Sunday, December 2, 2012

Paperless and simplified-simple for whom?

Ask yourself this question:


When it comes to simplification, who am I considering?

  1. The business
  2. The customer’s life
  3. Both?

Paperless success is measured by your answer

The success of your paperless campaign will be measured by your answer. No need to be cryptic here. The most triumphant campaigns producing the fastest return on investment will simplify both your customer’s life and your own business processes.

The buzz word is 'simplification', what are you doing to achieve it?

The mission statements and images of banks vary from black to white and every shade of grey. But the answer to the question of how to reduce paper and simplify the process ALWAYS, without fail, comes back to online banking, the portal and online, secure inboxes. Understandably so, financial institutions have invested buckets of time and money in this direction with the aim to maximise investment.

However the fact remains that a portal’s ability to convert people to paperless has already been tested for several years. I have yet to meet a financial institution that hasn’t attempted this process for at least a few years. And although there is a degree of success in migrating technophiles to online, the numbers seem to stagnate at around 20%.

The proof is in the pudding. Something isn’t working here.

Does a paradigm shift sound simple to you?

Keynes’ animal spirits have explained a lot in history. Markets have been like dinghies on a tsunami because of simple feelings. Human emotions have been proven throughout history and by the biggest thinkers in modern economics to be a measure of consumer confidence. So why are we asking our customers to accept such a huge paradigm shift as to go from push to pull?

Traditionally, your customers are used to being PUSHED all necessary and relevant information. They haven't had to proactively ask for the post to deliver statements or notifications. They did not have to dream up usernames and passwords and then remember them. There was not a single requirement of effort needed for them to receive important information from the institution they trusted to take care of their hard earned cash. So why do we now think they will be open to being PULLED?

A paradigm shift in customer behaviour is still a long time coming. Analyst reports indicate that:
  • 37% of people say they will never give up their paper statements according to Forrester
  • 61% say that remembering multiple use names and passwords is a barrier to paperless adoption
  • And more telling still...46% would like a statement emailed to them whilst only 14% want to fetch it on a biller’s website as covered in Seybold’s report

All they need is a PUSH

Reduce the number of clicks, passwords, time, effort, print and post by adopting a tried and tested push model in the digital space. To convince your customers to go paperless and simplify your business, all they need is a little PUSH. Send them their statements securely via email and make the process of switching easy and you’ll find that customers are willing to convert as they’re moving from the push of paper to the push over email.

Simplification is the buzz word, make it work for you AND your customers. We have some great success stories if you’re keen to hear more.

Sarah Appleby 
striata.com

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