Royal Mail may be engulfed in one of the most damaging industrial disputes for a generation but it is still ramping up its services to brand owners with the launch of a new incentive scheme designed to boost the take up of programmatic mail, in a move which has been backed by the Strategic Mailing Partnership.
The SMP, which represents and protects the interests of printers and mailing houses across the UK, insists the new scheme has been established through industry demand.
First trialled in 2016, Royal Mail launched its programmatic mail service a year later through a major campaign by Royal Mail Marketreach. The scheme works by tracking customers’ online behaviour, and then using permissioned, first-party data to deliver personalised direct mail to nudge customer purchase decisions within 48 hours.
It is claimed Royal Mail Wholesale’s incentive programme will mean firms can more easily take advantage of technical advances in the targeting and delivery of physical mail linked directly to consumer behaviour within the digital sales funnel.
A trial conducted by JD Williams with Paperplanes found using programmatic mail increased response rates by 6%, average order value by 8% and reduced abandoned basket rates by 14%.
The Royal Mail Wholesale Programmatic Mail incentive will accept applications until February 3 2023. Each accepted application will run for 12 months.
Under the incentive, customers will be able to post programmatic mailings at the Advertising Mail rate, even for mailings which are below the 4,000 items per day contractual threshold.
The scheme will offer two mailing routes to consolidators wanting to participate:
Route A: For daily consolidated programmatic mail where the volume is below 4,000 items – these items can be consolidated with business mail, and postage credits will be awarded to achieve the Advertising Mail rate.
Route B: For daily consolidated end-brand programmatic mail where the volume is equal to or greater than 4,000 items – these items can simply be posted using the existing Royal Mail advertising mail product codes to achieve the Advertising Mail rate.
To be eligible for the incentive, businesses must post in trays only and post a minimum of 50,000 items over the 12-month period.
SMP chair Lucy Swanston said: “Programmatic mail is such an exciting development for marketers. We are proud Royal Mail Wholesale has been fleet of foot in launching this incentive scheme so the print and mailing industry can more easily capitalise on this technological advance to help customers seamlessly combine the strengths of digital and print to significantly increase ROI.
“Programmatic makes consumers love mail more because they receive it, tailored specifically for them, and at the right time, while their initial digitally sourced interest is still fresh.”
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