Easy Ways to Reduce Printing Costs and Save Money

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Easy Ways to Reduce Printing Costs and Save Money

Companies all over the world have been using printing technology for decades now, and many of them have still not realized that printing can be expensive. But it doesn’t have to be expensive if you put some smart strategies in operation and find a couple of easy tricks to avoid wastages and keep printing costs under control.

Did you know that an average employee uses 50 sheets of paper per day unnecessarily? Moreover, about 80.6 million tonnes of paper are thrown away each year, which is 24% of the total waste in the UK.

Hence, it is obvious that businesses should pay some attention to their printing section and take the necessary steps to curb costs and unnecessary environmental damage. Saving on your printing costs contributes directly towards reducing the usage of paper and ink. These things help save the environment and also allows your business to spend less and save more. Who wouldn’t want that?

So we have compiled a list of easy ways to reduce printing services costs. You can incorporate these steps into your day-to-day activities and start saving some pounds.

16 Ways to Reduce Printing Cost

1. Incorporate the Duplex Printing Feature

Duplex printing means printing on both sides of a paper sheet. By adopting this method, companies can reduce printing paper by a clear-cut 50%, exactly half of what you were printing earlier. It is a very simple process but can bring a huge difference in your printing budget. Files for internal use and distribution can definitely be printed on both sides of paper sheets. These sheets are not to be sent to clients or used in any other professional capacity. Therefore, it doesn’t make a difference if the paper you are printing is printed on one or two sides. But, as said earlier, it cuts down printing costs by 50% and is a great headstart on how to control printing costs.

By saving paper, you are also helping save water, energy, and trees. So, you can fulfill your environmental responsibility while also saving your firm’s income.

With modern printers easily available, gone are the days when you needed to wait for the printer to print on one side so that you can flip the paper over, load it back again, and continue printing on the other side. These modern printers allow you to set your printer on duplex printing mode, enabling your printer to automatically flip papers and print on both sides. They have made duplex printing so much simpler and less time-consuming.

2. Use Economical Fonts

Other than paper, the next important factor in deciding your printing costs is ink. Print cost reduction is highly dependent on your ink usage. Hence, understanding this factor and coming up with ways to reduce its usage is a must. So, the question that arises is how to save money on printing by cutting ink usage. The simplest answer to it is: to consider using eco-friendly fonts. These fonts are very economical as they use less ink for printing.

Arial is considered the best font for drafting documents. It is easily readable and looks impressively professional. But, if you want to save on printing, Arial is definitely not the ideal font. Rather, use the most economical font – Century Gothic, which is both light and thin. It is reported that Century Gothic requires 30% less ink than Arial, which is an incredible difference. Some more fonts require lesser ink and can be considered as your font options.

Ecofont is one such font that was created especially for easing a company’s printing budget. Alphabets typed in this font have small holes all over them – the idea behind the holes is to keep those small spaces blank and hence reduce ink usage. Times New Roman is another cheap alternative for you. Though it doesn’t help save as much as Century Gothic and Ecofont, it is still cheaper than many other fonts. Similarly, Verdana and Calibri are also cost-saving font choices that you can consider using if the fonts mentioned above don’t go well with your document’s look.

Dropping down the font size, avoiding big and broad headers, and eliminating the use of underline and bold features are all ways to reduce printing costs in terms of ink usage.

3. Stay Digital and Scan More

Stop printing every now and then and closing deals on paper: the more paperwork, the more your printing costs. Hence, companies should shift to digital means of saving documents, distributing files, and closing deals with their clients. Eliminate the use of printing as much as you can.

When it is time for your employees to save and share a file, ask them to save it on their Google Drive and share the link or simply attach the file and email it to the concerned people, rather than printing hard copies and circulating them around. It is an easy way to reduce printing costs per paper as maximum paperwork is done digitally. Several digital signing platforms enable you to simply sign on the screen of your device and insert the signature on any document. With so many digital means of saving, signing, and sharing documents available, it is pointless to waste your ink and paper on printing pages that are more likely to end up in the trash. It also makes it easier and faster to send and receive documents.

Is it cheaper to print or copy? Printing requires you to print directly from a file over your screen, whereas copying, as the name suggests, is a way of copying content from one page to another. The quality in printing is unmatchable, but copying saves money as the print density is quite low. The photocopier cost per copy is far cheaper than a printed copy. However, between copying and scanning, select scanning as it further saves printing costs. Staying digital is undoubtedly always the best option and allows you to send a file with unlimited and quick access to the recipient. Whereas, when you copy a document, you need to either physically mail it or carry it to the recipient yourself.

4. Proofread and Preview

Always proofread your files or documents before you hit the print button. Many paper sheets are wasted because a person forgoes the proofreading process and continues to print the sheets, only to realize the mistakes on the paper. A single office worker in the UK uses about 10,000 paper sheets per year, 75% of which are thrown away. It cannot be emphasized anymore that paper needs to be saved – for your business and for the environment at large. Talking about reducing printing costs, you can choose to proofread your files and prevent costly reprinting.

Encourage your employees to use the “print preview” option that enables them to check for layout issues, inefficient gaps, unwanted spaces, typographical errors, and misplaced page breaks. If an image is too small or too big, you will be able to see it using the print preview option – after which it becomes easy for you to know how much to upsize or downsize an image. Shrink or expand to fit the image as desired. Basically, by previewing a file, you check whether it looks how you want it to appear on paper exactly. If not, you can make the necessary modifications and then continue printing. It is a very simple step but can help in print cost reduction significantly.

5. Choose the Right Type of Printer

How to save money while printing? Select a good printer that best fits your needs and helps to reduce printing paper. If you think inkjet printers are cheaper than laser printers, you should know that inkjet printers are less durable. On the other hand, laser printers have a higher upfront and maintenance cost but last longer. These are the types of considerations that you need to make while selecting the right printer.

