If you’re from the north, bundling means one thing: layering. It is essential, without layers you get awfully cold, awfully quick. Pair things together and suddenly you’re a lot more comfortable. We might not all be coming off months of snow, ice, wind and more snow, but we all gain value when we mix and match, and bundle things together – even if it isn’t necessarily our thick winter gear.
What:
To start, let’s look at what communication bundling is. What does it look like and what does it mean? Bundling in business is when several products are packaged as one. The value of one is added upon and supplemented by the extra products – like when you see a printer packaged with ink. Likewise, communication bundling occurs when multiple communication services are all brought in together adding value and service to one another, contributing to the overall communication strategy. It can happen in two different ways. First, it can come through the use of multi-channel communication such as text and talk during a single use case. For example, in an emergency, a warning notification from a text or a phone call are two different solutions addressing the same customer touch point.
Another way we can see communication bundling is through cross-channel communication. This occurs when you start with one channel of communication and transition to another form of communication. This can be seen when a customer receives an automated phone call with the option to transfer to a live agent.
Why:
Second is the why. Why should you bundle communications together? Insurance companies offer bundling options to not only provide better value and convenience for their customers and partners, but to maximize their own wallet share in the industry as well. When it comes to communication bundling, the focus – or the why – is to provide value to the customer with a seamless customer experience. When your customer has a positive experience, then your business wins! We’ve all been frustrated when information we seek is not easily accessible or is plagued by seemingly pointless steps before we get to the end destination. Communication bundling seeks to smooth the journey by allowing your customers multiple ways to receive the information they want; through the channel they want.
Your customer might hate phone calls and text messages from people who aren’t family and friends. In this instance they might prefer email. Other customers’ email inboxes might be full of spam and your reminder notification would be one of millions of emails never read. These customers would rather receive a text message. In these cases, businesses using communication bundling allows greater connection by appealing to each of their customers’ needs individually. Remember the adage don’t put all your eggs in one basket? Communication bundling helps prevent those types of losses. Another benefit of bundling comes through the power of customer touchpoints. The more touchpoints you have the more data you can collect to ensure you can provide the best service possible (Oracle, 2024).
When:
Next, when is it appropriate to use communication bundling? Communication bundling is excellent during a lot of “when’s.” It is for those moments that require urgent attention, like making an insurance claim. Your company’s preparation allows you to send the right message, at the right time, through the right channel. If, heaven forbid, an accident occurs and someone needs access to workers’ compensation claim instructions and next steps, sending the information through an automated phone call would be ridiculous as there is no way for your customer to look back at the instructions. However, by using more than one channel you can acknowledge the claim using an automated personal text and send the forms they will need to fill out through an email. Again, the need for communication wasn’t expected by the customer – but you as the insurance company are prepared to provide the best experience for your customer.
Communication bundling is also perfect for when you have a lot of customers, all with individual tastes, that you are trying to please at the same time. As mentioned in the why, every customer has their own preferences for their use cases and sometimes there are best practices too. By using cross-channel and multi-channel communication bundling, keeping your customers informed doesn’t have to be painful, instead you can reach them safely and easily. Customers can get the information they need in their preferred channel of choice.
How:
How do you make it work for you and your industry? By choosing a vendor that is knowledgeable and experienced in communications strategies and driving customer engagement. At SPLICE we have almost twenty years of experience helping our partners ease touch points throughout their customers’ journey. Whether through our easy “Out-of-the-Box” integrations with partners or customized solutions tailored for your business needs, our services are designed to work with each other in one easy location – SPLICE’s Dialog Suite™.
Don’t just take our words for it, take American Integrity’s as well. As a company operating in Florida, it’s important for them to deploy warning notifications quickly with maximum reach in case of catastrophic events. Through the use of SPLICE’s automated system they are able to send out mass CAT notifications for their clients through the power of voice and text. One issue – two solutions – in one easy operating system.
What Now?
We know why we use bundling – we like what we can get out of it. Through effective communication bundling the value you bring to your customers increases, meeting them with a smoother customer journey. What type of bundling you’d like to do depends on your business and the pain points you’re trying to solve. Maybe multi-channel communication is not what you’re looking for in one area, but cross-channel communication is. Regardless of how, the value of having more than one avenue for communication cannot be overstated. And while winter might be ending/over the good that comes from bundling never is.
References
Oracle. (2024). What is Cross-channel marketing?. Cross-Channel Marketing | Oracle Canada