Typically, printing and mailing customer invoices, statements, and notices is a process that is done in-house or outsourced. Outsourcing your customer invoices, statements, and notices will offer your business more flexibility in the design and look of your documents. Plus, the design work of your documents will have an impact on your business (and your bottom line).
Your documents might seem like a simple part of your business, but in simplicity lies opportunity, and it also communicates a lot about your business.
How Will Outsourcing and Designing Invoice and Statements Help Your Business?
It Gives Customers a Top-to-Bottom Branded Experience
Any type of documents or communications your customers receive from you—from first correspondence to invoice—should have consistent branding across the board. This not only sends the powerful statement to your customers that your business is professional and organized (versus chaotic—we don’t know what we’re doing), but where getting paid, and getting paid on time are concerned, consistent branding is crucial in invoicing. If your customers can’t quickly see that an invoice is from you, this can cause customer frustration and potentially delay an on-time payment, affecting your present and future bottom lines as well as customer trust, respect, retention, and referrals.
Flexible Design = Highlighting Important Elements
Let’s be honest: We’re all busy, your customers are especially busy, and we all live in a short attention span society. The easier it is for customers to see what they need to know, the faster you will be paid and/or be able to communicate important information to your most valuable asset: your customers. So, make sure all of your documents are as browse-friendly as possible and that the important information you’re communicating to your customers will not be missed because they can’t see it quickly.
From highlight total due to return address, you’re sure to get your documents read and taken care of much more quickly.
Use Wasted Space on Documents to Upsell or Cross-Sell Other Services
If you’ve got blank space on your documents, you’re turning prime real estate into dead real estate. You already have a captive audience with your documents, so why not use that blank space to not only serve your customers better, but add to your bottom line too? Here are a couple of stats to consider:
- It can cost you FIVE times as much to attract new customers versus upselling and/or cross-selling to current ones.
- Your existing customers are 60-70% more likely to purchase additional products and services as opposed to 5-20% with new customers.
So, turn that wasted, blank space into higher customer satisfaction and retention and an increased bottom line.
Save on Physical Space + Labor:
By outsourcing your mailings and printing, you don’t have to worry about buying and storing forms, envelopes, etc. Additionally, when you send an invoice in-house, not only do you have to pay for the storage space to hold the documents, but there are some additional hidden costs in terms of time spent, including processing, mailing, and reviewing invoices (among other things).
When you outsource your mailings, invoices, and printing, you will not only save money but time, as well, allowing you to allocate these precious resources to increasing your bottom line and expanding your customer base. That’s a win-win no matter how you look at it!
Faster Mail Times = Getting Paid Quicker + Improved Cash Flow
According to a report from Sage in 2017, late payments cost small and mid-sized businesses “as much as $3 trillion globally.” Not to mention, 1 in 10 invoices fails to be paid (10% of payments), leaving many businesses to write them off as bad debt. For many business owners, this means decreased cash flow and less availability to increase investments into the company.
By outsourcing your invoices and streamlining the mailing process, you’re putting the task of prompt, effective mailing into the hands of professionals whose business it is to ensure your customers receive their invoices as quickly as possible, helping you get those much-needed payments into your accounts receivable as quickly as possible also. And the stress of managing your invoices is taken off your plate, leaving you time and energy to concentrate on your main business—serving your customers.
We can assist you in transforming your transactional documents into comprehensive marketing solutions. Whether you are placing a message on an outer envelope to alert customers to a change or developing a large-scale marketing promotion, our team helps you to maximize the communication power of your statement. Click here to learn more.