From Paper to Digital: How One Bank Transformed Customer Communications

Our client is one of New Zealand’s leading banks, serving a broad customer base with a diverse suite of financial products and services.

With a strong market presence and a growing focus on sustainability and customer experience, the bank set out to modernise its communication channels and reduce its reliance on manual, paper-based processes. Their goal was to deliver a more seamless, digital experience for customers while lowering operational costs and minimising environmental impact. To achieve this, they needed a data-led strategy to identify where and how communications could be digitised without compromising on compliance or service quality.

The Challenge

The bank was spending millions each year printing and mailing customer communications like credit card statements, term deposit notices, and home loan rate letters.

Customer expectations were shifting rapidly toward digital, paperless interactions. The bank wanted to meet this demand while improving efficiency and supporting its sustainability goals.

Before making changes, they needed to understand:

Which communications could safely move to digital
Customer preferences and engagement patterns
Technical and regulatory constraints
Risks related to compliance and customer experience

Without clear answers, any move toward digitisation would involve significant operational and reputational risk.

Our Approach

We partnered with the bank to build a data-led pathway to digitisation, transforming manual processes into streamlined digital experiences. Our goal was to provide clarity, reduce risk, and ensure a smooth rollout across customer communications.

Discovery and Current State Analysis: We assessed who was receiving paper communications, what products they held, and how they engaged with the bank. This included analysing technical feasibility, customer preferences, and regulatory constraints across different product types.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: We worked with teams across product, marketing, technology, and risk to map out the full scope of digitisation. This ensured alignment on what was possible, what mattered most, and how to balance compliance with customer needs.
Roadmap and Strategic Planning: Using the insights gathered, we created a prioritised roadmap that identified quick wins and longer-term opportunities, aligned to the bank’s goals for cost savings, customer experience, and sustainability.
Implementation Support and Impact Monitoring: We supported the rollout with customer communications, set up tracking to monitor uptake, and provided clear reporting to demonstrate impact and guide future phases.

The Outcome

Our client gained a scalable, data-driven approach to digitising customer communications.

This shift helped reduce costs, improve customer experience, and support their sustainability goals.

With clear visibility into risks and results, the bank is now well-positioned to continue expanding its digital communication efforts.

Key Client Benefits

Reduced operational costs by 34%

By digitising key customer communications, the bank cut postage and printing expenses by more than a third in the first year alone, unlocking significant and ongoing savings.

Eliminated 9.3 million printed and posted items annually

Digitising statements and letters for eligible products resulted in a major reduction in paper usage, aligning with the bank’s sustainability goals and improving internal efficiency.

Delivered a more modern and convenient customer experience

Customers gained faster, easier access to their financial information through digital channels, reducing friction and aligning with expectations for paperless services.

Created a clear and repeatable framework for future digitisation

The roadmap and monitoring approach developed during this project gave the bank a proven model for expanding digital communications across other products and services.