Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Outsourced Printing and Mailing Services

How Print and Mail Outsourcing Helps Save Costs and Time for Businesses?

Direct mailing allows businesses to generate a response rate of up to 9%– the highest among all marketing channels! 

Yet, companies hesitate to adopt this advertising strategy because it is time-consuming and expensive. Employing outsourced printing and mailing services to automate direct mail and cut manual effort can help resolve these issues!

return address on letter uk

Businesses can automate everything from inventory management, employee training, order processing, etc. So why not use marketing automation to increase revenue and improve brand engagement?

One of our clients at PostGrid met with a similar realisation when they contacted us to assist them. They needed print and mail outsourcing to help them streamline their mailing process and get the most out of it!

This blog helps you understand how print and ship outsourcing works and its benefits!

Let us dive in!

What Are Outsourced Printing and Mailing Services?

They refer to advanced solutions to help businesses conduct their direct mail activities through a vendor instead of in-house processes!

These outsourced printing and mailing services include everything from mail design and customisation to printing and distribution. Of course, the features vary from vendor to vendor, but you can always expect to get the basics.

Here is how they work:

Pre-Built Templates and Editor

PostGrid’s print and mail outsourcing solutions offer free, professionally-built design templates. They can edit these designs according to their preferences, add company branding, use variables, etc. 

Our client used the postcard templates because they are in the education industry and wanted to target parents during admissions. They added attention-grabbing headlines and vivid colours to make their message visible and attract prospects. 

Mailing List

Putting effort into drafting eye-catching mailers is not enough because it only comprises the first step of your mailing campaigns. Companies need targeted mailing lists to send these items! Our client could compile a custom mailing list (parents of children above age five living in Tulsa) using our print and mail outsourcing services. 

Always check with your vendor if you can get a mailing list or if they help you rent one. Otherwise, you may have to do this legwork yourself, killing the purpose of using print and mail outsourcing solutions. 

Printing

Printing involves several steps, like

When you outsource print and mail, you can expect your vendor to complete these tasks in one go. You also get help fulfilling the Royal Mail design, size, and weight guidelines , helping you mail your items smoothly!

Distribution and Tracking

The next step in print and mail outsourcing is shipping via Royal Mail mailing options. Like in-house processing, you don’t have to stress concerning the correct service or lodging mailers at the Post Office. 

PostGrid’s outsourced printing and mailing services help B2B and B2C companies send personalised direct mailers to their targeted customers. Moreover, our print and API enable them to track their items and calculate the campaign result effortlessly. 

For example, our client, who aimed to target at least 2,500 parents in the city, could send bulk mail items without doing anything in-house. PostGrid made the entire shipping process simple and quick for them—with a deliverability ratio of 99.99%! 

Here is what they said after their campaign:

“Initially, we did not know how to outsource print and mail. So we sent a few mailings, between 100 and 500 in-house, and never received any results. PostGrid API integration was a life-saver to us in many ways. It helped us create, produce, add postage, label, ship, and monitor our direct mail items using a single dashboard. Thus, we could finally reach our desired response mark- 40 to 50%.”

direct mail operations

Reasons to Outsource Print and Mail

Business outsource their direct mailing activities for several reasons, including

  • Save Time: You must use outsourced printing and mailing services to save time and increase overall productivity. Automation helps businesses free their employees from days and weeks of sluggish labour and let them focus on their primary tasks. 
  • Save on Postage: PostGrid’s print and mail API enables you to save on postage by presorting items, using imprints, sending bulk mail, etc. It is impossible to complete such tasks in-house without external help. 
  • Maintain GDPR Compliance: Our print and mail outsourcing solutions allow you to remain GDPR-compliant and avoid paying penalties. PostGrid’s API, dashboard, and automation software are in-built to protect your data confidentiality and privacy!
  • Use Different Formats and Be Flexible: Many companies outsource print and mail to become flexible and add a pinch of creativity to their mailing campaigns. Automated solutions like PostGrid enable them to choose from different direct mail types and designs to make their mailers unique and appealing.

Benefits of Using Print and Mail Outsourcing

With saving time, money, and effort, print and mail outsourcing offers many advantages, making it the preferred choice for all direct mail marketers. Below, we have mentioned some pros you can consider:

  • Improved Accuracy: A hundred things can go wrong with your direct mail campaign if you attempt to do it in-house. You may mail to incorrect addresses, print an outdated offer, forget to include a tracking mechanism, etc. However, outsourced printing and mailing services maintain 100% accuracy, helping you avoid wastage. 
  • Track Campaign Performance: PostGrid’s print and mail outsourcing help you add PURLs, QR codes, dedicated phone numbers, etc., to measure campaign results. These CTAs also allow you to garner more responses and take customers one step closer to conversion. 
  • Updated Databases: Our print and mail outsourcing services offer many add-ons, like metadata tagging, Registered Mail, and address verification. Thus, you can enrich your mailing lists from time to time, helping you make better decisions. 
  • Flexible Pricing: PostGrid provides companies with flexible pricing plans to let them mail items at their own pace. Our client in the education sector chose our Enterprise plan and got a custom quote, enabling them to save a lot and plan their campaigns more effectively. 

