|
Each mailing is presorted and produced independently, but may be merged onto one pallet, maximizing collective postal discounts. For mid-size mailings, or if freight costs are outweighing the savings of SCF/BMC deliveries, co-palletization should be considered. Co-palletization frequently is complementary to BMC drops.What if your direct mail campaign has multiple lettershop versions or is being delivered to a wide, dispersed geography in small quantities of about 20,000 to 30,000 pieces? In this situation, a postal option called commingling can maximize postal rates for First and Standard Class mail. By combining components of your campaign with other mailings, a lower fixed postage rate can be gained than what would be achieved by mailing components separately.
The fixed rate is attractive from a budgeting perspective. But for bigger mailings and some small mailings, commingling may not be the best option. Also, with commingling it's more difficult to control in-home dates. Watch out, too, for service providers who may push commingling as an option mainly because that provider has invested in expensive commingling equipment and wants to use it.
Understanding these different postal options can significantly reduce postage costs while still guaranteeing accurate and fast delivery of mail. Given the complexities and different combinations of the postal options available, when planning a campaign a marketer should consider sending a prospective service provider a test file that is scrubbed of confidential information, leaving only the address.
In this way, a service provider who is an expert at postal optimization can consider all the campaign's variables and determine the best postal fit for the job and provide an accurate bid. A confidentiality agreement can be signed too, if desired, which allows you to securely compare providers.
Lastly, tracking and reporting is always critical in a direct mail campaign. So while considering the different postal options, find out also if a service provider offers a system for real-time tracking and reporting, and the PostalOne!® information management system for more time-efficient and cost-effective campaigns. Also, mailers approved for Full Service Intelligent Mail barcode will achieve additional discounts ($.001/pc for Standard, and $.003/pc for First Class).
With an understanding of the different postal options available, or by utilizing a service provider that is a postal expert interested in providing the right solution for you rather than whatever option best fits its equipment, you can obtain the lowest possible postal rate for your campaign while still achieving the fastest delivery and strongest response rates.
David Henkel is president of Johnson and Quin, located in Niles, Illinois. Johnson & Quin is a national leader in targeted full-service direct mail printing and production, offering the latest data and personalization technologies and multi-channel marketing capabilities. He can be reached at dhenkel@J-QUIN.com.
Page 1 | 2
Companies Mentioned:
 |
|
Secrets of Direct Marketing Testing
PURLs for Profit
