What Percent Of Your Marketing is Being Wasted?

For many companies, this may be one of the most challenging years they have faced.  Many businesses are focused on productivity improvements and ways to get paid faster, while others are implementing new approaches for driving revenue.    That’s where your bill comes in to play.  A surprising fact about your bill.  It can be a powerful marketing vehicle for driving revenue.

One of the most common marketing quotes bantered about is from John Wanamaker, the pioneer of the department store concept.  Wanamaker said, “I know half my advertising money is wasted, trouble is, I don’t know which half.” 

What would Wanamaker have said if you told him he could place personalized messages onto a document that would be reviewed daily by a large majority of his target audience at no additional cost?  You are already incurring the cost of sending your bill.   By adding a marketing message you are simply maximizing the value of your “real estate”.

An InfoTrends 2007 survey found that 95% of bill recipients open their bill and review it for over three minutes.  Imagine if your marketing communication could achieve that kind of a response.  The bill becomes more than a piece of paper that communicates how much your customer owes you; it becomes an opportunity to drive demand by delivering a targeted message to a captured audience.

Rockingham Electrical Supply has been taking advantage of their bill as a marketing vehicle for the past few years.   According to Jim Pender, EVP and COO at Rockingham, “by taking a strategic approach to the messaging we place on our bills, we have been able to achieve double-digit sales increases on key products.”  Rockingham customizes the bill message based on the location of their customer and they rotate the message on a frequent basis.   They have also used the message on their bill to triple the use of eBilling by their customers, resulting in significant cost savings.

With the challenges of today’s economy, it is more important than ever to innovate in all facets of your business to drive sales.  For many distributors, the bill is an underutilized asset with tremendous potential.  Make sure that your bill is getting the “billing” it deserves.