- May 17, 2012
Digital is always better. That’s been my worldview for years now and digital never disappoints. Well, almost never. One use case that really hasn’t proven itself yet is the electronic delivery of documents or e-delivery.
By all rights, e-delivery should be a win-win. The cost-efficiency benefit to the investment company is clear, and investment company marketers have long tried to persuade shareholders of the benefits to them. E-delivery (whose very name suggests how long this movement has been underway) offers certain, fast and secure delivery, it’s convenient and it’s good for the environment. But no matter the size of the sweepstakes we run to coax shareholders into turning off the paper, they aren’t budging.
The majority of brokerage, employer-sponsored retirement plan, life insurance, mutual fund and variable annuity firms report less than 10% adoption of e-delivered quarterly statements, annual
reports, prospectuses, tax documents, transaction confirmations and other client communications. This is according to Dalbar, Inc.’s 2011 national e-Delivery Benchmarks study.
In its current form, e-delivery just isn’t a compelling offer. Some would go so far as to say that it’s a user experience that’s inferior to receiving mail in a physical mailbox. (I know, that’s like a dagger straight to the heart, right?) Surely, ye old mailbox can be improved upon.
The Mailbox As Aggregator
I followed a tweet yesterday from NICSA president Theresa Hamacher to a 9-minute video that offers some hope. It’s a Traders Magazine interview on a SIFMA conference site with Broadridge Vice President Rob Krugman providing an update on a Broadridge/Pitney Bowes project called Volly.
This initiative proposes a “digital mail” solution to serve as a virtual mailbox for all electronically delivered statements. Its premise: When the industry seized upon e-delivery’s efficiency, we overlooked the value of the physical mailbox as an…
