How Do You Let Your Clients and Customers Know You’re Going Paperless?

Congratulations, you’ve made the fantastic choice to get rid of paper in the office, choosing to embrace electronic workflow like so many other businesses of any size and within any industry across the globe. There are so many benefits that come along with this choice, making the decision a no-brainer.

For instance, your business will likely save a significant amount of money, as you won’t have to pay for reams upon reams of paper, ink cartridges, staples, folders or other accessories any longer. Workers will also probably be much more productive – rather than slaving away over a whirring printer or sifting through file cabinets, they can call up a particular record and get right down to the task at hand.

But this is a choice that will likely affect consumers as well. If you’re skipping paper in the office, that probably means that you’re no longer sending out solicitations to consumers via the mail, or maybe you’re abandoning traditional billing, among other things. So how do you tell your patrons and business partners you’ve gotten rid of paper?

Email them

This might be the easiest method. The only thing is, you’ve got to make sure you already have patrons’ email addresses, so you may want to collect this information when customers sign up for services or when they’re making a purchase at the counter.

This is also likely going to be the most effective manner of informing individuals about the shift – many of the other options involve paper in some manner, so electronic communications might be the most appropriate method.

Send a letter, just not multiple

If customers’ email addresses aren’t within the company database yet, sending out a letter could be the only option. This could be a way to not only inform patrons of the change, but also allow them to sign up for future communications by providing their email addresses.

However, there are other strategies company leaders might want to take. For instance, using recycled paper is a good way to show individuals that the business is truly interested in the green benefits of digitizing offers. Moreover, the company needs to only send out one paper letter. This is where Verizon recently failed, according to Gizmodo, as the wireless corporation informed clients that the company was going paperless by sending out four letters. Not only is this definitely not cost effective, but it could suggest that the business isn’t serious about their new initiative.