If you are focused on how to control printing costs, buy a printer that fulfils your basic requirements and does not have any additional features. Such printers are affordable, and their running costs are also low. Don’t fall trap to attractive printers with many features that you don’t even need. You also can lease a printer rather than buying, but it depends on the volume of your print requirements. In case you need to print out a lot regularly, it is advisable to invest in an expensive printer that works well and is long-lasting. Choosing a cheap printer that runs out fast or demands a lot of repairs is never a smart choice. Consider your exact needs and then decide on an ideal printer for your office.

6. Make a Careful Paper Selection

Royal Mail size guidelines say that a letter should not exceed 24 cm x 16.5 cm. Hence, this size is quite common in the UK, and most companies use this size for printing their letters. It is natural that printers order paper stock in standard sizes. Now, imagine you want to print letters in odd sizes that are thicker or larger. In this case, you or your printer will have to order larger paper sheets to get the printing done. It will cost you way more than the standard-sized paper sheets. If you are finding ways to reduce printing costs, always select standard paper sizes to print all your files.

For cost-saving in the office, you need to also concentrate on the paper quality. A bright white paper that weighs more and has a glossy coating on it is likely to be expensive. Businesses can come up with cost-effective printing solutions and select recycled paper instead of new that can fit their needs while also saving some pounds. You can use glossy and thick paper for your direct mail items. Unless it is for advertising purposes, you can go for a low-grade paper stock for print cost reduction.

7. Avoid Colour Printing

The colour printing cost per page is around 10 to 15 cents, whereas the cost to print a page in black and white is only 5 cents. It clearly means that colour printing is expensive. It requires more time and consumes more power to print. Direct your employees to print in black and white unless it is required to print in colour. Normally, a lot of pages are printed for mere reference or internal distribution – such pages should only be printed in black and white.
Both colour printers and colour ink cartridges are expensive. Monochrome printing uses only black ink, hence reducing your printing costs drastically.

Many laser printers use colour cartridges even when you set them to use only black cartridges. This way, you cannot completely stop using the colour cartridges and can only slow down their usage. Therefore, if you do not print in colour often, get a low-budget black-and-white printer. You can have a colour laser printer as well, which you could only use when absolutely needed to print in colour. The upfront cost of buying two separate printers might seem high, but you can save a lot ultimately.

8. Eliminate Using Bleeds and Reduce Margins

Reducing your page margins from 1.25” to 0.75” can actually save up to 5% of your paper usage. The words are still readable, and you can fit in more lines on a single page. If you have always wondered how to reduce printing and stationery costs, ask your employees to reduce margins for every page before printing and cut down paper usage. You can even eliminate double-line spacing to avoid wasting paper unnecessarily.

Avoid using bleeds. For saving additional paper, avoid using page layouts or artworks that have bleed designs. Basically, bleed is a printing term used for a page that has the contents printed right up to the edge of the page. Normally there are small margins around the page as the grippers of your printer need those small margins to hold the paper and get everything printed properly. But, if you are using bleed designs, you will have to order larger or oversized paper sheets so that the entire design fits in properly.

Bleed designs are attractive and can be used for direct mail items. However, it is expensive and can drain up your printing budget. Hence, in order to promote print cost reduction, reduce your page margins and avoid using bleed designs for your direct mail items or any other documents.

8. Eliminate Using Bleeds and Reduce Margins

Reducing your page margins from 1.25” to 0.75” can actually save up to 5% of your paper usage. The words are still readable, and you can fit in more lines on a single page. If you have always wondered how to reduce printing and stationery costs, ask your employees to reduce margins for every page before printing and cut down paper usage. You can even eliminate double-line spacing to avoid wasting paper unnecessarily.

Avoid using bleeds. For saving additional paper, avoid using page layouts or artworks that have bleed designs. Basically, bleed is a printing term used for a page that has the contents printed right up to the edge of the page. Normally there are small margins around the page as the grippers of your printer need those small margins to hold the paper and get everything printed properly. But, if you are using bleed designs, you will have to order larger or oversized paper sheets so that the entire design fits in properly.

Bleed designs are attractive and can be used for direct mail items. However, it is expensive and can drain up your printing budget. Hence, in order to promote print cost reduction, reduce your page margins and avoid using bleed designs for your direct mail items or any other documents.

9. Reduce Print Density

It is not always necessary that your pages are printed in the best quality and look extremely professional. How to reduce printing costs? Play with your printer settings in a way that helps you reduce paper and ink usage. One such setting is the “print density.” If you reduce the density, your pages will use less ink for printing and appear lighter. Again, these pages are readable and can do their job just as well.

A multifunction printer having fax, print, and scan features can be set to a low-density mode for copying or printing. Usually, the copied documents are by default printed in low density. You can check the settings and even reduce the density for printing. This way, you use so much less toner and save a lot on printing costs.

Please note that you might have to increase the density for an acceptable output if your cartridges wear out. Keep an eye on these settings and reduce your colour printing cost.

10. Don’t Keep Hitting the Print Button.

Many people are quite impatient with their printers and keep hitting the print button several times until their document starts getting printed. But, cost reduction comes with patience. If you hit the print button and nothing happens, you should wait and a cheque for any notifications on your screen or the print queue. It might happen that the printer is still processing the previous print requests. Sometimes, the printer stops working due to the lack of ink and loaded paper. Check for these things and give it what it requires. Then wait for your print request to get completed.

Impatiently clicking on the print button can lead to paper and toner wastage as the printer will print ten pages if you hit the button ten times when you only needed a single page. So, you can see how impatience with your printer can lead to massive wastage. Hence, slow down and check your print notifications before doing anything else.

11. Let Your Printer Sleep

You can put your printer in “sleep mode” when not in use. It can help save a lot of energy and will keep your running costs low. When you are away during the weekend, simply put your printer to sleep. This mode allows your printer to stay on but uses very little energy. Letting your printer switch to sleep mode automatically after 10 minutes of non-use is a good practice.

