Posted on 12th January 2026
by Ben Crossfield
A new year often brings a familiar challenge for businesses that rely on mail. From January 2026, Royal Mail business prices increased by around 10%, putting renewed pressure on mailing budgets.
For organisations sending bulk mail, customer communications or high-volume campaigns, the instinctive reaction might be to question whether mail is still worth it. But the evidence suggests a better question is how to send mail more efficiently and more intelligently.
Independent industry research continues to demonstrate the strength of mail in the home. Latest response rate tracking shows average response rates of 7.2% for direct mail sent to existing customers, 0.9% for cold direct mail and 0.5% for door drop campaigns.¹
As inboxes become increasingly crowded, physical mail still cuts through. Engagement remains strong not only with existing customers but also with new prospects reached through well-planned direct mail and door drops.
So rather than asking “Should we stop sending mail?”, a better question is how to keep calm and send mail smarter. At Systematic, we help organisations do exactly that. Here are ten proven ways to reduce mailing costs while protecting performance and return on investment.
1. Explore door drop marketing for high-volume communications
For large-scale, more generic communications, door drop marketing can offer exceptional value. Door drops are unaddressed items such as leaflets, brochures or enclosed mail packs delivered to selected households. They can reach far more homes at a fraction of the cost of addressed mail.
Modern door drop campaigns use sophisticated profiling tools to select households based on factors such as age, income bands, lifestyle indicators and location. Because door drops target households rather than individuals, no personal data is used, making them inherently GDPR-compliant and aligned with best-practice data management.
2. Automate your in-house mailings with Systematic Clarity Connect
Printing, folding, stuffing and posting mail in-house is time-consuming, labour-intensive and often more expensive than it needs to be.
Systematic Clarity Connect is a hybrid mailing solution designed to automate your in-house mailings, removing the need for printers, franking machines, stationery stock and manual handling. It allows you to send individual or bulk letters directly from your desktop, with mail produced and dispatched on your behalf. Your mail can be printed, packed and dispatched as soon as the next working day, all you pay is a simple cost per letter, with no set-up fees, no monthly charges and no minimum volumes.
3. Explore DSA providers instead of standard tariffs
Downstream Access (DSA) providers can often offer better value than standard Royal Mail business pricing, particularly for bulk mail. Mail is collected, sorted and transported before being handed over for final delivery, which can result in meaningful savings without compromising reliability. Using the right DSA option for your volumes and formats can reduce postage costs immediately.
Systematic works across a broad, established supply network to identify the most cost-effective DSA solutions for each mailing profile.
4. Reduce volumes through better targeting
Sending more mail does not automatically deliver better results. By refining your audience and focusing on those most likely to respond, you can reduce print and postage costs while improving engagement and return on investment. Targeted campaigns frequently outperform larger, less focused ones. We help clients analyse performance and develop smarter targeting strategies so spend is focused where it delivers the greatest value.
5. Cleanse your data before you send
Mail sent to incorrect or outdated addresses is wasted budget. Data cleansing removes old addresses, duplicates and undeliverable records before anything is printed or posted. This often delivers immediate savings and improves campaign effectiveness. It also protects brand reputation and ensures communications reach the right people.
6. Review mail size, weight and format
Small changes to format can unlock significant savings. Adjusting envelope size, paper weight or insert volumes can be the difference between letter and large letter pricing. In many cases, layouts can be redesigned to stay within lower pricing thresholds without reducing impact.
This is one of the most common areas where hidden efficiencies are found.
7. Combine mailings where possible
If multiple communications are being sent to the same recipient, combining them into a single mailing can significantly reduce production and postage costs. This approach also improves customer experience by reducing mail volume while still delivering all the required information.
8. Improve address capture at source
Preventing poor data is more cost effective than fixing it later. Improving address capture and validation at the point of entry reduces future data cleansing requirements and prevents undeliverable mail from entering your systems in the first place. Over time, this leads to cleaner databases and lower ongoing mailing costs.
9. Plan mailings earlier
Last-minute mailings are rarely the most economical option. Better planning allows access to more cost-effective services, smoother production schedules and fewer rush charges or reprints. It also opens up more flexibility across formats, suppliers and delivery methods. Systematic works closely with clients to build realistic mailing plans that balance speed with cost efficiency.
10. Increase your ROI by standing out on the doormat
Letter volumes may have declined, but this presents an opportunity rather than a problem. People still make time to open their mail and there is now far less competition for attention. Even if mailing costs rise, improving response rates can more than compensate, delivering stronger overall return on investment. Making first impressions count is critical.
Improving how mail is noticed, read, saved and shared is both an art and a science. At Systematic and our design agency oodle, we apply a clear methodology focused on look, feel and format. Look matters because visuals work fast. Design must reflect your brand while instantly engaging the reader and clearly answering their unspoken questions: So what? Who cares? What’s in it for me?
Feel and format matter because paper choice, size, texture and construction all influence how your message is perceived. These tactile decisions help differentiate your communication while also affecting weight and postage costs. The aim is to strike the right balance between quality, impact and efficiency.
When creative thinking is aligned with production expertise and postal knowledge, even small changes can significantly improve response rates and that is where true ROI is won.
Royal Mail price increases may be outside your control, but how you respond to them is not. Mail continues to cut through crowded digital inboxes, start conversations and reinforce engagement in ways other channels often struggle to achieve. The key is planning it properly.
With decades of experience, deep technical knowledge and a trusted supply network, Systematic helps organisations send mail more efficiently, more creatively and more effectively.
If you are planning a mailing and want to be confident you are achieving the best possible value, performance and return on investment, speak to Systematic before you send.
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