Canada Post Seeks to Help Canadian Businesses Garner More Value for Their Mail at 'Make a Great Statement' Executive Forum
In Canada and the U.S., more than 19 billion paper bills are mailed out by businesses every year. And what many businesses are now realizing is that those 19 billion statements they've been mailing out to their customers every month actually present an overlooked wealth of opportunities to build loyal relationships with their customers, and gain an advantage over their competitors so that they can attract new customers.
Speaking to Senior Marketing executives at the Make a Great Statement Executive Forum in Toronto, Cheryl Persad, vice-president of Enterprise Sales at Canada Post said, "85 per cent of Canadians say they prefer to receive bills and invoices by physical mail, and 72 per cent of Canadians feel that mail is the best way to receive important information. And for communicators, mail not only reaches 100 per cent of Canadian households, but 86% of Canadians open and read their mail the same day they receive it."
Businesses are discovering that statements can be an effective part of their organization's integrated communications plan… statements are a regularly-scheduled, one-on-one meeting they can have with their customers every month. Each statement can be a personalized, relevant, customized marketing tool that companies can use to retain customers, increase customer satisfaction and even increase revenues, through cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.
To help identify what makes a Great Statement, Canada Post commissioned a study to look at more than a hundred statement designs. The study asked six firms that specialize in statement design to come up with a comprehensive list of best practices and characteristics of what they thought made a well-designed statement. The six firms identified 76 key features, which can be clustered into three broad themes: relationship builders, brand enhancers and cost-savers.
A Great Statement can begin with simply adding colour, informative graphs or charts, or incorporating special offers or coupons can help to improve communication with customers.
To communicate the many other ways to create a Great Statement, Canada Post has developed an easy-to-use interactive tool, based on this study. "Take the Test" can be found at:www.canadapost.ca/greatstatements.
"Businesses are starting to rethink their move away from Lettermail and hardcopy communications", said Ms. Persad. "At Canada Post, we can see it every day, in the fact that Lettermail continues to be a healthy and thriving part of Canada Post's business."
Businesses are realizing the many benefits and competitive advantages of keeping paper mail as a part of their overall communications strategy and marketing mix – especially when it comes to bills and statements.
"And that's great for us at Canada Post", said Cherly Persad. "But while businesses are rediscovering the advantages of Lettermail, we want to ensure that the value of this channel continues to grow and improve for our customers.
In his address to the Forum, Stewart Bacon, Senior vice-president Marketing, Sales and Service for Canada Post added "today's competitive landscape is forcing every business to find ways of doing the most for less. A crowded marketplace where customers have limitless options makes the job of capturing their attention more difficult than ever. This Forum will help all of us understand how to make statements and bills work harder for companies.
"Canada Post provides a vital communication link in this country. It enables businesses and organizations of every size to conduct transactions that promote their economic success. In many respects, our company is just as much a part of Canada's infrastructure as its highways, bridges, airports and shipping lanes. It's an important role that we will never take lightly."
