11 Tips For Scheduling An Efficient Mail Campaign

By Craig Simpson

  1. Complete your sales piece copy and design before scheduling your mail date. You don't ever want to be in the position where you must rush to meet a printing deadline. That's when costly errors in the copy and critical design flaws can creep in. It's better to have the sales piece completely finished and ready to go to the printer before you plan your mail date.
  2. You also want to make sure you select the printer, mailing facility, and computer bureau you will use prior to selecting the mail date. In order to get the best price, request competitive quotes from two or three different vendors. Knowing which vendors you are going to use and knowing that you are getting the best price will give you peace of mind as your mail date approaches. Scrambling at the last minute rarely brings the best results!
  3. Plan ahead with your list broker, and make sure your broker is aware of your mailing schedule. You'll want your broker to make several list recommendations, and the more time you allow for the process, the more research he or she will be able to do. Provide your broker with a copy of the sales piece you are sending and if possible, a copy of the product you are selling. By doing these things you will help your broker recommend the best lists for you.
  4. Now that your sales piece copy and design are finished; you've chosen your printer, mailing facility, and computer bureau; and you've asked your broker to provide some list recommendations, it's time to select your mail date. If you are mailing standard mail, I'd recommend mailing on a Friday. Assuming most of your mail is delivered on time, your prospects should receive your sales piece on Thursday or Friday the following week. At the end of the week, people normally receive less mail, which means your sales piece has a better chance of being read. (Note: Standard mail can take up to 15 days for delivery, but most of the mail should be delivered within 6 or 7 days.)
  5. After you've selected your mail date, you can go ahead and place your list orders. I normally plan for the mail to drop three to four weeks from the time I place the list orders, although this can vary depending on the number of names being mailed. If you're only sending to a few thousand names, you probably can get the mail out in a week or two; but if you are mailing a million pieces, you'll most likely need three to four weeks to complete all the necessary preparations.
  6. When placing your list orders, assign each list an order number, OR you can use the broker's order number. Give the computer bureau the order number and list selection. This will help them identify which lists they've received and whether any are missing. You'll want the computer bureau to give you an update every day so that you and your broker can keep an eye on which lists have come in.
  7. Once all the lists are in, I HIGHLY recommend having the computer bureau run a merge purge. Any time you are mailing over 30,000 names, the postage you save will likely recoup the cost of running the merge purge. In addition to the merge purge, it's essential that you have the computer bureau run the mail file against the "Do Not Mail List." You'll also want to remove people from the mail list who are "Deceased" or in "Prison." Mailing to any of these categories is a waste of money. You can also get credit for these names - see #11.
  8. Now that the mail file is clean, it's ready to be sent to the mailing facility. If you're dealing with a large printer, most likely they have a mail facility in-house. You'll want the mailing facility to "Presort" the mail file. Presorting your mail file into groups by Zip Codes will save the Post Office time, and they will give you a discount for doing some of the work for them. If your mailing is large enough, you can ship it directly to the Post Office BMC's (Bulk Mail Centers) and save even more on postage costs.
  9. When the mail file is ready to be injected on your sales piece, ask the mailing facility to fax/e-mail you a sample of how the ink-jetted Name and Address are going to appear. You'll want to make sure it looks exactly the way you want it, and that it appears in the correct place on the sales material. If it's printed in the wrong place or the font is hard to read, your mailing response rate could be lowered.
  10. A mail campaign is not complete without submitting verification for discounts. You always want to get as many discounts as possible since it affects your profit potential on the mailing. If you are using a computer bureau, ask them for a "Broker Report" (they may call it something different). A Broker Report is basically a report for the list broker that shows how many names you should be billed for, for each list. This report will show how many names on the list were bad Zip Codes, Intro Dups (duplicate names within a list), deceased names, etc. All these discounts can add up. You'll need to work with your list broker and computer bureau to create a report that works for everyone.
  11. Once the mail has been delivered to the Post Office, make sure you ask for a copy of the Form 3602. This form verifies the exact number of pieces you mailed and should be signed by a Post Office employee. You will also want to make sure the form has the Post Office date stamp for the day you wanted your mail to enter the mail stream. This verification will inform you whether or not the mailing facility mailed the correct number of pieces.

About the author:

Craig Simpson is a freelance Direct Mail Consultant. He's mailed over 100,000,000 sales pieces and coordinated hundreds of mail campaigns. You can reach him at: 541-761-8644 or craig@simpson-direct.com. © 2009.