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Hybrid mail
Hybrid Mail, Print and Mail Services

6 reasons to use hybrid mail whilst businesses are locked down

With COVID-19 effectively putting the UK on an unprecedented lockdown, businesses have been preparing themselves to maintain business as usual.

Our print-2-mail hybrid mail solution services are providing much-needed support to businesses whose employees are working from home but still need to print and mail important customer letters and transactional documents.Hybrid mail

Why now?

The coronavirus is forcing many to work from home.

The problem is how do businesses continue to maintain contact with their employees and customers?

Companies who choose our Print-2-Mail service do so because it significantly reduces their costs while optimising key staff who create critical business documents, uploading them on to the Print-2-Mail portal saving time and worry.

After the recession in 2008, companies were forced to look for cheaper mailing alternatives.

And although there was a big swing toward electronic communications, companies needed an alternative for mailing smaller volumes of letters.

Businesses continue to mail out letters.

Hybrid mailThe running costs of managing the process in-house makes it expensive. It is one of the first areas a company looks at when streamlining its printing requirements.

Automating the process of print and mailing offers companies the flexibility to send paper communications alongside digital.

Hybrid mail is ideal for emergency and ad hoc customer mailings including payslips, invoices, statements, remittances, newsletters and marketing.

Hybrid mail is the perfect back up solution for your everyday needs.

Businesses have greater flexibility to upload letters at any time of the day.

The current stay-at-home measures from the government afford access to our hybrid mail portal by key employees which mean businesses can continue to mail out important letters.Hybrid Mail

What are the 6 key benefits:-

  1. No installation is required (you will need to download a print driver) A username, password and an internet connection are all that is required to upload documents directly from your desktop and you can be up and running in a matter of minutes.
  2. With no setup charges or licensing fees, hybrid mail can save upwards of  30% on office print and mailing costs. Hybrid mail costs less than a 2nd class stamp and includes the paper, envelope, printing folding, inserting and posting
  3. Ease of use – Hybrid mail is simple to use there are four easy steps create the documents in word and hybrid mail does the rest.
  4. Hybrid mail is ideal for companies that have branches located across the country. Departments can access specific documents and templates which means there is complete control over what is sent out and by whom.
  5. Documents that are uploaded by 4 pm on a working day are printed and mailed the same day this means you don’t have to panic about that forgotten mailing. Hybrid mail does the rest.
  6. Hybrid mail allows you to store any number of document templates, you also benefit from postcode validation, user and department spending caps, custom signatures and document archiving for future reference.

The important thing to consider with hybrid mail is that no matter the size of the organisation or how many documents you send out a day you WILL benefit from our hybrid mail solution.

Hybrid mail is a 21st-century mailing solution designed to take care of those ad hoc letters – whether it is an accountancy business, a firm of solicitors, a dental practice, a fitness company or an organisation that sends most information electronically but still has residual letters and bills to send out, hybrid mail is a cost-effective alternative to printing in-house.

For more information click here

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Print and Mail Services

Print, digital media and the environment. Dispelling the myths of print and paper.

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Can we have the paperless office?

What’s wrong with print and paper?

I was challenged recently by a customer who suggested that sending information electronically rather than using printed media is more socially responsible and better for the environment.

When I quizzed him on his understanding of how paper is produced, it’s overall contribution to our lives in general and that trying to eliminate paper entirely from an organisation whilst might be considered eco-friendly to the outside world is actually misleading and detrimental to the paper manufacturing and print industry.

There are many myths and misconceptions that print, paper, direct mail, newspapers and just about any other paper based product is having a knock on affect on the environment.

Ask yourself this question –

When was the last time you read a sales email from start to finish before you then hit the delete button?

How many unsolicited emails do you get VS direct mail pieces?

How do you react to receiving a highly personalised direct mail piece, so well targeted you’d almost think it’s been produced especially for you as opposed to an unpersonalised unsolicited email?

