How Is the New USPS Flats Rate Affecting [Your] Direct Mail Strategy?
Nonprofits are looking at shifting flat mailings to letters, even though the perception is that letters have less impact. The DMA reports that catalogers are sending postcard mailings to prospects and inviting them to request a catalog. The postcards can advertise an item to entice recipients to order the item and a catalog. The postcards can also help direct marketers clean up their databases.
Hamilton Davison, Executive Director of the American Catalog Mailers Association, recently sent a letter to members and prospective members that listed some of the changes catalogers are beginning to make as a result of the new rates:
“Most catalogers are looking at co-mailing. . . . Lists are under review. Plans are being made to reduce frequency to house list customers. The marginal 10% are being paired off. Some mailings are being converted to “Slim Jim†size. Others are moving some prospecting to postcards with “can miss†promotions to drive web traffic. . . . One cataloger I spoke with is mailing more books and is aggressively pursuing a Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) with the USPS.â€
Davison acknowledges that none of these strategies is a silver bullet, and the direct-to-customer industry has entered uncharted waters.
Have the new rates begun to affect your business? If so, what steps are you taking to cope with the changes? Leave us your comment(s) on this subject.
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Paul Sobota is a Vice President & Partner with F. Curtis Barry & Co., a warehouse consulting company focusing on the entire direct fulfillment process with expertise in freight analysis.
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