Take it from the experts, direct mail isn't rocket science, but it does take timing, precision and the right information. Below are some tips to help you improve your mailing results. First Class versus Standard Class If you can afford the extra postage, First class is the way to go. It gets delivered faster than standard class, which can take weeks to get to destinations, and it's far more reliable—less likely to get lost. Also, First class is a good list cleaner because undelivered mail is returned to you at no extra charge (standard mail is discarded unless you've requested returns, which you have to pay extra for). Metering versus indicia printing Probably the least exciting yet most important item on the letter is the postage, or more importantly, the postage appearance. Many people (consciously or subconsciously) simply use that to determine whether to open a letter or toss it as junk mail. We all know that if a mailing piece has that "cheapo" preprinted postage indicia at the top, chances are it's junk mail. On the other hand, if there's a real stamp OR a red postage meter imprint, people tend to believe it's an important piece of correspondence and open it. So regardless if you are doing a First class or Standard class mailing, we suggest going with a meter imprint, which costs surprisingly little to add. CASS can clean up your addresses and save big bucks This step is very easy and inexpensive and can end up saving enough postage to pay for itself. This process fixes badly formatted addresses, corrects bad zip codes and adds Zip+4/barcode data so you can qualify for bigger postage discounts. For a modest size mailing, the difference between automation (bar-coded) and non-automation mail can be hundreds or even thousands of dollars in postage. Use window envelopes If you do personalized mailings with matching personalized envelopes, the costs can be fairly high. A more economical approach, which yields nearly the same results, is to use a window envelope so the personalized address on your letter shows through. You save money on the envelope addressing, as well as being able to machine-insert the job, without having to worry about matching. Plan your delivery dates for midweek It's a fact that mail is more likely to be opened, read and acted upon if it is received on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. So if your piece shows up on a Monday (people tend to be busier or in bad moods on Mondays) or Friday (mail tends to get put aside or lost as people look forward to the weekend) you run the risk of your piece getting ignored or discarded. Timing is everything. Unfortunately, you can't plan delivery dates if you use Standard class. Personalize your mailings Personalization definitely works. Do you look more favorably on correspondence that is addressed to you personally (dear Mr. Smith or Dear Joe) rather than "Dear valued customer"? Hey, if I'm such a valued customer, then how come they don't even know my name? Remove duplicates Besides wasting postage, there's nothing more embarrassing than a company sending out two, three or more pieces to the SAME person. After all, would you want to do business with a company who is that sloppy? Laser printing vs. offset Many mailers use offset-printed letters. Then the laser shop has to try and match the font and drop the name in so it looks consistent with the letter body. Why bother? All you need is your blank letterhead paper. The laser printer can drop the entire letter along with name and address information at the same time and for no additional cost. The result is perfectly matched fonts and text locations. Under certain circumstances, we also can print the entire letter with logos, signatures, text, graphics, etc. on plain paper in one laser print run. For short print runs, we can even do full-color letters right on plain paper.