For this particular ZAP Academy piece, we’re concentrating on the Postage element of your DM campaign.
Did you know that the UK mail market is one of the most complex in the world with regards to the plethora of options and choices to make to ensure the postage for your mailing, ensuring it meets Royal Mail standards so that it doesn’t get returned.
There’s also multiple options to tariffs and which carriers you use - Royal Mail do the last mile of the postage delivery but you can use alternatives to them to do the sortation.
These companies are known as DSA’s (Down Stream Access), and include companies such as Citipost or OnePost. They all have their own slight differences and tariffs to offer to achieve the best and most cost effective price for your mailing campaign.
When selecting postage, you should consider:
TIMINGS. When do you want your customers to receive their mail?
First Class mail usually arrives the next working day whilst Second Class post usually arrives within 2-3 working days.
SIZE AND WEIGHT. Larger or heavier mailing packs are more expensive to deliver. Keep this in mind when designing your creative and choosing your formats.
MACHINE-READABLE FONTS. This ensures mailing machines can process ZAP~POST mail automatically, keeping the costs down. At ZAP~POST we take the hassle away and ensure we use machine-readable fonts for addresses.
VOLUME DISCOUNT. The bigger your mailing volume, the bigger the discounts you may qualify for - and because we have the ability at ZAP~POST to consolidate your mailing with other brands we can drive the pricing down even further.
SORTATION DISCOUNT. You automatically can get a discount if you use ZAP~POST to sort your mail. You will normally be charged for this service at a printers or mailing house - it can save you money in the long run, so it’s worth weighing up the costs. At ZAP~POST it’s INCLUDED in your subscription pricing.
PAF CHECK. Royal Mail maintains a database of every UK address and postcode. ZAP~POST checks your recipient data against this database by default. More detail on PAF is here - see Address Validation (PAF).
DATA CLEANSE. Once the PAF check has been completed, the second check is whether the intended recipient currently resides at the address. See Deceased and Gone Away information.
The world of Direct Mail, particularly in the UK is relatively complex. ZAP~POST removes the complexities by managing regulatory considerations, conformity (to Royal Mail standards), mail consolidation (pricing), and recipient data integrity, wrapped into a single platform, where your only consideration is to connect the right Recipients to effective content to the right recipients.
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The benefits can be truly astonishing:
- Mail cuts through
- Mail is trusted
- Mail is measurable
- Mail works at every stage of the journey
- Mail evolves with digital transformation
- Mail drives commercial actions
ZAP~POST have Direct Mail experts to guide you through the process and Tech Sherpas to helpyou get connected. chat, call or email here.
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