More About Our Outsourced Printing and Mailing Services

Here are the top industries that outsource print and mail via PostGrid:

Healthcare

Clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, test centres, dentists, etc., outsource direct mailing of medical documents and marketing mailers. Thus, they can maintain effective patient communications and promote their services to increase brand visibility. 

Retail and E-Commerce

PostGrid’s print and mail outsourcing allows these companies to send coupons, discount mailers, personalised letters, thank-you notes, customer invoices, etc. They can conduct monthly campaigns or ship items during holidays and other occasions. 

Insurance

Insurance agencies can maintain compliance and efficiency while contacting their audience using our outsourced printing and mailing services for direct mailing. They can ship billing statements, EOB statements, cancellation notices, renewal declarations, etc. 

Real Estate

These businesses can use PostGrid to enable geolocation-based marketing, verify property details, send privacy notices and other documents, etc. 

Education

Our client base has several educational institutions that use PostGrid’s print and mail API for various purposes, including strengthening student relationships, increasing creditworthiness, and boosting retention rates. 

Nonprofits

PostGrid’s outsourced print and mail services help nonprofit and charitable organisations send fundraising letters, event invitations, thank-you cards for incoming donations, etc. 

Financial Services

Collection letters, transaction records, credit risk disclosure notices, bank statements, etc., are some direct mail items financial institutions send to their customers using PostGrid. 

Request a demo now to see how PostGrid’s print and mail outsourcing can fit into your workflows and help you improve your revenue levels!

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The post Outsourced Printing and Mailing Services appeared first on PostGrid UK.



source https://www.postgrid.co.uk/outsourced-printing-and-mailing-services/

Monday, December 19, 2022

Dental Postcard Marketing

9 Best Ways to Improve Your Dental Postcard Marketing Strategies

You can reach over 30 million households using direct mail marketing. And 70% of recipients say snail mail items make them feel more special and appreciated! Considering these statistics, we agree that dental postcard marketing never disappoints and is on top of every dentist’s marketing list.

where to buy postcards online

Letters, postcards, flyers, brochures, catalogues, etc., are the most commonly-used direct mail types healthcare organisations use. But this blog reveals the significance of using dental marketing postcards to transform your business and increase brand awareness. 

We will also discuss the primary elements that make a postcard marketing campaign successful and the factors you must avoid. 

Let us get started!

Why Include Dentist Postcards as Part of Your Marketing Plans?

Postcards create a nostalgic effect, making people store these cards safely in their homes and share them with others. Their size is also apt for sticking to refrigerators or handing them out to other people, improving transferability. However, if you are still not convinced by the idea of using dentist postcards to promote your services- this section will change your mind. 

We have listed all the reasons postcards are the best choice for all occasions: 

Attention-Grabbing

Postcards have an eye-catching effect on people. Your dental recall postcards can persuade people to read your message attentively and consider responding to it!

Since postcards do not need envelopes for packaging and shipping, recipients view your card graphics and messaging with a single flip. It helps increase read rates for your mailers, boosting your chances of getting more conversions. 

Long-Lasting

Customers store advertising mailers in their households for nearly 17 days, making direct mail one of the most long-lasting marketing forms. Dentist offices can benefit from using dental marketing mailers because they can invest once and reap the benefits for a long time! 

Improved Brand Recognition

Postcards are compact and only contain a few sentences. Thus, it is easier to grasp its contents, like the headline, message, offer, etc. Your dental postcards marketing program helps you increase recognition rates, primarily if you use similar taglines, logos, and branding colours for every campaign. 

Save Money

Since dentist postcards are small and don’t need envelopes, they are the most affordable direct mail formats. You can save further by using PostGrid’s direct mail API to automate your dental postcard marketing campaigns and cut postage expenses. 

Here’s how PostGrid helped a new dentist office in Tampa boost publicity about its opening day and create a solid pipeline for the upcoming months:

PostGrid’s direct mail API enabled the client to create dental marketing postcards from scratch with customised messages and offers. It assisted the business at all stages, from design to distribution. 

Moreover, PostGrid presorted the postcards and attached tracking barcodes to get postal discounts from Royal Mail. The outcome?

This dentist’s office sent dental post cards to over 2,000 people using door-drop marketing campaigns and got foot traffic of at least 500 patients on the first day. The primary reason for the program’s success was the free consultation offer and a 10% discount on cleaning and root canal services. 

How did PostGrid contribute?

  • PostGrid’s professionally-built design templates helped the client save money and time on hiring a designer. They could create personalised artwork for their dentist postcards according to their choices and make last-minute edits effortlessly. 
  • Our printing network enabled them to produce large volumes of dental office postcards within two working days. 
  • PostGrid ensured that all the postcards had imprints, correct mailing addresses, and other aspects to help the client save as much postage as possible!
  • The dentist’s office could access campaign insights and analytics through PostGrid’s dashboard to see what works best for them and what does not!
direct mail operations

Top 9 Dental Postcard Marketing Practices to Follow

Like other marketing tools, direct mail has specific best practices to improve performance and increase ROI. Here, we have mentioned the top nine methods you must incorporate to ensure your campaign’s success:

#1 Differentiate Your Clinic From Others

Use your dental reminder postcards to set yourself apart from the competition and highlight yourself as a reputable brand. But how can you achieve this objective?

