CHICAGO — USAdata and TransUnion LLC are expected to announce today a partnership offering insurance carriers an automated direct mail service for their agents. The announcement will be made at the Direct Marketing Association's 84th Annual Conference & Exhibition.
Through the agreement, USAdata will create the TransUnion Portal, a Web site that would allow individual insurance agents to execute direct mail campaigns.
The portal will be an extension of TransUnion's existing insurance division, which provides direct mail services to insurance carriers, said John Wold, group vice president and general manager at TransUnion, Chicago.
“This is an extension of that group where, via the TransUnion Web portal, agents of carriers would be able to utilize the same processes on a much smaller scale so they could identify target customers within their particular territory which also meet the criteria of their respective carrier,” he added.
The prospect names available on the portal will be TransUnion's database of U.S. consumers, with credit and demographic information for targeting.
“The database covers every adult consumer in the United States — over 180 million people,” said Michael Gaughan, vice president of product development at TransUnion.
“However, in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, agents do not receive the data until after a mailing with a firm offer of credit has gone out,” he added.
Participating insurance carriers must provide TransUnion with the mail pieces that agents may use. Agents must have an access code to use the TransUnion portal.
Approved agents will be able to select lists, choose creative and place orders on the site, which will then be processed and sent from a mail shop, Wold said.
After the mailing has gone out, agents will receive the consumer data for follow-up purposes, he added.
While USAdata has created portals for franchise and other types of businesses, this is the first time it has teamed with TransUnion. The portal will differ from others USAdata has done.
“One of the things that makes this TransUnion portal unique is how we have modified functionality to make sure we are compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act stipulations,” said Eddie Smith, vice president of business development and product strategy at USAdata, New York.
The portal will launch at the end of this year, Gaughan said.
