Document communication is growing in prominence for its ability to relate to customers outside of the direct purchasing environment. Organizations need to understand the benefits of including document communication as part of a plan to personalize the customer experience.

Making an effort to improve the customer experience can yield a number of benefits to businesses. When customers feel like they are respected and their needs met during the transaction, they are more likely to continue buying products and services from the company. Personalizing the experience is just one aspect of customer experience, but an important one. Marketing research notes that about four in five consumers prefer to shop with organizations that provide a personalized experience, and people who want personalized experiences are more likely to be the company’s most valuable customers.

Although much of the discussion about personalized customer experiences ties to websites, apps and other immediate purchasing touchpoints, document communication also remains an important target for personalization. Companies can use a variety of tools to help them prepare documents for customers, including:

• Collecting and organizing data for presentation

• Recording shopping records for targeted offers

• Maintaining accurate information for invoicing

• Using algorithms to determine ideal communication methods

These tools allow businesses to organize and present information to a variety of customers in batches without having to design each document individually or generalize the information provided.

Personalized document communication comes in a variety of styles depending on the goal of the communication and the customer’s position in the sales funnel. Businesses use document communication to maintain relevance with past customers or help customers decide about a product or service. Although documents often present as static content, it is not a requirement. Companies can add interactive content to continue engagement, including voice tracks, videos and links to additional information.

Letters — Creating letters for customers allows businesses to relate to their customer base more informally, or in greater detail. Letters commonly come in the form of email communications or newsletters as methods of providing explanations or discussions in a way that people may not engage while browsing a website. Letters can use direct forms of address for each customer, possibly relating past purchases or future sales relevant to the customer.

Presentations — Presentations aim to sway customer decisions on larger purchasing decisions. The latest trends in document communication reflect a desire to engage with customers on a deeper level. Modern presentations might offer information and insights to prospective customers using personal information that ties the value of the proposition to the customer directly.

Invoices — Personalized invoices can take moments to generate, providing all the relevant information for the individual customer. Usage billing software tracks a customer’s use of the product or service. With this information, the software can automatically generate invoices upon a desired interval with the latest usage and correct billing. The system uses customer data to generate the invoice, which means that personalized details like name, salutation and address are accurate.

Records — Customers often want to review the records of purchases or services, which companies can easily personalize to improve the overall experience. Data management systems can produce reports based on customer data in a short period of time for email or publishing to the customer’s profile on the website. Giving customers the ability to set specific filters for the report adds a layer of customization unique to the customer’s needs.

Targeted offers — Targeted offers are one of the most common forms of personalized communication because they allow companies to customize the experience based on all the customer’s information. Targeted offers use the customer’s shopping data, even for items or services they did not purchase, to make recommendations that are likely to solve the customer’s problems or meet a certain need. These offers can serve as their own communication or blend seamlessly into a letter, presentation or invoice for further personalization.

Businesses can use document communication to track engagement with different marketing approaches, as well as providing relevant information to their customers. Companies often rely on the RFM method to divide customers based on the recency, frequency and value of the purchases. They may collect other data about a customer’s behavior, such as their time spent browsing a site or the times of year they tend to make purchases. These methods allow the business to customize offers and content based on the customer’s shopping style.

Personalizing content can become a valuable way to track success of a company’s marketing campaigns. Document communication provides an excellent way to perform A/B testing, the use of two different campaigns to see which one drives the most engagement. Tracking engagement with the content — including clicks to links in a letter, views of a presentation or time spent reading the document — can provide valuable information to the business about the relevance of the content and the viability of the personalization.

Personalizing document communication gives companies a way to continue relating to their customers during and after purchase. By implementing these tools and methods, businesses can create personalized documents that increase value to the customer, often without an excessive investment of time to create and distribute.