Hybrid Mail… What’s all the fuss about?

If you send mail on a regular basis, be it business or personal, chances are you may have heard of Hybrid Mail. For those that haven’t, a quick ‘google search’ offers up the below definition:

Hybrid mail is mail that is delivered using a combination of electronic and physical delivery. Usually, it involves digital data being transformed into physical letter items at distributed print centres located as close as possible to the final delivery addresses.

Seems pretty straight forward thus far… A variation on the traditional method, it’s essentially a way for you to send your letters/bulk mail electronically to your hybrid mail partner, who then print, enclose and post on your behalf.

So now we’re up to speed on the process, what are the benefits?

There are a number of reasons many customers are now choosing to integrate hybrid mail into their daily operations:

• Firstly, and perhaps most appealing, are the significant cost reductions on their mailings. Estimates vary depending on a number of factors, but you can see a saving of at least 30% on your existing mail costs, simply by integrating hybrid mail into your current operation.
• Hybrid mail costs less than a 2^nd class stamp including paper, envelope, print and post. Yes, that’s LESS than 56p per item!
• Other than simply downloading a print driver onto your desktop, the installation process is completely hassle free. Customers are then able to send documents via hybrid mail in minutes. In fact, as long as you have a username, a password and an internet connection, you can upload your documents from anywhere!
• Hybrid mail is particularly effective in businesses that have multiple branches or offices nationwide or even internationally. Departments and employees can have restricted or unrestricted access to specific templates and documents, giving the business complete control over what is sent out and by whom
• Increased productivity – There is no longer any need to manually prepare documents to be posted, so more time can be spent carrying out core tasks and increasing productivity
• Improved management information – Hybrid mail gives you a much greater visibility of all documents produced and on-demand management information
• Improved document quality – control your letterheads, stationery and attachments and achieve high quality and consistent production of documents
• Faster communications – Send your documents to recipients quickly and securely

 

Given all of the above benefits, why wouldn’t you consider adding a hybrid approach to your mailing requirements? One of the arguments we hear from the staunchest advocates of traditional mailing methods is; “it works just fine, so why change it?” Being a multi channel marketing company for whom traditional direct mail is a core component of our business, to a degree we couldn’t agree more. But… as JFK once said: “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future”.

Far from suggesting a complete shift in your mailing activities, we’re champions of a structured and integrated approach to communicating with your customers, colleagues and peers. Whoever you wish to engage with, there’s undoubtedly a space for hybrid mail to fit into the mix.

It’s still ‘ink on paper’ and an envelope in the post, it’s just a more efficient and cost effective way to achieve it. Another potential barrier we hear is the implications of training staff and learning new systems. In truth, our hybrid mail solution ‘mailit.direct’ couldn’t be simpler to use. Once a print driver is installed on your desktop, you’re just a click away from sending your first documents. For further demonstrations on setting up templates and specific documents, we’re on hand with over the phone assistance, visual demo’s and even site visits, if required.

To date, we’ve been able to reduce mailing costs and improve efficiency for a number of our clients, including councils, housing associations, blue chip corporates and a plethora of SME’s across varying sectors. If you internally send tens or even hundreds of mail items daily, hybrid mail will undoubtedly be beneficial to you. Not only will you see the difference on your bottom line, the upturn in productivity will be significantly noticeable.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog piece on Hybrid Mail, if you need any further info or require a demonstration, feel free to contact us on the office number: 0118 474 888.