Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Long Tail of eInvoicing Success

eInvoicing is big business – and pretty soon it's going to be for small business too...

There are many studies that explain the huge cost of paper-based invoicing and just as many that show the benefits of moving to eInvoicing (see image below).

Billentis, in its 2012 eInvoicing/eBilling report showed that the full cost of sending a paper invoice today is on average €11.10 vs. electronic, automated - costing the sender €4.70 per invoice (see image below).

Saving potential for invoice/bill issuers (actual customer case)

saving-per-invoice

The EU estimates that the mass adoption of electronic B2B invoices would save EUR40Bn per year, however, to date, eInvoicing has been the realm of large enterprises that have the capital and IT budgets to implement bespoke industry solutions.

For smaller organizations, one of the big stumbling blocks to widespread adoption is to standardize the format and delivery of the eInvoice. For SMEs, eInvoicing can be prohibitively expensive, particularly when trying to fit in with the requirements of a variety of customers, each with their own proprietary format and process.

The future of eInvoicing is getting brighter for SMEs


The latest developments in eInvoicing are changing this ‘big business’ paradigm.

Recently both Tradeshift and Cloudtrade (no connection) announced functionality that lowers the barrier to eInvoicing adoption for SMEs. Their solutions accept emailed invoices in PDF format and automatically extract the information for input into application eInvoicing data formats. Are these innovations set to change the face of eInvoicing for SMEs?

Using PDF eliminates eInvoicing barriers for SMEs


Companies have been using PDF eInvoicing for many years. Having the ability to send invoices to customers' chosen eInvoicing platforms in the same format, will vastly increase the adoption by these entities.

Convenience always wins the day


The premise is simple; if you can make eInvoicing or eBilling the easiest and most convenient option for either a business or consumer, then your invoice will be processed and paid quicker.

SME’s are already adept at generating and sending PDF invoices – having the ability to join the eInvoicing bandwagon without any change to existing processes will inevitably increase user adoption.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on things in this sector, and if you’re in a business that could benefit from eInvoicing, get in touch with us - let’s see what savings can be achieved closer to home.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Get your customers to say 'Yes' to digital documents

Rising postal costs, the need to go green and the relentless quest for better process efficiencies are increasing the pressure on companies to move their customers over to email billing. But turning off the paper isn't without its challenges, not the least of which is the reluctance of customers to change.


So what's holding customers back?


As consumers, we're slow to commit to decisions about things that we don't perceive to be urgent. Moreover, studies have shown that even having to do no more than tick a box can impact on the number of people who will decide to act. Your customers are no different.

Take a few moments to watch this great presentation by Dan Ariely given at TED a few years ago. It illustrates the power that copy or form design has on a person’s decision making around organ donation. A few simple words change, but the process of having to tick the box doesn’t change. This results in countries that have an opt-out for organ donation rather than an opt-in achieving significantly higher organ donation rates (above 80%) compared to those that have an opt-in (less than 20%).

Source: Dan Ariely asks, Are we in control of our own decisions?

What can we do to help customers make the decision to turn off paper?


Understanding that our customers are slow to make a decision and will often just ignore the request altogether - especially if they need to actually spend time following a link and updating details - we need to rethink the methodology, the execution and even the copy we use to try and convince them to move from paper-based to email billing.

Try these six tips for better results:


1. Keep it simple
Make it easy for customers to sign up. One click should be all it takes. Long registration forms are a surefire way to keep customers holding onto paper. An important point to note is that 'keeping it simple' goes beyond the registration process. I should be able to open my email to get my bill rather than having to go online. I don’t have to go to the post office to collect my bill therefore I shouldn’t have to do any work digitally either.

2. Ask customers to make a choice, not a decision
We launch campaigns to get customers to opt-in to digital services, asking them if they’d like to switch from paper to email / online. At this point, this is a decision many customers just don’t make. Instead, they save the email for later and forget to come back to it. Try asking customers to choose – Yes, I want to save paper, or No, I’d like to keep my paper. The wording and the choice provided results in customers choosing an option rather than just not making the decision at all.

3. Provide reviews
The impact reviews have on customer buying behaviour is staggering; 87 % of consumers indicate that a favourable review has confirmed their decision to purchase . The power of reviews can also help customers to make a decision to switch paper off. Ask customers who receive documents such as bills via email to review the service and include those reviews when asking customers to convert.

4. Speak to different customers differently
We all understand that we need to make our email copy relevant to a target group, but very often this methodology isn't applied to conversion tactics - including communications aimed at moving people from paper to digital. Speak to each customer group in a manner that is relevant to them and you will see an increase in conversion.

5. Test the impact of button shapes and colours
The colour and shape of a button influences the click through rate and action a customer takes. For example using a green button for ‘Yes, I will switch paper off’ and a red button for ‘No, I want to stay on paper’ could have an impact on the decision the customer takes. In this scenario, the red is seen as the negative. Test what works for you.

6. Copy makes a difference
Stop using words like click here or follow this link. Make your call to actions more descriptive if you want customers to start taking action. Copy has a massive impact on how we act and react, so make sure that the copy you use is optimised to get the customer to take the action you want. ‘Yes I want email, Give me more information, I am not sure at this time, are all phrases that are descriptive and allow a customer to relate to a phrase, ultimately getting them to click. Click here doesn’t get anyone to relate to the action and so results in fewer clicks.

