Did you know that more than 30,000 messages compete for our attention on a daily basis? People speak to us. We read email all day long. We open our "snail" mail each day. We read newspapers. There are billboards everywhere. There are even messages on the handles of gas pumps! It goes on and on. In fact we're bombarded with information and messages from companies trying to get us to buy stuff or use their services.

We ignore some of the information that's pushed at us. We throw most of our junk mail away. We delete the spam that seems to make it past the spam filters. But one thing we know for sure is that people open their investment statements when they receive them. And it doesn't seem to matter whether they're receiving the statement the old fashioned way or by email. Why? Because we want to know how we're doing - what's the bottom line? Is our hard work paying off?

Companies send millions of investment statements out every year to those of us who invest in mutual funds, treasury bills, GICs, income trusts, stocks, bonds and other types of investments. But most of the statements we receive are not really meeting our information needs and some are really confusing. Beyond that they are not working very hard for the companies that are sending them.

For those of you who work at a company that sends out investments statements, they probably could be working harder for you. Not only could your statement be clearer and easier to understand, but you could transform it from a simple reporting instrument to a communication vehicle that helps you up sell other products and helps your clients make better investment decisions. Your statement could also help you deliver on those very important brand promises that you're making to your clients.

Here are the top 7 mistakes that companies are making when it comes to the investment statement they're sending to clients. Are you making any of these?

1. Branding - Many times a statement doesn't look like it's from the company that is issuing it. Beyond the logo, it uses different fonts, colours and other features that leave a customer wondering who sent it.
   
   
2. Language - Most statements use investment terms and even company lingo. This leaves clients with incredible feelings of confusion and frustration.
   
   
3. Personalization - Companies who are issuing statements with general messages that aren't targeted and don't make much sense to the client are missing a phenomenal opportunity to meet customers' needs. Think about it? Do you read stuff that doesn't seem to apply to you?
   
   
4. Messaging - Since we know that clients are going to open their investment statements, why not incorporate some marketing or product messaging into the statements? I'm not suggesting that it be long. Just three or four short lines of text written from the client's point of view.
   
   
5. Organization - Often companies organize the information on the statement the way that they want to report it to their clients. Big mistake! Take the customer's view and you'll find that they want it in a different way than you're sending it.
   
   
6. Frequency - Are you sending the statement out when you're customers want to receive it? And have you asked them how often they want to hear from you?
   
   
7. E-communications - Email is a way of life now and often your clients would like the option of receiving their statement electronically. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to build a huge system to make the information available to clients. A simple image goes a long way to meeting customers where they're at.
   
   

These seven elements go a long way to establishing your corporate identity in the minds of your customers, and reflecting whether a company is well organized and coordinated. It's especially important if you're a company with multiple divisions that all of the statements be consistent.

Your investment statement is a key part of your client communications program and a pivotal part of the experience you deliver to your clients. Transforming your statements from simple financial reporting instruments with little value into customer-focused documents that provide valuable information to your customers can mean increased sales, stronger retention numbers, and decreased operating costs.

Is your investment statement working hard enough for you? If no, what can you implement today to improve it? If you answered yes and you believe that you have an excellent investment statement, send me a copy of it. I'd love to see it. I may even feature your company in a future article.

Ruth-Anne Boyd is the Business Development Director at The Customer Experience Company. She is an award-winning writer, consultant, speaker and trainer with over 15 years experience in plain language communications and workflow simplification. Ruth-Anne has won 11 awards for her communication material. She is a frequently invited speaker, and a member of PLAIN (the Plain Language Association International), Canadian Women in Communications (CWC) and DigitalEve.