Paper and electronic/digital can co-exist in our world and can synchronise very well indeed, thank you! The paper less office has been talked about since I entered the print industry, over twenty years now.

Customers think they want a fully integrated electronic solution that communicates with the customer by eliminating the need for sending anything that is paper.

Why?

Because there is the long held belief that electronic communication is more environmentally friendly than print and paper and will save an organisation time and money.

Go paperless, don’t print this email, go green are common strap lines we’ve become accustomed to with organisations, corporations and utility companies perpetuating the myth that by communicating electronically they are saving money and helping the environment.

But organisations who relentlessly support a paperless project or goal do so without understanding all the facts and in my experience without really understanding why they are doing it.

There is no consultation with their customer, no preferences are provided, in other words they ‘tell’ the customer they are phasing out or removing paper bills and migrating to electronic methods of communication without asking the permission of their customer or at least asking them to opt in to the idea, which is better for them – paper or electronic.

  1. Electronic waste is now the fastest growing component of the municipal waste stream
  2. The amount of electronic products discarded globally is 20-50 million tonnes every year
  3. Across Europe, e-waste is increasing at 3-5% per annum, three times faster than the waste stream (Source: Greenpeace – The e-waste problem, 2013)

Print and paper is wood based, a natural and renewable resource with over 70% of print and paper being recycled in europe for reuse.

print, paper and electronci

Paper is a natural and renewable resource. Over 70% of print and paper is recycled in Europe for reuse. It is NOT a wasteful product.

Newspapers, magazines, leaflets, even car show rooms insist they no longer have a hard copy brochure available and are using cost and the environment as the perfect excuse. These messages brand paper as an unsustainable commodity and unnecessary in the every day scheme of things.

Fact – Paper is made from renewable resources, recyclable and produced by and environmentally conscious industry whose future is dependent on planting more trees than it consumes.

Fact – Forestry, paper and packaging are among the most sustainable industries in existence

Fact – Paper is based on wood, as young trees grow they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Paper as a wood product continues to store carbon through its lifetime. A well managed forest, used and re-planted, absorbs more carbon dioxide than a mature forest consisting of older trees.

Fact – The paper industry has certification schemes ensuring the paper you use has come from a sustainable forest source. There are 30 schemes in place, the two most prominent and audit-able certifications are the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) which provides a global standard for forest management including environmental, social and economic well being of the forest communities and ecosystems. The PEFC (Programme for the endorsement of forest certification) is a certified tracking mechanism designed to ensure that from forest to final product the wood and wood fibre can be traced back to certified forests.

Fact – Paper production is not a cause of deforestation world wide

Fact – European forests are 30% larger than in 1950

Fact – The annual increase of forest cover in Europe is equivalent to 1.5 million football pitches

Fact – The european recycling rates for paper reached 72% in 2012, the highest ever recorded

Fact – Between 1990 – 2010, 870 million tonnes of CO2 have been removed by european forests equivalent to 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions (source: MCPFE, state of europe’s forests 2011)

Fact – 90% of deforestation is caused by unsustainable agricultural practices

(Source:www.twosides.info)

There you have it a quick synopsis of why paper should not be discounted when considering a move to electronic methods of communication with your customer.

Moreover it is fool hardy to brush aside paper as if it’s no longer an essential commodity?

Picture the paperless toilet!

paperless toilet

Mum where’s the loo paper gone?

Paper and electronic means of communicating can co-habit but rather than asking which is better, paper or electronic, users need to be re-educated into thinking what mode of communication best serves the customers interests and how can the two work together to deliver the right result?

As for my customer, he scratched his head and said “perhaps we need to think through our so called paper reduction strategy some more?”.

What do you think? Has paper had it’s day?

Are you still using paper in your offices?

Do you operate a paperless office but realistically still have paper on your desk?

Please do share your thoughts with us.

