You’ll have heard the headlines about stamps, specifically the 30p increase in the cost of standard first class stamps from 7th October 2024. That’s a 22% increase, taking their price to an eye-watering £1.65.

Royal Mail cite “very real and urgent” challenges, associated with their legal obligation to deliver the Universal Service six days a week. However, this pressure need not be felt by your mailing projects. We’ve got three hacks to ensure that your organisation continues to embrace this compelling, tangible and personal way to communicate with your key contacts.

Hack 1 – Get your mailing service right

Move over stamps, Business Mail is the name of this game. There is a range of services available to businesses, that offer efficiencies beyond stamps or even franked mail.

A business mail or bulk service from Royal Mail offers discounts based on mail volumes, address accuracy, and sorting. Even if this doesn’t characterise the approach of your business, you can coordinate your mailing campaigns through providers such as Systematic, and benefit from our economies of scale, as we simultaneously print, fulfil and dispatch all kinds of direct mail items, for many clients. Your letters may all be on the same theme, or they could include variable elements, in terms of written content or inserts in the envelope.

You can access economies of scale even if you send one letter at a time, as part of Systematic Mail Management. This service is taking the pressure of people, printers and franking machines in organisations across the UK. With the support of our automated mailing system, you can simply create letters from the comfort of your own desk, then leave the rest to us. If your data is received before 5pm, your letters can even be issued on the next working day. Our automated mailing system has no set-up cost, no ongoing monthly fees and no minimum order quantity! You simply pay an efficient cost per letter as you access high levels of automation and notable savings in postal rates, compared to stamped or franked post.

There are other ways that business mailing rates can reduce even further:

• We can bring a downstream access provider, (DSA for short), into the process. These are providers like Citipost and Whistl, who take ownership of the initial mailing processes before integrating with the Royal Mail system, for delivery by familiar ‘posties’.
• If your mailing project involves sharing a generic message with a list of recipients, with the goal of promoting a product or service, or support of a cause, it may meet the criteria for Advertising Mail. This tariff attracts lower unit rates for postage.

Hack 2 – Discover door drop marketing

Door drop mailing campaigns could be a way to get your brand through the same letterboxes, for a fraction of the cost of a stamp. Door drop marketing is the name for unaddressed mail, which may vary in form from a leaflet, to an item in an envelope, or even a brochure. This tactic works best if you are looking to reach out to new contacts that have common characteristics. You can seize this opportunity to send information to a range of households, beyond any database you have!

These campaigns were often associated with just postcode segmentation, yet sophisticated profiling software goes well beyond this. It’s possible target a combination of household categories based on their likelihood of matching the criteria of your target audience, such as age, income ranges and location.

A final piece of good news on this theme, door drops use no personal data as you target households rather than individuals, so it is inherently GDPR compliant.

Hack 3 – Increase your return on investment

Stand out from the crowds

You’ll have undoubtedly come across statements like “the volume of letters being posted has plummeted in recent years”. Data indicates that the average household now receives four letters per week, compared with 14 about two decades ago. In our minds, this creates an opportunity. You could argue that people still allocate time in their busy routines to open and engage with their mail, and there is now less competition on doormats across the country. Even if your investment in mailing campaign increases, if you improve response rates, you will increase your ROI.

Make first impressions matter

Boosting the metrics around how your mailed item is saved and shared is a science. Across Systematic and our design agency oodle, don’t worry, we have a methodology to apply. You need to consider the look, feel and format of the approach:

1. Look – In design, you need to clearly and consistently reflect your brand, to build on existing familiarity with the recipient. Eye-catching is the name of the game, visuals need to be clear and compelling, we make split-second judgments about whether we engage with messages in all formats. It needs to be clear about why and how the reader should engage with you. We often critique a campaign with a phrase in our mind, “so what, who cares, what’s in it for me”. It’s what the recipient may be thinking. We are all self-absorbed to some level, we need to be. If you want your contact to do something differently, you need to give them a good reason to take an action that wasn’t on their agenda.
2. Feel and format – Thought needs to go into the materials that will communicate your message. The tactic taken will depend on the specifics of your campaign, yet the shape, size and paper chosen will shape this tactile means of communicating, defining what is its key point of difference. The specification of the mailed item will also determine its weight, which may impact on the mailing rate, so cost efficient choices, that balance quality and efficiency, need to be made.

Have we given you a few ideas? As businesses seek to improve operational efficiencies, stamp price increases need not feel like a hit to the bottom line. Reach out for some ideas tailored to your needs.