Success Requires Merging More Than Just Data

Leveraging what we know about the customer converts cost-based transactional communications into revenue-producing vehicles. Marketing people immediately see the advantages. However, statistics show that 64 percent of companies lack a formal strategy for using their customer data. This lack of strategy puts a burden on the IT department implementing TransPromo documents, because additional programming time is required to mine data when the IT staff already is responsible for other mission-critical concerns. Often, with no budget for such requests and a focus to meet the tight turnaround times to get bills out the door and revenue back into the company, the idea of creating TransPromo documents could be seen as an interference with production goals.

But in the end, every department’s goals within an enterprise are really the same. Marketing wants to promote its messages to gain more revenue. IT wants to move things along more quickly to gain more revenue. And the finance department wants to do all of it in the most economical way to protect revenue. Does TransPromo have the magic necessary to accomplish these requirements and is it worth the effort? The answer is yes. When every department understands the benefits of TransPromo — increased response and conversion rates, decreased overall costs and improved customer loyalty — it is something everyone can get excited about.

Getting Creative With TransPromo

While TransPromo offers an innovative way to get your regular billings to do double service, fully automated volume mailing still offers the lowest postage price per item. In order to keep those discounts, billers must follow all U.S. Postal Service requirements, and these, too, have been changing over the last couple of years. As the rates go up, it’s more important than ever to understand and comply with postal regulations. Failing to do so can mean paying first-class rates for noncompliant pieces, or losing the discount for the whole mailing.

One thing the Postal Service has done that billers can take advantage of is lower the cost for each additional ounce of mail — almost half of what it would be to mail separately. This gives businesses that are ready to combine transactional documents with marketing material a decided opportunity. Shape-based pricing — charging more for large letters versus letter-sized envelopes that fly through the sorting and postage machines — has widened the price gap. It’s been a long time since we could mail anything for 12.⁵ cents. However, the second ounce of any mailing piece will cost just that — as will the third ounce, if you choose to use it. So TransPromo begins to make sense when it means adding that newsletter or insert into an envelope or using the white space on the document to your advantage.

The cost of postage has been rising steadily, and with the latest May increase shows no sign of slowing. While no one likes to see a rate increase, billers that are moved to review their print/mail production processes and capabilities and to seek ways to improve their costs and efficiencies will be better for it. By keeping current with changing regulations and the available technology that supports them, billers can take advantage of savings that go straight to the bottom line while their TransPromo strategy adds to their top line. A TransPromo strategy can help companies find creative ways to reach customers while reducing costs. It is more than adding a single-line — and often overlooked — announcement at the bottom of the bill. Color, graphics and highly personalized messaging based on customer demographics can result in connecting more meaningfully with your customer base and generating more sales.

With the new postal rates, it simply makes economical sense to add that newsletter or insert in with the bill because you can send these materials together for less money than it would cost to send them separately. And adding your messaging directly to the bill with TransPromo is an even more effective vehicle for building a customer relationship, generating customer loyalty and awareness, and getting maximum results from your mailing dollars — all in one package.

Harry Stephens is president and CEO of DATAMATX, one of the nation’s largest privately held, full-service providers of printed and electronic billing solutions.