In my role as VP of Sales at AIIM, I regularly sit down with senior decision-makers from some of Canada’s leading financial institutions, along with insurance executives across North America. The conversations often begin with digital transformation. How do we move more customers to digital delivery? How do we reduce print and postage costs? How do we migrate statements, policies, notices and other customer communications to email, portals or mobile channels?

These are reasonable questions. Digital delivery can be faster, easier to scale and more cost-effective in the right circumstances.

AIIM already supports those capabilities. We deliver communications through email, text messaging and other digital channels, in addition to print and mail. But I believe the conversation needs to go further.

Digital transformation is not the outcome. Digital migration is not the strategy. The real objective is to deliver the right message, at the right time, through the right channel, to the right customer, while generating the strongest possible return for the organization.

Starting with the customer, not the channel

Too often, communication strategies begin with a predetermined destination. The goal becomes moving a certain percentage of customers from print to email, reducing postage expense or increasing digital adoption. That can lead organizations to measure success based on how many communications were moved, rather than whether those communications actually worked.

Did the customer receive the message? Did they understand it? Did they take the required action? Did the communication reduce service calls, improve payment rates, increase retention or strengthen the customer relationship?

Those are the questions that matter. Saving money on delivery means very little if fewer customers see the message, understand the message or respond to it. A lower-cost channel is not necessarily a better-performing channel.

The right channel depends on the required outcome

Different customers respond differently. Some customers prefer email. Others are more likely to notice and act on a printed communication. Some messages require the speed of text messaging, while others require the permanence, visibility or regulatory certainty of physical mail.

The communication itself also matters. A marketing offer, insurance policy, account statement, benefit notice and overdue payment reminder should not automatically follow the same delivery strategy. The channel should be selected based on the customer, the message and the action the organization needs to generate.

That may mean email. It may mean print. It may mean text messaging. It may mean a coordinated combination of channels, with one communication supporting another.

The goal should not be to defend print or promote digital. The goal should be performance.

Digital delivery is not automatically engagement

One of the assumptions I frequently encounter is that moving a communication to email makes it more convenient for the customer.

Sometimes it does. But sending an email does not mean the customer noticed it. It does not mean the message avoided a spam filter, reached the correct address, was opened, was understood or resulted in action.

The same principle applies to print. Producing and mailing a document does not guarantee that the communication was clear, relevant or effective.

Every channel has strengths and weaknesses. The important question is not whether the organization successfully sent the communication. The important question is whether the communication achieved its purpose.

Cost reduction and return on investment are not the same thing

Reducing production or postage costs is easy to measure. That is one reason digital migration receives so much attention. Return on investment requires a more complete view. Organizations also need to consider:

• Customer response
• Payment or conversion rates
• Retention
• Service call volumes
• Failed delivery
• Customer effort
• Compliance risk
• The value of the action being requested

A communication that costs slightly more but generates a significantly stronger response may deliver a much better return. A lower-cost communication that is ignored, misunderstood or never received may be far more expensive than it initially appears.

That is why we focus on performance first.

The message matters as much as the delivery method

Channel strategy receives a great deal of attention, but the message itself is often the larger opportunity.

Is the communication clear? Is the most important information easy to find? Does the customer understand what has changed? Is the required action obvious? Is the message relevant to the individual receiving it?

The right channel cannot fix the wrong message. A successful customer communication strategy requires the organization to consider the message, audience, timing, design, data and delivery method together. These are not separate decisions; they are parts of the same customer experience.

Transformation should improve the customer experience

I am not suggesting that organizations should slow down their digital transformation initiatives. They should continue modernizing their communications, improving automation and giving customers greater choice. But digital transformation should be judged by the improvement it creates, not by the number of communications that have been migrated.

Has the customer experience improved? Has the organization increased response? Has it reduced customer effort? Has it improved compliance and delivery visibility? Has it created a measurable financial return?

If the answer is yes, the transformation is working. If the only result is that the organization sends fewer printed documents, the strategy may not have gone far enough, and that’s where we can help

Outcome first

AIIM is unique because we do not begin with a preferred channel. We begin with the required outcome. We look at the customer, the communication, the timing and the action the organization wants to generate. We then determine which channel, or combination of channels, is most likely to deliver the strongest result.

Digital still plays an important role, particularly where speed, automation and scale matter. Print continues to play an important role where attention, trust, accessibility, permanence or response matter more. Text messaging may be the right choice when immediacy is critical. In many cases, the strongest strategy uses multiple channels working together.

The future of customer communications is not about choosing print over digital or digital over print. It is about making better decisions.

Deliver the right message. At the right time. To the right customer. Through the channel most likely to create action.

Then measure the outcome, learn from it and improve the next communication.

That is what meaningful transformation should look like.

David Battersby
Vice President of Sales
AIIM