Many leading custodians have already recognised the market opening represented by effective tax reclamation services, both for their FM clients, and as an interbank services opportunity. But with around 25% of reclaimable withholding tax lying unreclaimed in foreign tax systems every year, there is a clear opportunity for custodians to increase the scope and efficiency of reclamation services.

Stephen Everard, Chief Executive Officer, GOAL Group, comments, “As the global economy continues to gain steam, companies are eager to demonstrate to investors, through dividend payments, that they have put the financial crisis behind them and are now well into the recovery mode in 2011. Since savvy investors are increasingly adopting a global investment strategy to maximise their earnings from securities – both equities and bonds – a substantial proportion of their rightful returns will risk languishing in foreign tax regimes if the reclamation of withholding tax is not treated with the due attention it deserves.

“All players in the fund management community should take the issue seriously and make every endeavour to enhance investors’ returns. Technology is widely available today to automatically perform the highly complex task of reclaiming withholding tax, a process which has to incorporate varying data, formats and procedures from a multiplicity of different legislatures around the globe. So there is really no pretext for fund management and custodians not to harness these technology-based services to the benefit of their investor clients.”

About Goal Group Limited

The Goal Group of Companies was incorporated on 1 November 1989 and is widely-acknowledged in the financial services sector for its innovative and creative solutions to highly-specialised niche processes.

Goal Group, ISO 9001:2008 accredited, has a truly global, blue-chip client base including several of the world’s largest global custodians, asset managers, private banks, pension funds, local government agencies, hedge funds, high net-worth individuals, investment banks, prime brokers and fund managers spread widely across Europe, Asia and the United States.

Goal Group’s class actions service is provided via its wholly-owned subsidiary Goal Global Recoveries Limited (‘GGRL’) and supports investors and corporate entities who have suffered financial loss from owning shares in a company where there has been proven mis-management and/or unlawful behaviour.

Goal Group’s withholding tax solutions include GTRS, GQI, GOAL TaxBack and GDMS. Research by Goal has shown that in excess of USD 10 billion of withholding tax remains unclaimed each year by the rightful owners and beneficiaries. Goal’s solutions facilitate the reclamation of circa USD 11 billion per annum and assist its clients to benefit from relief at source wherever practicable and possible to do so.

For further information about the Goal Group of Companies, please visit www.goalgroup.com

The time when SMEs need credit is when the banks lending criteria are squeezed to the point of virtual drought. It’s only now the economy is starting to move that banks will once again lend, and even now, not enough. Credit availability is the biggest fueller of economic recovery, but banks will only relax lending criteria once each stage of recovery is seen (retrospectively) to be under way.

Which is chicken, which egg? Why is government not offering SME credit, where banks will not lend? And to a much larger extent than the equity lending being offered through the newly announced Business Growth Fund.

Or is government equally afraid of losses and defaults as the banking system?

A new report from customer insight and database marketing specialist Transactis has revealed that if customers see that a company is using their data to provide good products, relevant communications and efficient service, then they are more likely to trust that firm to hold their data and continue using it to ensure their satisfaction.

 In an age when consumers really have to take a leap of faith and trust companies with their data if they want to make transactions over the internet, most need to feel comfortable that those companies are handling their details responsibly. In order to determine how consumers feel about the care and use of their personal data by the companies they deal with, Transactis surveyed over 2,000 people from across the UK.

 Nearly 90% say they assume that a company is looking after their personal data carefully and intelligently if they are receiving a good service and the customer communications are sensible and relevant. And, more than 80% are happy to hand over further personal data if they see that it is being used to provide relevant perks such as special offers, discounts and loyalty bonuses.

 The vast majority of consumers – more than 92% – believe the companies that have the most satisfied customers are the ones doing the best job of looking after their personal details and using them to add value.

 However, only about one fifth of consumers see any of the firms they buy from using their personal data to make attractive offers and deliver good customer service.

 If companies do show that they are not using data effectively then they risk losing the trust of their customers. The Transactis report found that around 78% of UK consumers begin to doubt the ability of a firm to look after their personal information if the company continually asks for personal details when they have already provided them.

 Peter Thompson, Transactis’ commercial director, comments:  “Data security and the proper handling of personal information is not something most consumers think about, or are particularly concerned about, until there is a problem. In other words, consumers assume that their data is being handled in a careful and intelligent way if they receive good service and sensible communications from a company. But their confidence in a firm’s ability to look after their data can disappear completely if the wrong order arrives, or a delivery goes to the wrong place, or they start to receive unexpected and badly targeted marketing communications – or, in the worst-case scenario, they find that it has been carelessly handled, resulting in fraud.

 “The research demonstrates that customer data has to be used to inform and shape every aspect of a company’s business – from product development to marketing communications to the processing of orders.”

