Utilities
A Massachusetts
electric, water and sewer utility came to Select*Print when they needed
to redesign their bill to make it easier to read. Select*Print assisted
them with this issue and during the redesign process uncovered other
areas that needed improvement.
During
the redesign it became apparent there were many opportunities to save
money in postage. The utility company was originally sending a separate
statement for electric, water and sewer. Select*Print combined all
the different statements onto one bill based on the customer account
number and billing address. This reduced postage by 40%. Statement
combining streamlined payment processing.
Payment
processing was also enhanced. Select*Print saved the utility time
by utilizing a lock box encoding system. Through lock box encoding,
payments were sent right to the utility's bank for immediate deposit
into their account.
In addition
to combining bills and encoding, Select*Print created an entirely
new look for the bill by using shaded bar graphs to depict the usage
information over the last 12 months. The data was contained in the
software, however the utility company had been unable to chart it
properly so the function had never been used. These improvements made
the bills much easier to read and understand for the utility's customers.
The utility
company also took advantage of the selective messaging feature and
added conservation tips on each bill. They also started providing
a blue # 9 courtesy reply envelope to encourage payment. Through selective
messaging and providing a payment envelop the utility now demonstrates
their investment in the community and their commitment to a mutual
partnership. When the new bills rolled out after only 6 weeks of combined
design and production time, they were a hit.
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