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Integrating your customer communication: More than TransPromo If you have been to a trade show, opened a newsletter, or participated in a webinar in the last year you have probably seen the term TransPromo. It is a view of integrated customer communication that some call new, but for anyone who has been working with bills, statements, and other essential mail for any time it probably carries an echo of the 1990’s when we talked about statement-based marketing. If you have already had the conversations with the marketing and billing teams to determine how your company can strengthen your brand and even drive some new revenue by using bills and statements as part of the marketing engine, you are moving in the right direction. If you have not heard the TransPromo talk, all you really need to know is that TransPromo is the term for a set of tools and techniques that involves using the data you have about customers to create more compelling communications. It may involve putting more targeted marketing messages on a bill or statement, or it may use similar techniques to inform (TransInfo) or educate (TransEd). You may be doing some of this already with variable text messages; the new approach uses more charts, graphs, and images to carry the message. And, colour is a big part of the story. The goal is to bring the power of the information you have about your customers and the power of your current marketing presence together. If all of this sounds new, do not worry! It is never too late to apply great tools and techniques to your customer communication strategy. communication that involves bills, statements, and regulatory notices. Anything that is not generated by the billing system, policy management system, or regulatory system is usually owned by the marketing teams, while the billing organizations usually own the transaction documents. In many organizations the formatting of bills and statements is handled by the billing group because they know the capabilities of the various print and finishing devices. However, this means that over the years those documents tend to take on formatting characteristics that are different from the main branding, the customer solicitation, and customer care mailings. Start by identifying a single approach to all customer communication, including the essential transaction mail, promotional mail, web presence, and mass media presence. Look at the use of colour, logos, and other brand images, and overall messaging. If you have ever tried this, you know that it is easier to talk about than to do. Start by getting the marketing teams and the billing/statement owners together and look carefully at everything a customer sees. Customers are aware of mismatches in messaging and branding, so this one step can help solidify the view of the brand. What Do You Have? One of the best ways to size up the opportunity of bringing more targeted customer communication to your bills, statements, and other essential mail is to take a long, hard look at all of the ways you communicate with your customers today. As a baseline, customer communication comes in several forms, running the gamut from customer acquisition and customer care to the business With this baseline, you can take the next step. We call it TransInfo—the process of adding informational content to bills and statements. The information may be market data, product updates, or general education relevant to the relationship between you and your customer. You want to ensure that anything you do to change the document is an enhancement and not a step backwards. Take advantage of the best practices and do not forget to take a look at the Canada Post Great Statement whitepaper at www.canadapost.ca/greatstatements for the essential elements of transaction statements. Remember that at this point, it does not have to be personalized or targeted, just informational. This may be a time to think about replacing preprinted forms and moving to full colour printing on blank paper as part of your new design. The goal is to ensure that you have an easy-to-read, easy-tonavigate document that does not make doing 21 Issue 7 January 2009 e• views Journal, Xplor UK & Ireland Edition http://www.canadapost.ca/greatstatements

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of e views - January 2009

e views - January 2009 Contents Technology Management Creating a Print Intelligent Enterprise The Future of Broadband Connectivity: @ 320 kph? TPE Master Class Cover Story TransPromo and the Credit Crunch Xplor Europe News Service Directory

e views - January 2009

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