If you have achieved your ideal of going paperless or paper is still a very important part of your business let us know and we will write you up as a case study.

If you want more information about dispelling the myths of paper and print head over to www.twosides.info

 

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Accounts Automation, Automated Proof of Delivery, Document Management, Managing Print Costs, Outsourcing, Print Management

Automated Proof of Delivery – Systems Software

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Automated proof of delivery systems and software

This week I am focussing on the benefits that can be derived from having an automated Proof Of Delivery process.

Doing so will lower your costs, increase efficiency, and improve customer service.

Is this your business?

Still, relying on paper documents coming back to your depot to validate delivery of your goods?
Orders taken at your customers’ premises are they being fed back to the customer service team as fast as you’d like?

Automated proof of delivery - software and systems

Does this represent your proof of delivery process?

Automating the Proof of Delivery process removes the risks associated with manual paper handling of delivery notes through to the invoicing.

  •  Manual processing is expensive, tedious, and slow, and of course susceptible to human error.
  • Staff costs are increased as the time spent resolving customer queries reduces the team’s time spent servicing your customers.
  • P.O.D.’s are easily lost leading to a delay in payment or claims against you for lost goods and the potential loss of a valued customer.
  • There is no functionality in place to provide live financial management reporting.

What happens when you automate the Proof of Delivery Process?

Proof of Delivery Solutions and Systems scalable, modular, and affordable.

Any automation should in theory improve the speed of a business process. Automating your proof of delivery removes the following manual tasks:-

  1. By removing the printing and scanning of the delivery notes
  2. Manually capturing data from the document and keying into the finance system for invoicing
  3. Physical distribution of documentation across the organisation
  4. Storage, archiving and retrieval costs are reduced
  5. Query management and resolution substantially reduced

What are the benefits of automating the Proof Of Delivery Process?

  1. Improved efficiency and compliance
  2. Improved customer service with the team focused on the customers rather than “fire-fighting” queries
  3. Provides full tracking and auditing at each stage
  4. Consistent cash flow as the time taken to capture and integrate data into the finance system is reduced minimising customer queries and time wasted on disputes.
  5. Cost savings by reducing expenditure on staff needed to manually process delivery notes. Staff no longer have to be engaged in repetitive tasks and can be re-deployed into other areas of the business
  6. Confirmation that the products have been delivered assists with any disputes or queries that might arise
  7. Job sheet files are centralised and structured and are easily retrievable from any computer on the network
  8. Management reporting provides an accurate measurement of the automated POD process within the organisation

Case Study

4 full-time administration staff @ £15,000 per annum were spending 100% of their time keying data from delivery notes into the finance system this equated to £60,000 total cost to the business per annum.

20 depot staff totaling £15,000 per annum spent 5% of their time every day either scanning, faxing, or posting delivery notes to head office for input into the finance system which was costing the business £15,000 per annum.

The Financial Controller @ £55,000 per annum was spending 25% of his time collating data for management reporting and accounts at a total cost of £13,750 per annum.

Automation reduced the staffing level to one person overseeing the process and delivered a total saving of £88,750 per annum for the business.

How does it work?

By capturing and allocating the data contained within the delivery notes that arrive from the depots and drivers. Data uploading is automatic and is deposited in the relevant business system. The documents are then digitised for storage and can then be retrieved if required at a later date.

The integrity of the data that is added to the system is validated and identifies any exceptions this then provides detailed reporting for KPI’s and SLA’s.

Ultimately automation reduces the time to manually keying data from proof of delivery notes, reduces customer queries and disputes, and gives your organisation a tangible and measurable ROI.

Document Management Solutions.

For more information on how to improve your Proof of Delivery process drop your details in the form below and one of our advisors will call you for an informal chat.

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Accounts Receivable, Finance Printing, Hybrid Mail, Managing Print Costs, Outsourcing, Print and Mail Services

How to save time and money outsourcing your debt collection letters

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Unless you’ve been hiding under a stone for the last four years you don’t need to be reminded that the UK along with the rest of Europe is in the midst of one of the gravest economic crisis.

