Tag: Royal Mail

Royal Mail to run obesity campaign (UK)

Posted by | Aug 5, 2008 | |

Further to Royal Mail’s own direct mail marketing campaign, the postal provider is to deliver a direct marketing campaign for the government.

The campaign will be aimed at tackling child obesity and is thought to be worth GBP£75 million, according to Brand Republic.

Department of health figures have shown that almost one in four children of school-starting-age are overweight.

Royal Mail head of government marketing James McGruer says direct mailing will make more people aware of the problem.

A recent survey showed that direct mail was the most effective way of communicating with the public as far as the health sector goes.

Over half (52 per cent) of respondents said they used the mail to communicate all important health information, while only 24 per cent used email.

The effectiveness of any direct mailing campaign can be increased by personalising the addressing of correspondence.

Marketers should always ensure the quality of data they hold is as high as possible to ensure a campaign’s success.

Read More

Wrongly addressed mail damages brands says Veridata (UK)

Posted by | Aug 4, 2008 | |

Veridata says that mailing out millions of pieces of direct mail needs to be done responsibly and that it can be a waste of money as well as actually damage a company’s reputation by delivering to the wrong address/recipient effectively becoming an annoyance rather than a way to reach potential buyers.

Veridata, which specialises in providing data capture solutions, says that that around 10 pct of all direct mail fails to even reach its target and that 13 pct of the population move very year. With pressure on direct marketing companies to update mailing lists and reduce the volume of paper that goes to landfill, accurate databases are essential says Veridata.

The UK government has already asked the direct marketing industry to get its house in order or face sweeping measures to curb what some householders and business see as a deluge of unwanted and irrelevant sales literature, and much of the problem is down to companies using old or outdated mailing lists.

Veridata handles returned mail from marketing campaigns, extracting the contents, scanning relevant address, verifying and collating the data and then returns this information to direct marketers to provide up-to-date information which reduces waste.

‘Stop Junk Mail’, the main lobby group calling for strict limitations on junk mail, says that people can reduce the amount they get through their door by opting out. Royal Mail which is the single largest distributor of door-to-door mail does have an opt-out facility although it warns that you could lose important information distributed by local authorities and other organisations.

Read More

UK Mail Costs Priced Daily by Swedish Software

Posted by | Aug 4, 2008 | |

21grams iSort product utilises the commercial offerings from the various postal operators and optimises the mail on a day by day basis to minimise postal costs by splitting a particular day’s posting the most cost effective way between the different postal operators and tariffs available at that time.

iSort is a ‘soft’ solution that sits in the mail creation process and sorts the mail electronically into the cheapest solution before its sent to the printer. Then it simply comes off the printers and inserting machines in the correct order and is ready for the post.

iSort is already success in its home country of Sweden, and Swedish business is benefiting with optimised and cheaper mail on a day by day basis. Currently 10 pct of all Swedish mail goes through iSort customers today.

iSort beat over 100 other technical innovative products in the mail industry this year to win the Global Mail technology award in Budapest in June. As well as the Swedish and UK home markets, iSort is being released into the German and Dutch markets in 2009. There is also an international product for optimising overseas mail going to multiple overseas markets.

21Grams are currently offering free analysis of mailing lists to businesses to allow them to benchmark their costs against the various UK postal solutions and to show just how cheap post really could be using this technology. Postal discounts and cheap business mail are the order of the day for every business in the current economic climate.

Read More

Postcomm agrees Royal Mail's new retail compensation arrangements (UK)

Posted by | Aug 1, 2008 | |

Postcomm has agreed Royal Mail’s proposed changes to its retail compensation arrangements for lost, damaged and delayed mail.

The key changes, which come into effect from 1 August 2008, are:

1). For items posted with Royal Mail which have no intrinsic value (for example a 1st or 2nd class letter), or where a claimant cannot provide proof of posting, there will be compensation for loss, damage and delay of a minimum of six 1st class stamps (currently worth GBP 2.16).
2). For items that have an intrinsic value, with proof of posting with Royal Mail and proof of value (such as an invoice or receipt) customers will be entitled to a postage refund plus – compensation for actual loss up to the value of the item, or 100 1st class stamps (currently GBP 36), whichever is the lowest; compensation for delayed retail mail will become payable one day earlier than at present – three working days after the due delivery date instead of four.
3). GBP 5 and GBP 10 payments for delay and substantial delay will be discontinued, except for Special Delivery Next Day (not posted on account).
4). Redirected retail mail will now be eligible for compensation for delay; and users of the Articles for the Blind service will now be able to claim compensation for loss, damage and delay.

The new compensation arrangements simplify and align the processes for making a claim, the evidence required to support a claim, and the compensation payments themselves.

Royal Mail estimates that the new arrangements will result in a slight overall increase in the total compensation payable under the retail scheme.

Read More

Royal Mail delivers new service ‘Ask Sarah’ (UK)

Posted by | Aug 1, 2008 | |

The Royal Mail is delivering enhanced online customer service through ‘Ask Sarah’, a new intelligent web self-service system.

Powered by Transversal, Ask Sarah enables the Royal Mail’s 4.5 million monthly web visitors to receive immediate answers to their questions online, reducing the need to email or call Royal Mail.

Fully launched at the beginning of June 2008, Ask Sarah has already reduced overall email queries by 50 per cent and by 96 per cent in some areas, improving service to customers.

The number of routine calls to the contact centre have also been significantly reduced, freeing up staff to spend time answering more complex queries and increasing job satisfaction.

The Royal Mail has seen a dramatic increase in usage on its web site – rising from 3.5 million to 4.5 million monthly visitors between 2007 and 2008.

This has been driven by the increasing number of services, such as online postage, parcel tracking, redirections and redelivery now available via the site, as part of the organisation’s drive to enhance the services it provides.

With such a broad range of customers, spanning the whole population, Royal Mail needed a system that was easy to use, regardless of the visitor’s technical ability. Following extensive research, Royal Mail chose Transversal to help deliver self-service through the approachable and engaging image of ‘Sarah’, providing an immediately recognisable and reassuring figure for customers on both the business and consumer parts of the site.

Ask Sarah is integrated closely with Royal Mail’s services available via its web site. For example, daily analysis found that customers were asking Sarah questions about the delivery status of parcels.

Ask Sarah now recognises parcel tracking reference numbers and links automatically to Royal Mail’s parcel tracking system, showing customers current delivery status.

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

What's the future of the postal USO?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!



View ResultsHide Results

Post & Parcel Magazine


Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

Subscribe to the Magazine

 

Pin It on Pinterest