Personalized documents

Personalized customer communication

In modern customer communication, there are three key factors that determine the approach to customer outreach.

• Corporate design, which consistently attracts attention on all communication channels and helps create a memorable and unmistakable presence.
• Content that is personalized and individualized to the highest possible degree creates the necessary interest to engage in a conversation with the (potential) customer. High-quality customer communication begins with the correct form of address and offers customized content that doesn’t contain inaccurate standard passages. Instead, it should be made up of text modules that are suited to the recipient or the business transaction (and may be legally verified) and can be individually modified right down to the content level. If desired, cross-selling and upselling offers can be made that are precisely tailored to the addressee’s situation or preferences.
• Individualization of communication channels and output media also plays an important role in light of increasing mobility and the large number of devices that can be used. Customers who accept personalized documents exclusively in paper form via conventional mail delivery are becoming increasingly rare. There is a growing number of (young) customers who appreciate the advantages of fast, highly accessible digital communication: text messages, forms that can be filled out digitally, or important documents as PDF files that are downloadbale via the customer portal. Such preferences need to be considered.

From personalization to individualization

Another term that’s relevant in the context of personalization or personalized documents is individualization or individualized documents, and the transition between the two is fluid. Personalization primarily refers to all personal data such as name, title, gender, age, marital status, place of residence, etc., i.e., classic customer data used for a personalized approach. The term individualization has its origins sociology and goes much further. In the context of customer communication, it refers to the next higher level of familiarity with the customer. For individualization, the data collected, e.g., on a customer’s purchasing behavior is used to infer their style and preferences and to create an individual profile for offers that suit them “on a higher level.” For example, mobile phone providers can offer their customers a more suitable plan based on the analysis of their communication habits.

How personalized documents are created

How can such diverse personalization and individualization of form, content and medium be achieved? Only a powerful Customer Communication Management System CCM like the Serie M/ is capable of organizing the necessary document processes in such a way that all available data is accessible via interfaces and the right content can be generated in the right form for each recipient. Meanwhile, companies have to maintain conventional mail delivery for the time being and reduce its costs, while at the same time using the CCM system as the basis for advancing the digitalization of customer communication.