View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
February 19, 2004updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

Keep the customer satisfied

By Press Gazette

Customer magazines have undergone consistent and exponential growth over the past 10 years and the market is now valued at a staggering £313m (MINTEL 2002). This growth is evident in both volume of magazines sent – Royal Mail figures show a year-on-year volume increase of 15 per cent – and from the number of magazines that are established every year.

There are many reasons why customer magazines have grown in the way they have and which explain the medium’s success over such a spectrum of vertical sectors. These attributes also explain why, once again, customer magazines dominate the top of the ABC tables and why they have outperformed consumer magazines in eight out of the top 10 places.

There has always been a great deal of debate about the fact that some customer magazines aren’t paid for and should therefore be reported differently to paid-for titles. However, recent research has shown that consumers treat non-paid-for titles in the same way as paid-for titles in terms of readership. Similarly, readership figures show that customer magazines are among the most popular magazines in the UK: four out of five of the most widely read magazines are customer magazines.

The customer magazine market has come into its own in recent years.

It continues to perform well due to its ability to deliver targeted, relevant and quality editorial on a one-to-one basis that engages the consumer in a way that no other medium can.

This ability to target and personalise means that, presently, more than 75 per cent of customer magazines are posted directly to the consumer, and a recent study commissioned by the Association of Publishing Agencies showed that 78 per cent of consumers prefer to receive their customer magazines by mail. In fact, 58 per cent of consumers are more likely to read magazines and respond to offers if they are personally addressed to them. This high level of targeting minimises wastage for advertisers by reaching the consumer wherever they are via the Royal Mail network and at the opportune moment to influence purchase behaviour.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Also, as direct marketing has grown over the past 10 years, marketing strategies have been through a significant life-cycle as marketers strived to build long-term effective relationships with their customers. As such, we have seen a change from loyalty marketing through to customer relationship management to where we are today: data-driven customer management.

This has all been aided by the advancement in CRM technologies and sophistication in segmentation and analysis techniques.

The APA recently announced its partnership with the Advertising Agency Register, an independent and impartial agency selection service, to help match a client’s brief for a customer magazine to a publishing agency’s expertise, resource and culture. This is a major landmark for the customer magazine sector and most importantly has been driven by client demand. 

Julia Hutchison is a director of the Association of Publishing Agencies

 

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network