Hey, here's an idea... screw your customers! In a note titled The Dirty Little Secret About eStatement Adoption, Forrester Research notes that "eStatement adoption has more than tripled in the past year, with 26% of online households now receiving one or more eStatements from their financial providers." They continue with "The only problem is that 97% of eStatement adopters continue to receive a paper statement. Firms must wean customers from their addiction to paper by offering a printable statement in PDF format, automatically turning off paper statements for eStatement adopters, and charging customers who request a paper statement via snail mail." OK, here's an idea: how about you actually provide your best customers the statement that makes the most sense for them? For instance, I don't get eStatements for many of my accounts for two reasons: one, I forget to check each month; and two, yeah, I need more email. Charging customers for something they currently receive for free is a bad idea. Note all the ATM providers that are now getting out of charging fees to people who are in their network. Why? Because it's good customer service. And consumers actually seem to prefer that. Weird, huh?

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