  • Please include a list of your services and their starting prices to give a quick overview to patients. Many dentists try hiding their rates until a patient visits them, but it is not advisable. Your dental recall cards must discuss your service range openly to help your audience gain confidence in your brand. 
  • Discuss your benefits using bullet points, infographics, statistics, etc. Chances are that your services are the same as other dentists. So use your dental marketing postcards to depict your achievements and how you do things differently. 
  • Use a catchy tagline to grab attention and make readers remember your clinic. 

#2 Use Different Postcard Sizes

You can opt for oversized dental marketing mailers for higher impact if you have some more money on your marketing budget. Experimenting with different postcard sizes allows you to determine which one best communicates your messages and drives more responses. 

Of course, the size must depend on your content and artwork. But you can experiment with the orientation styles and layouts for mini and oversized postcards to add more buzz. 

Some dentist postcards only have a headline, contact information, and offer. Others have a detailed message in the centre to educate readers and convince them to complete the CTA. 

#3 Add E-Factors to Your Dental Office Postcards

The emotional factor helps you go a long way because it enables you to establish personal connections and keep your patients coming to your office again. 

The best method is to discuss how your services can help patients of different ages or who have varied lifestyles. For example, your dental lab marketing postcard can demonstrate how you fix people’s smiles or let people eat more confidently.

You may also instigate negative emotions, like explaining the problems of living with tooth decay, the pain involved in wisdom tooth surgery, and the cons of not flossing daily. 

Your dental postcard marketing must aim to make patients care about their oral health and book an appointment with you at the earliest. It doesn’t matter what topic you pick as long as it makes people think and act immediately!

#4 Include Real-Life Testimonials

Another way to increase creditworthiness and authenticity is to allow your prospective patients to hear your current patient’s experiences. Try including real-life examples and reviews to gain people’s trust and give them something they can relate to before they decide to visit you. 

However, ensure the printed testimonials in your dental recall cards include these aspects:

  • Patient’s full name. 
  • Age and gender. 
  • Location. 
  • Review. 
  • The number of stars they would like to give your clinic. 
  • Date.

If you do not have a lot of space in your dentist postcards, go for a broader size or limit the number of reviews. Some businesses include links to video testimonials- an excellent way to save space and redirect readers to other channels. 

#5 Integrate Your Dental Postcard Marketing and Online Strategies

Try integrating your offline and online marketing programs to get maximum coverage. You can use PostGrid’s direct mail services to conduct multi-channel marketing activities and monitor everything in real time. 

Dentist offices can integrate our API into their marketing CRM to launch omnichannel campaigns. Thus, they can send dental post cards and promotional emails at the same time. They might also use social media marketing, PPC ads, online banners, SEO, etc., to reach more patients. 

Try reinstating your message from one channel to another! For instance, if you send a dental lab marketing postcard to patients one day, this is what you can write in your upcoming email:

Hi Emma, 

We hope you are doing well! With Halloween on the way, we are excited to announce that we are expanding our services and adding another specialist Dr Theo to our team. 

Also, we hope you received our holiday-themed postcard with your secret offer inside in the mail yesterday! You can use the offer twice the next month before 30th November 2022. 

Also, we thank you for your support throughout your time with us.

With kind regards, 

XYZ. 

This email script is perfect for contacting existing patients after you send your dentist recall postcards to their mailing addresses. It makes them feel special and reminds them to complete the CTA (if they haven’t already). 

P.S. You can add the same QR code in your email and dentist postcards to redirect patients to an appointment booking page. This practice can further improve your chances of getting a response. 

#6 Create Urgency With Time-Critical CTAs

Your CTAs must not scream “open-ended” but must create a sense of urgency among patients. In our last example, the due date to finish the CTA was 30th November, persuading patients to save the dental office postcards and use them before the deadline. 

Your CTAs can vary according to your marketing motives. The most commonly used ones are to get your dental lab marketing postcard recipients to

  • Call your office.
  • Visit your website and fill out the contact form. 
  • Complete a survey. 
  • Drop an email. 
  • Leave a review. 
  • Book a follow-up appointment. 
  • Visit the clinic for the first time with the postcard, etc. 

Some of these CTAs in your dental post cards take patients one step closer to conversion, while others directly help you close a lead. Ensure you customise your CTAs to meet potential patients where they are and not push them unreasonably. 

Just add an upfront task to guide readers on what to do next with a date and wait for the results. 

#7 Offer Something

CTAs and offers go hand in hand because when you ask readers to do something, you should also provide some benefit in exchange. For example, you can use your dental marketing postcards to ask patients to call you in return for a complimentary cleaning session. 

Or your dentist postcards may offer 10% off a patient’s upcoming treatment. Some dentists offer family plans and discounts to encourage patients to get their family members and relatives to visit them. It is a fantastic strategy to expand their patient base without spending a lot. 

Another idea is to ask patients to book appointments through your website or app to earn redeemable points. It helps reduce your workload around appointment scheduling while pushing patients to visit you more times.