About Transactis

Transactis creates insight from customer transactions and enables clients to act and communicate at an individual level. Using its unique data resources, specialist knowledge and innovative technology, Transactis delivers products and services that allow its clients to make better, faster and more informed decisions to generate greater efficiencies, profit and an enhanced experience for their customers. Honours at the 2009 Data Strategy Awards and Retail Week Technology Awards are the latest in a series of industry accolades for helping clients to maximise performance and value from their customer management investment.

For more information, visit www.transactis.co.uk

 New research from customer insight specialist GI Insight reveals that UK consumers take a truly multi-channel approach to shopping for non-supermarket goods, using a range of touch points for browsing and purchasing. The study indicated that the vast majority of consumers prefer to research goods and services online before going to the high street to actually make their purchases.

 The GI Insight survey of 2,000 consumers from around the UK showed that 72% of consumers prefer to browse and research their purchases online, while only 19% of shoppers prefer to vet their potential purchases in-store. The study also revealed that almost equal proportions of consumers state a preference for making their non-supermarket purchases on the internet and in a store – 46% online and 47% on the high street. In addition, the figures indicate a niche of consumers still prefer to do their browsing and buying via print catalogue – 5% and 3% respectively.

 The findings show that men prefer to browse and buy online – with 50% purchasing on the internet compared to 42% of women, and 74% browsing on the web compared to 69% of women. Women show a greater preference for shopping on the high street than men, with 52% preferring to purchase in-store compared to 41% of men, and 22% browsing in store versus 17% of men.

 Older consumers show a marked inclination for buying in-store with 62% of respondents in the 55 to 64 age group stating they prefer to buy in a shop and only 33% giving online as their preference – but their browsing habits were more in line with the average, as 69% say they prefer to do their research online.

 Andy Wood, managing director of GI Insight, comments: “These figures clearly indicate that UK consumers see shopping as a multi-channel activity and process.

 “The most obvious trend evident in the findings is that consumers often look for and research products online – doing price comparisons and checking product reviews – before going to the high street to buy in-store. But the reverse can also be true and undoubtedly a smaller proportion of shoppers go to the high street to look, feel and try out – or try on – their prospective purchases before going home to buy online.”

 While the findings indicate that a core of consumers expect firms to be accessible both online and on the high street – and, for some, via catalogue as well – the vast majority will still buy from a brand that does not offer one of the major channels for purchasing. Only 28% say they would not purchase from a firm that failed to offer online shopping while just 23% would refuse to buy from a brand without a high street presence – and merely 11% demand that a company have a catalogue.

 Consumers with the highest household incomes are most wedded to high street brands – 53% of those in the £100,000-£149,000 household income range and 44% of those in the £150,000-plus bracket say they would only buy from a firm with high street presence, compared with just over 20% in lower income groups.

 A significant proportion of consumers, however, do expect businesses to offer a range of options for getting in direct contact with the company – with 39% saying they would switch to a competitor if a firm they deal with did not offer choice in this area, and more than 48% saying this would be the case with a company they had not bought from before.

 Wood notes: “The results show a large majority don’t mind if a brand is only available over one channel for purchasing – underlining the fact that most consumers are flexible enough to switch channels where necessary. But when it comes to getting in touch with a company for general information, taking up an offer, help, servicing, problems, complaints and other forms of communication, a sizable proportion of consumers do want a choice of channel for getting in touch with that firm.”

 He adds: “Brands can’t view their businesses in silos – as stand-alone web or bricks-and-mortar operations with separate customers – because that is not how consumers view them. For consumers, a brand is the same over the internet as it is in its mail-order catalogues as it is on the high street as it is over the phone. And when it comes to customer service, they expect a firm to be accessible through their preferred touch point, whether that is email, web form, phone, post, or face-to-face.

 “More than ever, businesses operating across channels need to understand their customers’ shopping habits and preferences. How a customer will respond to a company and through which channel is very murky once you aggregate data to the top level. The only way to deal with it is to track each consumer with data and analysis and respond accordingly.”

About GI Insight

GI Insight specialises in database marketing and loyalty schemes, having created and managed more retail loyalty programmes than anyone else in the UK. The Leicester-based company offers a full range of database marketing services including consultancy, database design/build/host, data capture, analysis, segmentation, profiling, campaign execution and measurement, available as a whole or on a ‘pick and mix’ basis. The analysis and interpretation of your sales and customer data enables you to influence customer behaviour. This knowledge helps you to reliably increase profitability by: 

•   Getting more new customers (acquisition)
•   Getting existing customers to (retention):
  •    Spend more often
  •    Spend more per transaction

For more information, please visit www.gi-solutionsgroup.com