If you’d like to speak to an email consultant on how to optimize your emails to get customers to take action, contact us and we’ll get back to you to discuss your needs.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Being an email marketer is like being a movie star

While reading an excellent post published by Hubspot on Sender Score – it struck me that when it comes to email sender reputation management, being an email marketer is a lot like being a celebrity.

Email sender reputation is a score assigned to the IP address from which your emails are sent. Based on this score, your emails will either be blocked or allowed to go through to the inbox. Celebrities have millions of fans all over the world, watching their every move. When they release a new movie, give an interview or choose a designer for the red carpet, millions of eyes are observing, assessing and (thanks to social media) discussing their latest activities. When you distribute an email campaign, you have millions of eyes ‘watching’ in the form of the mail servers you want to deliver to and the email recipients. How these parties treat your email will impact your ability to deliver future campaigns.

Celebrities have to manage the level of attention they get. If they disappear out of the limelight for an extended period of time or their work is inconsistent, their career is negatively affected. Similarly, an email sender must send consistent volumes of email at a regular frequency in order to maintain their sender score.

Fans are always comparing celebrities to other celebrities. What are they wearing/doing, who are they dating . . . and most importantly are they ‘A-list’ or have they ‘slipped’? In the same way, your sender IP is being compared to other senders in terms of complaints, blacklists and whitelists.

A bad database can seriously impact your reputation in the same way a couple of bad movies can sink a movie star (did Nicolas Cage ever really recover from Ghost Rider?). For email marketers; sending to unknown users, falling foul of spam traps or including recipients who are likely to complain due to lack of relationship or relevance, will have a negative effect on your ability to deliver.


Manage your way out


Just like a movie star you can manage your way out of a bad reputation with consistently good behaviour and choices:

  • Be consistent in both the frequency of your sends and the volume of emails you send out.
  • Track your email failures and do something about them. Repeatedly sending to an unknown address contributes negatively in a number of ways, including the risk of getting nailed by spam traps. Aim to get your email failures down to less than 1% of your base.
  • Have a process to monitor blacklisting sites and if you get listed, make it a learning experience.
  • Sign up for Email Feedback Loops with the major ISPs. This will enable you to monitor the number of complaints and spam reports you get from those recipients.
  • When you introduce a new sender IP address, ‘warm it up’ by gradually increasing volume and frequency of sends.

How good is your email sender reputation? Do you have red carpet access to inboxes or a big black hole en route?

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

5 ways to effectively promote your brand through transactional email

How many times have you received multiple communications from the same company? I can easily cast my mind back to several email communications where I was hard pressed to recognise that they were in fact from the same brand.

The main reason for this is that unless the emails are email marketing campaigns, the marketing department usually has little to do with the design and layout thereof. Traditionally termed 'operational' email communications are the ones that often suffer this fate.


Here are 5 ways you can turn all emails into effective marketing vehicles:


1. Have you considered the marketing opportunities within your email bills?


At the point that your company deploys an eBilling project you cannot just tick the box and walk away. Sure, the technology for push eBilling is sound, your data is sent to the system monthly and interactive bills are pushed via an email attachment to your customer’s inbox. Now, if you think about the anatomy of an email bill, it is in many ways similar to an email marketing communication. It requires a call to action i.e. open & pay the bill, yet the department that designs the bills very seldom look at this type of operational communication as having any similarities to a marketing email, nor do they consider applying standard marketing principles. In fact, marketing often has little to no say in the design of an email bill.

The most obvious parallel between eBilling and marketing is the transpromo space on the cover page. Yup, this is the wasted space on the cover page of your email bill that has not been effectively utilised. This is where marketing can get involved - promoting your brand power and improving your customer experience through customised marketing. Alternatively they can provide a generic banner that will fill a certain space to push your latest product/message.

2. Don't forget the payment reminder!


Payment reminders that are sent to me as an email or text message pose another prime opportunity for you to communicate with me. Both these communication mediums can be used effectively as reminders and even more effectively as a platform to build your brand and encourage further interaction with your customer.

3. Invitations to turn-off paper can be so much more


What about the first communication I receive from a company to turn off my paper bill? How enticing is this paper suppression offer? Something as ‘boringly operational’ as switching to eBilling is a fantastic opportunity to highlight the benefits of making the switch, advertise exclusive offers to those who suppress paper and ultimately provide a lasting impression for someone opting into your digital space (assuming they don’t already receive marketing communications).

4. Credit & collections - capture my attention first, then I'll pay


What about credit and collections communications? Surely the requirement to have someone pay an outstanding amount is a call to action? The key here is to entice a creditor to make good in the shortest space of time. You would be surprised how subject lines, use of a pre-header, design & layout, button placement and wording can work together beautifully to produce your required result.

5. Electronic retail receipts - adding more value to your purchase


What about turning somewhat boring transactional communications into a mix between transactional and marketing? Retail receipts are a good example of this kind of synergy. Producing an electronic receipt as a substitute to a paper copy provides huge cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. The retailer now has the ability to interrogate customer data and provide further value to customers - not possible with a flat paper receipt showing the purchase details only. A great example here is to display similar items to customers based on their current purchase history (for example, customers who bought this camera also bought this tripod).

Empower your brand


All scheduled and triggered communications (such as email bills) to your customer have the ability to promote your brand and to utilise the traditional white space in operational communications effectively.

It is therefore vital that you empower your marketing people to partake in the design of these triggers and scheduled communications. Apart from the lost transpromo opportunities, the confusion your client experiences if your communications lack a consistent look and feel can be completely avoided upfront.

Have you had a look at all your email communications recently? Are they promoting your brand effectively?