#8 Select Relevant Imagery

Your artwork consists of many things, including the layout, orientation, headline, CTA, offer, etc. But one thing you cannot miss out on is the imagery! Make your messaging pop by printing high-resolution pictures on your dental reminder postcards and make them more appealing!

Ensure you select images for your dental marketing mailers that complement your offer. For example, you can use pictures of people smiling, a person eating an apple, or a happy family. 

Or you may add before and after images to show how your services can transform people’s oral healthcare. These are only a few examples; we are sure you can find a hundred more choices for your mail items. 

#9 Cleanse Your Mailing Lists

Apart from working on the artwork and messaging for your dentist postcards, you must focus on your mailing list quality. Try segmenting your lists according to relevant geo-demographics to send tailored messages and get more engagement. 

PostGrid’s direct mail API can help you create targeted mailing lists, allowing you to initiate a mailing campaign without having the prerequisites. 

Our solutions for sending effective and impressive dental marketing postcards also verify your existing lists and update them from time to time. Thus, you can avoid getting mail returns and dealing with lost items, saving money, time, and effort!

What Are the Things You Must Avoid During Your Dental Postcards Marketing Campaign?

Here are some areas dental offices must improve during a marketing program to not risk their mailing campaign’s success:

  • Leave enough white space: We understand dentist postcards are not spacious, but you must leave adequate negative space. Otherwise, your mailers can look messy and leave a negative impression. 
  • Do not use lengthy sentences and paragraphs: Keep your postcard messaging short and sweet for readers to understand quickly. 
  • Use the backside of your dental office postcards: Many businesses use it only for the address. But you can add graphics and teasers to utilise the space efficiently.
  • Add your website link and phone number: Remember to offer your readers multiple options to connect with you. 

How Can PostGrid’s Direct Mail Solutions Help You Send Eye-Catching Dental Marketing Postcards?

Our direct mail API adds value to your marketing programs and assists you in various activities, like

  • Demand generation: Use our automated services to send dentist postcards to patients in the middle of the funnel. These people already know about your clinic but are unsure whether to visit. Try giving them a reason and getting them to walk through your doors with PostGrid!
  • Patient retention: Our print and mail services enable dentists to retain their patients and form healthy, long-term relationships. You can draft and ship appreciation letters, holiday dentist postcards, anniversary greetings, etc., to keep in touch with them and keep them coming back. 
  • Bulk mailing: Dentist offices can send dental recall cards in any volume using our API and automation software. Our per-piece, all-inclusive rates allow you to ship one or a million postcards with the same benefits. 

Sign up now to explore more features and how PostGrid assists clients launch result-bearing dental postcard marketing campaigns!

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The post Dental Postcard Marketing appeared first on PostGrid UK.



source https://www.postgrid.co.uk/dental-postcard-marketing/

Friday, December 16, 2022

Credit Union Marketing Trends

How are Credit Union Rethinking and Launch Marketing Trends in 2023?

As we slowly walk away from the two years of isolation, remote working, and lockdowns, the marketing world is changing to suit a new breed of consumers. The goal is to move away from the digital screen and embrace more direct communication.

Credit union direct mail marketing has many unique opportunities to help businesses expand their outreach. It is possible with individuals who are more likely to check their mailboxes than their inboxes.

offline marketing kpis

Adding different credit union marketing ideas into your business strategy is worth putting your efforts into the campaign. Simply because direct mail continues to lead its way on ROI and helps you generate £20 for every £1 you spend.

Well-  do not let the figures do all the talking! Many businesses will decide to embrace direct mail in the upcoming year based on the following credit union industry trends and ideas.

Let us dive in!

Automated Direct Mail for Credit Unions & Related Businesses

The same principles apply to direct mail as they do to email within your CRM. To increase engagement and build better relationships with members, you can send thank you postcards instead of email thank yous automatically sent to clients.

You can integrate platforms like PostGrid with Hubspot, Salesforce, and Active Campaign for direct mail automation or to avail the best print and direct mail services. The triggers and events you set up are delivered directly to your print and direct mail provider, based on your goals. Things like acquiring a new client or closing a loan are examples of such triggers.

Using data gathered from your website, the company sends your direct mail piece when it is most appropriate. You may consider sending a welcome postcard to your new customers and a letter explaining the next steps to those who have completed the onboarding process.

direct mail operations

Credit Union Direct Mail Marketing Trends for Better Offline Communications in 2025

Direct Mail retargeting helps you attract visitors from print to the web by sending mail items and emails to target web traffic. This way, you convert more visitors.

The Difference Between Postcards and Letters

Postcards work the best when added as credit union marketing campaigns because they do not require any opening, are easy to read, and are attention-grabbing. It is necessary, however, to include a letter in an envelope when providing account service information within a promotion.

Postcards Letters
  • Perfect for sending quick messages or getting immediate attention. 
  • Perfect for official, promotional, or even personalised messaging. 
  • Postcards are very affordable. 
  • Best for Quick deliveries. Therefore, it can be a little expensive. 
  • You can easily track and target postcards.
  • Helps build brand awareness. 
  • You can add more content for better awareness.
  • Postcards can be personalised for better impact. 
  • Letters can be personalised depending on the targeted audience. 