How British Companies survive and make it to the holy land metaphorically speaking remains to be determined but there are still a number of cost saving initiatives companies should consider as a means of saving money and reducing debtor days.

Outsourcing your cash collection process can add a vital component to a company’s armoury particularly where the SME is concerned.

How can this work for an organisation struggling to manage and chase their debtors?

Case Study

DCA provide credit management and debt recovery services for many companies that outsource their debt collection requirements.

The service includes outward bound and inward bound calls from a call centre acting on behalf of its clients supported by the printing, mailing and electronic delivery of personalised collection letters to debtors.

The DCA’s growth has resulted in a rapid expansion of their operations to provide services to Companies across the UK, ROI and Europe. The task of producing personalised letters for the companies they represent became too time consuming, cost prohibitive and less efficient in-house.

Efficiency was critical to the speed at which they collect outstanding debt and to maintain the printing of letters in-house would have involved capital purchases of larger printers, employee time and additional I.T resources.

The service the DCA required was a daily production, personalisation, fulfilment and mailing of anywhere between 500 to 12,000 letters.

Working closely with the DCA, Digital Print Management provided three solutions that embraced both printed and electronic letters to be personalised and mailed.

The Print and Mail Solution

Data is sent daily and contains identifiers to determine which files are required to be printed and mailed out and those that are to be electronically emailed. Flags within their data identifies the letter templates to be used, stationery types, envelopes and inserts that are required.

The DCA’s requirements include the use of five different base stock types – letterheads, bank giro credits and envelopes, BRE’s (Business Reply Envelopes) and up to 100 different letter content templates.

Printing is undertaken using high speed laser printers and identification of multiple page documents is done via the use of OMR marks that are printed enabling inserting machines to ensure the correct documents are presented in the right order within the envelopes.

The Electronic Solution

Electronic credit and collections provides an efficient and cost effective alternative to the more traditional collection processes involved in collecting delinquent payments.

Collections are challenging for AR departments and when debts move into the collection process incur additional expenses such as print, postage, payment negotiation and higher interest fees due to days sales outstanding. (DSO)

Electronic notices emailed into customer inboxes reach customers quickly enabling them to pay by clicking on a link that takes them to a payment page without the need to visit a web site.

The benefits of electronic delivery include:-

  • Costs are reduced because it is an efficient way of reaching delinquent customers
  • Shortens the payment cycle by reducing the number of customers falling into the credit and collection cycle by sending automatic reminders
  • Improved cash flow
The Print-2-Mail Solution
As the service has evolved, the DCA continually strive to provide exceptional customer service by providing outstanding debt recovery and credit management services. The company has added to its portfolio of clients resulting in the requirement for a print and mail service for those customers they work with on an ad-hoc as well as retention basis.
Using Digital Print Management’s Print-2-Mail desktop service fulfils this need as data files containing collection letters for the various companies they manage are uploaded daily, printed and despatched, saving postage, processing and mailing costs. In turn they are then able to pass on these savings to their clients. 
The DCA’s View

The unique business relationship that exists between the DCA and Digital Print Management means that the only in-house requirement is to ensure that data is generated daily and in a timely manner to ensure there are no delays.

There has been significant savings on postage, stationery, staff resources and no further capital investment on additional equipment.

Staff who were previously involved in the debt collection process have now been re-deployed into the business to focus on core competencies allowing Digital Print Management to handle the task of distribution of their debt collection letters.

 If you want to find out how you can transform your debt collection mailings but not sure where to start then leave your details here and one of advisors will call you back.

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Print and Mail Services

How to transform your mailings using Hybrid Mail

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Mailing solutions from your desktop designed to save you time and money!

It seems that direct mail is making a bit of a come back actually paper is making a come back; did it ever go away?