Why can’t we just turn the printer on and off as required? When printers are turned on, they require a lot more ink than usual to get ready for printing.

The greater the number of times you turn it off and back on, the greater number of times it will use more ink while getting ready to print – that is a lot of ink wastage. Hence, you should rather put it in sleep mode to save ink.

Many inkjet printers require repair due to clogged ink nozzles caused by dried-up ink. This situation is created when you don’t use your printer for a long time. A simple solution to it is to keep printing at least one page a week to keep your printer running smoothly. It may happen if you use your printer only half the year. Make sure to print out a few pages every now and then in the no-use season as well. This method saves you from costly repairs. You don’t need to print out a 15-page document. Simply print out one single page in one week. The Google homepage seems appropriate for such printing as it has all the colours but uses very little ink.

12. Print Only What is Needed

Many times, your employee scrolls a page online, having a few important lines that need to be printed out. It is very common for people to print out the whole online page rather than copy-pasting the required content in a Word file for printing. When you print the whole page, all the ads, banners, formatting, graphics, and more things get printed. It is a clear waste of ink and paper because you don’t require those ads and banners on your page.

Spending some extra minutes to filter out what you need and then printing exactly how much is needed could help save a lot of ink and paper. There are many websites that allow you to paste the link of an online page and eliminate the extras like images and banners from that page. You can use such tools and print according to your needs.

Talking about saving ink, have you considered printing draft copies? As mentioned earlier, scanning and emailing are your best options. There might be times when you need to print out something to check its content, spelling, and grammar. These pages are not final copies and are just printed out as drafts or working copies.

If you are using word processing software, select the “draft output” option. It helps you print only the written matter, and most of the formatting features are removed. Check whether your printer supports this feature and accordingly make the selection through the print dialogue box. This way, you can print faster and by using less ink than usual as draft copies require only a fraction of the regular ink usage.

13. Print Multiple Pages Per Sheet

Printing more than one-page per sheet allows you to use less paper. PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and even web pages can all be printed using the “multiple pages per sheet” option. Here, you fit in around 2 to 4 pages per sheet, cutting down your paper usage considerably. Check for your printer settings and select this option. Many printers refer to it as the “n-up” option. Moreover, many printers allow you to manually select the number of pages you want to fit in every sheet. For rarely accessed or one-time-use files, this option can be very cost-effective. The readability can be compromised sometimes, but at least two pages per sheet should be a good start.

14. Purchase Compatible Ink Cartridges

Original ink cartridges offer several benefits like durability, leakage prevention, and high-quality printing. However, they are expensive. Hence, it is smart to find an affordable replacement that can work well enough to fulfil your printing needs. Compatible ink cartridges are very cheap and offer appreciable quality. There are recycled ink cartridges available as well, which cost even cheaper. You can ultimately reduce the cost per paper when you opt for such affordable ink cartridges.

15. Revisit Stationery Suppliers

Businesses require to restock their printing supplies from time to time. Some suppliers sell the same things for a much lower price than what you are paying at the moment. Hence, it is essential to get quotes from multiple suppliers and stay updated on the current market rates. Sometimes, you get your supplies really cheap, but the quality is not up to the mark. On the other hand, expensive items also do not guarantee good quality. So, keep testing some samples before you order in large numbers.

Good suppliers will give you competitive prices for excellent quality supplies. Purchasing from such suppliers can help keep your printing costs under control while also keeping up to your quality expectations. Hence, make sure to ask around, make some inquiries, and then select a supplier.

16. Use Managed Print Services (MPS)

When your company has several printers located at different places for different tasks, having a centralized printing environment with a single configuration point is the right way to go. Consolidate all the print requests to a single server for having better control over your printers. Furthermore, eliminate personal printers. Rather, use multifunction printers in fewer quantities with a centralized monitoring system in place. These printers are easy to maintain and help you manage the permission and access settings. They enable you to know the print logs used by every employee each month. Multifunction printers also allow you to allot print quotas and restrict excessive printing. Always look for printers with Energy Star labels as they are much more efficient than the other printers.

Optimize your printing environment and decide how much printing should be done every month. Accordingly, you can control your budget. MPS is a service offered by printing vendors that helps you control your printers cost-effectively and efficiently.

Stop stressing about the increased printing costs and stocking inventory regularly. PostGrid’s print and mail solutions can help you print and mail at low costs and with high efficiency.

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Policy Change Letter

TABLE OF CONTENTS

How to Write Letter to Employees About New Or Change in Policy Effectively?

Companies occasionally develop new policies or change their existing ones, depending on various requirements and situations. With time, every business organisation has to inform or notify its employees about a specific policy change or introduce new policies. Mention the reason clearly with a rational explanation of how it benefits the company and its employees.

Your employees will likely accept the new changes positively if they understand them well. It would be best to refer to a sample letter introducing the policy, including all the necessary information and how to make it formal.

A policy change letter helps the employees stay updated on the company’s code of conduct, policies, and rules. It also helps the organisation maintain discipline and efficiency internally. You should know how to notify employees of policy changes because writing a notification letter can get tricky. 

Writing such a letter requires consideration and preparation to convey the news successfully and maintain the employer-employee relationship. Always express gratitude towards your workers and politely ask for their cooperation.

Read further to get some writing tips, samples, and a template that you can use to draft your letters.

Tips for Writing a Policy Change Letter

Notification letters can be written for various occasions, like informing your homeowner about your plans to move, notifying someone about a lawsuit initiated against them, or informing some important entities about your name change.

In all small and large companies, these letters are used as circulars to inform workers about something that directly or indirectly affects them. This information could be about anything from a change in the office location to a change in the paid leave policy. Some important considerations are essential while sending a sample memo to employees about changes. Below are some tips for writing a notification or a policy change letter.

