A leading auto manufacturer routinely exhibited at car races to generate sales. Capturing prospect names was easy; fulfilling requests for specific model information was not. Prospects received generic information from a massive inventory of pre-printed material stuffed into envelopes by hand. The fulfillment process could take months and conversion rates were low.
This automaker learned that with high-value communications, you must provide timely, personalized information. Sending the right message at the right time shows prospects the level of service they can expect as customers and results in a brand experience consistent with your brand promise.
Businesses send a variety of customer communications that are critical. Failure is not an option. It may be a response to an inquiry, a legal notification or a welcome kit. These communications cannot be late, misaddressed or incomplete. Typically, they must generate a near 100 percent response rate, or otherwise serious compliance issues, revenue shortfalls or damage to brand reputation can result.
A national credit card company experienced low activity levels for on-boarding merchants. It turns out the firm’s new-merchant activation kit was so poorly organized, people couldn’t figure out how to initiate the system, so they didn’t bother. Another example involved a drug company whose product for a serious ailment might be linked to birth defects. The FDA demanded assurance that all health care professionals and women who might become pregnant knew the risk. Non-compliance would result in withdrawal from the market.
The solution: To achieve your goals, high-value and critical communications need seamless integration, from document creation to production, through to delivery. A complete solution uses digital document libraries, on-demand printing and just-in-time warehousing for the highly personalized components. It combines these with traditional offset printing for the parts of your communications that don’t change, while providing accurate, efficient delivery systems.
The benefits of a customized, integrated solution are significant. It yields improved response rates. Boost responses and sales by not asking prospects to search for the information.
It also lends to effective customer on-boarding. Jump-start relationships with customized welcome materials. Businesses get an optimized CRM output. Improve retention rates with rich, customer-specific data.
Customized, integrated solutions can allow for compliance adherence. Conform to regulatory requirements and avoid mistakes with online tracking and greater process accuracy. Expense visibility is also a benefit of using this type of solution. Control costs without sacrificing quality, significantly improving return on investment.
The automaker eventually hired a vendor who designed a system for creating and delivering highly personalized brochures. Virtually every data element and image, specified by color, make and model is now available digitally, eliminating the need for pre-printing, warehousing and generic brochures. Turnaround times now are one day or less, so prospects get the information they need when they’re most likely to buy. Inventory and print spend are cut, and customer traffic at dealerships is up 30 percent. The plain fact is that for critical and high-value communications, customized, integrated solutions have enormous business payback.
