Highlights of the Lehigh Valley Postal Customer Council’s spring meeting last week included a speech from a mailing industry representative on designing mailpieces to maximize postage savings and a report by a consultant on projected mail volume trends through 2020.  Just as interesting were the informal conversations among meeting attendees, a group comprised mostly of marketing managers, advertising planners, and mailroom managers.

Two insights I took away from the meeting that may be useful to those of you considering your next marketing campaign:

• Paper is not dead! Catalogs and other forms of direct-mail advertising literature continue to drive purchasing traffic to websites. Companies that test their mailings among previous buyers find significantly higher purchasing volume in groups who receive mailed offers vs. groups who receive online offers. In fact…

• In 2010 and beyond, companies will buy more paper so that they can print more advertising literature. As a consequence, paper prices have started to rise and are expected to continue rising for a while.  Many companies are trying to get ahead of this trend by shopping worldwide for the best paper prices.

Direct mail advertising campaigns work, and companies are responding to this fact by printing – and sending – more literature. Even though mailing volumes have decreased after peaking in 2007, experts agree that we will see an upward trend over the next two years as companies send more advertising through the mail. Volumes are then expected to decrease again as consumers start to pay more bills online.  (Bills and bill payments currently make up the largest percentage of the country’s total mail volume!)

If you are planning a mailing project, make sure you’ve taken a look at our past blog articles on saving money via careful mailpiece design (for Flats, Letters, and Postcards) and mailing list maintenance (see Address Correction, Postal Endorsements, and Updating Addresses from Returned Mail).  In the coming weeks, I’ll pass on new tips and provide previews of some upcoming postal regulations. These new regulations are designed to give mailers a price break in return for helping the U.S. Postal Service process mail more efficiently.

In addition to sharing information, DataWorks is happy to help you review options for your next direct mail or fulfillment project. We help companies in the Lehigh Valley of eastern PA, and beyond, to get the most out of their mailing and fulfillment dollars. Please contact DataWorks mailing services for more information.

Tags: Direct Mail, Direct Mail and Fulfillment Services, Lehigh Valley Mail Services