Tag: Royal Mail

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.

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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.

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Royal Mail promotes media portfolio through new campaign

Posted by | Jul 31, 2008 | |

Royal Mail is highlighting its expertise and comprehensive suite of products which can assist and add value to marketing propositions through a new direct mail campaign.

The activity is designed to heighten awareness of Royal Mail’s wide range of DM campaign solutions including off-the-shelf creative products and industry-leading audience targeting solutions to an audience of 14,000 marketing campaign implementers and media agency staff.

The mail pack, which will also have a dual function as a ‘leave behind’ for Royal Mail’s sales team, is designed as a ‘DM seedbox’. The variety of products and services are covered in a set of ‘seed booklets’ to ‘help you grow your own direct mail’, aligned around the central proposition that Royal Mail’s media portfolio provides the media and advertising industry with ‘a DM resource like no other’.

Over the past twelve months alone, Royal Mail has constantly worked to innovate the direct mail medium and make it work more effectively for brands. New service introductions have included Personalised Integrated Media, developed with Sony DADC, which fuses digital with direct to create a truly individualised branded CD mailing, and Sensory Mail, created in conjunction with BRANDSense, to create standout mailing campaigns which engage all five of the senses, with further innovations coming soon.

The direct mail activity, which has been created by Meteorite, is being supported by adverts in marketing publications.

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Brown to head Postcomm (UK)

Posted by | Jul 30, 2008 | |

Postcomm has appointed Tim Brown as Chief Executive, replacing Sarah Chambers.
Brown will replace Chambers when she leaves in September after her four-year secondment from Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) to Postcomm comes to an end. Brown will also become a Postcomm commissioner.
Brown joined Postcomm at the beginning of 2008 as director of market development, having worked previously at DHL Express UK and Royal Mail.
Postcomm chairman Nigel Stapleton says: Tim’s extensive experience of the sector, gained at Royal Mail and in the wider competitive market, will be invaluable as we work towards establishing a new regulatory framework that will secure the universal service and provide more choice for all mail users and providers.
Chambers joined the postal regulator in 2004 from the Department of Trade & Industry, where she headed the automotive unit. She replaced Martin Stanley.

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Royal Mail’s performance is slipping (UK)

Posted by | Jul 30, 2008 | |

Postwatch commissioned Ipsos MORI to establish whether customers perceived Royal Mail service had improved, stood still or declined over the past two years.
The results showed that 43 per cent thought it was worse, 42 per cent believed it was the same and only 14 per cent that it was better.
Millie Banerjee, Chair of Postwatch, commenting on the results said: “It is not surprising that the vast majority of customers believe Royal Mail’s performance was either getting worse or was standing still during a two year period which included major disruption caused by industrial action.
“Many deliveries are made later in the day than they used to be. Some customers will consider this to be a worse service even if on average during the two years more 1st class mail was delivered next day than previously. It is important that customer perception is dealt with alongside the hard figures of Royal Mail’s performance.
“Adam Crozier has acknowledged that Royal Mail needs to become more customer-focused. It certainly needs to engage with customers to show it really does care about every item of mail arriving safely and on time. It needs to start to talk up mail as a product. These findings should give Royal Mail food for thought. Royal Mail must both be and be seen to be confident, customer-focused and efficient. Gloomy statements about the poor state of the postal industry damage customer confidence and perceptions and do nothing to improve Royal Mail’s position.”
Ipsos MORI conducted the survey by telephone using random digit dialling from the 2 to 6 July 2008. A representative sample of 2036 adults, across all age and socio-economic groups in England, Scotland and Wales were asked for their opinions.

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