Design a functional form, and your client might use it for years. Design an effective direct mail package, and it might be replaced in a few months. Distributors who sell direct mail know the market is centered on results and return rates. Therefore, customers constantly test new versions of direct mail packages--even if they have successful mail pieces.
One of Print Technologies & Services Inc.'s customers mails glitzy lottery solicitation packages. While the client relies on a tried-and-true control package, it also mails four or five new test packages each month. The packages strive to attract recipients with color and action devices such as scratch-off panels. "There's always a new test package in the works," says Len Mauceli, CEO of the Carol Stream, Ill.-based distributorship. "If we aren't testing continuously, we aren't doing our job for customers."
When test packages receive better responses than control packages, they become the reigning "king of the mail." One of Print Technologies & Services' customers is a training company that mailed 4-page letters and fliers in #10 envelopes to businesses and consumers to market its educational seminars. "We were never able to beat that package," says John Sculley, the distributorship's management supervisor. "Then we finally beat it with a self-mailer."
In the past year, the training company switched to a trifold mailer on 70# offset paper. The 2-color, 25 3/4 x 11-inch sheet is folded and mailed flat. "Instead of a #10 envelope coming across the recipient's desk, it's an 8 1/2 x 11-inch piece of mail," Sculley says. The training company mails between 250,000 and 450,000 a month, depending on the number of seminars it offers. Sculley says the self-mailer is more cost-effective, more flexible and allows for more personalization than the former direct mail package.
Focus on results. The primary purpose of a direct mail package is to get recipients to act--join an association, donate money, sign up for a class, etc. Clients constantly seek higher response rates. To achieve better results, however, customers may have to pay more for innovative packages. For example, when the training company opted for an oversized flat mailing, its postal costs increased. Other elements that might improve responses, such as larger or new mailing lists and 4-color pieces, also increase costs. You might have to justify extra costs until customers see results.
Make sure it's functional. "Don't design a wonderful-looking piece that's not practical to produce or mail," says John Sculley, management supervisor at Print Technologies & Services Inc., a distributorship in Carol Stream, Ill. Before you design a direct mail package, consider the customer's budget and goals. Some customers, such as those in lottery solicitation, may opt for high-end features, including scratch-offs, metallic inks, inserted game pieces and more. But other customers, such as non-profit organizations, probably rely on more modest packages. "Sooner or later, it boils down to the cost-effectiveness of the piece," Sculley says.
Fix the list. According to Sculley, the mailing list is the most important component of direct mail. To ensure that packages are delivered correctly, Print Technologies & Services reviews, cleans up and prepares mail lists for customers. This includes removing bad and duplicate addresses, processing the list through CASS-certified software (Coding Accuracy Support System) and splitting the list for test versions.
Every three months, General Motors orders 24 million to 36 million 6-color envelopes with poly windows.
It's a simple product: A 13-pt. tag with a reinforced hole and a 12-inch, 26-gauge wire. But it drives the production process in the automotive industry. Automakers and parts suppliers rely on these in-process tags to track assembly.
Tags aren't glamorous, admits Al Thomas, "but they're critical to ensuring the quality of manufacturing." Thomas, president of distributorship Forms and Label Systems in Grand Rapids, Mich., sells millions of single and manifold tags annually to suppliers and "The Big Three"--Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. Most are used for quality and inventory control.
For example, a mirror supplier orders various color-coded tags from Thomas to track production. All of the 13-pt., wired tags are printed on one side in black ink. The first is a green, in-process tag, which the company attaches to mirrors during assembly. At various points on the assembly line, a quality-control employee checks each mirror and signs each tag, indicating the mirror is OK.
If there's a problem with the mirror, such as a cracked part, the quality-control employee replaces the in-process tag with a red reject tag. Mirrors with reject tags head to another part of the assembly line, where employees determine if they can be fixed. Those that can be fixed are given a blue finesse tag, repaired and sent back to the assembly line. Those with irreparable damage are thrown away.
In addition to the in-process, reject and finesse tags, Thomas also supplies "first-off" and "last-off" inspection tags. Suppliers rely on these tags, with range in color, at the start and end of production shifts. An employee signs the first-off tag, attesting to the quality of the first mirror produced on the shift. Similarly, an employee signs the last-off tag, stating that the last mirror produced on the shift meets the same quality standards as the first one.
Thanks to Futek Forms, Tags and Labels Inc., Neenah, Wis., for assistance.
Susan Keen Flynn, a freelance writer based in Cleveland, is a frequent contributor to Print Solutions. Email us your comments at editors@printsolutionsmag.com.
Target the right people. You may not want to pitch a tag application to purchasing departments, data processing departments or company managers. Al Thomas, president of distributorship Forms and Label Systems in Grand Rapids, Mich., has met with oblivious prospects who said, "What are tags?" He recommends contacting tag users, particularly in the manufacturing industry. Two good contacts include materials managers and quality-control managers.
Ask about the environment. Many tags are constructed of coated or uncoated 10- to 13-pt. stock. While a 13-pt. tag is suitable for marking a product on an assembly line or in a warehouse, it might not work for a product stored outside or one that contacts a wash solution during assembly. Depending on the environment, tags may need special constructions or stocks, such as vinyl or Tyvek®.
Know that tag opportunities abound. "There are a lot of distributors that walk away from tag business because they're focusing on the forms side," Thomas says. He has called on automotive suppliers that buy blank tags, print thermal transfer labels with necessary information and place them onto tags. He tells companies, "I can eliminate a labor-intensive, costly step with custom tags."
End users rely on tags for a variety of applications, including product identification. This 10-pt. tag used for vehicle identification includes a 3/16-inch, metal-eyelet key tag that's used as a claim check. Courtesy of Special Service Partners, Neenah, Wis.
