Everyone is aware of the postal issues in 2011 and the pending issues in 2012: rate increases, service standards, facility closures, 5-day delivery and a heavy dose of political mail. All of these scenarios will affect your mail campaigns and business one way or another. As a company that survives on the postal service, this can be a scary time. When budget dollars are spread thin, you need to make the most out of every piece you mail and take advantage of all available resources. By mailing your campaigns Full-Service you will save postage money. Targeting or identifying a specific audience allows you to decrease your mail volumes. What else can help? Mail tracking! Don’t predict when or assume your mail is being delivered.
The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) on September 7, 2011 reported a 37% increase in delayed Standard mail during the 2010 fall mailing season as compared to the previous year.1 Did you know this while it was happening or did you find out almost a year later in this report? Did it get better or worse this year? If you knew this was happening, would you have done something about it? Don’t think of mail tracking as a simple mail locator, think of it as knowledge enhancement. With the scan information, you don’t only know if the piece is being delivered but when it was delivered, giving you more data to properly calculate responses. You can then determine if targeted delivery dates result in better responses: did slow or fast delivery skew your results, or which day drove the best response? Be better at customer service, know if the check is really in the mail or be prepared for an increase in calls or walk-ins. Be more profitable by being better and more efficient than the competition. There are many ways to use the scan data to make your company excel, you just have to know how to use it. There are so many uncertainties going on with the Postal Service right now, take some of the questions away and get some of the answers you need to be successful in 2012. If you have any questions on tracking or how the data can work for you, feel free to contact me: dbrowne@sourcelink.com. Also, feel free to view the video below, to learn more about mail-tracking software.
Have a happy and prosperous 2012!
1– Office of Inspector General Unites States Postal Service Report Number NO-AR-11-007