5 Signs You Need a New Direct Mailhouse Company

Time For A New Direct Mailhouse Company?

Are your direct mail campaigns failing to give you the results you want? If you're like most businesses, you want to get the best possible results for your bulk mailing campaigns. But if you're not working with a good bulk mailing house, you may not be getting them.

Here are some signs that you need to work with a new bulk mailing house:

But first, let's understand the benefits of working with a reputable direct mail house company

How can a direct mail house company benefit you?

A direct mail house company can benefit you in many ways through its services, such as:

Reduce costs: Outsourcing your direct mail campaigns to a mail house can help you cut your marketing costs. For instance, designing, printing, and mailing your direct mail materials in-house will entail the costs related to:

Hiring staff
Salary and benefits
Training and development
Equipment
Maintenance

In addition, mailing your materials individually will also add up to your marketing costs. You will need to also consider the costs of scaling up or scaling down your direct mail campaign based on market fluctuations.

A mass postcard marketing service provider handles the designing, printing, and bulk mailing efficiently, significantly reducing your costs.

And, bulk postage rates tend to be significantly more affordable than what you would have to pay if you send mail individually.

Ensure compliance with USPS: The United States Postal Service (USPS) sets postal compliance standards for direct mail. These standards help ensure that your direct mail campaign is delivered in a timely and efficient manner.

To be compliant with USPS standards, your direct mail must meet certain criteria. For example, your mailing must be properly addressed and have the proper postage. In addition, your mailpiece must meet size and shape requirements. If you are using First-Class Mail®, it must also weigh less than 13 ounces. If you are using Standard Mail®, it must weigh less than 16 ounces. Finally, all commercial mailpieces must bear a return address. Failure to comply with these standards can result in delays in delivery or even returned mail.

A mass postcard marketing service can help you to adhere to postal compliance standards.

Improve the ROI of your direct mail campaign: The efficacy of your direct mail campaigns depends on how targeted and personalized they are. To ensure your marketing materials resonate with your audience, you will need an accurate mailing list that you can use to create custom messages and offers.

A bulk mailing house can help you create a reliable mailing list based on your target audience and ensure your postcards are highly personalized.

Save time: Designing, printing, and packaging bulk mail is a time-consuming activity and a drain on resources for every business. Whether you are a startup or a large business, outsourcing direct mail campaigns to a bulk mailing company helps you save time and resources. By entrusting a bulk mailing house with the printing and mailing tasks, you can channel your resources toward your core business functions.

Industry expertise: Another benefit of working with a bulk mailing house is that you will be able to access their industry expertise. The employees in a bulk mailing company are well-versed in all aspects of the mailing industry and are able to guide you on adopting the best strategy to achieve your goals.

In addition to insightful tips, they will help you find the best bulk mailing rates.

Now that you know the benefits, let's look at the signs that you need a new direct mail house company.

Signs you need a new direct mail house company

These are some of the signs that indicate that it is time for you to reach out to a mass postcard marketing service:

1. You are not seeing the results you seek

According to recent studies, more than 60% of direct mail recipients took action and visited websites. If the response rates are lower than you’d like or you’re not reaching as many people as you’d hoped, it might be time for a change.

The right postcard marketing services provider can work wonders in terms of helping you reach out to your prospects, spreading brand awareness, generating leads, or directing traffic to your website or retail location.

2. Your mail is being delayed

Postcards mailed first class and sent via USPS typically reach the destination within one to three days. However, the actual time may depend on whether the address has a full zip code and is verified.

Bulk mail, however, can take up to a month at times to reach your prospects. The holiday season can also affect the time it takes to deliver bulk mail.

If you're noticing that your mail is being delayed, it's likely because your bulk mailing house isn't up to par. They may not have an accurate list of verified addresses or may not be guiding you on the right time to send your direct mail.

