Hitting the mark - marketing financial services

The straitened economic climate means the UK's financial firms are still struggling to sell consumers financial products and services. Yet, according to new research from marketing insight firm KDB, many finance companies are missing the mark with investors by sending out poorly targeted print communications.

KDB surveyed over 1,000 adults across the UK, and 71% of respondents said they either invested directly or through a financial adviser. The 55+ age group are the most likely to invest and 84% declared that they were actively investing, while a surprising number of respondents in the 18-24 age bracket indicated that they were investing too.

However, 70% of all respondents found that most of the direct mail they received from financial firms is irrelevant to them, and the figure rises to 77% for the 45-55 age group, showing that marketers are failing to target this potentially lucrative market effectively.

Other key findings include:

• 65% of those respondents who said they were active investors also said they were investing more this year than last.

• The North East offered the fewest opportunities for targeting investors with only 55% of respondents in this region saying they are investors, compared with a healthy 82% in the South West. London and Scotland are also strong markets.

• 13% said that a substantial proportion of the direct mail they receive from these companies is of interest to them.

•  Only 9% of 45 to 55 year olds and 11% of the 55+ age group found that a significant portion of the print communications they received from financial firms was of interest.

• Men were slightly more likely to invest than women with 72% of male respondents saying they were investors versus 69% of female participants.