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Quick tips on reducing the amount of unwanted mail you send by Accutips.com

You can reduce direct mail postage and printing costs, and save some trees along the way, simply by making a few changes to the way you package your direct mail campaigns and by making a worthwhile investment in data hygiene.

Here are some quick tips that can help:

Software company saves money, reduces wastes, and improves customer relations

A few years ago, a large software firm in Portland, Oregon, identified the oldest 16,000 names on one of its mailing lists. The firm decided to hire two temps at $10/hour for two months each to try to clean up this segment of its records.

The temps first sorted and printed names by location. This simple act revealed that sometimes 100 to 200 names would all be at the same business address, for example.

The response to, and result of, the cleanup attempt was positive, not just for the software firm but for the companies receiving its mailings. Mail room managers in the customer companies were pleased to receive a single list of contacts (sorted by the temps) from the software firm, allowing them to quickly cross off the names of anyone who had moved or left in their company, thus saving them time and effort in dealing with misdirected mail pieces in the future.

After two months of work by the temps, the software firm learned that 12,000 of the 16,000 names and addresses reviewed were incorrect. The effort cost $6,928. In just one year, it saved the firm nearly $14,000 in printing, postage and handling costs. It also prevented 3,225 pounds of waste, thus helping the environment at the same time.

Guaranteeing return postage cleans up a database

One company labels all direct mail as “Return Postage Guaranteed” and buys return postage for Standard Class mailings that are returned as undeliverable. The company also maintains a system for deleting those undeliverables from the database (as well as undeliverable First-Class mail), and has consolidated what used to be several separate mailing lists into one computer database. This allows the company to more selectively target its audience for different mailings, resulting in less waste.

Opt-out messaging saves money, targets more effectively

An office supply company in Illinois has reduced waste simply by changing the way it allows customers to opt out of its catalog mailings. Just above the mailing label on the back of its catalog, there is a little box that reads “MODIFY” and offers these four check-off boxes:

Change as shown

Remove individual from list

Remove company from list

Individual left company

The customer can check off one of these boxes, then send the information and mailing label to the office supply firm at a special address. A toll-free fax number is also provided if the customer wants to send their request via fax.

Data hygiene service saves cable company thousands

A cable company had a database of 243,752 non-cable subscribers that included disconnects and “nevers.” The company identified many of its addresses as outdated due to continuing industry consolidation and the absence of a strict in-house data hygiene program.

By determining which records were incorrect or invalid and removing them from the database, the company could enjoy a significant improvement in deliverability to non-subscribers, as well as a huge reduction in printing, postage and mail shop costs.

Database consultants were called upon to provide a comprehensive data hygiene service and match the USPS file of deliverable addresses against the client’s data.

The process allowed the consultants to identify and report the following valuable information: address errors in the primary or secondary fields, seasonal addresses, vacant households, businesses in residential areas, and addresses deemed 100% deliverable.

An AccuData strategist then reviewed the report with the client and determined the optimal mailing plan. Upon approval of the recommendations, the deliverable mailing addresses were put into an electronic file and forwarded to the client’s mailing house. Those records deemed non-mailable were returned to the client, along with specific recommendations on how to correct them.

The outcome was tremendous. Of the 243,752 records, 67,000 were determined to be undeliverable. The Address Accuracy service cost the client $700, yet the company realized $9,000 in savings on this specific direct mail campaign alone.

Sources: Harding Lawson Associates, Portland, Oregon; The National Waste Prevention Coalition; AccuData America. Compiled by Kaerrie Simons.