Whatever the politics of the current wave of UK mail strikes, one thing it should do is to force more small businesses to re-examine how they use the internet.
Smallest Post Office in the World?
Over the last year, one of my clients, who used to spend many thousands annually on paper, print cartridges, and postage has reduced these bills by a mammoth 80% through sending almost all paperwork – including invoices – by email. Although this is one of the most simple uses of the internet, it has immediate an impact on your bottom line.
The process of managing the expectations of how your clients receive your invoices and other paperwork can be gradual or dramatically rapid, depending on the end customer. One way to implement things is to offer two prices. My client above sent out an updated price list for the year ahead. To stay on the existing prices, the end customer simply needed to choose to receive paperwork electronically.
Electronic Payments
Postage delays don’t only prevent the delivery of invoices. Even when clients attempt to pay on time, their cheque can be delayed. Have you asked your clients and customers to use electronic transfer via their internet banking? This will become the norm as banks start refusing to process cheques in the next few years. Why not make it the norm for your business now?
The same goes for your own supplier bills. Pay those on-line and never waste time following up ‘mislaid’ payments or ‘lost’ cheques, which can have an effect on your credit rating as well as your relationship with your suppliers and channel.
If you depend on suppliers sending you product through the mail, make sure they have a contingency plan. Look for suppliers who have openly declared that their deliveries will be unaffected. Amazon, for instance, guarantee normal delivery by switching providers.
Keep Your Customers Informed
One of the best and simplest ways to use the internet in times like these is to keep your customers informed of what you’re doing to ensure delivery or payments. Put something on your web site’s home page (again, like Amazon) and use your mailing list to make sure every customer knows what will happen if they place an order. If delays are unavoidable, send them a discount voucher for a future job/item to alleviate the pain.
I’m interested to hear how your business is approaching things in the light of mail strikes and unreliable deliveries. Post a comment and let me know.
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UPDATE: And, as if by magic, here’s the meat of an email I got this afternoon from WIRED magazine –
I’ve actually received my copy but if I hadn’t, this would have been a nice touch. It’s still a nice touch, actually, because it makes me feel more than just a subscriber number.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
That was a really interesting article, especially about how that company reduced their bills by 80% just by switching to e-mail… I never thought it would be such a big deal…
I’m not involved in internet sales, but I am an internet shopper and I am so glad when internet providers such as Amazon made adjustments so that I could continue to shop with them.
One website, LetsBuyIt.com, has adopted a really cool feature in response to the mail strike: you can search for a product on their site, click a certain box, and it will filter out providers that only use Royal Mail so that it is really easy for you to find providers that have Royal Mail alternatives. I think that this is really neat and a great idea for other internet providers. In the mean time, I know what website I’ll be using to find low prices AND Royal Mail alternatives… it’s a win-win, and I definitely think anyone should check it out, at least to browse. It’s a really great user-friendly website… Good Luck to all as the holiday season approaches amidst this mail catastrophe!