Be Clear

While writing a policy change letter, be transparent, clear, and upfront. Disclose the necessary information you think is crucial for the employees. Clearly state the reason for the sudden policy change or introduction of something new in the company. Explain the possible benefits. If the news is negative, be as considerate as possible and provide a valid explanation for the management’s decision.

Notifying something negative without being transparent about the exact reason can infuriate the employees and affect internal operations. 

Every employee should be able to understand the contents of the letter and have enough knowledge to accept and implement the same.

Use a Relevant Tone

The tone of your policy change letter should match your message. 

Suppose the sample letter of policy change is about bringing some strict rules to curtail the misbehaviour of the employees. In that case, the tone should reflect the need to stop that behaviour immediately. Also, mention the consequences of not following the new rules.

On the other hand, if some new policies improve your employees’ work–life, the tone should suggest the same. Regardless of the news, make your employees feel it is in their best interest and is the need of the hour.

Summarise

Always summarise everything, whether writing a letter or drafting a sample email to employees about the new process. As discussed earlier, you should disclose all the relevant information.

However, make sure not to get stuck on minute details. Get to the point and write everything in a way that is understandable and does not leave any scope for confusion. Mentioning every minute detail can leave the letter open for discussion and negotiation, and employees might remove certain loopholes.

For example, imagine you must inform your employees about the overuse of the free coffee-vending machine in the cafeteria. It is not essential to mention who did it. You can summarise an issue and provide a solution, like limiting two coffees per day for every employee or starting to charge for it.

 The letter should not be a report about an incident. Instead, it should summarise crucial issues and the management’s ways to tackle them.

Make a Copy

If you must send a policy change letter to your employees, clients, or suppliers by law, make a copy of the letter for your legal department.

Moreover, ship the original letters with a certificate of posting, which helps you retain mailing and receipt proof. Ensure to send the same letter to all the employees if the notification is for general conveyance. 

Keep It Formal

Choose your words wisely. Be polite and formal. Being polite in a letter reflects professionalism and creates a positive atmosphere for the company. For official communications, use letterhead and a sample letter of policy change. Mention the contact details of the person your employees can contact if they need clarification or have any queries.

Apologise (if needed)

There is no harm in delivering an apology if the policy change is sure to cause an inconvenience to your workers. For instance, your store’s closing time has been changed from 8 pm to 9 pm. It can cause trouble for your workers who live far away or have other things happening past 8 pm. 

Hence, your new policy about the changed timings will affect their lives. A kind apology in the letter can make the situation better and preserve your relationship with your workers.

Always Wrap Up on a Positive Note

In the letter’s closing, mention a clear CTA you need your employees to do. For example, submitting the leave sheets or updating their details on the company website. Always wrap up the letter on a positive note that answers the potential employee’s questions and portrays that you have considered their views. You can use a sample letter introducing a new policy to draft a proper letter.

How to Write a Change in Policy Letter?

Announcements and changes in policy letters must appear in a specific format. Follow the steps below to draft it:

• Use a letterhead. The letterhead gives your letter a formal look and makes it official. The letterhead should contain your complete address and contact information.
• If you don’t have a letterhead, type your company name and full address on either the left or right side of the letter. Typically, the address should be for two lines – the street address on the first and the remaining details on the other.
• Enter the date on the upcoming line. Align the date on the same side as your address.
• Leave a line and start entering the recipient’s name and address. If the policy change letter is for many or all employees, you can use variable data printing for personalisation.
• While sending a sample email to employees about the new process, you can use the mail merge feature with specific word-processing software. It can help you insert different addresses in each letter.
• Again, the address should be two lines. Any additional details should come below the recipient’s name, after which the two address lines start.

• Leave another line’s space and write the subject line. You can use the term “policy change letter” or mention the exact thing, like “paid leave policy change” or “announcement regarding annual medical check-up.”
• Start with your salutation on the upcoming line. Use the word “dear” and accompany it with a title like “Mr” or “Ms.” If the letter addresses all the employees in general, you can write “dear employee.”
• Begin with the body of your letter; mention what led to the decision or what caused it. You can use some company statistics or facts to support your statements. Discuss a problem that makes the employee agree with your solution. Your workers are more likely to accept the new policy or the change if they agree with your message.

• Explain why the policy change has to be in effect. If you need any details from the employees, ask them for them in clear language. Include the date when the new change or policy will become effective. 
• Change the paragraph for closing your letter. While sending a sample letter to employees about change, mention your gratitude at the end. Thank your employees for their time and continuous cooperation.
• Please provide the contact details of the concerned person the employees can contact when they have questions.
• Type the word “sincerely” and leave three lines of space.
• Enter your full name. Type your designation below your name. Although this is optional, informing the letter recipients about who wrote it is better.
• Sign above your name. Some letters might not necessarily need a signature. However, official letters should always bear a signature.
• Leave a line and mention the enclosures (if any).

Policy Change Letter Template

If you don’t know how to notify employees of policy changes, use the template below. You can fill in your details accordingly. Moreover, you can make as many customisations as possible based on your needs. 

A policy change letter template can be handy for occasionally sending out such announcements and notification letters. It speeds up the process, and you can print and mail all the letters smoothly.

PostGrid’s direct mail automation platform has several in-built templates you can use, customise, save, and edit.

Sample Letter: Change in Policy

(Company name)

(Address)

Date: ________ (date on which you drafted the letter)

(Recipient’s full name)

(Address)

Subject: New policy/policy change notification

Dear employee,

We are announcing some changes that have been made to our company policies. 

OR

We wish to announce a new policy, effective from (mention when the policy will be effective). The changes are listed below: OR The new policy states that:

(Mention the required details in brief)

We hope every employee adheres to all the changes and that everyone helps make the new system successful. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

(Your name)

(Your designation in the company)

Sample Letter to Employees About Change in Policy

A policy change letter is written and sent to the employees for several reasons. Typically, you address all the employees, and the rules are for general adherence. Find below a sample memo to employees about changes in company policies:

Sample #1

Human Resources Department

Sunshine Media

35 Shore Street

Stoke Ferry 

PE33 5DP

Date: 5th January 2023

To,

Mr. Jim Helberg

Subject: Introduction of a new policy regarding late reporting to work

Dear Employees,

It has come to our attention that many employees are misusing the buffer of 15 minutes given to them for reporting to work. 