There are many ways to leverage your data to reach members and potential members through letters or postcards. You can expand your outreach based on the pivotal points of your customers with offers that resonate with their needs based on what you know about them.

In some cases, manual data imports may be required between the CRM and core systems such as  CRM Dynamics or PostGrid and HubSpot integrations.

Combining Email and Direct Mail for Better Outcomes: There are maintenance and disclosures to send to new members when they open savings accounts or lines of credit. Direct mail items with emails with added credit union marketing ideas contain instructions on how to pay or deposit, use the mobile app, and locate convenient locations.

Counting Omnichannel Marketing As Credit Union Marketing Trends: Omnichannel marketing for credit unions has taken the industry vertical by storm. Businesses are constantly searching for new and trendy ways to spellbound customers. As a result of interactive communication methods and enticing offers, Omnichannel marketing as a credit union industry trend creates a seamless customer experience. Now, this makes it convenient for new and loyal customers.

But how to make it more relevant with unique customer-centric credit union marketing ideas?

The role of direct mailpiece combined with digital marketing has evolved in recent years, even though it may not appear to be a prominent player. A postcard or other direct mail piece that boasts an exclusive offer is often the first point of contact for customers looking to buy. By printing QR codes or pURLs on mailers, you can direct customers to specific pages on your website, making your digital channels more visible to prospects.

By incorporating direct mail items into your omnichannel credit union marketing ideas, you can offer customers several ways to interact with your products and services. You can also refer them to another marketing channel through direct mailpiece. A piece of flat plastic and detailed instructions were mailed to customers to promote Google Partner agencies.

After following the added instructions, your customers create their holographic prisms. These holograms will direct (after a scan) your tech-savvy mobile user’s tips and instructions to use social media’s latest videos.

Transactional or Trigger-Based Mail Credit Union Direct Mail Marketing: Identify members who are about to make house or auto repair purchases using credit cards or checking accounts. For instance, personal loans are the best for those who spend a lot at home improvement stores. However, auto loans are beneficial for customers who have made large payments at auto repair shops. Here, targeting customers with a hint of personalisation can help your brand to stand out more efficiently. 

Adding Personalisation for More Efficiency: A little touch of personalisation means addressing your letters and envelope appropriately followed by sticking an address label on it. Rather than sending generic mail items in white and beige envelopes, you can add more options available. With this, it is possible to target direct mail specifically to individuals based on their interests and specific needs.

84 percent of respondents to a Forbes survey said specifically addressed direct mail is more likely to be opened. The fact that your name is read, or even a birthday offer personalised just for you rather than Homeowner, is not very surprising.

Although personalisation takes more time, changing your marketing strategy and applying a bit of creativity is all it takes.

How can you level up your credit union marketing campaigns?

You can increase engagement by using data analysis and digital printing technology. In addition to obtaining demographic information about the customers, companies observe their product preferences and key interests through data analysis and digital printing technology.

Talking about credit union marketing campaigns that include online coupons and personalised or targeted offers. Personalised direct mail items encourage the recipient to activate the coupon by feeling valued as a customer, resulting in a dramatic increase in response rate.

With direct mail- businesses are incorporating consumer-based images, colours, and layouts in addition to targeted offers and coupons. It is certainly becoming the way forward for improving the overall customer experience, even though personalisation seems futile when it comes to old-school paper mail.

Dallops of Creativity Combined with Interactivity as Credit union Marketing Trends: Even though paper-based mail items may seem old-fashioned, interactive elements have made them highly relevant to marketing teams in the modern era. Various technologies are integrated into your credit union marketing campaigns. It includes aspects like QR codes, PURLs, augmented reality, and more. Marketing teams are perhaps most interested in augmented reality (AR) right now, and with good reason.

Mail pieces can be scanned by recipients using their smartphones, triggering an online experience that would not be possible with regular mail items. According to a recent article from The Drum, adaptive reality may increase interaction rates by 20% by capturing the customer’s attention for at least 85 seconds.

However, augmented reality has more benefits than just interaction rates. When interactive components are activated for the first time, they are easy to track. Businesses can collect valuable data for their websites when recipients scan QR codes or move through digital reality.

Not only is this extra data valuable to marketing teams, but it also helps companies learn more about their customers and figure out what is working for their website and what isn’t.

However, you don’t need to get all fancy with your interactive direct mail. Even something as simple as innovative pop-ups and textures has impressive track records for boosting interaction and engagement rates. Our experts at PostGrid think combining pop-up elements, imaginative textures and components of AR all in one can help you achieve the best outcome.

Radius Mailing for Credit Union Direct Mail Marketing: When launching a postcard mailing campaign, radius marketing is a valuable tool. A mailing list is created by adding a current or loyal customer’s address, encountering and including every address within a defined radius around the address, and then sending the mailings to those addresses.

A wise business practice is to also send postcards to every customer within the same neighbourhood as their credit union marketing strategy. Using Radius Mailing or Proximity Mailing, you can build brand awareness in a specific area by marketing to those who surround your most successful clients. You can also advertise your credit union in the community that surrounds your business so they know you are near better outcomes and can offer financial assistance.

