By Frank Woodhouse, Digital Product Manager, RevSpring Inc.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about postage.
That may sound unusual, but when you work in the world of consumer communications, postage isn’t just a line item. It’s one of the largest and fastest-growing operational expenses many organizations face. And when you’re sending hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of communications each year, every additional cent matters.
The challenge our clients bring to us is straightforward: How do we continue reaching consumers effectively while controlling rising delivery costs?
One of the most effective answers we’ve developed is eVoke’s Waterfall approach.
The challenge: Rising postage costs and consumer communication preferences
Organizations today face growing pressure to balance operational efficiency with consumer expectations. While print remains an essential communication channel, postage and production costs continue to rise. At the same time, many consumers increasingly prefer the convenience of digital communications delivered through email and text.
The question isn’t whether organizations should choose print or digital. It’s how to use both channels strategically to improve communication delivery while controlling costs.
What is eVoke Waterfall?
The concept is simple. Before a statement is printed and mailed, eVoke first attempts delivery through lower-cost digital channels such as email and text messaging. Only when delivery cannot be achieved does the communication move down the waterfall to a printed statement.
Rather than relying on a single communication channel, organizations can coordinate outreach across multiple channels, helping ensure important communications continue moving toward delivery.
A digital-first strategy that keeps print in the mix
What makes the eVoke™ Waterfall approach different is that it doesn’t eliminate print. It simply uses print more strategically.
Consumers who prefer paper, or who don’t engage through digital channels, still receive their communications. The coverage remains the same. What changes is the delivery sequence. By prioritizing available digital channels first, organizations can reduce unnecessary mail volume while maintaining confidence that communications are reaching their intended audience.
In other words, print remains a critical part of the communication strategy. It’s simply reserved for the moments when it’s needed most.
How communication sequencing reduces costs
What makes this approach so powerful is the impact at scale.
For organizations sending hundreds of thousands of statements each month, even modest shifts from print to digital can translate into meaningful annual savings. Reduced postage is often the headline benefit, but it’s only part of the story. Lower print production costs, reduced paper consumption, and greater operational efficiency all contribute to the financial impact.
Over time, those savings add up quickly.
Better visibility into consumer engagement
There’s also value in the visibility the process provides. Every step in the Waterfall is documented, giving organizations a clear view of delivery attempts and communication activity.
That transparency helps teams better understand communication performance while supporting operational and regulatory requirements. The result is greater insight into communication performance and more informed decisions about future outreach strategies.
The future of payment communications is coordinated
As postage rates continue to rise, organizations are looking for opportunities to improve efficiency without compromising the consumer experience. The eVoke Waterfall helps accomplish both goals.
If you haven’t looked at your current digital adoption and delivery mix recently, it may be worth the conversation. In many cases, meaningful savings are already sitting within your communication strategy, waiting to be unlocked.
And with postage costs showing no signs of slowing down, those opportunities are becoming harder to ignore.
Learn more about the eVoke Waterfall approach or talk to a digital solution expert: Contact us.
About the author
Frank Woodhouse is the Digital Product Manager for Financial Services at RevSpring and brings over 33 years of experience in collections, operations, and debt purchasing. As the founder of Alpha Recovery Corp., Frank grew the agency into a high-performing operation with over 100 collectors and offices in Colorado and Arizona. Today, he helps ARM organizations accelerate payments through digital-first strategies.
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