From the beginning of this company, we have been granting 15 minutes, from 10 am to 10.15 am, as buffer time for employees to report. However, almost all the employees enter the office past 10.15 am. Hence, we are adding a new employee policy wherein we can deduct one day’s pay for every two days of late reporting. This policy is effective starting today.

To date, we have never had a policy regarding latecomers. But, this introduction has become the need of the hour as our productivity has been severely affected in recent months. Introducing this new policy will enable us to maintain internal discipline – helping us increase our clientele. 

It will also enable us to retain more employees and provide good incentives.

We look forward to getting the cooperation of all the employees to make Sunshine Media a better workplace.

Regards,

Kaley Smith

Head of Human Resources.

Sample #2

Chuck Prady Inc.

52 Whitchurch Road

Enniskillen

BT74 8DY

Date: 27th December 2023

Emily Bravo

7 Kingsway North

Findochty

AB56 2SF

Subject: Changes in the medical examination requirements

Dear Employees,

This letter concerns the annual medical examination mandatory for all permanent employees. The management has decided to change this policy to ensure that all employees’ health and well-being are monitored and protected. The changes are:

• The medical examination is now required bi-annually.
• Employees working on a probationary basis must also undergo a medical examination.
• A physician appointed by the Company shall conduct the examination. (Previously, the employees got it done by a physician of their choice.)
• All employees must fill in their details on the new “medical examination” portal launched on the company website.

We will implement the above changes from 1st January 2023. Please upload the details before this date.

We want to thank you for your dedication and continuous cooperation.

Sincerely,

Lucas Bialik

Vice President, Operations.

Note: If you are emailing the policy change letter to your employees, you will need to send a sample email to employees about the new process. 

Many companies use the mail merge feature to personalise and send emails to all employees.

Email Sample #1

From: allen@email.com

To: kenneth@email.com

Subject Line: Introduction of cab services for early morning employees

Dear Employee,

As we already know, cab services are available for employees whose shift timings end after 9 pm. 

After careful consideration, we have introduced the same services for employees whose login time is before 9 am. This new policy is for all those employees who must report early and face trouble commuting during early morning hours. Effective Monday, 11th January, all employees who have an early morning shift can avail of the cab services for pickup.

Such employees are requested to submit their details to Ms. Alex from the HR department by replying to this email and copying alexhr@email.com.

We hope this policy helps employees reach the office on time without hassles.

Thank you for your services.

Regards,

Allen Smith

HR Department.

Why Should You Consider Using Direct Mail Automation?

There are a lot of advantages to using direct mail automation to send your policy change letters. Even if you know how to notify employees of policy changes, you can use a print and mail automation platform to make your tasks easier and faster.

Save Time

Businesses already have tons of administrative and operational tasks. Drafting, printing, and mailing policy change letters can be time-consuming. You can save time by automating the entire process and skipping manual activities.

Traditionally, companies employ a separate admin department to handle these jobs. It costs more money for the organisation. Moreover, companies with fewer administrative resources need to deploy some other employees for this task – which wastes their time and burdens them with additional duties.

Direct mail fulfilment services can help companies save time while printing and mailing their letters, thereby increasing productivity.

Use Several Templates

For sending a sample memo to employees about changes, you can use several templates offered by a direct mail automation program. Various policy changes or new additions demand a different template for drafting a policy change letter.

With the help of the built-in templates offered by platforms like PostGrid, you can draft letters in any situation speedily.

Templates offer a ready-made draft; you need to fill in the details. The outline is already made for you – allowing you to draft professional letters without missing any crucial points.

Print and Mail Done Together

There is no longer a need to find separate print and mail vendors. Manually, you must find a printer and print your letters through it. Then, the printed letters undergo steps like enveloping, labelling, and mailing.

The next step is to drop off the letters at the post office and collect the tracking numbers. In the case of automation, you can order the platform to print and send all the letters to your employees on your behalf.

Save Resources

Inventory handling is a hectic hurdle in manually printing and mailing your letters. If you plan on not using automation, paper, ink cartridges, labels, and stamps always need to be in stock.

Furthermore, you will also need to purchase a printer or use your already purchased printer for printing all the letters. If your organisation’s employees are large, your printer will also be seen as busy with letter printing. Using PostGrid’s print and mail network, you can save your resources and avoid inventory handling.

Maintain Consistency and Professionalism

Making use of tools like PostGrid makes your letter look more professional. Additionally, you can maintain consistency throughout your communications.

It helps the company maintain a good image in front of its employees and improves their morale. Using an effective automation platform to draft a perfect sample letter of policy change is better.

How PostGrid's Automation Platform Help You Send Change in Policy Letters?

PostGrid’s direct mail automation platform helps you draft, print, and send any direct mail item like postcards, checks, statements, brochures, SWAG kits, and more. Find out how it can help you print and mail policy change letters to your employees:

Integrate with Your Human Resource Management Software

PostGrid’s platform and letter API can integrate with your HRM software. It can help you quickly import your employees’ details to draft all the letters. This integration reduces manual effort as it automatically imports all the required data. Moreover, you need not make any separate entries into your HRM. All the mail records will be automatically stored.

Personalise All Letters

Adding customisations gets easier when you write your letters through an efficient direct mail platform. Personalising can be hectic without a direct mail automation program like PostGrid. Even if you use a sample letter introducing a new policy, you must personalise every letter with at least the employee’s name and address. You can draft the same letter for everyone, but eventually, you will need personalisation to mail it.

In short, you need a platform to personalise your letters and make them mail-ready.

PostGrid’s automation program helps personalise all policy change letters using variable data printing.