Credit Union Marketing Ideas Including Propensity Mailing:  This type of mailing list is created using audience propensities to develop a complicated list of only inquisitive consumers. The method is also known as propensity marketing or propensity modelling.

Audience propensities provide a way to identify highly interested potential buyers based on their past behaviour. You can use these selections to better understand consumers’ interests, behaviours, purchase intent, and more to determine service. It will help them to make a decision and buy your products or opt for the services to fetch better inputs from credit union marketing. 

By utilising so many advanced and combined databases, Propensity Mailing creates a model that is higher in quality compared to model lists that use a single database.

Propensity mailing helps you create an exceptionally complicated model through unique data selects that include

  • Demographics-based datasets 
  • Purchasing activities 
  • Print & Media behaviour
  • Indicators of explicit perspectives
  • Location-based data for Credit Unions

Look-alike Analysis as a Part of Your Credit Union Marketing Ideas:  It is a marketing strategy that analyzes the key characteristics of your most successful customers to find out what makes them tick. This can also be known as Look-Alike Marketing or Look-Alike Reporting.

This analysis identifies potential clients based on your most valuable customers. You can start by matching the same characteristics of consumers with the mailing list and create a Look-Alike Audience.

By availing Look-Alike Analysis, your company can reach a more likely audience. 

Life-Event Triggers for Better Credit Union Marketing Campaigns Results: In addition to lower costs and interest rates, many people choose credit unions over banks because they feel more valued when dealing with a credit union.

So, rather than making them feel undervalued, why not increase their value?

A customised postcard or letter sent on an anniversary, birthday or when the recipient becomes a first-time parent, a homeowner, or gets married can be sent to clients and prospects using life event trigger-based marketing.

In addition to being easy to obtain, personalised information can boost your response rates by 135%. Database appends (new data added to your existing database) or existing customer data can be used to generate the data.

Customised Customer Onboarding:  Your onboarding process is the first impression a new member will get of what it’s like to work with your credit union business when they sign on or come on board. Therefore, it is imperative to reach out to them in a timely fashion when they sign on or come on board to establish a more meaningful relationship.

The first impression you make with a letter is far better than an email welcome. Approximately 70% of people think that direct mail introduces them to your organisation in a more personal way than online interactions, making it a great way to welcome new members.

As soon as a new client opens an account, Direct Mail Automation will automatically send them a welcome message. Also, with platforms like PostGrid for direct mail automation, you can send unlimited welcome, thank you, and triggered messages to your prospects, new customers, and even your loyal clients. 

Unlimited Potential With PostGrid

Direct mail is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to being exciting and creative. It’s not too late to get into the direct mail business, even if you consider it an ‘old-school’ form of marketing in today’s technological landscape. 

Credit union marketing campaigns combined with digital aspects shouldn’t be forgotten throughout the process. By combining direct mail with digital marketing, you can easily maximise results and strengthen your campaign.

Throughout the year 2025 and beyond, these rapidly evolving trends will affect the way direct mail campaigns are created, printed, and delivered.

From planning to printing and fulfilment, PostGrid takes care of the whole direct mail process. When it comes to delivering your marketing mail campaign, PostGrid users get the first scoop on affordable pricing plans that save them time and money.

Let our team help you explore direct mail automation for credit union materials and get started on your effective credit union marketing strategy. Talk to us and make the most of credit union direct mail marketing to strengthen your relationship with your audience right away.

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The post Credit Union Marketing Trends appeared first on PostGrid UK.



source https://www.postgrid.co.uk/credit-union-marketing-trends/

Thursday, December 15, 2022

PO Box Address UK

PO Box Address UK: What Are Its Benefits and How to Get One?

With millions of PO boxes in the UK, Royal Mail helps individuals and businesses keep their physical locations secure and private!

return address on letter uk

But how does a PO box address work?

And why don’t people want to share their mailing addresses with others?

Royal Mail has been using PO boxes for over a century, and the purpose has changed dramatically! This blog reveals what is a PO box address and how it helps companies and individual customers receive their mail items more efficiently. 

Let us begin!

What Is a PO Box Address UK?

A PO box or Post Office box is a custom-addressed, lockable container for storing mail items. You can find it within the Post Office premises or other postal facilities. Royal Mail offers PO box services for people who want to redirect their mail elsewhere other than their actual delivery address!

A PO box address UK is different from usual postal addresses because they don’t have a street name or number. Instead, they have a PO box number that helps Royal Mail trace its location and deliver the mail pieces rightfully. 

Originally, PO boxes were a way to help people living in remote areas receive their mail which was hard because of few delivery routes. 

Today, postal services offer a UK PO box address for various purposes, including

  • Allow people and businesses to have easy-to-remember, short delivery addresses. 
  • Let them stay anonymous and keep their locations confidential. 
  • Give customers the ability to collect their mail items 24 x 7 without being home when the carrier arrives. 

Most PO box addresses enable customers to pick up the mail at any time of the day. But you must check this feature with your Post Office before purchasing the address. Some PO boxes have specific working hours and days, depending on the location. 

