For a long time, customer communications systems ran in isolation. Data was extracted from databases and systems to drive the composition and production of printed and electronic documents, but without a genuine connection to CRM, ERP, or other systems upon which most businesses rely. Many of these legacy document systems still exist and they are failing to support the customer experience (CX) objectives of organizations that run them.

Studies by Keypoint, Broadridge, and others tell us that consumers don’t believe companies are doing enough to improve relationships with their customers. Most times, organizations concentrate their CX efforts on technology like chatbots, social media, websites, and video. Often forgotten is the most common and consistent touchpoint between a company and its customers—the monthly statement, bill, or invoice. These printed or digital transactional communications enjoy high readership, but because of their legacy heritage, can be inconsistent with the corporate CX theme and objectives.

CX Was Never in the Plan

The reason for this disconnect is simple. Organizations designed those important customer-facing documents with software applications or custom coding developed many years before the concept of customer experience was ever considered. The aim of document creation projects back then was to generate documents that did the job at the lowest cost and with high accuracy. Those systems did not anticipate the evolution of databases that record a customer’s every online and offline interaction with the brand. They operated with what we would today consider a narrow subset of available customer data.

Consumers have become accustomed to rich relationships with companies like Amazon or Netflix. Those companies structured themselves to leverage the power of individual customer data. Having enjoyed the experience of dealing with companies that truly treat them as individuals, customers expect their health plans, utility companies, insurers, and financial institutions to deliver a similar experience. That includes their encounters with periodic statements and bills.

Correcting the Issue

The good news is that, with modern document composition systems like Quickcoms, companies can now take advantage of all that customer-specific data they accumulate from across the enterprise. The resulting documents will be more relevant and up-to-date than ever.

Connecting internal and external data sources to Quickcoms is a simple, onetime task. Once the company establishes those connections, even business users can design and test complex documents like statements or claim forms. Hiring a programmer or waiting months for an IT resource to be assigned to a document modification project will not be necessary in most cases.

A New Role for Transactional Documents

Access to data sources makes it possible to improve transactional documents so they communicate more than only the account activity, claim status, or consumption data. Individual purchase history, for instance, can control upsell messaging or deliver important safety or recall information about products owned by an individual. In other applications, information from the order management system can update a customer on the status of an order in-process. Data from the CRM can affect loyalty campaigns promoted via the monthly statements or recognize the anniversaries of important dates.

With outside data, document creators can further enhance transactional documents by guiding customers to their nearest retail location or service center with personalized maps. For utility companies, historical billing data can drive charts and graphs to compare the current month’s consumption to that of a year ago. By combining expanded data access with a full-featured document composition solution, businesses can turn those transactional documents into customer communications that have a positive effect on the customer experience. The monthly bills and statements can contribute to the bottom line instead of being seen as only a necessary expense.

Upgrading from an existing transactional document solution is not a minor task. But if the documents customers see every month have a significant influence on how they perceive the companies with whom they do business. If those regular and expected customer interactions are not doing the job because the documents are too limited, then it is time to consider a fresh approach.