Multi award winning M&G investor statements featured in new book
In early 2008 M&G Investments launched a fully integrated and personalised ‘Investment Update’ booklet to replace the numerous loose-leaf pages and generic inserts received by customers and Independent Financial Advisers. Director of Information Design Ben Whitmore (through his consultancy Information Engineers now merged into TriPartum) undertook a complete review of the existing statements, designed and specified a market leading and multi award winning solution.
An overview of the ‘Investment Update’ booklet is featured in a new book published by Thames and Hudson — The Form Book: Best Practice in Creating Forms for Printed and Online Use.
The fully personalized booklets combined individual statements and graphical representation of investment performance, along with a valuation and commentary on each fund held. Other features included market outlook and regulatory information, fund summary and product transaction pages and details of any other funds that may be of interest. In addition, to assist individuals to make full use of their ISA allowance, the balance that qualifying M&G customers can invest is calculated and all relevant information populated within an integrated subscription form.
As only relevant information is included in each statement booklet the amount of paper was reduced by some 40 tonnes on a like-for-like mailing basis with an average 35% reduction in pack weight.
Working closely with the M&G Marketing team and print specialists dsicmm, the statement design was programmed using the specifications produced by Information Engineers to convert client data into high volume, variable mono and colour digital output. The booklet is printed on the InfoPrint 5000 continuous variable colour press.
According to Kate Rowland of M&G ‘The clear, concise, integrated communication has not only received positive comments from investors, but also from members of the financial services industry. The communication must be working as we are experiencing a significant reduction in queries at our customer help desk. The cross-sell and up-sell benefits delivering relevant targeted messages within the pack are also being experienced by the business…’
In addition to being profiled in the The Form Book, the Investment Update booklet achieved industry wide acclaim through the following awards:
- Digital Printer Awards 2009: dsicmm: Best transactional print application.
- BPIF excellence awards 2008: dsicmm: Application of Digital Technology.
- Marketing Direct Connect awards 2008: dsicmm: Best work by a mailing and fulfillment house.