The translation of unaddressed advertising mail into an online folder concept

Abstract

The mail business in the Netherlands is subject to accelerated volume declines driven by substitution through new media (digitalization) and competition. This development and its accompanying consequences for the value proposition of TNT in the unaddressed advertising mail market, together with the increasing number of ‘no’ stickers laid the foundation for this graduation assignment; develop a concept that makes ‘folder information’ online available to the consumer, strengthens the competitive position of TNT in this market and provide the retailer with an additional communication channel to enlarge the reach of folder information. To provide an initial insight in the compatibility of the online world with the physical folder delivery, the media: unaddressed advertising mail, banner advertising and folder sites were scored on eleven qualities: reach, targetability, control over media, findability, attention value, search and compare potential, costs, measurability, time to market, user generated content and customization. These qualities were identified and considered relevant based on literature, interviews with experts and extensive study on the folder sites. Based on the assigned scores, strengths and weaknesses were determined. The complementing strengths and weaknesses the different media turn out to employ provided the first indication for TNT to extent its product offering to the online world. Three different parties were involved in the development of the online folder concept; TNT as service provider, the retailer as content provider and the consumer as potential user. At first, it should be noted that the research is focused on the builder’s merchant’s branch. Subsequently, by means of a quantitative consumer research performed at the builder’s merchant chain Karwei, the notion ‘consumer’ was specified to 35 to 54 year old mothers whose child(-eren) live at home besides she is able to live (very) comfortable on her income. The performed qualitative researches by means of a focus group and interviews ultimately resulted in consumer and retailer insights with regard to unaddressed advertising mail. The gained insights have been used to develop design goals and requirements in light of TNT, the consumer and the retailer. The developed online folder concept enriches the product offering of TNT with two additional communication channels; the folder site ‘bouwfolderwereld’ and the online delivery option, which exploits banner advertising to deliver the online folder in a targeted manner to the consumer. The online delivery option ultimately ensures that the consumers could run into the folder online. In addition, the short time to the market relating to banner advertising makes it possible to forward tactical variations in the details of the message communicated in the banner. Below, the important and differentiating functionalities of the folder site bouwfolderwereld are presented: Thematic approach: personal situations of the consumer are reflected (move, renovation and renewal of interior) to improve relevance of the product offering presented and provide the retailer with multiple gateways to present its folder; Search function: minimizes time required to sort out best alternatives without jeopardizing the umfeld as intended by the retailer; Scroll up/down folder: improves the ease and speed of glancing through folders online; First mover benefit: the clearly communicated, on-time appearance provides the consumer with the first mover benefit over the physical folder reader. To gain insight in the economic feasibility of the online folder concept the costs and revenues with regard to the implementation were mapped out. From this economic perspective the implementation of the online folder concept is considered worthwhile; the payback time is less than one year and the positive net present value implies that the investment adds significant value to TNT. In addition, bouwfolderwereld was evaluated by its target group to gain insight in the judgement on the previously defined requirements. In general, bouwfolderwereld was positively evaluated by the target group; around 70% of the respondents intend to employ the site in the future. Consequently, TNT is advised to continue the development of the online folder concept in order to prepare TNT for the future and thereby ensure the positioning of TNT in the unaddressed advertising market.