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For many businesses, communicating with customers via mail is a time-consuming process. Phil Hutchison, Tactical Marketing Director at mail and messaging technology firm Pitney Bowes, explains how Royal Mail’s latest postage rate change could lead to significant cost-savings for businesses that automate their mailings.

On April 6th, Royal Mail’s rate change will mean that users of franking machine technology can save up to 7p on every mailed item (5p on first-class items) compared with using stamps. For small businesses, there has never been a bigger incentive to reassess mailing practices.

When it comes to communicating, many small businesses still adopt time-consuming methods that occupy staff time inefficiently. Consider, for example, the time spent buying stamps, folding documents, even licking and sealing envelopes. In smaller businesses, such tasks are often carried out by senior management whose time could undoubtedly be better focused elsewhere.

Technology is available to automate every step of the mailing cycle – from folding and inserting the document, to automatically adding postage through to accurately printing addresses. Aside from freeing-up staff to focus on their jobs, automating these mailing processes can deliver savings of at least 12% on postage costs – a compelling figure for any business.

Today’s businesses face a very real challenge to capture the attention of the recipient. Franking technology enables users to create their own advertising slogans and to print these onto the envelope exterior. This on-envelope advertising means that brand values and key messages can be conveyed before the communication is even opened.

Recent surveys suggest that mail is an optimal medium for driving visitors to websites. This means that the timing of mail communications is critical if businesses want to use mail to drive recipients to the web. Automating the process makes it far easier for businesses to guarantee that mail-outs will be ready to despatch at the required moment.

Royal Mail’s April rate change should serve as a major incentive for businesses not already automating the mail function to do so. The cost-savings alone are compelling – 5p for every first-class mailpiece, 7p if sent second-class. But the benefits of mailing automation extend far beyond.

Businesses can begin to produce customer communications that look sharp and professional, that carry the brand or core message on the envelope, and which are produced accurately and effortlessly to encourage greater response and to work in harmony with email and web messaging.