Mar 18, 2008
Do More with Data
McGrew's Communicating with Color
We started this article with the idea that design, data and delivery are the three D’s of Communicating with Color. Last time, we talked about where design plays in the equation, with an emphasis on why design is an essential ingredient to communication. It helps your customers navigate the information you provide to them and, if done well, ensures that they only call you when they want to upgrade or expand their relationship with you. To get to that level usually requires the development of close relationships with customers so that they develop loyalty to the brand; developing that loyalty usually requires communication that uses the customer data.
Why should I care about data?
Data is an essential part of HVTO since it provides the infrastructure for billing statements and other transaction documents. Every line item on a phone bill, bank statement, and loyalty statement is a transaction. The original requirement of billing applications was to take every customer transaction and print it on the billing statement so that customers could verify their business relationship. Years ago, that data was passed through and printed, almost in raw form. Today we ask the data to do much more since it is often used to identify which formatting options, marketing offers and inserts should be taken during printing.
To create a great billing statement or other HVTO document that is integrated into the overall corporate customer communication strategy requires not only the data that exists in the billing applications, but also data that may come from outside of the billing application. Data may come from other organizations inside the company, marketing partners or outside sources, including census or market profile data acquired from credit bureaus and others who make a living from acquiring and analyzing data.
Take this challenge: Find out how data gets on to the documents your organization creates. Is there a single billing application or are there many applications that finally end with a bill that will be printed? Find out if the data used on the customer bill is ever analyzed or synthesized. Is it used in developing direct mail and mass media campaigns?
Now ask the question: Is that data used to speak to the customer more effectively on the bill? Is it used to educate the customer about the nature of their relationship? Is it used to help them be a better customer? If you aren’t answering “yes,” then it’s time to do some work and get your data integrated into your total customer communication picture.
Does that mean that there can be no communication without data? Almost!
It is the essence of the HVTO document. Your goal should be to make the most of it.
Next time we’ll talk about delivering the message and deliverability. And, don’t forget, this is a dialogue. Send your questions, ideas, concerns and challenges, and let’s make it a conversation.
Pat McGrew, EDP, is the Data Center and Transaction Segment Evangelist at Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group. Her email address is Pat.McGrew@kodak.com