Add Customisations

Adding customisations gets easier when you write your letters through an efficient direct mail platform. Companies can add their logo, taglines, colours, personalised texts, fonts, and other customisations. They can use their letters to strengthen the company’s relationship with its employees.

People easily ignore emails because companies bombard them with dozens of spam messages daily. But, a formal and well-customised letter gets everyone’s attention. You can send tailored letters to announce crucial policy changes.

Get High-Quality Printing

PostGrid has partnered with trusted printers nationwide to print your letters at the best quality possible. These printing vendors are experts in their field. You can choose the paper type and other things on the platform and order them to print your letters.

We have a two-day SLA, meaning your letters are ready for shipping without time waste.

Mail Fulfilment

After printing, you must mail your letters through Royal Mail or another courier service.

PostGrid’s print and mail program can help you directly mail the letters to your employees. You don’t need to get the letters from the printer. Stuff them into envelopes, and stick labels and stamps.

PostGrid offers complete mail fulfilment, wherein everything from start to finish happens online. You need not go anywhere or put in any manual effort.

Track Your Letters

Tracking your mail has never been easier. PostGrid’s easy-to-use dashboard helps you track your mail in real time. It can help you see at what stage your letters have reached and their estimated delivery date.

This step lets you know the status of your letters hassle-free. You can get a clear idea of the progress of your mail. The best part is that you can track bulk mail in one place. If you send your letters manually, you must also track every letter manually.

The Royal Mail’s website allows you to enter only a few tracking numbers at a time. Our dashboard, however, will enable you to track many letters altogether.

Draft, print, and mail your policy change letters, postcards, cheques, and other mail items through PostGrid’s direct mail API and automation software.

Get started now with a demo to eradicate manual effort and double efficiency!

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Transactional Printing Companies and Services

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Transactional Printing Companies and Services

Though emails work just fine for sending order confirmations and invoices for small purchases, you might have to look for another solid option to deal with your more important communications. We have seen how direct mail marketing has always proved effective and result-bearing, so why stop at marketing? Companies can consider sending transactional mail to communicate with their clients or customers. Invoices, order confirmations, bills, receipts, and statements are all considered transactional mail.

Emails are likely to be ignored and forgotten. But, sending something in the mail creates an impact. It makes people open and read the mail content attentively. Moreover, it builds trust among parties.

What Is Transactional Printing?

Transactional printing is the process of creating and printing official documents. But it is not that simple. Such official documents contain sensitive and confidential information. Hence, security, data privacy, and accuracy are all to be taken into consideration. The best way to go about the process is by using the services of a transactional printing company.

Unlike regular mail, transactional mail uses customer data based on transactions known and initiated by the customers themselves. It is the exact opposite of marketing mail, where you are still in the process of convincing prospects to initiate a transaction. Transactional printing uses a common format and then auto-fills the variable data pulled from a system.

Examples of Transactional Mail

Transactional printing is also called statement printing by many companies. It may seem limited to printing documents that summarise transactions, but indeed the scope of transactional printing is quite large.

Order Confirmations

Order confirmations, as the name goes, are meant to close deals and confirm purchase orders. Also known as purchase receipts, they are sent out to buyers right after they place an order. Usually, order confirmations are printed and mailed when the orders could take some time to complete, and the transactions are done on a credit basis.

Account Statements

Banks are not the only type of firms that print account statements. Businesses keep a record of all the purchases and payments made by their customers and clients. It is mostly drafted in the form of a ledger. Account statements are used to give a consolidated view of all the transactions taking place between the company and the customer.

Invoices

Invoices state all the details of a particular transaction, such as the customer name, date of purchase, amount, payment terms, and particulars. Invoices are sent to customers after they purchase something so that they are aware of their dues and clear them as per the payment terms.

Policy Updates

The introduction of new policies or changes in the current ones should be communicated to all the related parties. Companies can use transactional printing solutions like PostGrid to print and mail professional policy update letters.

Printing of notices, explanation of benefits, debt-collection reminders, and all other official documents can be counted under transactional printing.

How Can Transactional Printing Companies Help You?

Data Privacy and Security

Transactional printing solutions like PostGrid offer exceptional security and data privacy throughout your print and mail process. Being compliant with GDPR UK and the Data Protection Act, 2018, you can be assured that you are lawfully printing and mailing your documents while also ensuring your own security.

Incorporating Modern Technology

Transactional direct mail is popularly used by several organisations. However, it can truly grow as only an industry when it is combined with today’s technology. Variable data printing, envelope printing, digital colour printing, including QR codes to scan and pay, and other such technologies are all part of modern technology that transactional printing companies help you use.

Designing

PostGrid’s print and mail API can help companies integrate with their system and start printing right from there. You can also select from among the pre-built templates and use them for drafting your transactional mail, taking off the pressure to look for a designer.

Print and Mail

Transactional printing companies can help you get your documents printed in high quality through reputed printers. They can assist you in printing compelling and attention-grabbing mail items along with saving costs and time. You can make your choice about the paper stock, ink, envelope, and such things.

Not every transactional printing company provides mailing solutions, but PostGrid does. Getting printing and mailing both done altogether can help save a lot of effort on your part, plus improves the overall efficiency.

Transpromotional printing

It is not a hard and fast rule to only communicate about a transaction or about something official through transactional mail. Smart marketers have started using transactional mail as a means of marketing too. It is referred to as transpromo or transpromotional printing. Printing marketing messages on transactional mail items can help you do two things at the same time. Sometimes, it even attracts repeat business and quick clearance of payments. For example, printing “get a discount of 10% on your next order” on all your order confirmations.

Bulk Printing

Businesses require transactional printing solutions regularly, and sometimes they also need to print in bulk. A transactional printing company can help you with both on-demand and bulk printing. Hence, it doesn’t matter if you need to send out one invoice to a client or a thousand policy change notices.

