Should you outsource transactional mail? There are many reasons why this is a good business move. You can improve quality, reduce costs, and more.
While we live in a very digital world, print and mail still matter in many scenarios. Transactional mail is a category that still has considerable volume and usefulness as a printed communication. Optimizing these interactions between your brand and customers can yield lots of benefits, but should you be doing it in-house? Are the expense and management hassles worth it? In most cases, it’s not. The best approach is to outsource transactional mail, and we’re going to tell you why.
Reason 1: Outsourcing transactional mail will save you money that you can reallocate.
Cost is always an influencing factor in evolving operations. When you outsource transactional mail, you can reduce expenses in many ways. Operating an in-plant for printing and mailing bills and customer letters is expensive. You’ll incur capital expenditures on equipment and technology. On top of that, you have labor, space, and maintenance costs. In this way, it’s purely a cost center, not necessarily adding value to your business.
Outsourcing significantly decreases the costs of critical communications. A professional printer has a much greater volume, reducing the cost of goods and postage. These prices stay relatively stable, whereas in-house operations vary greatly.
You can also reduce costs with providers that offer a White Paper Factory approach. It’s a process that all printing starts with white pages that are then dynamically printed. It eliminates the need to store pre-printed templates, so you’re not paying for storage fees or higher material costs.
By spending less on these activities, you can reinvest it into other areas associated with revenue generation.
Reason 2: Outsourcing reduces risk around compliance and security.
When you outsource, you have to share your data with your printer. There’s always security and compliance risk, but a competent print and mail partner has a robust process that uses encryption and the best cybersecurity protocols, to minimize risk.
With those concerns out of the way, let’s get granular about how a vendor can handle compliance and security better. For one, they have a low error rate. That means they don’t mis-mail communications to the wrong customer. They manage this with technology. Bar codes on each page of a letter ensure the recipient receives the right communication. They also use address management tools to boost accuracy and reduce returned mail.
Another aspect of security and compliance is following regulations for industries like insurance, healthcare, finance, utilities, and ARM. While you likely stay up to date on any changes, it may not be the employee’s only responsibility. Compliance-focused print and mail providers have a Compliance Officer on-staff and have certifications in every communication law.
Reason 3: It can improve customer engagement.
How personalized are your transactional mail letters? Do you have the ability to print by segment dynamically? If not, you’re missing opportunities for customer engagement. You can communicate with customers in so many channels, but don’t overlook bills, statements, and letters.
If you outsource transactional mail, you can redesign your communications to be more modern and visually appealing. Additionally, you can add messages specific to that customer right on the statement versus an insert, which customers usually toss. Delivering a clean design with helpful information for your customer could cause them to trust you more and build loyalty.
Reason 4: And it can also solve business continuity concerns.
Developing a business continuity (BC) plan means accounting for every component of your business. Customer communications and statements should be part of this, and if you’re carrying this burden internally, what’s your BC strategy?
You might have a part-time vendor on call, but this set-up is expensive and isn’t exactly on-demand. Outsourcing transactional mail takes this off your plate. A professional printer has a layered BC process with redundancy and multiple locations.
Reason 5: Finally, outsourcing transactional mail offers confirmation on delivery and transparency.
Transactional mail is often time-sensitive, requiring a payment or response from your customer. With sophisticated tracking technology, you can see the entire journey of your communications, including real-time status reports. Such a solution, like our trackPCI, has more features, as well.
You get a comprehensive view of all your mailings, and you can request letter changes in the portal. You’ll also have access to all accounting data and the ability to run reports.
Outsource Transactional Mail with a Trusted Partner
If you’re looking for ways to cut costs, improve quality, and refocus on core competencies, then outsourcing is on your radar. Choosing to outsource transactional mail delivers tangible benefits. All you need is a trusted partner. PCI Group has been perfecting this for over 50 years, and we have an industry-leading accuracy of 99.9999%.
Explore our outsourcing capabilities today by contacting our experts.
