Banks and Credit Unions, Business Process Improvement, Document Design, Healthcare & HIPAA

How Can Poor Document Design Negatively Impact a Business

FSSI logo Kelly McConville on March 3, 2017

examples of good and bad document design.

The Importance of Customer Document Design in Effective Communications

The old saying goes that you only get one chance to make a first impression and that is so true when marketing to consumers. Using outdated design strategies and layouts for your client communications could be costing your company valuable business.

Think about updating the look of your company’s documents the same way you would think about updating your wardrobe. You don’t want your clothes stuck in the ’80s forever. Why would you want your documents screaming old-fashioned and out-of-date? Could be time for a fresh new look, an update in technology, and the chance to increase your response rates. Customer document design is more important than ever, with the rise of the younger generation.


Why is Color Important in Document Design?

Looks do matter. Are all your company’s printed communications in black and white? This may seem like a small detail, but your consumer’s eyes are drawn to color. Think of the reading people do each day. The amount of information consumed seems endless. Without something to set your information apart – color, for instance, to help our brains latch onto important messages – we can easily skip right past the key points.

FSSI’s Color Specialists and Graphic Designers, add variable color to documents to highlight the company’s most important messages. “Color really allows information to pop out at the reader. “Billing Due Dates” are a good example of where to add variable color. The reader’s eye can immediately jump down to the text and find the content they were looking for without having to carefully read the entire document.”

Create a balance when it comes to the layout of your statement design. Know your audience. Make sure you include all of the important information as clear as possible but don’t overwhelm your customers with too much text. Customers retain information better when there is white space on the page. Don’t waste valuable space by repeating messages.

Simplify. Flush out extraneous information by removing duplicate fields and focusing instead on your company’s target messages. Doing so gives you more valuable white space to use for other purposes. Marketing messages, coupons, or even calls to action could be placed into the document’s white space to make full use of the page’s content.


Document Composition Services

Once you’ve given your company documents a face-lift, don’t forget to make sure you are using the latest technology. FSSI, an outsource printing company with nearly 40 years of expertise, not only works with clients to update underperforming customer communications follow design best practices, but also helps distribute them to consumers through omnichannel marketing.

FSSI stays current with the latest technology and helps integrate all printable documents to the web for easy viewing. This lets companies format documents for print, web, and mobile platforms. Direct Mail is also experiencing a renaissance. FSSI specializes in Direct Mail and can personalize statements, bills, invoices, and direct mailers using variable data printing technology to market to consumers as individuals rather than as part of a group.

Personalized documents using data-driven images and messaging content have been proven to drive an increase in consumer response rates and ultimately ROI.


How FSSI Leverages Personalization in Customer Communications?

Many companies are just not using their data most effectively. By gathering information on what individual consumers buy, how many events they attend, or which discount codes or coupons they have used in the past business can carefully target information to appeal to their customers’ interests. Imagine how much stronger your message would be if you could generate specific ads and a call-to-action that focused on what your customer wanted to see.

FSSI offers valuable document redesign solutions utilizing our document template management solution messageStreamOne can make this happen and take the guesswork out of the customization process for its clients.

FSSI uses your company’s consumer data and tracks the response rates and conversion rates of your communications. Your data is also safe with us. We are an SSAE18 Type II secure facility and follow rigid guidelines for data across numerous industries that are driven by compliance regulations.

But here’s the best part. All this customization will help your company save advertising dollars by only sending out messages that apply to certain consumers. Your company’s response rates will naturally increase because people are receiving information that relates directly to their needs and interests. Remember that customization and personalization are key. Effective communication is important to all businesses. When you pay attention to important elements of your communications, you can get more value out of each touchpoint.


FSSI

Give us a call at 714.436.3300 to speak with a communications specialist and see how we can help you leverage customer data in an effective transactional or marketing communications campaign.

 

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