Personalised direct mail is recognised as an effective marketing tool by most businesses today. But many businesses are not making the most of their day to day mail. For example, adding an advertising message or offer to all envelopes or invoices is a cheap way of promoting yourself.
Although there has been a trend to digital communications, recent research by Royal Mail underlines the importance of physical mail to businesses - customers place higher value and trust in printed communications rather than email. Discontinuing paper documents such as statements, risks damaging customer relationships, 81% of customers say they are more likely to read their statements if they receive both online and paper copies. Important business documents such as statements can offer an opportunities to promote different aspects of your business services or products. In fact, in a recent survey, 88% of small businesses stated that direct mail increased awareness of their company and offered a good return on investment.
So if mail is a crucial part of your business marketing strategy how do you ensure your postage and mailing activities are cost-effective? Every business is interested in reducing expenditure, improving cash flow and increasing efficiency. Examining postal costs and mailing activities could make a significant contribution to the bottom line.
With deregulation of the UK postal market, there is now a wider choice of suppliers. While competition will probably lead to improved services, it should be noted that Royal Mail remains an attractive proposition for small businesses. For example, they are the only supplier offering an end to end service and, unlike some suppliers, do not impose volume restrictions for mail collection which may be for over 250 letters only. It should also be remembered that Royal mail still has responsibility for the ‘final mile' of delivery and delivers 99% of letters in the UK.
From April 2011 the cost of a first class stamp will increase by 5p to 46p and a second class stamp by 4p to 36p. If you are still using stamps then this will impact on your overheads. One simple option is to consider a franking machine. Franking is more than 20% cheaper than stamps. In fact, if you send around 15 items of mail a day, the savings versus stamps will cover the cost of a basic franking machine.
The benefits of franking are attractive. By using a franked envelope in preference to a stamped one a business can reinforce its professional identity. You can also streamline your mail, easily calculate the right postage, save time and re-credit your machine online 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This allows businesses to send critical mail, such as invoices and statements anytime. Additionally wasted mail can be avoided by adding a return address, any undeliverable mail will be returned so you can update your customer records. A franking machine can be fully locked and pin protected. Postage spend can be managed on-line allowing you to analyse spend by department or type of mail.
Mail is a trusted and important communications channel. Franking is a simple way for even low mail users to save money and time and additionally it is an effective marketing strategy.
Andrew Mackenzie
UK Marketing Director - Neopost
