Tag: Royal Mail

UK Competition in Delivery

Posted by | Apr 17, 2008 | |

Postcomm is seeking views on potential barriers to competition in delivery, the so-called ‘final mile’ in the UK postal sector.

As part of the regulator’s forward work plan it is assessing the potential benefits of delivery competition, particularly in ensuring a healthy universal service and supporting a range of reliable, innovative and efficient postal services, including a universal service reflecting the needs of users, valued by customers, and delivered through a successful Royal Mail and a sustainable competitive market.

While competition through access agreements has developed quickly since Royal Mail negotiated the first such agreement in 2004, competition in delivery has actually declined for the last two years.

Postcomm has already identified a number of possible barriers, and the regulator is seeking views on new and emerging issues affecting the growth of competition in delivery.

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Campaign Effectiveness study

Posted by | Apr 16, 2008 | |

Campaign Effectiveness

While the typical item of Direct Mail achieves a 1%-5% level of response, there is a huge range of different rates achieved.

Royal Mail recently commissioned research to identity common characteristics of successful (and unsuccessful) campaigns.

Methodology

Quadrangle was commissioned to undertake this research among a broad base of advertisers.

Screening criteria

Responsible for organising at least one direct mail campaign in the last 12 months
Aware of the response rate you have achieved in percentage terms from your most recent campaigns
Mixture of B2B and B2C campaigns
Base

80 online interviews – 160 campaigns
239 telephone interviews – 446 campaigns

Key Insights

While the typical item of Direct Mail achieves a 1%-5% level of response, there is a huge range of different rates achieved. The most commonly achieved response rate for B2C campaigns is 3%; for B2B campaigns it is 1%.

Successful B2C mailings are particularly likely to have utilised a customer database. Evidence suggests that bought-in lists are more effective in the B2B arena than B2C. For both B2B and B2C campaigns, campaigns with “strong” database quality achieve levels of response that are c. 50% above norm.

Creativity is key to campaign success. Mailings with strong creativity generate over twice the average level of response. Those with weak creativity achieve response rates that are around a third of the average. This holds true for both B2C and B2B mailings.

Amount spent per mailing is less critical than creativity, but there is nonetheless a link between low levels of investment and low response. B2B campaigns with an investment of less than 60p per item perform particularly poorly.

Campaigns that have “strong” integration with other brand activity deliver response rates that are 60%+ above norm for both B2C and B2B campaigns.

B2C campaigns sent via Mailsort 1 achieve a level of response that is 70% above norm.

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Royal Mail reveals secrets to Direct Mail success (UK)

Posted by | Apr 16, 2008 | |

Companies can increase the success of their direct mail activity by at least 50 per cent by following a five-point plan.

That’s according to the Royal Mail on the back of an in-depth study of more than 600 mail campaigns.

The research, carried out by Quadrangle on behalf of Royal Mail, revealed that around 30 per cent of business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) campaigns pull in response rates of between one and five per cent and a further 30 per cent between five and 20 per cent.

The top performing campaigns – 14 per cent for B2C and 15 per cent for B2B – achieved responses of between 20 and 75 per cent.

The study also unveiled the five most important ingredients to boosting campaign success.

Quality data. Campaigns centred around quality data achieve response rates that are 50 per cent higher than average. Successful B2C mailings are particularly likely to have utilised a customer database while bought in lists are more effective for B2B campaigns.

Integration. Campaigns that have a strong integration with other brand activity deliver response rates of 60 per cent plus above the norm. This reinforces Royal Mail’s recent research which revealed integrating direct mail with digital activity can increase consumer spend by 25 per cent.

Creativity. Campaigns with a strong creative angle generate over twice the average level of response. Less creative mailings underperform by a third.

Cutting costs cuts response. Direct mail campaigns with an investment of less than 60p per item are the worst performing.

Finally the Royal Mail advises that, Logistics make a difference. Campaigns sent via Royal Mail’s Mailsort 1 – a next day delivery service – consistently achieve a 70 per cent uplift.

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Royal Mail to present its case on quality of service failings at open meeting (UK)

Posted by | Apr 15, 2008 | |

Postcomm will hold an open meeting on 14 May at which Royal Mail will present its case on the reasons for its quality of service failures in the past year.

In June 2007, Postcomm agreed Royal Mail’s request to suspend – until the end of its current financial year – the payment of compensation to bulk mail customers, and to ensure that the company is not subject to a downward adjustment to its allowed revenues (known as the ‘C factor’), where industrial action has taken place and quality of service figures have dropped.

Postcomm agreed to the request because it wished to ensure that Royal Mail was not discouraged from taking the steps needed to modernise its business – such modernisation would be to the benefit of all mail users.

The regulator’s agreement to these suspensions was subject to it convening an open meeting at which Royal Mail would present the main points in its application. For it to be satisfied, Postcomm expects Royal Mail to be able to demonstrate that the industrial action arose as a result of carrying out its transformation plans and not for some other reason, and had a direct causal link to quality of service failures.

Major stakeholders in the postal market have been invited and offered the opportunity to ask any questions they have with regard to Royal Mail’s application; this will help ensure the regulator has appropriately considered the views of all interested parties before it makes its decision.

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Privatise Royal Mail and BBC, says report (UK)

Posted by | Apr 15, 2008 | |

The Royal Mail, Channel 4, BBC Worldwide, Scottish Water, Northern Ireland Water, Glas Cymru and the national air traffic control system should all be privatised, while government stakes in British Energy and the nuclear industry should be sold off.

That’s the main recommendation of a report by the Adam Smith Institute, which reckons the sales would raise around GBP 20bn for the government. The report ‘Privatization – reviving the momentum’ said the sales would be timely, given the state of the economy and the “increasing tightness” of public finances.

As well as financial benefits, the privatisations would boost investment, lower prices and give greater choice and better services to customers, as well as underpinning billions of pounds worth of economic activity.

The report’s author Nigel Hawkins said: “Privatisation in the UK remains unfinished business. The task for government, of whatever colour, should be to complete it and to reap the many benefits – including proceeds of some GBP 20bn.”

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