Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
Catchy!
The Postal Service has been around a long, long time. Their unofficial motto, above, has always been a reminder that the mail will come through.
Unless, of course, they don't.
This story from MSNBC (click to read) says that the USPS wants to cut another day of delivery out of their schedule. They're currently staring at a $6 billion shortfall, and hope that not delivering will help them stave off collapse. Oh - and there'll probably be another postage hike.
So, let's boil this down a little more. You'll be sending mail at a higher price. It's going to take twice as long (or longer) to get where they're going. And don't count on that Saturday run down to the post office - they're not there.
Not convenient. Not fast. Not cost effective.
I can promise you that email doesn't "close". Send an email, it'll be where it's going within moments. Send an email that's styled how you want with links to offers, you'll start seeing results. And email won't break your budget.
Much to the delight of my youngest daughter (and the disgust of my older daughters, who had to go to class regardless), it was snowing today in Northern Virginia.
Now, I know there are those of you who balk at what we, here in Northern Virginia, call "snow". In Buffalo, as I'm reminded by our Director of IT Amy Baldi, four-to-six inches of snow is the same as having no snow at all. But here? Pandemonium. Absolute chaos. Apparently, three flakes of snow is equal to two people going crazy in a car near you on the morning commute. So we have this sort of madness even with a little snow.
And I think about how much snow it will take to cancel school in a place like Alaska. Assuming there is an amount that matters there.
DigitalMailer is offering two new webinars to go along with our continued run of "Do you want fries with that?". The "Fries" webinar, which has been DigitalMailer's most successful webinar to date, will continue with the two new webinars into June. To sign up for it, click the french fry icon on the top of the left column.
The first webinar, "Budget Stretching Ideas", goes hand in hand with our page on the same subject (click here to visit). We know your marketing budgets have taken a hit in the past few months - want to learn how to make the most out of what you've got left? Come talk to us. Sign up for a webinar by clicking the icon below.The second, called "The Better Mouse Trap", was made to show you all the benefits of using DigitalMailer's Customer Communication Center as your eStatement provider (click here to learn more). Why? Because eStatements (that are easy-to-read, secure, and stored for as long as you need them) are just one arm of the CCC. To learn about the rest, click the icon below. Feel free to sign up!
Jimmy sent me a link to a report (click here to get it for yourself) shown to him by Ron Shevlin of the Aite Group in Boston (click here for their homepage). It talks about plans that Financial Institutions have for spending in the next few months. Want to see what almost made me do a spit-take with my coffee (I didn't - new computer, don't want to ruin it the first week):
What are your plans for spending on marketing programs in 2009 compared to last year? (n=79)
I was stunned that the numbers were so close. Sure, some folks get scared in a recession. But DigitalMailer knows (and has known since before the recession was an official Recession - click here to read) that marketing hard is important when things are shaky. If consumers don't know you're there and you have products to offer, how do you think you'll keep your business profitable or your employees employed?
Now, for the news that really knocked my socks off:
That's a 45% increase on email marketing for small FIs and a 25% increase for the large ones. Apparently, FIs across the country are getting the idea.
The moral of the story: Don't be afraid to market hard right now. You're not going to be the only one doing it. And certainly don't be afraid to use email marketing - it's more cost effective, it's easier to change/personalize, and it works.
[Editor's Note: -- This article ran at the start of this week on the CUSoapbox (click here). We thought we'd run it again here, because it's just that important.]
Well, another year passes and a new one begins. And I'm just as frustrated with what's going on this year as I was with the last.
Let's talk about financial institutions and the concept of "green". A new article from CUJournal.com talks about green attitudes and finance (click here for the full article). Apparently, about 75% of consumers still get paper statements from their financial institution. Interesting figure from the article: if everyone stopped getting paper statements and bills, 687,000 tons (or around 86,000 trees by our math [thanks to conservatree.com]) of paper would be saved...per year.
Other advantages? How about the safety of knowing your statement won't get stolen out of your mailbox or steamed open by identity thieves? How about the fact that you can do online for pennies what it costs dollars to do by mail?
Why aren't people getting on board with this? Maybe it's because they don't know how, or if, this is possible. I've got a list of articles as long as your arm that show how making electronic statements the default method of receipt can save money and increase customer/member satisfaction. Here's one that shows most people LIKE getting email statements and updates (click here for the article). So what's the situation? What makes sense?
The article suggests, and I agree, that paper statements need to go the way of the dodo. Sure, keep them around for all those die-hards who just can't cope with the Internet or love having paper copies. But odds are good that the amount of people who turn away from electronic statements and notices will be minuscule compared to the number who adopt the system and love it. The article suggests that people don't know how to take advantage of green services like online banking and statements. I say make green the default so they don't have to know how.
The time to start doing away with costly printing and paper is now, America. Budgets have been shaved to the bone, CUs are going to have to do more with less. Online services and a diminished focus on paper are what it's going to take. If you make it easy to use and easy to see, those "green-heads" are going to get away form paper.
First thing's first - happy new year, everyone. Glad to be back for a fresh new year of connection, communication, and growth.
Second issue is this story I caught on the news last night. The DC Metro, which serves the DC/Maryland/Virginia area with buses and subway travel, is doing away with paper tickets for bus transfers. Riders will now have to take advantage of SmarTrip cards. What's really surprising?
"The change is expected to save Metro at least $300,000 a year in paper and printing costs." - from NBCWashington.com [Click here to read]
I know not everyone knows all about the metro cards, but they're just little pieces of paper with a little ink on them. Sometimes they include drawings of Pandas to advertise the National Zoo. Otherwise, there's not much on them. And cutting these out of the operation saves 300 grand.
Imagine how much you could be saving with email statements and mailers. Maybe this is the year you should stop the paper yourself.
If you're ready to find out how, our webinar "Do You Want Fries with That?" is beginning its 2009 run. To sign up, click here.
