For many organizations, customer correspondence is the main product. A health insurance provider, for example, provides evidence of the service they provide – coordinating payment for health care between customers and providers – via monthly statement of benefits documents. A utility company, such as cell phone service provider – provides evidence of its product in much the same way. For many other organizations, like banks, manufacturers, transportation or government operations, the story is the same. Customer correspondence sent as proof of services rendered and seeking payment is only going to expand as businesses move into the digital age. However, many companies ignore or overlook the opportunity to use these statements or other correspondence to put their best face forward and to communicate with their customers.
Unfortunately, customer account statements are often not perceived as important tools for marketing – but they should be. Companies issue thousands of statements every month, and each one is a trusted appointment with every customer. Unlike most junk-mail, customer statements get noticed, they get read, and they rarely wind up in the recycling bin. Indeed, companies that overlook the promotional and relation-building power of customer statements overlook a tremendous opportunity to communicate, cross-sell and reinforce brand experience.
What Do Your Statements Say About You?
Companies spend millions to attract new customers with beautifully designed marketing campaigns, but old-school statements typically do very little to reinforce the experience once they’re on board. This erodes the branding and messaging your marketing team has worked hard to perfect. The fact is, many companies continue to print and mail monthly statements that don’t look much different from those produced 30 years ago. The result is continual erosion of brand perception as out of touch, leading to a lack of customer loyalty. Technological advances in digital color, customer communication methods and data-driven, multi-channel delivery have changed the playing field. New tools and integrated approaches can transform plain old statements into exciting, vital marketing tools that reach and relate to customers in new and more profitable ways. Electronic delivery savings increase every day as your clients elect to receive their communication via email and portals instead of “snail mail.”
Rise Above Competing Messages
Next-generation customer portals allow customers to choose their own statement delivery methods. Statistics show that while Baby Boomer and Gen X customers prefer important communications to be delivered via mail, Millennials prefer email or portals with notifications via SMS. Business communications software can now manage these customer preferences without custom programs or changes to your core business software and provide promotional and relevant information embedded directly in the most important customer documents.
Those customers that do elect to have their statements mailed to them are essentially choosing to place your company’s correspondence above the online din of competitive messages. Studies show that 98% of consumers pick up their mail the day it’s delivered and spend between 1 and 3 minutes viewing their statements. As a result, mailed statements get noticed. Why not take full advantage of each “monthly appointment” with your customers? Statements provide a unique and often overlooked opportunity for marketers to connect with customers by extending the brand experience and leveraging untapped up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.
Time for a Fresh Statement
The time has come to take a fresh look at customer statements. With business communication software solutions, companies can now provide personalized messaging and promotions without modifications to their line of business software. That’s right – no more change orders. Your marketing and sales teams can craft their messages without help from IT.
At Eclipse Corporation, we’re experts at enterprise document generation and we help companies just like yours capitalize on the latest technologies and strategies for customer communications. One example is our flagship solution, DocOrigin; an innovative and intuitive software solution for designing and generating dynamic business documents. DocOrigin handles your business-critical requirements quickly, easily, and affordably. And best of all, it can level the playing field with your competition. Click here to view a short video and learn more today, or submit our contact form, or simply call 678-408-1245.