I’d like to go out on a limb here and state that people are probably getting fed up having their inboxes full with unsolicted emails from companies, individuals selling their services, expertise and skills from how to improve your SEO to how you must have the latest business management training and techniques.

Direct mail prospect opening rates have increased from 88% to 91% since 2006 and email acquisition open rates have fallen from 21% to 11% since 2007. (DMA)

In 2010 an average of 91% of prospect direct mail was opened including 96% for personal banking and 95% for stores mail. (Ebiquity Rapport 2010) Open rates for acquisition email 11% (DMA)

Social media and email campaigns are reducing marketers ROI “marketers are failing to maximise user engagement and the ROI of their social media and email campaigns by mis-timing the day and hours of their general release”(YesMail) The companies in this study included Banana Republic, Gap, Diesel, Abercrombie & Fitch and their social media activity was tracked over a three month period on facebook, twitter and YouTube.

If they cant get it right what hope for the rest of us?

SME’s are challenged with trying to attribute resources, time and money to fulfil a worthwhile social media campaign that generates enquiries for their business.

Is it psychological?

Organisations are becoming weary of sending email newsletters and are changing tactic by sending hard copy newsworthy items in the post.

There’s a tangible colourful product in your hand that you can glance through on the way to making a cup of coffee; theres also a sense of well being reading the written word rather than picking your way through an email and of course you can read it anywhere on the train, office, home and in the garden.

Increase in this type of activity is largely attributed to better targeting for example the percentage of mail where customers took action has increased from 4% in 2004 to 5% in 2010. (Royal Mail Consumer Panel 2010)

Enter hybrid mail. A combination of printing and posting as a bundled service. By combining mailings for lots of customers and by optimising downstream access, mailings just got a whole lot cheaper and easier to manage.

Using print-2-mail and effective personalisation can have a dramatic effect on your ROI – that is, good direct mail used in conjunction with intelligent e-commerce.

If you want to find out more about how to transform your mailings but not sure where to start then leave your details here and one of advisors will call you back.

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How to save money with hybrid mail. From desktop to doormat.

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Invoices, statements, customer letters, Quick mailings, Debt letters, Holiday Greetings, Bill subscriptions. Hybrid Mail delivers the lot at less than the cost of a second class stamp.

Hybrid mail

Most organisations have an ongoing requirement for mailing out customer letters, mailshots, invoices and statements.

I bet you still have a number of customers that absolutely insist on wanting a paper document.

Those few letters a month to process take time and effort so who is going to do the job?

The never-ending postal increases mean that companies have to be smart and inventive when it comes to mailing customer letters.

E-billing, e-mailshots and paper documents are hierarchical depending on importance.

There are specific documents like legislative financial documents that are required to be processed as paper, or customers who request paper documents only.

Many businesses have an ongoing mailing requirement no matter how small which requires an in-house print and mail solution.

Our desktop mailing solution

Using Digital Print Management’s Print-2-Mail service mailing letters is a whole lot easier!

How?

Print-2-mail helps you retain control of mailing out letters to your customers. You decide when to upload and choose a mailing date. Instead of using your local print driver, you upload to our portal via a print driver.

It’s cheap, it’s quick and easy to use.

Why use hybrid mail?

Hybrid mail is a combination of printing and posting as a bundled service, combining small mailings for lots of customers and by optimising cheaper postage such as DSA (Downstream Access)mailings are cheaper and easier to manage.

How do I save money?

