Royal Mail has made it easier than ever to start a mail campaign with their network of highly regarded Mail Made Easy experts.

MarketReach was launched in 2015 to promote the effectiveness of mail and improved ROI for companies such as Hive, Ikea and Kit Kat.

A resounding 87% of recipients went to their newsagents to claim a free Kit Kat [1]

Sharp Cat is proud to be one of Royal Mail’s trusted partners with established credentials, on standby with all the support you’ll need such as robust data security, high quality print and fast mailing.

What Can a Mail Made Easy Partner Do for You?

Choosing a Mail Made Easy partner can help you with the mailing process by finding the right target audience, developing your designs to drive response, delivering your campaign and reporting on the results.

Covering catalogues, direct mail or door drops, Mail Made Easy can help you with the entire campaign or a small part of the process.

Mail Made Easy can also help with integrating existing marketing activity with direct mail. Having each platform of communication build on the previous one, to maintain continuity plus break up the expected routine of some marketing campaigns.

Why Does Mail Cut Through the Noise?

In our digital world, it’s never been easier to target customers. However, we receive up to 10,000 marketing messages a day[2], so it’s never been harder to cut through the noise and stand out as a brand.  With 51% of emails being deleted within 2 seconds[3], brands must demonstrate that they value their customers. Sending a tangible piece of mail that your customer must physically interact with is more likely to grab their attention.

The physicality of mail is the perfect opportunity for your customers to feel valued and is memorable too; 80% of people say then can remember mail advertising sent to them in the last 4 weeks[5].

How Do Mail & E-Mail Complement Each Other?

Email is quick, easy to read, informative and can be responded to instantly. It’s most appropriate for quick messages such as order confirmation or acknowledging an enquiry. People recognise its informal feel, making it perfect for following up on enquiries, requests and offers.

Mail can immerse the customer and hold attention for a lot longer. This makes mail suited to communications to contemplate for a while, such as catalogues or brochures.

The main challenge brands face is evolving a transactional relationship into a strong, loyal, personal relationship. Use mail to take the time to tell customers more about the brand, products and services on offer.

The crucial differentiator between mail and e-mail is how mail can make us feel valued.

We believe that attention to detail at the beginning of a mailing makes for success at the end. Our comprehensive mail services give you all the support needed for a strong mailing campaign.

 With a reputation for high-standard mail services, we welcome fast turnaround mailings, always meet tight deadlines and welcome your call.

[1] KitKat: D&AD, 2012

[2] American Marketing Association, 2018.

[3] Litmus Email Analytics, 2013

[4] Royal Mail MarketReach, 2014.

[5] TGI, Kantar Media, 2014.

[6] Royal Mail MarketReach, 2014.

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The famous Penny Black of 1839 was the first adhesive pre-paid postage stamp. Britain was the first country to issue pre-paid postage stamps. Uniquely, for this reason British stamps are the only stamps in the world not bearing the country of issue on them.

The first distinctive red pillar box appeared in Jersey in 1852. However the Royal Mail which we know today really took shape in the 1960’s. It was then that Second Class stamps were introduced. More significantly, the Royal Mail changed from a department of the government to a statutory corporation. This was as per the Post Office Act of 1969.

Only five years later, in 1974, the national system of postcodes had been fully rolled out across Great Britain. First introduced in Norwich in 1957, full postcodes follow a fixed format, and are comprised of outward and inward codes. The codes specify the district and street which the mail is sent to. Up until its abolition in 2003, the London Post Office Railway was instrumental in this sorting and delivery process. The 1927 network consisted of driverless trains, which ran on a private track underneath London between sorting offices. Now replaced by vans, lorries and bicycles, Royal Mail transport is still painted in trademark bright red.

By the year 1981, the General Post Office had been split into two separate divisions; British Telecom which dealt with telecommunications, and the Post Office that delivered standard mail. The 1980’s also brought about optical character recognition technology, still used to read addresses today. This plus barcoding (CBC) enables Royal Mail to mechanically sort hundreds of thousands of letters every day.

With the turn of the millennium, Royal Mail received a short-lived rebranding as Consignia plc. This change wasn’t as popular as was expected and the company soon became Royal Mail Group plc.

On 1 January 2006, the Royal Mail lost its centuries of monopoly and the British postal market opened to competition. Competitors can now collect and sort mail and pass it to Royal Mail for delivery, a service known as Downstream access (DSA). In the same year Royal Mail introduced Pricing in Proportion (PiP) for first and second class inland mail. This heralded a major change to the pricing structure whereby item prices are affected by dimensions as well as weight.

Another big change came with the listing of Royal Mail onto the London Stock Exchange on 15 October 2013.

Throughout the early twenty-first century Royal Mail has embraced rapidly advancing technology. The Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre, exemplifies the auto-sorting of mail to dispatch via AirMail or road. In this techno world Royal Mail trailblazes state of the art technology for the sorting, tracking and delivering of mail.

New in 2014 Mailmark™ (formerly known as Enterprise Intelligent Barcode® or EIB®) combines a new barcode with innovative optical technology and digital performance reporting. Mailmark™ can tell customers where a mail consignment is in the network, when it’s scheduled to arrive and how well it performs.

It’s reassuring to know that despite the rapid growth of clever technology, it’s still possible to spot the everyday postman or postwoman. Doing their rounds on a bright red lorry, van, bicycle or even on foot, but for how long?  That’s the Royal Mail History for you. What about Royal Mail Future?

For a bright future for your mail project call us on 0208 946 1234.

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With letters and packages which have been allocated a unique barcode, the business user is now able to accurately track the delivery status of the item, anywhere within the Royal Mail network. A detailed digital front-end interface has been developed, providing complete transparency for you and your colleagues.

So, just how will Royal Mail Mailmark™ help your business? You’ll be able to keep track of average delivery durations, and the level of postage errors and returns, either through misinformation or customers moving house. Not only will these tools save you money, they’ll also improve the running of your business, for both you and your customers. With the improved transparency on delivery status you can accurately plan your delivery dates ahead of time. This means more accurate expectations for your customers, and less guesstimation for planning mail arrival dates.

For businesses using high volume direct mail marketing campaigns, the Royal Mail Mailmark™ will be an invaluable tool. It will enable you to easily calculate your ROI by using the provided statistics and your own sales figures. You’ll be able to accurately identify which geographical and demographical areas show the most sales potential and detailed information on errors and returns will allow you to fine-tune your mailing list.

The Royal Mail Mailmark is a welcome addition to our postal service, with similar technology already being successfully used in the United States. Their IMb (Intelligent Mail barcode) tracing provides detailed automated reports on the delivery status of business mail, and allows businesses to easily analyse response rates, address accuracy and delivery times.

Despite the business advantages offered by the new Royal Mail Mailmark, usage restrictions mean that only businesses which send over 30,000 letters per day are eligible to use the technology. However, small businesses can benefit from this new technology through mailing companies like Sharp Cat. Because all of our postings for customers can be counted, our limits for you are far lower than those set by Royal Mail, so you too can gain insight into the efficiency of your mailing and marketing processes, even if you’re not sending tens of thousands of letters every day. On top of this, you can have your documentation designed, printed and mailed under one roof, right here at Sharp Cat. This gives you more time to concentrate on the running of your business, while ensuring that your mail will be produced and delivered with maximum efficiency.

If your business sends out regular letters every day, whatever the volume, why not take advantage of the Royal Mail Mailmark system by getting in touch with Sharp Cat today?

For more information call us on 0208 946 1234

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