Mail Fulfilment and Direct Mail Services

Direct mail services include design, print services, data processing, data printing, mail production, postage, returns handling, GDPR response management and recycling.  

Mailings can be fully addressed (conventional method), partially addressed (generic addressee to a household or business) or not addressed at all. Addressed mail is posted and unaddressed mail is sent out with the Royal Mail Household Delivery Service.

Machine Enclosing and Hand Fulfilment

All mail is either hand enclosed or machine enclosed. Machine enclosing provides speed, efficiency and price advantages whereas hand enclosing offers a limitless assembly process. As long as it is suitable for posting, any item can be hand packaged.

Machine enclosing – paper envelope automatic insertion, up to 10 inserts per pack
Matching – 100% match guaranteed
Hand enclosing – all formats
Folding – endorsed formats and multi pages as well as standard folds
Finishing – tabbing, stapling, binding, gluing, assembling, nesting, boxing, wrapping, dividing

Direct mail fulfilment follows the same eco-commitment as print services. In addition, the Recycle Now logo is provided on envelopes as standard. Sustainable Mail, Royal Mail ‘green mail’, is automatically applied to all advertising mail that meets the qualification criteria.

Partially Addressed Mail

The new product from Royal Mail that is designed to offer a cost-effective alternative to conventionally produced mail. At approximately 4 pence per item less than equivalent Advertising Mail products Royal Mail has found that partially addressed mail performs as well as conventional mail on ROI.

Partially addressed mail starts with a minimum 10,000 items per mailing. It allows direct mail to be sent to all households within targeted postcodes as long as personal names, existing customers and suppressed customers are excluded.

The main difference with partially addressed mail is that the mail is addressed to a generic title. Examples are Resident or Modern Family for households and The Manager, The Product Buyer for businesses. Data for partially addressed mail can be bought from Geolist data.

Unaddressed Mail

Royal Mail Door Drop (HDS, Household Delivery Service) is an attractive option to blanket reach customers. This is because it gets messages into homes in a more powerful way than the background noise of some other types of advertising.

• When the same marketing material is delivered as inserts in magazines and newspapers it is much more commonly thrown away without being read.

• Door drops containing offers or useful information get people to respond positively.

• Geographically targeted door drops define households that are more likely to respond to a localised message.

• Creative artwork and designs have more freedom than postal services.

• Lower delivery costs make door drop hand-delivery particularly attractive for larger quantities.

Leaflet Distribution & Royal Mail

It’s worth bearing in mind that Royal Mail has complete access to all the delivery points in the UK whereas non Royal Mail hand deliveries do not. For London or densely populated towns conventional mail is the far better option for access to all city apartments and complexes.

General Office Post

Day-to-day mailings from the office can be:
• Time consuming for employees.
• Expensive for printing and printer consumables.
• More costly for postage – franking is not always cheapest.
• Low on quality control and without an audit trail.

TYPE – CLICK – DONE

Hybrid mail allows companies to create A4 business documents, then send them in a click to Sharp Cat. Here they are printed, folded, enclosed and posted. Quick and easy, once set up hybrid mail revolutionises conventional mailing for business.

Hybrid Mail Benefits:

• Lowers printing costs – desktop printing is less cost-efficient.
• Cuts postage costs – trade mailing services secure better rates than franking machines.
• Reduces errors – certain auto checks are made.
• Increases productivity – frees up offices for more focussed tasks.
• Improves the consistency of quality – office printers can vary.
• Saves frustration – no more printer jams.
• Provides a clear audit trail abut what has been posted out.

The one thing most of us want from a direct mail campaign is a great response. Because successful direct mail creates sudden surges in demand, even the most experienced companies can find themselves under pressure with backlogs or queues.

Multiple Response Channels

Response Handling helps businesses deal with demand through their preferred channels. Demand may be extraordinary or expected. It may be an overflow service or for a fully outsourced response service. Response channels include post, email, SMS, the web, telephone, voicemail and IVR. Each service ensures that respondents benefit from fully responsive, professional attention.

Response services are accessed through an encrypted portal 24/7. Information includes stock, re-order levels and ordering activity.

Direct Mail Services for Response Handling:

• Overflow or full outsource.
• Consistent service to create the best impression.
• Stock management and replenishment.
• Often more cost-effective than handling in-house.

Business Reply/Freepost

• All reply services available, including FREEPOST NAME and Business Licence
• Own address option
• No account management fee
• Simple per unit pricing structure

Sharp Cat understands the pressures faced by working in this technological age. This is why the Support Team provides a complete mail management service. From the moment client’s make contact, Sharp Cat gets to work to manage the entire mailing process. Client’s are in control and kept progress informed.

Each project always has two assigned Account Managers to talk with or correspond to. This means that two active direct mail heads are taking care of every mailing.

Direct Mail Services – Reporting, Proofs, Job Plans

Client’s tell us that whilst they might not want to get involved with time-consuming detail they do want to see proofing details. They also want to know that their mail production is on schedule. This is why each direct mailing includes production proofs for approval, a timeline and a full Job Plan.

Some clients prefer their Sharp Cat Account Manager to take care of proofing sign off on their behalf. This is especially the case for client’s with regular same format mailings. So this is an option too, for clients that like have the proofing responsibility taken care of.

There’s a range of free features included as part of the mailing service:

Track-Pack Monitoring

Records the delivery dates for selected packs in a posting from collection day to arrival.

Stock Management

Keeps a tab on mailing material stock levels, reorder levels, deliveries and despatches.

PIRS Posting Report

Summarises many mailing details including colour images of the mailing inserts, the finished pack and mailing date/s.

A Tree for Life

One tree is planted into a Trees for Life scheme with every mailing. Updates are sent to each client about how many trees have been planted for their mailings.

Easy Returns Handling

Returns sent directly to Postal Administration are batched, scanned and data captured. As well as the contact details, the reason for return is also supplied in an encrypted data file.

An After-Mail Package in One

With so many channels competing for attention it makes sense to have a reliable mail services supplier. Especially one that provides a package of after-mail follow-up information to confirm that everything is complete.

One of the most popular direct mail services is fulfilling brochure requests.

Fast Despatch

Specifically requested Brochures that are a valuable source of potential business. This means that the speed of arrival as well as the presentation can make a big difference to how a person feels about a company.

Company brochures sent out by a qualified mailing house have the advantages of:

• Fast arrival. Brochures despatch quickly. Choose from same day or next day from date of request.
• More room. More office space and less clutter because brochures and literature are securely stored offsite.
• Consistent look. The brochure pack is presented the same way. To a high standard every time.
• Useful information. Activity reports with easy to read summary figures are automatically supplied.
• Less UK postage. Postage rates are cheaper than stamps and less than franking machines too.
• Even less international postage. For oversea post there’s at least 20% off standard franking rates.

Has the Internet Replaced Brochures?

Although extremely popular, online viewing is no substitute for receiving a physical brochure. Many people simply enjoy the experience of having a company brochure, as well as online viewing.

The physical experience of leafing through a requested brochure in the comfort of home is unique. Likewise there are times when hard copy information is a better read through in business.