Hybrid mail

  • Increased staff productivity – staff no longer have to load and manage printers or stuff envelopes.
  • Reduced postage costs – we sort your mail, consolidate it so you benefit from significant postal discounts.
  • Reduced in-house equipment costs – general office printer usage goes down, cost of consumables is reduced because you are not using so much.
  • Reduced stationery and consumable costs.
  • Reduced paper wastage – using our postal validation system you can amend missing or incorrect addresses by downloading an address database of your customer mailing and ensure your customer database address details is up to date.
  • Pay as you go – with no setup or licence fee or software installation, print-2-mail enables you to send letters quickly and conveniently in the UK and Europe
  • Improved customer interaction – because the process is so quick and easy to use, your customers will benefit from your latest news; invoices will be printed when you need them
  • 1st and 2nd class mailing options are available and where letters exceed 15 pages they will go into a C4 envelope.

How do I manage what is being mailed?

The Print-2-mail shop is easy to use.
At each step, you can see what it costs and decide on printing in colour or black and white and then choose your postal service.
It manages documents that have variable pages and inserts.
Do you have customers that receive one page and others that have more than one? Print-2-Mail identifies those pages and manages the process seamlessly.
From your dashboard, you can manage users and set budget levels including setting up user permissions and monitor your print and mail spend.

How does print-2-mail work for your business?

Print-2-mail enables you to process your documents in a matter of minutes. We manage any type of mailing from mailshots, debt collection letters, emergency letter mailings, invoices, statements and general communication letters.

Aside from the obvious cost savings on print, fulfilment and postage, there are the invisible cost savings of energy, equipment, stationery and consumables.

It, couldn’t be simpler. If you want to see the benefits of our print-2-mail solution then request a demo now by contacting us or calling on 01234-271156.

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  3. 3 Ways to Reduce Postage Costs
  4. How to transform your mailings using Hybrid Mail
  5. Hybrid mail solutions. How to mail out your letters on a budget!
Print and Mail Services

How to benefit from print and mailing services

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Postage charges increased last April 2012 with a 1st class stamp costing 60p and a second class stamp 50p. In spite of these increases, many businesses mail out a constant stream of marketing letters, invoices, direct mail and obligatory customer letters and printing mailing services have never seemed more expensive.

How to benefit from print and mailing services

If your company or organisation cannot reclaim VAT, your postage costs can only go one way and that is UP.

Businesses that rely on bulk mailings and use the royal mail’s bulk mailing services such as mailsort, presstream, walksort, cleanmail, packetpost, advertising mail, sustainable mail and standard tariff will have experienced rising mailing costs.

Irrespective of escalating postage and mailing costs there are a number of measures that an organisation can undertake to ensure the cost of print and mailing is kept at a reasonable cost level.

How?

By optimising all or some of the following.

Multi-channel distribution 

Multi-channel distribution of business documents – your data file is broken down into those letters that are required to be printed and mailed, electronically sent or documents that need to be printed and then returned to a head office or delivered to regional offices all from one data file. Providing you with a complete printing and mailing service.

How can this work for my business? How to benefit from print and mailing services

Working with a mailing solutions partner who will advise you what the alternatives are and provide guidance on the best method to ensure your mailing is a success.

Whether it is getting those invoices out to your customers on time or a direct mail piece, a print and mailing solutions provider will take your data file containing names and addresses, extract the letters that are required to be printed and mailed, electronically send documents to those recipients and return those documents that are required to be internally distributed back to head office and regional locations.

To find out how to choose the right mailing solutions provider click here

How to benefit from print and mailing services

DSA 

DSA is the term used to describe mail which has been collected and distributed by a competitor of the Royal Mail but is delivered into the Royal Mail centres for final processing onto local offices. The cost savings per envelope depending on weight can be substantial saving companies as much as 0.24p per envelope.

Electronic

Not quite as straightforward to get your customers to accept the fact that you will be communicating with them solely via email and not every one of your customers will want to receive an electronic bill, statement or letter for all sorts of different reasons but as long as you follow the process I’ve outlined here you can see your postage costs reduce substantially.

Beware, your customer’s perception may be a negative one.

If you are wanting to drive your mailing costs down by moving to an electronic system of sending out your documents you need to be aware that some customers will view that you have effectively passed the costs of processing and in many cases, printing to your customer.