One of the most important elements of any direct mail campaign is having accurate and up-to-date contact information for your recipients. If you're using old or outdated lists, it's likely that many of your letters are either not reaching the intended recipient or going straight into the trash.

A reliable bulk mailing house will guide you on the best time to send your direct mail to avoid delays. They will also use an address verification tool to ensure the addresses contain a full zip code and are verified to avoid delays.

Start fresh with a new mailing house and make sure your materials are reaching the right people.

3. They don’t offer the services you need

Most direct mail companies will go beyond bulk mailing to offer design templates and printing services for postcards, brochures, flyers, and other direct mail materials. Some bulk mailing companies also help businesses create a mailing list and offer strategic advice on planning and implementing direct mail campaigns.

In today's world, there are all sorts of advanced technologies that can be used to improve the effectiveness of direct mail campaigns. From targeted content delivery and mail tracking to personalized URLs and QR codes, there are plenty of ways to take your direct mail to the next level. If your current bulk mailing house is not using any of these advanced techniques, you're likely missing out on some serious opportunities.

If your bulk mailing house does not offer mail tracking for measuring the results of your direct mail campaigns, you can't make necessary adjustments to improve your results. A new mailing house can help you set up a system for tracking results so you can make changes as needed.

In addition, check if your current mass mailing service provider is helping you take advantage of all the possibilities that direct mail has to offer. If not, you're missing out on a lot of potential business. A new mailing house can help you explore all the different ways that direct mail can be used to reach your target audience and achieve your marketing goals.

An ideal mass mailing service provider is one who has a customer-centric approach and is happy to answer your questions throughout the process.

4. Your paying too much or invoices are complicated

How do you know if you are paying too much? You may have a solid hunch already. Generally, a mailing will cost 30-60 cents a piece - out the door - depending on the volumne. That would cover your list, print, postage, and mailing. Give us a call and we can tell you rather quickly where you stand. We have some of the most aggressive pricing in the country.

If you love your current vendor, no problem, we can at least tell you how much you are overpaying and then you can decide if it is worth it. Often, clients will just send us their current invoice and see how much we can save them. Often times the savings is thousands of dollars a year and sometime much more depending on how often and how much you mail.

If you do not understand your invoice their is a problem. Bulk mailing is quite complicated but your invoice doesn't need to be. It is amazing how confusing some mailhouses make their invoices with fees for everything and line item after line item of setup costs and other off the wall charges. Cleaning up the data, running NCOA, setting up the art, printing it, cutting it, applying postage, and mailing it, are part of every job. You do not need these all broken out with various rates and fees. Often times these could just be ways of adding in extra margin. Sometimes these fees are not even added in when clients get their initial quote.

Do yourself a favor and move to a company with simple turnkey pricing. This means you describe your project and you get a flat rate like 45 cents per peice. With simple pricing you can easily calculate and forecast your marketing budget.

5. You are not getting the service your deserve

A sure sign you need to switch mail house providers may be poor customer service. Some good questions to consider are:

Are they responsive to your emails or phone calls?
Are they answering all your questions?
Do they educate you on the process or keep you in the dark?
Do they provide mail tracking so you know where your mail is?
If there is an issue, do they jump on it and keep you in the loop until the issue is resolved?
Do they make suggestions for changes?
Do they offer ways to save money on your mailings by changing up your paper stock? or by using a more targeted list?
Do they work with you closesly on timelines so that you get your mail in homes when you really want it?
Is it taking more than a week to get your mailing out once you send them the files?

If you answer NO to one or more of these questions then it may be a good time evaluate your options or at least have a conversation with you current vendor.

Conclusion

If you're thinking about working with a new bulk mailing house, these are a few signs that you should look out for. When choosing a new bulk mailing house, ensure that the company is reputable and has a good track record.

In addition, be sure that they have the right infrastructure in place to handle your project. Finally, you want to be confident that they will be able to deliver your project on time and on budget. If you keep these things in mind, you'll be well on your way to finding the perfect bulk mailing house for your next project.