Why Does Your Business Need Robust Direct Mail Fulfilment Services?
Are you using mailing services to print personalised direct mail for your business but taking care of the fulfilment process yourself? If yes, you would have already noticed the time, money, and effort that goes into mail fulfilment. And if no, then consider yourself lucky because direct mail fulfilment is not nearly as easy as it sounds. Here we will make a case on direct mail fulfilment and how a business can prepare itself for an effective fulfilment process.
Better yet, the article also explains the different stages involved in direct mail fulfilment. Companies that want to try a new fulfilment process can use this article to optimise their direct mail process.
What is Direct Mail Fulfilment?
Direct mail fulfilment is a process that involves preparing the printed materials ready for distribution or mailing. As you know, printed materials come in different sizes and practically in every shape. Some of the most common types of mailers you can see in mail fulfilment are as follows:
- Postcards
- Brochures
- Flyers
- Letters
- Catalogues
As you can see, direct mail fulfilment is a part of direct mail marketing most of the time. It is the final stage of postal mail marketing campaigns. However, mail fulfilment also helps to optimise regular direct mail communication with customers and business partners.
An in-house mail fulfilment process often takes up a lot of time and effort from companies. Imagine the mess it can create when a company that sends bulk mail uses an in-house and manual fulfilment process.
Hence, it is no wonder that most business organisations prefer using advanced mail fulfilment services like PostGrid for mail fulfilment. Tools like PostGrid provide you with advanced automation capabilities that enable you to meet your fulfilment needs with the click of a button.
What are Direct Mail Fulfillment Services?
Direct mail fulfilment services include preparing printed material for mailing them as a packaged item by a third-party service provider. With a mail fulfilment service like PostGrid, you can ensure that your direct mail reaches its destination with the minimal scope of error.
With advanced direct mail tools like PostGrid, mail fulfillment services are not the only direct mail service you receive. PostGrid is not just a direct mail fulfilment service but a well-rounded tool that takes care of all aspects of your direct mail.
Tools like PostGrid can personalise, print, and deliver direct mail for your business. You can even access PostGrid’s template gallery for creating marketing materials like postcards and brochures for your business.
Many businesses print their direct mail by themselves and take care of the direct mail fulfilment. Some firms outsource their direct mail printing and carry out the mail fulfilment part themselves. But a fully automated direct mail tool like PostGrid takes care of your printing and fulfilment requirements simultaneously.
Preparation For Direct Mail Fulfillment
Unless you are using a fully automated system for mail fulfilment, you need to prepare yourself for it. Without proper preparation, you can’t hope to execute direct mail fulfilment accurately. Furthermore, you may yet be unaware of several stages in the mailing process.
Step 1: Gain Access To The Printed Materials
The first thing to do for preparing yourself for direct mail fulfillment is to access the printed materials. For bulk mailing, the printed materials are usually stored in onesie warehouses. You can keep an agreed stock of printed materials here for your future direct mail campaigns.
Companies that use a third-party service provider for their printing needs can have the printed materials delivered to their location. The printed materials and inserts are saved securely in the warehouse or office until they are sent out.
Step 2: Check Address Information
In most cases, the address is printed on the mailer with the help of Variable Data Printing. However, not all mailing services come with Variable Data Printing capability. Hence, it would be good to check that before you choose a printing service provider.
The mailers are then arranged according to their postcode order for easy distribution. Furthermore, sorting the mailers like this qualifies you for lower postage rates from the Royal Post. Your mailers must have accurate addresses for accurate and on-time delivery, including the postcode.
Step 3: Check Material Availability
Another major step in direct mail fulfillment is checking whether your business has enough material to send your mailers. The materials needed for sending can be:
- Envelopes
- Inserts
- Packaging materials
At times you may be in a situation where you do not have enough materials for sending all your direct mail. Such a situation can lead to unnecessary delays and could be fatal for time-sensitive direct mail marketing and communications.
Hence, you must evaluate the availability of materials as part of your direct mail-out process. If a deficit is detected, you need to procure the low inventory material immediately during the process.
Step 4: Plan And Manage Your Mailing Process
The planning and management part of direct mail fulfilment includes tasks such as choosing the right staff and equipment. Furthermore, you will also need to ensure that the staff and equipment you want to use are available at the right time.