If they don’t have an effective accounts payable/invoice processing system then there is the manual processing of your document at the customers end resulting in additional work.

Aside from the print and mailing solutions there are also known desktop mailing solutions.

How does this work?

Easy really if you click here there’s more information on how the system can help you reduce your mailing costs or click here to find out how mailing on a budget can make a difference to your organisation.

Finally…

Avoid the use of C4 envelopes

Avoid having to use 1st class Royal Mail

Maximise your discounts by using downstream access mailing

Use a hybrid mail solution like the one described above.

For more information on hybrid mailing solutions click here

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Hybrid Mail, Managing Print Costs, Print and Mail Services

Hybrid mail solutions. How to mail out your letters on a budget!

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From PC to Post – Print and Mailing Solutions made easier.

With the privatisation of the Royal Mail in October and the volume of letters delivered over the past five years in decline by 25% and expected to keep going down between 7-8% year on year postal services are on the decline.

The use of electronic methods of communication are on the increase and letter volumes are spiralling downward.

By 2015 it is estimated that the Royal Mail will have lost 40% of its business. (Hooper Report)

Postal trays are empty and the bulk of mail is carried by email servers.

What does the future hold for companies that still have a need to post out obligatory letters and forms or a few letters they might want to send out each week or month?

Although paper usage is declining paper isn’t going anywhere.

Whilst I have one foot firmly in the paper and the other in the paperless/electronic camp the fact is paper remains a recyclable, renewable and reusable substrate.

Recognised as the 7th largest industry in the UK, print provides a positive and meaningful purpose and retains a notable place in our business and domestic lives.

If you want to be able to continue to mail out customer letters there has to be a more cost effective viable mailing alternative!

Hybrid mail solutions

Are a unique online mail management solution for all your letter printing and mailing requirements.

How does it work?

When you generate a letter in-house you need five things, a PC, a printer, an envelope, paper and a way of posting out your letters i.e. a stamp or by franking the envelope.

Hybrid mail takes away the hassle of the above as the only two elements needed are a PC and internet access.

The envelope, paper, printing equipment and the distribution are managed at a secure remote location and the process is completed for less than the cost of a second class stamp depending on whether you are printing in colour or single/double sided print.

It’s like having your own print and mailing services company a click away and it can manage any letter an organisation sends out from an insurance renewal policy, customer marketing letters, post cards in fact any customer interfacing document you regularly send out to your customers.

Hybrid mail will save time, reduce postal costs and minimise your carbon footprint.

How does the mailing solution work?

Hybrid mail services allows you to enter your mailing requirements via a website.

It is an online interface enabling you to upload letter files using pre-determined templates. You can upload your document in word format (.doc, .pdf, .rtf) personalise it by adding logos and key marketing messages, change the layout, proof each step of the way and then the rest is done by the hybrid mail provider.

By taking word documents or PDF’s a mail merge is performed using your uploaded data and letter they are then printed and posted for less than the cost of a stamp.

With no contract or minimum order restrictions this makes the perfect mailing solution for small to large companies.

Hybrid mail offers a great way to reduce your in-house print and mailing costs because right from the press of a button you will know exactly what the mailing will cost. There are no extra costs and no hidden extras.

Is it eco-friendly?

Yes. Using large volume printers which are more efficient and using paper bought from sustainable sources means save money because it reduces paper, printer and toner cartridge usage.

Businesses can expect to make impressive savings with no upfront costs required.

A PC or laptop, a file of names and addresses and the letter or letters you wish to send are all that is required to be up and running!

It couldn’t be simpler!

Our print-2-mail service is easy to use and free to set up. Call us for a demonstration

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Finance Printing, Hybrid Mail, Invoice Processing, Managing Print Costs, Print and Mail Services

6 ways to reduce your invoice printing costs

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Invoice processing and printing

Even if you still need to send out paper-based invoices there are still some things you can do to save money and reduce time when it comes to your invoice printing.

