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Vodafone Australia has recently announced that as of October 1 2008, all new and existing customers will be sent their monthly bills by email. Customers without an email address can view their bills online. Vodafone will no longer be sending out paper bills.
This is a significant move from one of the largest mobile providers in Australia. Not only will it impact Computershare who currently print the mobile statements for Vodafone Australia's 4 million customers, but this brave move could also sway other mobile providers to follow suit.
While the value of incorporating TransPromo elements in a full colour printed statements TransPromo are obvious, and Telstra are already incorporating TransPromo in their new bill for their 9.6 million fixed line and 9.3 million mobile subscribers, it seems the opportunity for TransPromo has arrived a little too late for Vodafone.
Maybe the next revolution isn't TransPromo after all. Maybe it's "eTransPromo"; the incorporation of conditional marketing messages and offers on electronic statements.
Posted on Saturday, 13 September 2008 at 3:56 AM | TrackBack: http://www.veedeepee.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/177
Hi, Eliot.
Thanks for another interesting post. It got me thinking about the arguments for transpromo vs. electronic statements. As far as I can see, it's much easier for corporations (like Vodafone) to make the case for electronic statements (a situation which, if true, is a major problem for transpromo). That's the gist of an editorial I just posted over at www.beyond-print.net. I invite you to take a look.
-- George
Posted by George Alexander on Tuesday, 16 September 2008 at 6:35 AM
You might be on to something with eTransPromo Eliot...but does it really need to be something different?
TransPromo is about eliciting a desired response, by effectively using data to drive targeted, relevant information, not about the medium used for the document.
Although Vodafone have moved to electronic (which I'm not convinced will be where they stay by the way) their documents still need to communicate effectively to their customers.
Although it may be difficult, over time it would be good to get some figures on the number of people who print out their bill once it is seen or delviered electronically.
In fact further on this, I feel that electronic delivery via web hosted documents can actually give greater value to a transactional document. Something I've been sprouting since the late 90's when (at PrintSoft) I was trying to convince people of the value of printed AND online documents. An HTML document (however created) with server-side resources could keep marketing content up-to-date for archived documents.
For example, if today (in September 2008) you viewed your statement from December 2007, if it contained a Christmas offer from last year that wouldn't be relevant, however if the statement has a timely offer that was called from a server-side resource (eg. mktgXYZ123.gif) then it would have even greater value to the recipient. NOt only does it contain 100% of the informaiton originally provided, but also the promotional portion is still of value too.
I think that Vodafone (or anyone's) move to electronic is simply part of the continual evolution of the concepts and techniques of TransPromo...after all, TransPromo has been around for a couple of decades, we're simply referring to it differently today.
Posted by Brett Dashwood on Wednesday, 17 September 2008 at 12:49 PM
I expect that eTransPromotion offer acceptance rates are lower than physical print - since people generally skim eDocs more than physical prints which they have to touch and turn over etc and scan...
Posted by Wayne Zwar on Sunday, 12 October 2008 at 1:07 PM
Wayne, I agree that print is more effective, when available, but eTransPromo also comes with its advantages—it can be very convenient to respond and track as the recipient just needs to respond by clicking on a link (in the PDF or online statement), instead of typing a URL or calling a number!
Posted by Eliot on Monday, 13 October 2008 at 11:12 AM