An SPT Processing Statement is a Sales Tool? What?

by John Robinson

We know you’re successful business people. (I mean, you’re reading StraightPassThrough.biz, right?) And this means you probably have a pretty good idea who your customers are.

But what if you could use your processing statement to really market to specific customer groups? What if your statement was a powerful sales analysis tool?

Wow.

The statement, when you are receiving some form of SPT, is probably the most overlooked marketing and analysis tool. Imagine the following scenario:

Let’s say your average sale is $150. Now, for this example, you look at your statement and realize that a large percentage of your customers are using Rewards/Enhanced cards (the cards that give cash back or airline miles or whatever). On a whim, you divide the $ volume of Rewards/Enhanced transactions by their # volume.

Omigosh! That average ticket is only $75! That’s only half your total average ticket! From a marketing or positioning point of view, this would be a disaster. You see, most people who get Rewards and Enhanced card offers are usually good credit risks and more affluent than the average card holder. They should be spending more money, not less.

In this instance, you may create a campaign to push a few higher ticket items, or create some package deals to entice this audience to spend more with your company.

This is a simplistic example, but a powerful one. An SPT statement can also be used to make sure you are aiming your goods/services at the correct audience in the first place…or successfully doing so. You’d be surprised how many companies believe their credit card business is B2B when their statements claim it’s B2Consumer. And vice versa.

So pull out that statement and see who your customers are and if you’ve positioned yourself to best service them! And then keep looking to see how well you’re pulling it off. You might find this is the best marketing and sales analysis tool you’ve got.

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