Frequently Asked Questions

What is a customer magazine?
Customer magazines are magazines published by companies or organisations for their customers/members. They provide an effective and sophisticated form of marketing communication with millions of readers enjoying well-targeted editorial and responding positively to the "soft sell" that a customer magazine allows. While customer magazines are recognised by consumers as marketing collateral Henley Centre research shows, that they are treated differently because 'they give as well as take'.

Successful customer magazines, produced by professional publishing agencies, work to specific objectives which must be measured and met. These magazines balance the needs of the client against the aspirations of the reader. Achieving that balance is not easy, but, as hundreds of companies can testify, the rewards are great.

How big is the market?
New Mintel research commissioned by APA reveals that despite a slow-down across the majority of media sectors, the customer publishing industry is still flourishing. It is now worth almost £680 million, with turnover topping £352 million, a 2.2% increase on 2004. This increase is double that of overall advertising expenditure over the same period (1.1%). In contrast, year on year outdoor has increased revenue by just 1.2%.*

Furthermore, based on current trends, Mintel estimates the value of the total customer publishing industry to reach £1 billion by 2011, and turnover to exceed £541 million, an increase of 54%.

What are customer magazines used for?
Hundreds of companies, across all industry sectors, are discovering that a customer magazine can deliver measurable results - increasing customer loyalty, generating new business, promoting brand awareness and boosting sales. For example, research has shown the sales of featured products in Homebase's Ideas see significant uplift, with readers spending 3.5 times more than non-readers. Furthermore, readers were found to regard Ideas in the same way as a paid for title such as Ideal Home.

Who uses customer magazines?
Almost all sectors are utilising customer magazines as a marketing tool, including b2b and consumer focused businesses, charities and organisations such as the AA.

In terms of market share, however, retailing and financial services are the most popular types of customer publishing, according to the APA/Mintel publications survey, accounting for nearly 30% of the total number of titles published between them.

Financial services titles have increased their share since 2004, whereas the number of retailing/distribution titles – and their market share – has declined. Other important sectors include automotive, charities, other leisure/sport and utilities and public sector. The retailing/distribution sector decreased from 17% to 15% in 2005, while the
Financial sector increased slightly from 13% to 14% in 2005.

What is the target audience of customer magazines?
It is very difficult to define the target audience of a customer magazine as 'customer' means different things to different titles. For example the 'customers' for ARMY, a magazine from the British Army Recruiting Group, are teenage boys and girls interested in the Army. ARMY's objective is to develop such enthusiasm into eventual career options. However, in terms of the overall market, the most important target audience is existing customers (77%), underlining the key role that customer magazines play in companies' customer retention strategies. Prospective customers (48%) are also an important audience. For customer magazines aimed at staff (14%), business partners (16%) and dealers or distributors (10%), it is significantly lower, but this is expected to become increasingly important as the medium evolves.

What makes a good customer magazine?
As with any magazine, editorial that is relevant to the audience is the key to success. If the editorial does not appeal to the audience, the reality is the magazine will not be read - making it a waste of both time and money. The production values and quality of the design and editorial content are continuing to improve as customer magazines become an increasingly important component of the marketing mix.

Magazines are able to communicate effectively because the consumer is in control of the media consumption, as opposed to the intrusive nature of media such as TV and radio. Readers expect the advertising in their magazine to be relevant to them and, as a result, see it as an essential part of the medium itself.

How do customer magazines reach the target audience?
Marketers are realising that a 'one message fits all' approach or 'mass marketing' is not delivering the desired results; consequently, we have seen a shift towards one-to-one marketing. The evolution of customer magazines has, in some ways, reflected this trend. Growing numbers of customer magazines are now segmented and versonalised both geographically and according to lifestage and lifestyle - currently, 14 per cent of customer magazines are segmented to reflect different readers.

The most common way for customers to receive customer magazines is to either pick them up in-store or via the post. Currently, two thirds of magazines are posted and a quarter of titles are distributed in store. According to research by Millward Brown, 79% of consumers prefer to receive their customer magazine via the post and 58% of consumers are more likely to read magazines and respond to offers if it is personally addressed to them.  Royal Mail can deliver to 99.9% of the population, guaranteeing to brands that they can reach their customers wherever they are.