Carry a valid, government-issued ID to collect your mail from the PO box address and ensure your item’s safety. Royal Mail only allows the authorised customer to pick up the items. 

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Why Do You Need a PO Box Address?

There is more than one reason for using a PO box address UK for receiving mail. You already know that it hides your actual address and reroutes your mail items to another address. Here, we explain why an individual or company may need to do that:

Privacy for Home-Based Businesses

Home-based businesses struggle to maintain professionalism and showcase themselves as a legit company. They also deal with problems regarding privacy and anonymous communications. A PO box address helps them keep their residence discreet at affordable rates. 

Instead of posting their residential address all over social media and their websites, home-based businesses can use a PO box address UK to get their mail items. These types of delivery addresses also help them look authentic and reliable. 

Managing Mail Items at Large Office Premises

Some large corporations use PO box addresses to handle incoming mail better and avoid losing crucial documents. Redirecting items to a different address allows them to secure everything and reply to every letter or package whenever they get the time. 

Most call centres, solicitors, insurance agencies, etc., use PO box addresses the UK to protect their physical mailing addresses. They may also buy a PO box to avoid getting a long queue of visitors at their office daily by leaking their physical location. 

Receive Crucial Mail While Travelling Abroad

Most people who sign up for a PO box address are frequent travellers. The new delivery location helps them continue receiving mail pieces while they are away. 

The PO box services from Royal Mail help these travellers move to any destination for an unprecedented time without the fear of losing significant correspondence. 

Moving Residence

Every year, nearly 4% to 5% of the UK population moves to a different country or city. It means that people need to reroute their incoming mail items constantly. 

The Royal Mail PO box addresses enable such people to get a permanent delivery address instead of applying for an address change now and then. 

Get an Official UK Address, Irrespective of Staying Anywhere

You would be surprised to know that many PO box address owners don’t live in the UK. They reside overseas and purchase a PO box with Royal Mail to receive local and domestic mail. 

It is primarily true for international businesses that use a PO box address to establish their presence locally and build a broader customer base. PO boxes also benefit ex-pats who need a delivery address after they leave. 

Disadvantages of Using a PO Box Address Compared to Street Addresses

Now that you know why using a UK PO box address can be beneficial, let us discuss the potential cons:

Size Restrictions 

Remember that PO box addresses are for delivery of letters, postcards, documents, etc. Though some people receive parcels using PO boxes, fitting larger packages inside these containers is impossible. 

Though PO boxes are available in multiple sizes, they range from 5 x 5 to 11 x 11. Individuals and companies receiving larger packages might have difficulties because the postal services might initiate a ‘return to sender’ process. However, the carrier might leave a note inside the box asking the recipient to visit the Post Office to collect the item. 

Royal Mail does not have an extensive list of prohibited items for delivery to PO box addresses, so you must refer to the usual list. 

Perishable Goods

One of the primary features of PO box addresses UK is that the recipients do not need to attend to the mail at the earliest. They can pick up the items whenever they have time or have Royal Mail forward them to their address. Either way, it makes the delivery of perishable products hard. 

Some businesses, like food delivery companies, might block PO box addresses at checkouts. It means- a person or business cannot order food from their application or website using a PO box number. They must enter a valid, physical mailing address to complete the transaction. 

Only Royal Mail Deliveries

Most PO boxes in the UK exist within the postal service facilities and only accept mail items by Royal Mail. They might not accept deliveries from courier companies like FedEx or DTDC. 

So the carrier returns such items to the sender, resulting in several delivery failures. However, some couriers have permission to drop off mail items to the PO box address, so ensure to check such things with your Post Office beforehand. 

The carrier can call the customer directly and arrange a different drop-off place if Royal Mail prohibits deliveries from a courier company. 

How Much Do You Need to Pay for a PO Box Address?

Despite popular belief that Royal Mail offers PO box services for free, you must pay a specific amount to avail of these solutions. 

The rates depend on the type of PO box address you select and the add-on services. You have three choices:

PO Box Transfer

It is one of the most commonly-used PO box address services that Royal Mail provides to individual and commercial customers. PO box transfer allows recipients to collect their mail items from the local Post Office whenever they get the time. 

So Royal Mail stores your personal and PO box address mail together at the postal facility, waiting for you to come and collect them. 

But, there is an obvious disadvantage- you must visit the Post Office to get your personal correspondence. But the plus side is that you can direct Royal Mail whether you want to transfer your mail to the PO box for collection or not. 

You must avail of this service for at least three months, and the costs are as follows:

Duration Price
One Month (Using direct debit) £43.50
Six Months £240
Twelve Months £426

PO Box Deliver

This Royal Mail PO box address UK service is affordable and convenient because it lets you get your mail at your doorstep. If you select this option, the Post Office forwards all mail items from your PO box addresses to your residence or office address. Ensure that you fill in the correct drop-off or delivery location as the forwarding address in your application form. 

Companies or individuals that want to hide their location and don’t want to travel to collect their mail pieces can use this solution. Here are the prices:

Duration Price
One Month (Using direct debit) £38.10
Six Months £209.10
Twelve Months £378

PO Box Collect

It is yet another option that most businesses opt for, primarily during peak seasons when they get a lot of mail items. The PO box Collect service allows customers to ask the Post Office to hold their articles for as long as they need. Hence, they need not worry about rushing to their PO box addresses soon after the carrier drops an item. 

