Stay on Message with Mailers

For distributors, the key to mailer sales is providing ideas that make end-users successful. A little patience and perseverance throughout the selling cycle don’t hurt, either. Mailers, after all, are not exactly a cut-and-dried type of sale. There can be aggravations along the way and a significant investment of time to coordinate materials, as well as the various approvals, revisions and final proofs the products entail. But in return, distributors can be rewarded with repeat orders and healthy profit margins.

Easy Does It

A new, patent-pending product launched by Roanoke, Virginia-based InfoSeal in October, FastTabsps, is already getting 2008 off to a great start for distributors and their end-customers. At New Jersey Business Forms—InfoSeal’s sister company located in Englewood, N.J.—Treasurer Andy Harnett was very excited about opportunities being created by FastTabsps.

Years ago, he and David Harnett purchased the self-mailer assets of the former Transkrit, including the company’s FastTab multi-part mailer, which featured a strip on the back that essentially served as a zipper for opening the product. “We have taken that product and adapted it to a fold-and-seal mailer designed with a single tear strip,” explained Harnett. “Some people find tearing the three edges off of a typical pressure-seal format [cumbersome]. FastTabsps provides a different, more convenient way of opening a pressure-seal document; you just pull the strip and the form is open. The product has huge potential on the direct mail side as people convert from envelopes, and that’s where we are focusing our marketing efforts right now.”

He went on to say that FastTabsps is currently serving a mail order distribution center application, where it is being utilized as a packing slip envelope. “It is an integrated document, cut-sheet form that is imaged, folded and sealed, and it goes on the outside of the carton being sent to the customer,” reported Harnett. “We are seeing real interest in the mail order sector. The orders we have done so far have been offset printed in four-color process—really high color, real snazzy—and then they are imaged with the black toner. Prior to Christmas, we were doing approximately 12,000 a day. One we recently did had a gift card inside, which was variable imaged in black toner based on prior ordering habits of the customer.”

However, Harnett said the future for FastTabsps lies in variable color. “This is where I see it going—rather than just black imaging, you image the entire form in color. Again, based on the data the retailer, the mail shop or the order fulfillment center has on the client, they can offer different opportunities,” he added. “There are so many places this product can go. We just did one for Dale and Thomas Gourmet Popcorn which has been quite successful. Particularly with shaped-based mail regulations, everything is going to flats now, and pressure-seal is a perfect solution. The document can be any size and can definitely conform to USPS regulations.”

Onboard with Inline Finishing

Paul Beegan, president and treasurer of B&W Press, Georgetown, Mass., also commented on the importance of color, and noted its growing role in the one- and two-way mailers popular with his customer base. “Color is king,” he said. “Even with budget-conscious fundraising efforts, the inclusion of at least two colors can improve response. And when selling apparel or food, four-color process is huge. You want that food to look good enough to eat.”

A strong visual not only captures the attention of the eventual mail recipient, it can help distributors close mailer sales with end-users. “A picture is worth a thousand words, so our objective is to get samples into peoples’ hands,” Beegan continued. “We have a lot of added value due to our unique finishing capabilities, and samples enable distributors to get that message across to their customers. We’re in a great position to produce shaped-based mail in letter-sized categories off of our inline equipment.”

Forty-two years of experience in the printing business has resulted in proprietary inline finishing technology at B&W Press, enabling jumbo rolls running on web presses to be printed on both sides in up to four colors to create mailers featuring return envelopes with side seams and remoisenable glue strips. The products are folded, personalized on both sides, bar coded, sequentially numbered and given a dab or two of fugitive glue to seal the mailer, all without the press operator ever touching the piece. “Of course, we can also produce mailers without the envelope for those who want more selling space for additional copy. However, envelopes provide privacy with return mailers, which is important when someone is using a credit card number to make a donation or purchase,” added Beegan.

While fundraising is a strong market for the company’s one- and two-way mailers, everyone uses direct mail, stressed Beegan, and education, finance, retail, automotive and recreation are other major markets accounting for jobs coming into the plant. And, they work particularly well as newspaper inserts to drive subscriptions and as package inserts serving a wide-variety of purposes.

“Over the years, most direct mail has [involved] a #10 envelope with three or four pieces inside of it. We can take those pieces [and combine them to create] one piece of paper, fold it up and mail it. This eliminates inserting costs, the #10 envelope and the #9 return envelope,” he explained. “We also produce what we call a mini catalog which can show up to 50 items on [the mailer]. It [typically includes] an envelope and order form. We’ve been doing quantities of 50,000 up to two million for some customers for the past 15 years, so we know it works.”

B&W Press frequently offers creative services to ensure a design is functional and all of the panels of the mailer are where they need to be. “People can’t be making mistakes when large amounts of postage are involved,” stressed Beegan.

In addition, B&W Press currently offers e-templates that can be downloaded from its website to assist customers in the planning phase, and the company just invested “a serious amount of money—six figures,” said Beegan, to redesign its website. The new site will go live this month or early February, and will allow users to design their own one- and two-way mailers and direct response vehicles using Adobe InDesign software. Beegan expects this to be a very strong selling tool for distributors “proficient at using a computer” to be able to sit down in an end-user’s office and work with them. “Together they can then download a four-color process proof of what they’ve created, fold it so they almost have the actual product in hand and then order from us the quantities they need—it should help everyone alot,” concluded Beegan.

But, however the distributor and end-user decide to work together, Beegan emphasized there must be advanced planning when dealing with mailers, as well as good communication with the manufacturers to ensure post office-approved construction and mailability. “Otherwise,” he said, “it’s like jumping out of an airplane without checking your parachute.”