The Future Of Customer Communications:

Viewing Change In 3D

By Chuck Cordray

President, Volly, Pitney Bowes

NOTE: This article appeared in the November/December 2011 issue of MAIL Magazine. All rights are reserved.

Communication is changing. We operate in a multichannel world with access to ubiquitous broadband, new devices and apps that add increased flexibility and capability in how businesses and consumers interact. While much is changing, traditional communications channels like mail play a vital role in how consumers conduct their business, and will for quite some time.

"Traditional mailers" are already using multiple channels to talk to their customers, moving toward a future that allows consumers choices about how and when brands communicate with them. While they are innovating, they also need to make sure that the process is still comfortable and familiar for consumers. Earlier this year, Pitney Bowes announced the Volly secure digital mail delivery service. It replicates the role mail plays in the consumer’s life, and it’s free. We are working with mailers and service bureaus to facilitate meaningful and effective change that maintains the mailer’s brand integrity. The industry has already changed significantly, and that is about to accelerate. We also know that it takes time and the right offering to create critical mass for adoption to happen.

We believe that there are three key factors for generating a true shift in the way consumers behave and conduct their daily lives and personal business. In digital mail delivery, those are density, distribution, and delight -- or the 3Ds.

Viewing Change In 3D

Building density to create an experience that consumers really use and depend on can only be done with trust -- trust not only between solution provider and mailer, but also trust between consumer and mailer. It is imperative to guarantee the integrity of the mailer’s brand digital delivery. At Pitney Bowes, our Volly digital mail delivery system was purposefully designed so that it supports the mailer’s brand while offering a new, powerful channel for customer communications. Brands control their messaging, and consumers control their chosen senders, creating a powerful, interactive marketplace.

2. Distribution. Distribution, having the product be widely adopted in the market is first and foremost linked to a compelling experience and significant density of mail. Distribution will be further supported by co-marketing activities with our rapidly expanding partner network and through our digital marketing efforts.

3. Delight. Pitney Bowes is in it for the long-term -- to change the future of communications -- and to make the Volly digital service a compelling experience for mailers and consumers alike. Creating the best consumer experience is categorized as delight. High-volume mailers in the U.S. understand the cost efficiencies of transitioning to digital, yet few consumers have gone paperless. Despite the fact that broadband in the U.S. is ubiquitous, only 10 to 15 percent of people receive their bills and statements digitally. Why the gap?

Everything comes back to density and convenience. Few consumers will create the user names and passwords for each vendor -- dozens for most households -- to let an aggregation site "scrape" website content. For the brands, those consumers are the ones they have fought hard to get to use their websites directly. The real challenge is to get consumers to adopt digital mail broadly, and that means secure access to lots of mail under one account.

There are several new digital mail services out there, but Pitney Bowes wants consumers to have a compelling experience (not that empty mailbox scenario). In fact, today there are about 2,200 brands attached to the Volly system. In addition to "filling the mailbox", we have been iterating design and adding more social features and functionality to provide the best possible experience. We will not be another lemming racing off the cliff, launching  something that doesn’t have enough mailbox density to be compelling to consumers. We’re racing to build the density in the industry that gives everyone -- consumers and brands -- a reason to join the revolution.

(Chuck Cordray is president, Volly, Pitney Bowes. He joined Pitney Bowes from Hearst Corporation, where he served as senior vice president and general manager of Hearst Magazines Digital Media. Mr. Cordray has also held executive positions for several large consumer brands. To learn more about Pitney Bowes, call 800-672-6937.)