Sep 10, 2002
Turn off the Paper, Not Your Customers
By Scott Gerschwer
In this economically challenging business environment, corporations have changed the way they make investments in technology. With fresh eyes, trimmed budgets, and new priorities, users are basing IT investment decisions on stringent Return on Investment (ROI) calculations.
The problem for most EBPP providers is that ROI is elusive in an industry that has been plagued by conflicting standards, inconsistent distribution models, high fees, ineffective adoption marketing programs, confusing enrollment processes and which, as a result, has seen consumer adoption figures lag in the low single digits. Based on the average cost of an EBPP implementation, experts like the Gartner Group and Giga Information Group (which refers to ROI as total economic impact or TEI) claim that ROI only becomes possible after adoption rates reach 13%. We?ve got a long way to go.
Fortunately, help is on the way. Young bill payers did not appreciate the USPS rate hike. A survey conducted for the Direct Marketing Association found that 42 percent of those aged 25 to 34 indicated they would seek alternatives to first class mail. So in a sense, it?s a waiting game. And to be sure, EBPP offers tremendous benefits to billers.
ROI in digital document delivery
There is a clear benefit in reducing the 70% of customer service calls that pertain to bills. In addition, telecommunication and utility companies are learning to incorporate FAQs on their EBPP sites to reduce the amount of calls even further. The instant delivery of the ?as rendered? bill to the Customer Service Representative helps reduce the time of the call, which leads to a significant reduction in cost.
On the financial side, cycle times are reduced, which leads to quicker receipt of funds and an improved cash flow. At Pitney Bowes, our experience is that whereas customers pay paper bills an average of 10 days late EBPP users pay an average of 10 days early. Very significant check processing fees are reduced due to a higher rate of ACH transactions.
On the marketing side, offering a personalized up-sell or cross-sell message in the context of an existing relationship offers a higher rate of return than a cold call. One of our clients has seen a 28% hit rate on call center-based sales initiatives that cost a fifth of what they had spent on direct mail campaigns. The tying of CRM tools to the e-bill is a formidable combination.
But the original benefit of EBPP-- reduced transaction costs associated with paper mailings, (which includes postage, materials, processing, printing and storage)-- remains the most compelling argument for ROI and, is of course contingent on having decent adoption rates. But even this is misleading, because ROI is largely dependent on a dramatic reduction in paper and postage expenses. No matter how high your adoption figures are, if you can?t turn off the paper you can?t save any money. And having acknowledged this, it must also be acknowledged that print suppression is not a trivial matter and there are risks involved?the trick is to turn off the paper, not your customer.
Let?s face it?the business of business is customer relationship management. The rewards of keeping your customers and the penalties of losing them are the most compelling factors in business today. EBPP deepens customer loyalty to your brand. Delivering a bill or statement to your customer in the manner of his or her choice is good CRM. And the way to leverage EBPP for CRM is to treat billing as one process right up until the time of delivery when, according to customer preference, the data stream is split between the hard copy and digital delivery.
The Value of StreamWeaver
Unless your EBPP application is fed from an existing print stream, what you?ve created is two separate applications requiring separate maintenance issues. Too many EBPP technology vendors put the onus on the biller to provide them with the data for EBPP enrollees?some of them even demand that data pre-formatted in XML. They do this because they lack the ability to separate the billing data stream into two groups?hard copy and digital. Pitney Bowes docSense leverages StreamWeaver, the leading post-processing, print engineering tool, used to modify, customize and enhance print ready files prior to final distribution. StreamWeaver allows print streams from a variety of business applications to be changed and enhanced without interrupting the document process.
Just as StreamWeaver supports file-based processing by generating a mail run data file (MRDF), StreamWeaver makes e-delivery possible by creating the electronic data files -- or "e-MRDFs" -- for greater piece-level integrity, control and tracking. A single application incorporates the raw data feed, business rules, messages, layout and delivery of both web and print communication. A single application considers both media formats simultaneously when making changes so maintenance is done holistically and economically.
The XML Data Repository
Pitney Bowes docSense uses a single XML data repository to support both e-billing and paper-based bill delivery, eliminating redundant processing, simplifying registration and reducing the costs of hard copy delivery. The XML data repository stores historical data as well as the current bill?for postagebyphone.com we store the monthly statements of 1.3 million customers for 26 months running and it still takes less than a second of click time to view any given statement in the repository.
The XML data repository also supports the customer service requirements of those who continue to receive printed bills. Data independence from the output medium allows you to tie the billing information into your call centers, your marketing automation initiatives, your ERP projects and all your back end processes. It allows you to leverage the single most regular reliable customer touch point you have?the transactional document. It allows the billing process to become part of your closed loop, continuous customer communication process. Likewise, information extracted from the incoming payment must be factored into the process, both in terms of production process and customer payment behavior. Customer interaction data is key for deepening your understanding of the customer and providing the kind of service that will deepen their loyalty.
Integrated Closed Loop Messaging
Pitney Bowes calls this process Integrated Closed Loop Messaging. Its value proposition to your enterprise is that it enables coordinated interaction with existing and potential customers across all touch points - mail, email, web, parcel and call center - according to customer and company preferences. Data from your entire process is gathered and made available to optimize each customer experience and better target the next one. It?s a holistic process that more accurately mimics human interpersonal communication, which is multi-channel, simultaneous and continuous. The move away from one-way street or conveyor belt-type communication can only help your company.
The service and economic nightmares of multiple independently installed and managed point solutions have taken their toll on companies, and we?ve seen several early adopters retreat from managing multiple, stand-alone applications. They have found restarting with an integrated suite approach to be an economic success based on a relatively short payback period. Pitney Bowes docSense delivers the total solution less expensively, and IT costs are slashed due to common implementation, management, and support methodologies, which result in lower education and operation costs.
So by all means promote EBPP usage through customer education: turn off the paper for customers enrolled in electronic delivery. But don?t plan your implementation in a vacuum, do it smart: avoid the cost of maintaining separate technology platforms and implement a solution that does not change or add to your existing billing system, one that accepts your print streams just the way they are.
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