Postage Rates to Increase – Again!
Displace Postage Expense Throughout Your Organization

On February 11, the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission announced another postal rate increase, scheduled to take effect May 12, 2008.  What's more, in accordance with The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, the United States Postal Service (USPS) will adjust mailing services prices each May – meaning it’s now more important than ever to evaluate your customer communications and identify areas for postage savings. 

For businesses of all shapes and sizes, postage can rank high on the list of operating expenses.  Though we must consider the line of business, given the traditional means of communication with customers, many organizations are still very mail dependent.  For example, select leading financial services providers distribute in excess of 300,000 customer notices a day.  As postage rates continue to rise, the effect these costs have on your balance sheet becomes more evident. 

If the upcoming postal rate increase has you exploring alternate ways of getting your message out to customers, have you first considered where postage savings could be had within these high-level areas for customer communication?

Membership Renewal and Registration
Are your customers eligible for early-bird registration fees?  Want to promote new membership features?  If so, chances are you’re communicating this information via mail, and by reexamining your customer communications, you could unearth substantial cost savings and create unique cross-selling opportunities with new mail formats. 

Location Changes or New Office Openings  
As competition intensifies, businesses are challenged to find more effective and efficient tools for attracting and retaining customers while keeping costs in line.  During critical times of relocation or new office openings, remaining in contact with your customers is key to building and maintaining loyalty. As postage rates increase, consider leveraging your customer communications to keep customer records current, enabling you to better serve your customer base. 

Warranty Notices  Without the distribution of recall notices, warranty expiration or extended warranty opportunities, you run the risk of jeopardizing your brand, not to mention the safety of your customers. 

With so much at stake, it’s best to run your mailing lists through address quality software, such as the Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS), to ensure your mailings are “move updated” and reaching the intended recipients.  By properly cleansing your lists, you could reap the rewards of postage discounts pertaining to address quality and preserve the integrity of your brand. 

Appointment Notices  Amid the chaos of day-to-day life, it’s always helpful to receive a friendly reminder for an upcoming appointment that never made it onto your calendar.  From the kid’s parent-teacher conferences, to the long overdue oil change and eye exam, appointment notices help keep your services top of mind among customers while building a sense of trust.    

By properly planning your mail pieces and incorporating creative design, kitting, folding or inserting, you can not only save on postage but also provide your customers with supplemental information to help them plan for the future. 

Back Order or Stock Outs  We all know the disappointment that comes with discovering weeks after an order has been placed, that the item is on back order or no longer in stock.  Keeping your customers informed requires regular distribution and timely delivery, where mail presort discounts and zip code routing may lend substantial savings.  

In today’s highly regulated environment, and with postal rates continuing to rise, businesses are always looking for ways to cut costs.  As you examine your customer communications, keep in mind that in addition to postage savings, operational savings abound.  Outsourcing the production and distribution of your customer notices not only frees up valuable company resources, but also provides an added layer of disaster recovery protection and eliminates fixed costs associated with equipment.