CRM Integration

You can integrate PostGrid’s transactional print and mail API into your payroll, human resources management, marketing, or accounting software. Thus, you will be able to pull the required details speedily, plus create, print, and mail directly from your system.

Record-Keeping and Reconciliation

Once you send mail through PostGrid, you can track everything through your dashboard. By integrating, you can also have the reconciliation with your accounts are taken care of. PostGrid can help you keep complete records of sent mail, follow-ups, and more.

Address Verification

As we said before, transactional printing requires security and accuracy. Therefore, you cannot afford to send transactional mail with sensitive information to the wrong addresses. Using PostGrid’s print and mail API, you can also have access to its address verification solutions.

Benefits of Outsourcing Transactional Printing

Ensure Data Privacy

Avoid data breach risks by outsourcing your transactional printing activities to a trustworthy solution provider like PostGrid. It can help you comply with all direct mail laws and can protect your data privacy under any circumstances.

Reduce Print and Mail Costs

Not only does a transactional printing company provide printing at lower rates, but it can also help you avail of huge postal discounts from Royal Mail.

Get Repeat Business

Transpromotional printing can really help you get your customers hooked to your company and keep purchasing from you repeatedly. PostGrid can help you plan and print marketing messages smartly on your transactional mail.

Skip Inventory Stocking

While printing in-house, you would need to purchase a high-quality printer, other sorts of equipment for sorting and labelling, and perishables like paper, ink cartridges, stamps, and more. By outsourcing, you can skip through purchasing and maintaining anything.

No More Manual Effort

Drafting transactional mail regularly and getting them printed one-by-one on your printer is extremely monotonous and time-consuming. Not to mention, it is prone to mistakes. You can prevent all that by simply outsourcing transactional printing.

Wrapping Up

Transactional mail is mostly used by healthcare, banking, insurance, and other heavily regulated industries. However, companies of almost all sectors have been using transactional mail for quite some time. Transactional printing solutions like PostGrid can help businesses streamline their transactional printing activities and carry on with them with much more flexibility, precision, and efficiency.

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B2B Direct Mail Guide

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Introduction into B2B Direct Mail Marketing

Have some highly relevant accounts in your list and don’t know how to convert them? Well, the answer is crystal clear – Marketing. But how? What marketing channel should you use, and how to get the best out of it?

First, let us be clear about what B2B marketing is; it basically comprises marketing activities conducted by B2B companies – those who sell to businesses. B2B marketing is different from B2C marketing (wherein a company’s products and services are advertised directly to customers).

The best way to reach out to your corporate customers is direct, which is why direct mail marketing is your best choice. Businesses can use direct mail as a lone marketing medium or by collaborating with other forms. Many marketers think that direct mail marketing is still expensive, untrackable, and difficult to conduct. However, with new direct mail practices, these things are turned into mere myths. 70% of direct mail recipients think direct mail makes them feel special. Using direct mail, B2B businesses can establish strong relationships with their clients and increase ROI drastically.

We have put together a B2B direct mail guide to understand direct mail better and all the possibilities you can explore.

Best Practices for B2B Direct Mail Marketers

Direct mail marketing becomes easier when you clearly know what things you are supposed to do. Moreover, by understanding these things, you can improve your chances of getting responses and driving conversions. Find below the best practices for you to incorporate into your B2B direct mail marketing strategies:

1. Align Marketing with Sales and Define Prospect Profile Carefully

In B2B marketing, you target a company that is most likely to be converted into a customer. It is important to note that employees of your prospective company can shift positions or leave the organization. Your direct mail activities can go to waste if you send mail to an employee who has already left. Hence, it is vital that you align your marketing efforts with your sales team to guide you about the concerned persons and add them to your mailing lists.

Always take notes from your sales team and then mail accordingly. Furthermore, define your prospect profile clearly and target the right ones.

2. Include a Straightforward CTA

Your call to action should be no mystery to your direct mail recipients. Hence, include a straightforward CTA, which can be completed by them easily. Including a CTA in your direct mail pieces is very important as it fulfils the main purpose of the campaign.

Tell your customers about what is expected of them. Sending a mailer without any CTA can never get you any responses as the customers are not directed towards the next step. Therefore, always include a CTA; it could be anything from signing up on your website or requesting a demo.

3. Step Into Your Prospect’s Shoes

You should be aware of your prospect’s preferences, life stages, likes, dislikes, lifestyle habits, and needs. Only then will you be able to know what they exactly want? Advertising to the right audience is simply reaching out to people who actually require your products or services. Companies should make sure that their direct mail is curated in a manner that answers their prospect’s questions.

Avoid complicated language and explain your brand in a way that appropriately suits their needs and can induce them into buying your product.

4. Personalize Your Mailers

Sending plain mailers with no personalization can lead to campaign failure. Personalization can be used in any manner – you can do as little as insert the first name of your prospect on the item. This simple step can help you connect with the person instantly. Sending personalized direct mail to existing customers also helps in retention and repeat business. Always make your customers feel special as it results in increased brand loyalty and reputation.

5. Get Creative

Creativity can do wonders. Advertising is all about grabbing attention and nothing can do that better than an eye-catching and appealing direct mail item. Get as creative as you can and send mail pieces that do not miss any eye.

You can add your logo, include some jaw-dropping graphics, draft a persuading copy, and use bright colours. The right combination of these things can make your direct mailer a conversion driver.

6. Follow Up Regularly

Sending a mail just once and waiting for a response won’t help it. You need to follow up and know what is in the minds of your audience. An email after receiving your mailer is the first step of follow-up. Further, you can send another mail piece or even call them up. B2B marketing requires strong and frequent follow-ups. You might have to invest a little more in sending follow-up mail, but it is worth it.

B2B Direct Mail Use Cases

Direct mail can be used for a number of things like increasing customer engagement, driving online traffic, and more. Keep reading to explore the opportunities that direct mail marketing offers to B2B marketers.

