Smarter Mailings: Designing to save money

Your operating funds are like gold. But so is the potential impact of a good direct mail marketing effort. As direct marketing professionals know, there are ways to avoid unnecessary expenses in a direct mail effort. Here are a few immediate tips they often share:

• If your self-mailer or booklet is not spine side down (meaning it is open at the bottom), it is subject to postal surcharges due to more difficult sorting at your postal facility. When designing mail, always design spine side down.
• Square envelopes cost more money to mail vs correctly-proportioned pieces. To learn more, contact your local USPS Postmaster with business account expertise.
• Clear, acetate envelopes also require additional postage per piece due to the hand sorting required with such pieces.
• When mailing an oversized mail piece (a flat), if it is addressed in the bottom half of the back panel, it will be exempt from any postal discounts. In this scenario, it MUST mail at First Class Rates instead.