In a Grinch-like move, Australia Post have announced new business rates, set to come into effect in the New Year. But it’s not all ‘Bah Humbug’ We’ve taken this opportunity to look at a few tips and tricks to maximize your direct mail, despite Australia Post’s holiday blues…

Tip 1 – Saving Money

There are a few services you can access with Australia Post that can assist in reducing your postage spend.

If you’re using stamps – nothing changes. Australia Post have to apply to ACCC for any price changes to the ‘face rate’ of stamps. They haven’t done that for this price rise, so stamps remain at $1. Not much we can do there.

If you’re sending bulk – Some agents will send ‘bulk’ mailouts, meaning 300 or more letters. In this case, you might want to use the ‘clean mail’ rate. This is one rate that has been increased. One way to offset this, is to lodge your clean mail as ‘regular’ rather than ‘priority’. This has a price saving of 23.5c PER LETTER. Just keep in mind Australia Post will take 2-3 days more to deliver ‘regular’ mail.

Promo Post – This is what Australia Post are trying to push with business mail, but it does require you to send 4,000 or more letters at once, and have access to special barcoding software. But, it can result in a letter rate of below 60c per letter. If you’re in a larger office, it’s worth looking to see if you can ‘batch’ your marketing mail or newsletters together to access this saving. The software isn’t free though, and costs about $300 a year, so it’s worth crunching the numbers.

Tip 2 – Maximising How You Mail

Look at what and who you are mailing. Are you sending someone a rental statement, and then also sending them a newsletter separately? Is there a way to combine these items into one letter? Often call ‘trans-promo’ when you mix your transactional mail with something promotional.

Are you utilizing all of the real estate of your letter? You can include promotional messages on the envelope, enclose a flyer with a letter and more! Just have a think about how you could get more from your mail.

Is your database up to date? The true cost of a letter isn’t just in the postage. You have to think about printing, envelopes, and of course labour for putting it all together. If you have an out of date database, and you are mailing to people who are no longer there, you really are throwing money away. Getting your database clean should be a top priority.

I’m always happy to chat to any agents and provide some price comparisons, and help better understand how to get the most for the least from Australia Post, and mail in general.

Tip 3 – Sharing The Load

Maybe your franchise has an in house mortgage broker, or perhaps you have a great relationship with a solicitor. Think about ways you could incorporate some advertisement or promotion for an allied service/company. By doing this, they can share the cost of the mailing and help make it more cost effective.

I also come across so many letters where nothing is printed on the reverse – NOTHING! It’ll cost maybe an extra 10c to put something on the back there, so put some thought into what you could use it for. Many businesses want access to your clients, and if you know and trust them, there is a win win scenario.

Tip 4 – Don’t Sweat It

This increase is about 5% on average, or around 5c. Yes, all of these costs add up, but if you are playing direct mail properly, you’ll realize that you are still getting a fantastic ROI, and an open rate that beats any email. And for the operators who think this increase is a reason to stop mailing, it just means more room in the mailbox for you.

I’m always happy to chat to any agents and provide some price comparisons, and help better understand how to get the most, for the least from Australia Post, and mail in general.