Pitney Bowes Study: Businesses Can Benefit From Customer-Controlled Communications
STAMFORD, CT–Developing lasting and profitable customer relationships may be as simple as
giving customers the ability to choose the time, place and channel of contact, according to study findings
released by Pitney Bowes Inc., a provider of integrated mail, messaging and document management
solutions.
The findings, in Pitney Bowes' “The New Household as a Managed Organization” study, included:
- 60 percent of household members would be more receptive to business communications if they could
choose the point of contact. The company says this offers a strong incentive for businesses to re-evaluate
the timing, frequency and method of their communications. - 75 percent of respondents agreed that too many offers they receive are not geared toward their
interests or needs, underscoring the importance of personalized business communications for today's
information-overloaded consumers.
“Interrupting people during dinner with unwanted, robot-like phone calls is not likely to increase sales,
especially considering consumers prefer to be contacted by direct mail,” said Meredith Fischer, co-author
of the study and a vice president at Pitney Bowes Inc. “Consumers are more responsive and likely to
favorably consider your product or service when initial communications are made in less intrusive ways that
allow them to interact on their own terms. Once they are your customer, consumers do want to establish
a relationship with you and will welcome talking to one point of contact who understands the history of
their business relationship and respects their boundaries.”
According to the study, customers use two different strategies, offensive and defensive, when
communicating with businesses. Offensive strategies are employed when customers initiate the contact,
such as a call or e-mail to a customer service department. In this case, they usually have clear objectives
in mind and want to use media channels that facilitate a specific and immediate outcome. Defensive
strategies, such as call screening, are employed when customers receive communications, allowing them
to evaluate the communication's relevance and importance, which, in turn, dictates their response
(or lack of one). Furthermore, the study notes that customer and company communication goals are
different. While customers seek to achieve timely solutions, businesses seek to gain customer loyalty
and repeat business.
“Companies that establish systems and protocols catering to customers' offensive and defensive
communication strategies and helping them achieve timely solutions will be the most successful at creating
the kind of positive customer experience that promotes customer loyalty and repeat business,” says Fischer.
“For example, provide a single point of company contact, 24-hour customer service, and multiple
communications channels, such as phone, e-mail, and postal mail.”
The study notes that businesses need to adopt more customized and customer-friendly communications
to reach customers and cut through the clutter of information overload, and suggests the following
strategies for successful business communications:
- Make it easy for customers to reach you: Let customers pick when and how they want to reach you.
For example, provide multiple access points to customer service such as the Internet, e-mail, telephone
and fax. - Offer solutions, not headaches: The “work” of answering questions, resolving problems, finding the
best deals, and filtering relevant information has increasingly been shifted to the consumer. Businesses
should seek ways to decrease the “work” of the household, such as empowering customer service
agents to “make it right” right away, and updating customers on sales and promotions via their
preferred communication method. - Target the decision maker: Businesses sh
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