Print, digital or both? Understanding the power of customer comms preferences

Are you listening to your customers’ communication preferences?

We’ve all heard the message to ‘go digital, save trees.’ However, we recommend always being aware of customer communication preferences when deciding how to contact them.

This means letting them choose primarily digital comms, primarily paper comms, or a mix of both. Here’s three reasons why your customers' communication preferences should guide how they receive your messaging.

1 - Research shows consumers want choice

Research by Royal Mail shows that 83% of consumers want the choice of whether to receive communications by mail or email, and that 50% of consumers say that forcing them to go paperless is not a positive choice.

The study also showed that whilst 42% of respondents were encouraged to go paperless last year and nearly half were offered incentives to do so, only about 24% did.

2 - Accessibility

Print is still accessible to many audiences in a way that digital is not. To make sure you reach everyone, it’s important that offline strategies are utilised.

10% of people in the UK don’t use the internet. To ensure your communications are inclusive, you need to harness an omnichannel approach.

3 - Customers don’t like to feel blackmailed

We all want to help the environment - but cajoling customers into shutting off their paper comms is often poorly received.

In addition, there’s mounting evidence that digital communications are not automatically greener than printed communications.

So how do you ensure you're being guided by customer communication preferences?

Give your customers real, meaningful choice in how they receive their comms.

This choice doesn't have to be binary. You will have people who fall at both ends of the scale - people happy to receive only digital comms, and people who want to be contacted only physically. There will be those in the middle, who will want you to send transactional correspondence digitally, but important notices, or weightier comms such as journals, sent via post. You need to make sure these customer preferences are kept up to date and accurate.

As well as that all-important element of choice, offering a range of ways for a customer to receive communications increases impact, deepens engagement, and improves customer experience.
Mail metrics body JICMAIL report that 83% of mail is opened. This is an open rate that email marketers can only dream of.

An omnichannel approach has been proven to be the best way to ensure you reach your customers at the right time and on the right channel.

We'll be diving into this topic in more depth in our upcoming webinar on omnichannel communications. Follow us on LinkedIn to sign up when it launches.