You then need to plan the entire fulfilment process, including when you should start and finish the process. It is also your responsibility to inform the staff about your fulfilment plan and assign relevant tasks. If you are using equipment or a new approach, the team should first be trained on the same.
What Are The Stages OF Direct Mail Fulfillment?
Now that you know how to prepare yourself for fulfillment mail let us look at the different stages of the fulfilment process. But, before we dive into the steps of fulfilment mail, you must understand that the stages can vary depending on the project’s requirements.
Each direct mail project has a different or unique goal. Hence the direct mail volume, materials required for fulfilment, etc., can also be different or unique. However, the fulfilment process generally includes the following stages regardless of the changes in requirements.
First Stage: Direct Mail Collation
The collation process is where one or multiple inserts are put into an envelope. In an automated process, collation happens at high speed. Numerous inserts are put into the mailer in the blink of an eye. When it comes to bulk mail, even something as simple as putting inserts inside envelopes by hand takes hours.
The inserts put into the envelope can be anything. You can choose an insert for your direct mail campaign based on your marketing strategy, target audience, etc. Some of the most widely used inserts in direct mail fulfillment are as follows:
- Sample product
- Leaflets
- Letters
- Promotional cards
- Discount coupon/vouchers
Second Stage: Folding Direct Mail
Folding direct mail is also a part of the direct mail fulfilment process. Unless you are not using advanced mailing services like PostGrid, you will have to fold your direct mail, such as brochures. A simple single-fold direct mail is easy to create and execute.
However, some mailers may require more complex folding options, such as roll fold or “slit and nest.” Such folding options may require special equipment or machines. Hence, you need to ensure that your business can handle such mail fulfilment requirements.
Third Stage: Closing The Envelope
Closing the envelope is also a crucial stage in direct mail fulfillment. As you can guess, this stage does not apply to all direct mail. For example, postcards do not require an envelope to send via Royal Mail.
Manually closing envelopes can be a drag and take hours and hours of work. Furthermore, there is also a chance of error when you manually place the content inside the envelope. With an automated solution like PostGrid, you can use special equipment for enveloping your bulk mail within a matter of minutes.
Fourth Stage: Poly-Wrapping And Poly-Processing
Some direct mail fulfillment may also include a poly-wrapping and poly-processing stage if it is required. It is usually necessary if you are sending printed materials like:
- Magazines
- Brochures
- Catalogues
Additionally, you can use poly-wrapping as an alternative to sending multiple enclosures. You need not use an envelope in such fulfilment mail because the sections are more than enough to seal your mailer securely.
Fifth Stage: Bundling, Packing and Packaging
In this stage of direct mail fulfillment you can start bundling your mailers into boxes. Once in the box, you can package it and prepare it for mailing. It is a stage that requires a lot of attention because you don’t want to leave anything out.
Sixth Stage: Collection By Postal Service Provider
After packing your direct mail securely, you are all set to hand it over to the postal service provider. Royal Mail offers the best postage rates and extensive service for your business’s direct mail. Furthermore, packing your bulk mail and handing it over to the Royal Mail qualify you for postage discounts.
Also Read: Automating Direct Mail Fulfilment With PostGrid
As you can see, direct mail fulfillment services can be a handful for businesses. There are several steps involved in preparing for mail fulfilment. Furthermore, the fulfilment process itself can have different stages. Using an automated direct mail tool like PostGrid lets you bypass these lengthy processes.
PostGrid uses a fully automated direct mail system that carries out all the processes in sending your direct mail. So, not only can you automate the fulfilment process but also print personalised mailers for your direct mail campaigns.
Conclusion
Direct mail fulfillment is a process that involves a lot of steps and stages that can hardly be met through a manual process. It is highly impractical to use a manual fulfilment process for bulk mail as it can cost you a lot of money and labour.
Furthermore, manual processes are prone to errors that can set back your direct mail campaigns. The best solution for businesses is to employ advanced direct mail fulfilment companies like PostGrid. Powerful direct mail tools like PostGrid automates the entire marketing process, including mail fulfilment.
Using a single direct mail provider like PostGrid, you can personalise, print, and deliver your mailers using an automated process. Furthermore, PostGrid uses Royal Mail to send all your direct mail, allowing you to minimise your expenses with postage discounts.
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