Jul 9, 2007
HVTO Mistakes---The Series:
Not Leveraging Customer Data for a
Dynamic Statement
OutputLinks Looks at One Major Mistake: Forgetting to Utilize Customer Information for Personalized, One-to-One Communications
Why not make the most of your high volume transaction output (HVTO)? It’s more than just a trend; It’s smart business when reaching out to your customers with trans-promo documents---or the merging of documents such as bills and statements with promotional or 1:1 marketing messages. For those companies not taking advantage of customer data to create more personalized communications, be warned: Your competitors are probably already researching the next steps or are creating dynamic transaction output today.
OutputLinks talks with industry experts as it looks at one mistake: not leveraging customer data for a dynamic statement.
Resistance
So you’ve decided not to make a major mistake. You want to utilize customer data in a more dynamic fashion, but you’ve hit a road block: resistance from management. Now what?
Guy Broadhurst, vice president of product marketing, Océ North America's Commercial Printing Division, says, “When you want to leverage personalization to create one-to-one communications that engage readers in a more personal dialogue, you'll likely encounter resistance at various levels. Let's start with the corporate environment, with the Chief Marketing Officer [CMO], who goes to a Direct Marketing Association conference, learns about the benefits of variable data printing and personalization, thinks it sounds like a good idea, and wants to do it. The CMO comes back, and finds out that the graphics department can't do it, or IT isn't willing to put the resources into it, or the purchasing agent doesn't understand direct marketing and doesn't see the value in the investment.”
Broadhurst says that whether you're an in-house print provider or external provider, you need to bypass the purchasing agent and the IT department and talk directly to the people who drive the top line. “You'll need to demonstrate the benefits of variable data in leveraging transactional or direct mail documents to cross-sell or up-sell to drive improved top-line results, transforming revenue recovery documents into revenue-generating or customer loyalty-building documents. The purchasing agent doesn't care---he's judged on how inexpensively he can produce. Whoever is in charge of adding personalization needs to talk to the person who can drive the initiative and then make that individual a champion. Either way, it has to come from the top and the print provider's job is to convince the champion how personalized customer communications can help drive top line results, cut expenses, boost the bottom line and retain/advance customer relationships. The onus is on you to demystify the process by educating decision-makers that hardware and software are available to automate and simplify the entire process.”
Finding Space on the Statement
Now that you won the battle and can avoid a major mistake by using customer data for a more dynamic statement, what’s next? Pat McGrew EDP, director, transaction segment marketing, Kodak Graphic Communications Group, says find space on the statement.
McGrew asks, “How much information on the billing statement really needs to be there?” She advises HVTO professionals to take a hard look at the statements they receive from billers. “Do you see reference numbers on the line items? Is the detail on the transaction line item meaningful? Customers don’t care about the SKU numbers or internal reference numbers and, most of the time, if you call to dispute a charge, those numbers are useless to the person at the call center. Imagine how much real estate you can open up by giving up the information about the transaction that the customer can’t use, and eliminating useless information.”
Eliminating some useless information on the statement can allow
room for more personalized messages, making the statement a more
dynamic experience for the customer.
Involve Stakeholders
Indeed, customers expect information to be clearly and consistently presented across all communication channels, including bills and statements, according to Holly Huggins, vice president and general manager for Metavante’s CSF and BSP products. “Complex technology can limit critical interaction between marketing and IT, widening a company’s organizational gaps, and further limiting its ability to be innovative. Too often, this can result in companies being unable to provide content that is relevant, informative and actionable for the customer.” Huggins advises companies to involve all key departments and stakeholders in the process of developing valuable customer content in bills and statements.
Would you like to comment on the OutputLinks’ mistakes series? Do you have a suggestion? Would you like to post your comment or contribute a related article? E-mail Press@OutputLinks.com.