Boston, MA, Booth #647, March 4, 2007 – Many marketers are still missing a trick when it comes to targeting their customers properly and are not taking advantage of opportunities available through trusted communications such as bills and statements, according to independent research released today by InfoPrint Solutions Company, a joint venture between IBM and Ricoh.

57 percent of consumers surveyed by Zoomerang for InfoPrint stated that mail remained the preferred method of delivery for "must-read" documents like statements or bills, despite the multi-channel methods of delivery now available such as email and text messaging. Added to this, nearly a quarter of consumers surveyed receive between four and six statements by mail each month, showing the high touch-rate of this document.

Yet a staggering 86 percent of consumers said they have never purchased a product or service after receiving a separate promotional document with their monthly statements, with 40 percent of respondents mentioning that the inserts that accompany their monthly statements are always impersonal and irrelevant.

"With three quarters of people we surveyed receiving at least one insert per monthly statement, this impersonal approach represents a huge wasted opportunity for marketers," said Sandra Zoratti, (title) at InfoPrint Solutions Company. "Sending out one-size-fits-all mailers is no longer an effective method of reaching consumers. Marketers need to wake up to this, fast. It is vital that the industry embraces new means of talking to consumers, and utilizing their delivery preferences to its advantage."

64 percent of respondents questioned in the InfoPrint survey said that they would use personalized coupons if printed onto monthly bills and statements, with nearly half responding that these would actually encourage brand loyalty. To add to this trend, 45 percent of consumers questioned by InfoPrint felt that colorful promotional materials stood out as more interesting and enticing to read.

"Marketers could benefit from techniques that marry transactional documents with customer data, colorful and relevant offers that are tuned to consumers' preferences and purchasing patterns," continues Zoratti. "These serve to strengthen customer relationships, thus reduce always-concerning churn levels. Bills are expected and trusted communication tools with a very high open rate. Being smart and talking to the consumer at this level will help increase ROI and success rate of many marketing campaigns."

Zoomerang surveyed 1,000 consumers in North America for InfoPrint in December 2007.

InfoPrint recently launched its Transpromo solution suite for marketers, aimed at demystifying the medium and providing support and consulting for CMOs launching personalization campaigns, based on InfoPrint's 40 plus years of experience in the transactional industry. Its world-leading data mining and customer profiling techniques, document composition software, and digital printing technology make transformation of bills and statements an easy transition for marketing companies. For more information, go to www.infoprintsolutionscompany.com/transpromo.