Wednesday July 25 LANHAM, Md.-- According to research released today by Group 1 Software, Inc., a Pitney Bowes Company, Americans spend twice as much time reviewing printed bank and credit card statements compared to the 3.5 minutes spent examining their web equivalents. The study also found that consumers pay more attention to direct mail than to "cold" prospecting emails.
Americans spend an average of approximately 3.5 minutes looking at the documents they receive from businesses and the government, found the survey. Meanwhile, residents of large European countries devote even more time to these materials, at just over four minutes. The documents that receive the most attention in the U.S. include bank/credit card statements and mobile phone bills, while government and tax correspondence command less interest.
"These findings suggest that organizations who put targeted cross-selling messages on physical statements may achieve higher return on investment," said Rob Pipe, vice president, marketing and strategy for Group 1 Software.
"Banks, credit card issuers, mobile telecoms companies and utilities should weigh the benefits of migrating customers to web self-service compared to the additional income that can be generated through advertising on printed bills and statements," continued Pipe.
Additional key findings of the study include:
* Companies using direct mail have, on average, just under three minutes to get their message across.
* Email to existing customers receives almost as much attention as the typical direct mail piece, while "cold" emails only have 50-90 seconds to grab the recipient's attention.
* Americans pay relatively low attention to government correspondence (just under three minutes), which may suggest that communications are not sufficiently clear or compelling.
Copies of the study can be obtained electronically by visiting http://www.g1.com/Resources/WP/Are-we-paying-attention/.
Methodology
Over 1,000 consumers were interviewed via web survey in each of the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United States, during May/June 2007. Respondents were asked to estimate the typical amount of time that they spent looking at a range of documents, from their monthly bank statement to the direct mail they received.