When defining business mail we are talking about a method of communicating to an organisations’ audience, which is an important communication tool, especially for time-sensitive information, private and confidential correspondence for example bills, invoices, appointments, customer service updates, and general administrative information.

Why does it pose importance specifically for organisations in the financial and insurance sector? We know business mail compared to alternative methods is most trusted with a strong percentage driving commercial action. It makes a lasting impression on its recipients and most consumers prefer private and sensitive information to be delivered by post.

Trust in brands can be misleading and doesn’t necessarily equal growth. Take the social media giant Facebook, now known as Meta, which continues to grow despite ranking low in consumer trust surveys. Brand awareness is therefore the key to growth and what better way to embed that brand through business comms. Does trust matter at all? Well, that depends on how we define trust, functional trust, as in does that brand competently deliver its product or service? And emotional trust, do we trust that brand to reflect our opinions? Trust has many different aspects to it and is relative to its influencer and its audience, it all depends on how you define trust and what aspect of trust that is growing your commercial success.

So it is fair to say that trust builds brand awareness which is the key to growth. Trust is especially important to business, without it, credibility is lost which can hinder reputation. Pushing your brand through business mail creates everlasting subconscious relationships between business and consumer.

Why not opt for an alternative cheaper digital method? Because yes, it’s more economical but that digital message, a business email, isn’t long-lasting. You may get a second or two of engagement from the consumer, but that piece of mail, an invoice or customer service update for example, with the business’s brand all singing and dancing has a lifespan within the home for over a week and up to a month. For every one mail item, the exposure is 4.6%. Business mail has a far greater reach than its digital competition, resulting in a substantial campaign impact for your business.

Building levels of brand trust through business mail drives discovery, advocacy and experience. Here are the stats:

  • 19% of business mail drives discovery, it prompts the consumer to visit the website.
  • 13% of business mail drives advocacy prompting the consumer to discuss the content of the mail.
  • 12% of business mail drives consumer experience prompting an account login.

Business mail is absolutely having an impact on building trust and therefore increasing awareness, elevating reputation and resulting in action from the consumer. From real-life consumer trends over the last few years, there has been an acceleration in the use of mobile banking relevant to the finance sector. Business mail has prompted commercial action from the consumer with the use of a tablet or smartphone compared to the steady trend of a call being made to the sender.

Business mail has been generally driving more digital action over the years and there has been an acceleration of online action prompted by business mail. It’s prompting more people to go online specifically to the advertiser’s website in response and look up account details, visit the sender’s website and look up more information. There is no sign of this trend subsiding, it shows a real uplifting of physical mail driving digital traffic and consumer action.

We are all familiar with the top 10 banks in the UK, their brands are recognised and very hard to miss. They are trusted wholeheartedly by the consumer. How many of them send physical business mail over business email? Business updates, advertising new products or services, statements the majority being communicated via physical mail. It’s a model that has continued to work successfully, it practically guarantees engagement from the consumer. Take NatWest, trends showed between 2017 to 2021 with a big influx in the frequency of sending business mail, they saw a huge increase in interaction from their customers. It would be difficult to argue that there isn’t a correlation between brand trust and mail frequency. Their mail content is definitely working for them, driving consumer interaction and engagement.

Across the board, for the UK’s largest banking brands, it is evident that exposure, the physical sending of items of mail, exists the relationship between business mail and brand trust. The more frequency of mail items going out, the increase of website visits, the increase of discussion regarding the mail piece and prompts the consumer to login to their account. Consequently, an increase in commercial action drives commercial growth. The frequency of business mail is a no brainer.

So I take it you’re now ready to convert to sending business mail or at least increase what you’re sending? There is a cost-effective way to send physical post with minimal effort which scraps that archaic franking machine. It’s right here at imail comms.