At Herald Chase, we’ve been working with Housing Associations for a number of years, assisting them with their mailing requirements and helping obtain the best postal rates available, amongst other things. We understand the focus in the public sector is demanding; there are cuts in resources and budgets, whilst we appreciate there is still need to communicate.
From regular newsletter mailings to rent statements & tenants and leaseholders communications, we’ve handled the full spectrum of comms typically broadcast by Housing Associations over the years, all whilst maintaining brand guidelines and with the utmost attention to detail.
The mailings we send for the Housing Association’s we work with are often confidential, and as such the highest possible standards are delivered when it comes to data protection and sensitivity.
So rather than just give our side of the story and what we do for our clients, we thought we’d sit down with one of our longstanding and valued customers to get an insight into their experience of working with Herald Chase.
The below interview was recently conducted with a client we’ve worked closely with for a number of years and we enjoy a great working relationship. We asked them to be as honest about us as possible.. eek!
Find out what they had to say below:
What does you organisation do?
We are a not for profit housing association. We own and manage over 7000 properties. We provide landlord and property and estate maintenance services as well as , develop new properties, and we invest in the local community.
What is your role within the organisation?
I am the Communications and Marketing Manager.
My role is to look after all the communication both internally in the organisation and externally to our customers, prospective customers and stakeholders. I am responsible for all the on-line, digital and direct marketing communication.
How do you manage the communication workload?
An important aspect to managing workload is the relationships I have with my team, colleagues in the organisation and third party suppliers.
It is working with companies like Herald Chase, who understand the requirements of the job and our service levels required. We in turn provide realistic timings and briefings to tasks and share the communication to all involved, so all those involved appreciate the stages in a project.
How have you found the service of your mailing house
We have a very good relationship with our mailing house. They are proactive, and have excellent quality control. Our mailing house have overseen some very complicated and intricate campaigns, that we have previously been done in-house. They are good communicators, responsive and very helpful.
In turn, I’d like to think we give good detailed instructions and clear guidelines and discussed what we want to achieve. We can always discuss our objectives and ideas and work with Herald Chase to find the best, most efficient and cost effective mailing plan that is achievable.
We have dealt with our mailing house for over 10 years now and recommend them to peers.
What could they do to improve?
As we we are in touch regularly there is very little they could do to improve their service.
The price is always a consideration and they are competitive as they specialise in the mailing service and work with other third parties where needed.
Our relationship is tried and tested, with their experience; they have guided us on the most cost effective way to do mailings. Postage is obviously considerable cost and they use the data to send it in the most cost effective way, some options are very size sensitive so it makes sense to include them in at an early stage to ensure campaigns are done in the most cost effective way.
One area which we have addressed is the communication between suppliers. Our mailing house have ensured that the supply chain communicate with each other and we try and make all aware of the timings involved from the original job spec.
Data security and compliance is also a very important consideration for us and Herald Chase have provided their GDPR statements and policies and work to GDPR requirements.
From your experience what other points or tips do you think would help other organisations
Whilst we are on a digital transformation journey and recognise the benefits of digital transactions and information for customer service and to reduce our usage of printed material, a personalised letter still has a significant part in the mix of how we communicate.
There are times when a personalised delivered letter is a great way to communicate directly with customers.
Ensuring we provide information to customers in a range of ways they can access is essential, and direct mail is still a useful tool in the mix – having a reliable printer and mailing house to fulfil this in a cost effective way is a great resource.
With direct mail, you know the property is there for certain, whereas email addresses and mobiles can quickly be changed or go out of date, property addresses do not. .
Thanks for taking the time to read this blog piece, if you need any further info or would like to discuss your direct mail requirements, feel free to contact us on the office number: 0118 474 888 or email us at: enquiries@heraldchase.com
