Document Communications Industry Trends: 2008 Survey Results
By The Electronic Document Systems Foundation (EDSF) in collaboration with Doculabs and University of Illinois, Chicago
Direct Marketing
"As in prior years, companies state they have not realized significant cost savings when reducing their use of print in favor of electronic delivery."
Date: 2008
Authors: James Watson, Jr., PhD (Doculabs) and C. Ranganathan, PhD, (University of Illinois, Chicago)
Type of Promotional Material/Activity Tested: Transactional service mailings (e.g., statements, bills) and marketing communications (e.g., solicitations, promotional campaigns, and response marketing).
Sample Population: Members, customers, and/or subscribers of EDSF, Xplor International, AIIM, OutputLinks, and Doculabs were solicited via e-mail for participation in this study with 109 valid responses tabulated. Survey results were from buy-side only firms (organizations such as banks and insurance companies that use paper and electronic communications to support their primary business). No suppliers or print-for-pay providers were surveyed.
Over 50% of respondents represent the financial services, banking, and insurance sectors. Respondents also represent companies with considerable print and mail expense (30% expect to generate and mail more than 100 million pieces their clients and customers). Six out of ten firms have annual revenues in excess of $1 billion.
Methodology: Online survey conducted in the first quarter of 2008
Metrics: Trends in communications with consumers: changes in overall budgets for document communications, document delivery format, and the use of digital color.
Top Line Results:
- The largest portion of respondents, over 40%, said document communications budgets for paper-based communications in 2008 would be flat. Those expecting a slight increase outnumbered those expecting a slight decrease by 2 to
- When asked about the use of electronic document delivery in 2008, the largest portion of respondents (over 40%) expected a 5-10% increase in their use of electronic document delivery. This is similar to past survey results, indicating a slow, steady growth in the electronic document delivery of transpromotional and marketing communications.
- The proportion of print documents also made available to customers electronically:
- Nearly 30% of firms indicated it was “approaching one-third”
- Close to 25% reported “approximately 50% or above”
- Nearly 20% reported “nearly all”
-
Fifteen percent of respondents expected to deliver 50% or more of their documents exclusively in electronic format in 2008. In years past, this percentage was in the single digits (e.g., 8% in 2007). Small and mid-sized firms (companies that print and mail less than 50 million pieces annually) lead the way in using electronic document communications exclusively.
- Regulatory compliance, privacy, and security remain key issues inhibiting electronic document communications. Customers’ ability and willingness to accept electronic documents has dropped from the #1 issue in 2005 to #5 in 2008.
| Key Inhibitors for E-Document Communications |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
| Legal compliance and regulatory requirements |
2 |
1 |
1 |
| Security and privacy-related issues |
1 |
2 |
2 |
| Technology issues (e.g. Infrastructure, integration, etc.) |
4 |
4 |
3 |
| Company mindset and culture |
6 |
6 |
4 |
| Customers not prepared to accept electronic documents |
3 |
3 |
5 |
| Costs in relations to benefits |
5 |
5 |
6 |
- In 2007, there was a spike in the number of companies using financial incentives to motivate customers to switch to e-documents. In 2008, firms planned to use a mix of tactics (advertising campaigns, value-added online features, additional products/services, and lastly, financial incentives) to entice customers to make the switch.
- Companies state they have not realized significant cost savings when reducing their use of print in favor of electronic delivery -- over 40% of firms expected reductions in print costs to be very little (less than 10%). Small and midsize companies have been the most successful in garnering cost savings.
- Little projected growth in digital color print use expected in 2008. The largest group reporting (close to 45%) indicated they expected to use digital color in less that 1% of their documents. Looking at company size and use of digital color, there is a greater use of digital color among small and mid-sized firms, with approximately 15% expecting to use digital color in more that 10% of their documents.
Take Away: This is the fifth year of EDSF’s ongoing research program to identify trends in the document communications industry. From the Outlook portion of the study, EDSF states: “While the 2008 study suggests that firms are being more conservative in making any changes to their document communications strategies, we still expect that with a stronger economy and further improvements in the technology, the trends we have noted in this year’s study will accelerate in the coming years.”
Complexity rating: 1 (Complex statistical analysis scale: 1= none, 2= moderate, 3 = difficult)
Source: Document Communications Industry Trends: 2008 Survey Results (PDF) at EDSF.
