Fulfillment : Continuous Improvement

Auditing a whole communication cycle means reviewing many individual pieces and channels that play different roles in the process, including application forms and brochures, e-mail messaging, phone follow-up, and other fulfillment touches.

"When we're looking at that type of process, the analysis becomes more complicated. But the principles are really the same, in looking at producing the most effective communications tools in the most efficient manner. So, we'd look at the same types of things with an individual piece but extend it further to what the competition is doing, the purpose of the communication piece, the value of the sale (which determines how much you can afford to spend on communication), and the types of compliance or legislative issues related to the marketers' industry (such as HIPAA)," Lowndes explains.

For example, one of Iron Mountain's clients was sending out a package to prospects for which the speed of delivery was critical. The piece was an 81⁄2˝ x 11˝ envelope pack sent via the U.S. Postal Service. To shave a day off delivery and save on postage, it decided to reduce the size of the piece. Because of the role this effort played in converting leads, the approach required more than switching to a smaller package, but rather re-engineering the format. So, says Lowndes, sometimes a fix requires going beyond production to meet the overall goals of the program.

One factor that's becoming a bigger consideration in fulfillment programs is respondents' communication preferences and more targeted messaging. "The need to communicate on a more individual level will drive some of the production techniques you're going to use to produce your material," says Lowndes. "In addition to being what everybody's talking about now, it's where digital print comes in ... integrated with offset in the right combinations to help you achieve that relevance for an appropriate amount of money."

In terms of how long an audit might take, Moroz estimates that simple projects shouldn't take more than a week to a month to review and determine a course of action. Even full program audits, he says, can be done in a month's time.

"The key dependency is getting up-front scope ID and agreement between the company helping perform the audit and the [fulfillment service provider]. Whoever is asking for the audit needs to commit to pulling information necessary to the performance of the audit, so it can be done accurately and quickly," he states.