Ads can fit the bill
It’s great to see advertising on bills becoming something that people are more open to (“Advertising on bills makes a statement”, MW last week). While several types of businesses know a great deal about their customers’ interests to provide targeted advertising, one clearly stands above the rest. Telecom providers, such as phone (fixed and mobile), cable and ISPs, have the in-depth subscriber knowledge to ensure all advertising is highly targeted, personalised and relevant to the individual. If handled correctly, this approach can be very successful and, most important, non-intrusive.
For example, Vodafone Australia already offers inserted advertising on bills to its subscribers, which is significant because 600,000 of its customers ask for and receive an itemised paper bill every month. It’s estimated that 60% of these review their bill in detail while 30% scan the totals. This backs up the study from InfoPrint Solutions Company and Forrester Research in your article that 74% of consumers value the financial documents they receive in the post, with the same number believing that personalised, relevant advertising messages on them are useful.
These bills are also available online and ads can be easily added, removed or changed to suit the relevant subscriber’s interests and needs. Operators already have this information to hand, so it seems a shame not to use it. It’s just a case of putting it to use to ensure the subscriber only receives relevant information instead of ads that aren’t at all of interest.
Xen Mendelsohn
Product marketing manager
Comverse
