Research consistently shows that a significant proportion of consumers prefer print. In fact according to a Royal Mail study in September 2010, 65% of customers who prefer paper bills and statements would consider defecting to a competitor, or would leave straight away, if there were no choice.

Another research study, this time by KPMG, revealed that four out of five consumers prefer print over online. According to a survey in December 2010, which spoke to over 2,000 people in the UK, 86% of consumers prefer to access media offline, with the most popular reason being a preference for reading physical copies.

The green argument

But what about the green argument?  Many organisations present e-statements as an environmental alternative to printed statements.  The trouble with this argument is that it doesn’t give consumers all of the facts.  No-one really knows the true carbon footprint of print nor do they know the true impact of electronic statements. 

Electronic statements may avoid using trees (a renewable resource!), but they also can have a negative impact on the environment when you consider their full lifecycle with chip factories, the data centre energy crisis, the limited supply of rare minerals required for semiconductors and the e-waste crisis.

Approximately 80% of print’s carbon footprint is the paper.  Using the latest techniques, paper usage can be significantly reduced – all without impacting the effectiveness of the communication.

Sustainable paper statements

In fact, paper statements are becoming more sustainable with breakthroughs like inkjet printers that use less energy, paper with lower environmental impact and mail optimisation practices.

Mail can be optimised through address cleansing to reduce returns, post code sorting, combining statements for households and innovative ideas like reusable envelopes. And paper with chain-of-custody certification helps ensure it comes from sustainable forests.

Another key breakthrough is white paper in, full colour out where every page is printed on demand – eliminating the need for pre-printed forms. Out of date unused pre-printed forms can create significant wastage. 

Promotional inserts often are included with traditional transactional statements. Our customers now have the technology to replace these with promotional messages that are printed directly on the white space of the statement as an “onsert”.

This approach is a great sustainability story because it delivers on all three aspects of sustainability – environmental, economic and social – for a triple bottom line benefit. Relevant onserts are also starting to shift consumer behaviour by making mail worth opening for promotions.

Such behaviour demonstrates the powerful impact of personalised customer communications. 

The importance of choice

So, your customers want printed statements but they also want mobile and web. So how do you square the circle? We say give your customers what they want: a choice. 

Offer them multi-channel communications including personalised and targeted print, mobile and an integrated web experience. And it can make a significant impact on customer experience and branding.

M&G, the investment management leader, has demonstrated the value of moving to personalised for its bi-annual investor updates using an innovative solution developed with Innovative Output Solutions Limited (IOS) running on aninkjet printing solution from InfoPrint Solutions.

The personalised updates present investor reporting in a more concise and user-friendly manner and have improved client satisfaction.

Moreover, M&G stripped out over 40 tonnes of print for each mailing. By reducing the average pack weight, M&G also cut the postage costs and carbon emissions related to delivery. It also switched to revive 50:50 paper.

Customer communications as a vehicle

Not only are customer communications the key touch point with an organisation’s brand, but it is the vehicle to inform, persuade and influence an audience.

The challenges an organisation faces as it evaluates its communications strategy include how to reach consumers effectively so that they understand statements and pay their bill on time; respond to your offers; pay attention to your corporate messages and interact with your brand.

Businesses who embrace smarter communications can take advantage of the opportunities presented by their transactional documents to ensure clear communications that improve customer satisfaction.

And for some, transaction print documents can be complemented with other communications channels, such as online and mobile, giving consumers the choice they now expect.

Theresa Lang is UK Managing Director of InfoPrint Solutions.

Read more on Addressing customers' environmental concerns about direct mail and How to make your direct mail campaign carbon neutral