1. Reach Out Directly

Create a concise yet attractive direct mailer to be sent out to your prospects. You can directly reach out to your prospects and secure a one-to-one connection with them through direct mail marketing. With the help of targeting, you can reach out to the right people with the right message, which will surely get you somewhere.

2. Grow Your Network

Whether it is growing your network offline or increasing your social media followers, calling out to people to know about your brand is an excellent strategy for any business. Especially in B2B business, companies are focused on growing their contact lists and inviting more and more people to know them.

Companies can send direct mail to people engaged with their business through social media platforms as they already know about their brand and are more likely to be converted.

3. Engage New Customers

Getting new customers is one of the most important use cases of direct mail marketing. It is because sending direct mail to someone who has never heard of you can help such people know you, ultimately increasing brand awareness. However, it is needed that you first study your audience, personalize your direct mail, and then launch a campaign. Reaching out to someone for the first time with an impressive mailer that solves their queries and offers a solution to their needs or problems is something you can root for using B2B direct mail.

4. Keep Your Audience Updated

It is a great idea to keep in touch with your audience and side-by-side promote your new product launches, services, discounts, season sales, and any events or conferences hosted by you. This twin approach to keeping your audience updated by educating them on the latest affairs and advertising your brand can help you engage more and more people. Some people might not be interested in your new product but might want to participate in your contests and vice versa. B2B direct mail marketing enables you to develop new ways of communicating with your prospects and luring them into completing the desired CTA.

B2B Direct Mail Examples

• Trustpilot used large-sized letters with popping colours and an eye-catching format to induce their audience. Their letters were simple but had an appealing message.

• CAT used B2B direct mail for promoting their events and special offers. They kept the colours consistent with their brand for easy brand recall. The most intellectual part of their campaign was that they added an excellent offer that was very persuasive against a CTA.

There are two popular direct mail items that any B2B company can use. Both of these items are highly professional but at the same time have attention-grabbing features.

1. Postcards

Postcards are both concise and appealing. They can communicate your message to your prospects in short and simple messages and in a very professional manner. Undoubtedly, postcards are appealing, and many people tend to collect postcards – which offers your brand more exposure when you print your logo on them.

Nowadays, postcards come in various sizes and types. There are dual-fold and tri-fold postcards available that companies can use as per their messaging. Pop-up postcards are also getting popular. Hence, postcards offer great versatility and are also very cost-effective.

2. Letters

Letters can be hyper-personalized according to the requirements of your prospects. You can simply put out their whole range of needs and offer solutions to each one of them. Such letters can change the whole game as they are capable of commencing a deep personal bond with a person. The talks through letters are down-to-business and straight to the point. Like postcards, there are some variations in letters as well. You can either use single-page or multiple-page letters. Some companies also use oversize envelopes to stand out from the crowd.

Things to Take Care of While Conducting B2B Direct Mail Campaigns

1. Take and Implement Customer Feedback

Don’t forget to collect customer feedback and implement the same in your upcoming campaigns. You can ask your direct mail recipients about what they liked and disliked about your direct mail items and what they are exactly looking for. Such reviews or feedback can be really valuable as they give you an outsider’s view of your organization which can be very helpful.

2. Add Inducing Offers Against Your CTA

Asking for a favour in return for nothing seems dull and will not land you anywhere. If you expect your prospects to complete the CTA, you should provide something in return. Like we said earlier, CAT’s B2B direct mail campaign was successful as they offered a great deal in return for a CTA.

3. Always Test and Measure Results

In order to have an idea of what your audience likes, send out some test samples and measure the results. Launching a large-scale campaign without any research and testing can lead to great losses. Instead, test and learn first, then you can proceed to launch a big campaign. It can help you save a lot of money, time, and effort. PostGrid’s direct mail automation solutions can help you test and measure results through detailed campaign analytics and insights.

How to Track Your B2B Direct Mail?

There are a lot of trackable features that you can include in your direct mail pieces. Adding such features in direct mail is very important as they form the base to measure your campaign results.

1. PURLs

PURLs are personalized links that take your prospects to a personalized landing page. This page might include their name or other aspects specific to them. You can also include their name in the customized URL, like www.xyz.com/steve-matthew. Such links make it easy for you to record your mailers’ open rates and make your prospects feel special.

2. Trackable Phone Numbers

Always insert a contact number that is unique to your campaign and easily trackable. You can create a dedicated phone number and use it for a particular campaign. Hence, every time you get a call on this line, you know it was prompted by your direct mailer. Measuring campaign results this way is easy and highly productive. You can also record all the calls on this line to trace respondents and follow-up accordingly. Make sure that the number is toll-free.

3. QR Codes and Coupons

Adding coupons and scannable QR codes is the easiest way to track your B2B direct mail marketing campaigns. Whenever a person scans a QR code, it will take them to a landing page where they can complete a CTA. The coupon codes also offer companies a way to track results as every coupon is redeemable on either an online purchase or by taking it to an offline store.

4. Automation

Direct mail automation solutions like PostGrid can help you track results, and get timely reports and insights. They can help you measure everything appropriately and design your future campaigns accordingly.

Be it including pURLs or trackable phone numbers. You can do it all through a direct mail automation API. PostGrid’s API is completely designed to suit your B2B direct mailing requirements and makes it easy for you to design, launch, and track your campaigns. With PostGrid, you can:

• Create or design your direct mail items using in-built templates
• Get them printed and mailed on-time
• Track the progress of your mail items
• Manage user permissions
• Get timely reports and campaign insights
• Integrate with your CRM so you can get rid of manual data entry
• Ensure data privacy and confidentiality
• Build new mailing lists and segment them according to certain demographics
• Verify and validate addresses speedily

Conclusion

B2B direct mail marketing is the most impactful way to reach out to your corporate customers and convince them to try out your brand. PostGrid’s direct mail solutions can help you conduct successful direct mail campaigns capable of driving results and boosting sales.

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