Aside from the physical printing of your invoices, there are other ancillary costs that are associated with the invoice printing process such as the toner, other consumables, paper, time taken by staff and the cost of postage. E-billing is slowly replacing the paper-based bill but even if you are in the throes of making that conversion not all of your customers will be willing to comply with receiving your e-bill.

I am assuming that you are not sending an email with a .pdf bill attached that is not e-billing, that is sending a .pdf as an attachment.

Here is a quick overview of how to save money when you print and process your customer invoices.

1. Batch invoices for one company into a single envelope

It’s surprising the number of organisations that send out single invoices for each transaction rather than consolidating customers invoices into one envelope. This in itself can give you greater reductions in postage costs. Moreover, the customer won’t thank you if they receive 10 envelopes when one will do.

If this is a manual process then unfortunately it will take time to ensure that your customer invoices are matched and inserted into the envelope. You can automate the entire process by outsourcing the print and mailing process altogether. Click here to find out how.

2. Change the size of the envelope you use for posting out your documents

This seems obvious but surprisingly many companies use a standard DL size envelope and end up having to send out 3-4 envelopes to the same customer. This can cause another issue when the customer receives envelope 3 but envelopes 1 and 2 arrive later due to the inconsistent delivery of the Royal Mail.

Changing from a DL size envelope to a C5 (this is half the size of an A4 sheet of paper) will enable you to insert at least 15 A4 folded sheets comfortably. The importance here is making sure that you match the right documents for the same customer into the envelope as discussed above.

3. Postage discounts are available from the Royal Mail and via DSA (downstream access)

If you can pre-sort your mail internally and according to the mail providers criteria postage discounts could be anything from between 10% – 40% per envelope which represents a big saving on the bottom line. If you outsource the process then it’s possible to gain greater discounts using Downstream Access.

DSA is mail that has been collected and distributed by a competitor but is delivered to Royal Mail mail centres for final processing onto local delivery offices ready for delivery.

4. Invalid or incorrect addresses 

Invoice printing

Invoice printing

A sure-fire way to end up having a steady flow of undeliverable invoices is having incomplete or incorrect address details. An accounts system that is regularly maintained and administered will reduce the number of returned or undelivered envelopes. Additionally, an incomplete address will not qualify for pre-sortation discounts.

Make sure that your envelopes have a return address on the flap so that the Royal Mail can forward those items that weren’t delivered back to you.

5. Encourage the uptake of an electronic bill instead of a paper version

More and more companies are making it easier for their customers to sign up for e-billing. It is one of the single most effective ways of reducing costs and administration associated with print and mailing of invoices and statements!

6.White Space Management

Often overlooked but in simple terms use your paper invoice to highlight company news, offer discounts, promote a new product or service using the white space to print targeted marketing messages is cheap advertising, after all, you’re printing the invoice use up the white space and be specific.

Even if it’s telling your customers to find you on social media it’s a great way to remind your customers that aside from paying your bill you also provide other services.

If you want to target a particular audience with a personalised message; you’ve already paid for the paper, the envelope and the postage why not use the invoice and personalise it with relevant marketing messages.

Mailing solutions

Invoice printing can easily be outsourced and there are a number of mailing solutions including print-2-mail

All of the above takes time, costs money and is fairly labour intensive automating the process is a consideration and the days of cost benefits associated with high volume billing runs are long gone.

Even if you send out a few hundred bills a month there are some cost advantages to be had.

If you want to discuss some or any of the above please call us and we will advise you as to the best solution to suit your budget and your business needs.

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General

Digital Print Management – New Website

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The new Digital Print Management website went live in May 2011.

Whilst the corporate logo and colours remain the same the new site is designed to be informative and thought provoking for visitors by helping them understand the maze that is print outsourcing and by removing the myth that outsourcing can be costly, that it is flexible and will save time!

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