Print Solutions
The Strategic Mailing Partnership, the industry body that represents mailing houses from all areas of the UK, has welcomed the latest set of Royal Mail initiatives to inspire and invigorate direct mail in 2021.
Incentives are being renewed for a further 12 months while fixed percentage discounts are being introduced to simplify the offering.
The 2020 portfolio of incentives enjoyed an impressive pick up, with 680 applications approved and £9.2 milllion accrued in credits to be offset against postage costs. These include the Open for Business and Back to Business schemes, that proved popular with companies keen to announce they were still trading or offering a change of services during lockdown.
The first incentive, Back to Business, was launched in May and gives a preferential rate for customers looking to post a minimum of 50,000 additional mail items per quarter.
The second, Back to Business Extra, first unveiled in August, is aimed at larger customers who want to send at least 2.5 million extra mail items at an even lower rate.
A number of discounts are offered for advertising mail, business mail and publishing mail. Royal Mail is also seeking to work with wholesale customers and the wider mail industry to promote growth and retention within the letters division.
A first time user discount will provide a discount for customers who have never used advertising mail or have not done so in the past two years.
The most recent data collected by JICMAIL found that during Q3 of 2020, customers engaged more with direct mail and door drops – and that digital campaigns had been improved as a result of mail being sent out.
Figures showed that on average, 8.7% of advertising mail such as door drops, direct mail and business mail drove people to advertiser websites – a year on year increase of a third. Business mail stays in the home for an average of 9.5 days, followed by 8.4 days for direct mail and 6.4 days for door drops.
The Strategic Mailing Partnership chair Judith Donovan CBE said, ‘These schemes help ensure mail remains a cost effective method of communication at this challenging time. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted trading at all levels and these incentives will go some way towards supporting businesses across the board.
‘The news that the portfolio is being extended into 2021 will come as a boost for our members as a means of generating work and to help kickstart the economy. Considering the latest JICMAIL data, this is clearly a great time to make the most of the power of mail.’
More details on the incentives available can be found on the Royal Mail website.
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