Here are the rates for the PO box Collect service:

Duration Price
One Month (Using direct debit) £36
Six Months £174
Twelve Months £300

Please remember that these services don’t dictate the type of UK PO box address you have. They only discuss the delivery methods, and you must decide the start when you fill out the application form. 

All the above services are available with advance payments, and you can save a lot by purchasing the 12-month packages. 

How to Get a PO Box Address UK?

The application and allotment process varies depending on the selected location for your PO box addresses and the forwarding address. You can find the application form online and fill out the necessary information, like

  • Your name (or company name). 
  • Desired PO box address location. 
  • Contact details. 
  • The billing address and other information. 
  • Plan and duration, etc. 

If you apply online, you can only pay using a credit or debit card. And you must upload a valid ID if you want to apply for the PO box transfer service. 

Some Post Offices also help people get a PO box address offline. So you can visit your local postal facility during working hours and enquire if you can get one at your desired location. Offline purchases can allow you to pay in cash unless you buy a monthly plan. 

Please note that your payment card and the address you use during the application of the PO box address must be linked together. Once you submit the form and make the payment, it can take between seven to ten working days for you to get your PO box functional. 

How to Ship to PO Box Addresses UK?

You are not alone if you don’t know how to send something to a PO box address in the UK. Let us compare street addresses with PO boxes for your reference:

Street address:

James Brown 

8 Aspen Close

Heswall

BOURNEMOUTH

BH12 4DF

Royal Mail PO box address example:

Olivia Burton

PO box 7416

Sandbanks

BOURNEMOUTH

BH13 7PS

Use the correct postal address for sending mail and packages, irrespective of whether you have a PO box address or a regular one. However, updating your address databases from time to time and ensuring address data quality can be time-consuming and expensive. 

If you need assistance to validate your mailing lists and want to avoid getting mail returns, use PostGrid’s address verification service. Our solutions can help you send mail to all UK addresses with a deliverability ratio of 99.99%.

Should My Business Get a PO Box Address?

Companies might have a separate mailing department to manage outgoing and incoming mail. All the mail items they receive go straight to this department, and the officials can distribute them to the concerned people later. 

But others that don’t have a mailing department can benefit from getting a PO box address because it gives them the flexibility to manage mail items better. They can select the PO box collect option so the Post Office can hold their mail, and an authorised person can collect it whenever needed.

Is Using a Virtual Mailing Address Better?

There is a broad difference between virtual and PO box addresses UK though they serve the same purpose. A virtual delivery address offers countless features, like

  • Notifying recipients whenever a carrier drops off an item in the mailbox. 
  • Give the option to get a mail preview (a scanned copy of the outer envelope or the document). 
  • Make mail shredding or discarding easier. 
  • Allow recipients to forward the items whenever required or store them for a long time. 

You can log into your account and manage your mail pieces using the virtual mailing app. 

A PO box address does not provide such advanced features because its primary purpose stops at mail collection, storage, and forwarding. 

Using PostGrid’s Address Verification Solutions to Enhance Your Database

You need a service that can validate mailing lists and let you mail confidently, primarily if your customers use PO box addresses frequently. 

PostGrid’s address verification API and software allow all companies:

  • Add missing postcodes to enrich mailing lists and avoid mail returns. 
  • Conduct fuzzy matching on all PO box addresses UK to correct swapped characters, missing spaces, capitalisation issues, etc. 
  • Modify typos and spelling errors in the mailing lists.
  • Include the correct PO box address numbers. 
  • Validate the addresses according to the Royal Mail address guidelines for speedier deliveries, etc.

One of our clients in the financial services industry was in the daunting process of moving 10,000+ paper-based entries to an online platform. They needed various address verification tools, from autocomplete to standardisation.

The motive was to filter out old and outdated data and ensure that the new system only has correct entries. 

Many records they had were PO box addresses UK that needed more attention. Thus, they turned to PostGrid’s address validation solutions to enrich their databases, eliminate duplicates, and get access to mail-ready delivery information at their fingertips. 

Two months later, they successfully adopted their new online data management system using PostGrid. They validated over 15,000 addresses within this time frame and continue using our services to cross-check PO box addresses and validate customer identities daily. 

Conclusion

You may replace your street address entirely with a PO box address or use it as an additional delivery location. People have PO boxes even though they have a valid delivery address in the UK for security reasons. Or the reason could be that they want to separate their personal and transactional mail items. 

Either way, a PO box address UK enables customers to give out their delivery addresses without fearing transpassing. 

It is primarily helpful for those individuals and companies who constantly get unwanted visitors at their addresses. 

However, you must mail to the correct PO boxes to avoid facing returns or lost items. PostGrid’s address validation solutions help businesses maintain a valid, deliverable database with PO boxes and street addresses. 

Request a demo now to see how your business can use our address verification API to validate PO box addresses and enhance your database!

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source https://www.postgrid.co.uk/po-box-address-uk/

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