Author: Archive

Minister for Communications, Marine & Natural resources, Noel Dempsey, has tabled plans to introduce some form of standard postcodes by 2008. Recommendations due soon from the National Postcode Project Board (NPPB) are expected to set out the format of the proposed codes which are being designed to improve efficiencies in sorting mail, and are also seen as facilitating the entry of new players into the Irish postal market if it is liberalised in the future.

Lynch is aiming to publicise bespoke address management software called Quick Address-Pro from Experian subsidiary QAS. He belives the nature of Irish postal communications — whereby companies often use a separate address from their ‘official’ one — could cause mayhem during the changeover expected next year.

“When postcodes are introduced in Ireland, a standardised postal address will be provided to every building in the state. However in Ireland, many people tend to use a ‘preferred’ address rather than their official address, particularly where it is perceived to have an impact on property values. While postcoding should deliver a more efficient mail service by establishing a national standardised address system, its immediate introduction may lead to confusion and delays in matching a customer’s previous or preferred address to their new standardised address,” he explained.

Experian is pushing its Quick Address-Pro package as a solution as it is designed to overcome this problem by taking an address and comparing it against a GeoDirectory file, jointly developed by An Post, the Ordnance Survey and Experian’s own PostAim data. The file should return both the official postal address and the ‘resident preferred’ address.

James Kennedy is a director of CRM Ireland which offers consultancy on customer relationship management (CRM) software. Speaking with ENN, Kennedy said the possible introduction of postcodes was a “massive opportunity” for software makers and vendors who specialise in customer contact solutions.

Research released by An Post shows that households with internet access are the heaviest senders and receivers of mail in Ireland.

A total of 61pc of households that regularly send mail have internet access, and of those that send the heaviest volumes, six or more items each week, 64pc have internet access.
The findings are part of a survey on over 600 households’ daily experience of correspondence sent and received, and direct mail. The research was carried out by tns mrbi on behalf of An Post, and participants were questioned about their access to the internet and email, frequency and quantity of mail received and sent, methods of posting and destination of sent mail.

In terms of households that receive addressed mail – which was practically all of them, 59pc have internet access, with that figure rising to 74pc for households that receive more than six items per week. The survey showed that those with access to email are also heavier receivers of addressed mail, with 58pc of households that receive six or more items a week having access.

With regard to social-economic class, ABC1s are the heaviest receivers of both addressed and unaddressed mail. 47 per cent of households that receive six or more addressed items a week are ABC1s, as are the same percentage of those receiving four or more unaddressed items per week.

Over one third of all addressed mail now contains some marketing content, and, of direct mail, 86 per cent is read by the recipient, with over a third kept for future reference.

Liam Sheehan, An Post director of sales and marketing, said, “The survey shows there is a direct connection between internet access and sending and receiving mail – those with access do more of both, which is perhaps surprising given the common perception that use of the internet and email discourages use of the postal system. A challenge for the industry is the finding that just over half of direct mail was described as relevant, but its potential as a powerful marketing communications tool is evident from the amount that is kept for future reference.”