Consumer finance communications have unique attributes. Confidential and sensitive information is usually part of the document, which means they fall into the transactional category.
As a result, there are compliance considerations for every letter, and the processes involved can get complicated and expensive. Your organization can resolve these issues by choosing to outsource these jobs. It yields many benefits that directly impact your workflows.
Common Workflow Issues in Consumer Finance Communications
For those companies that still print and mail their own communications, workflow can be cumbersome. Since this isn’t your core competency, you may have gaps in your processes that end up costing you time and money.
Some of the most widespread challenges in production include:
- High volume of undeliverable mail
- Pre-printed templates, which slow down the job
- Error rates in mis-mailings, which can trigger noncompliance claims
- Inability to customize communications
- Lack of automation capabilities
- High postage costs
- Unaudited processes
Any and all of these can create obstacles to seamless operations. By outsourcing, you can address them all.
Improving Workflows with a Transactional Print and Mail Company
Transitioning to a print and mail company has the potential to ensure challenges don’t persist. Here’s how their approach solves your workflow problems.
Reduction in Undeliverable Mail
A key step in the transactional print and mail process is address hygiene. This type of data scrubbing is common for vendors to use, but less so for individual companies. These tools access USPS address changes to make corrections. It also removes duplicates, validates every address, and standardizes formats.
The application of these tools reduces the amount of undeliverable mail. The benefits include lower postage rates, compliance support, and greater accuracy.
No Templates Required
Another workflow hiccup is pre-printing templates for specific communications. It’s inefficient and costly to do this. It’s not necessary with dynamic printing and the White Paper Factory (WPF).
The WFP framework involves feeding large rolls of white paper into commercial inkjet printers. Every page from that job prints at the same time. Dynamic printing enables the customization of all content in the communication. This automated process saves time and decreases costs.
Accuracy Boosts
One mis-mailing can trigger noncompliance violations and impact customer trust. Workflows must have checks and balances for this, but they may be less robust than those used by professional printers.
The most effective way to avoid mis-mailings is with intelligent insertion. Intelligent insertion uses 2D barcodes printed on every page. A camera scans them and tells the inserter which pieces go into each envelope. Another camera records this for validation.
PCI Group leverages this workflow to achieve an industry-leading 99.9999% accuracy rating.
Adopting Automation
By integrating automation, the entire process is more efficient. Every aspect of it starts with creating defined and repeatable workflows.
Automation involves technology replacing manual work. It starts with file processing. Dynamic printing, address hygiene, and intelligent insertion are also areas for automation.
With automation throughout the workflow, you’ll benefit from reduced costs, enhanced accuracy, and improved quality.
Better Postage Rates
One considerable part of expenses in finance communications is postage. To achieve the best rates, you need both volume and process optimization. It’s difficult to achieve this if you’re not a commercial printer.
They employ things like presorting and commingling to secure the best price using the USPS Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb). You’ll also see reductions with data scrubbing for bad addresses. Letter standardization is another tactic, supporting consolidation to #10 envelopes weighing less than 3.5 ounces.
Unaudited Processes
How often do you audit your print and mail workflows? If you’re not doing this consistently or at all, you won’t have clarity around bottlenecks. A lack of visibility into processes allows errors and issues to persist.
By applying Lean Manufacturing concepts, professional transactional print and mail companies are always iterating and improving. This strategy involves constant auditing of standard works, which break down every process into tasks and steps. Reviewing these often ensures issue correction immediately.
Ready to Outsource Your Finance Communications?
The reasons make the case for outsourcing. You’ll realize so many benefits and be confident that all your communications are compliant and accurate. Explore how it works by requesting a no-cost consultation with our experts.
