Software Bureau vies to tackle '£1bn mail waste'

Direct mail might be making a comeback but, according to the Software Bureau, companies are missing out on an “eye-watering” £1bn in potential revenue and costs savings due to a failure to tackle mistargeting issues.
The data quality and hygiene specialist has made the claim following a six-month consultation period in which it has identified five key sources of direct mail wastage, which – it reckons – result in almost one in 12 pieces of direct mail being obsolete.
These are pack design, postage optimisation, data formatting, data quality, and failings in what it calls “the feedback loop”. It claims these five areas result in poor response rates, increased overall campaign costs and ultimately unhappy customers – both consumers and direct mailers.
According to Software Bureau managing director Martin Rides, a combination of good response rates and favourable ROI – plus the perceived extra hard work and costs involved to rectify the situation – have made firms turn a blind eye to waste.
The firm calculates this totals £965,800,000 each year, comprising £772,800,000 of unrealised revenue and £192,000,000 in production costs.
But, it claims it also has a solution, with the launch of a new approach to direct mail, which it has dubbed Lean DM.
Lean DM is a new workflow package that is run through the Software Bureau’s Cygnus data processing suite which systematically addresses each of the five sources of waste and highlights opportunities to both optimise mailings and save money. It provides an easy solution for both direct mail producers and end users, the firm maintains.
“£1bn is an eye watering amount of money to burn. Millions of mailings are wasted each year, however, with increasing pressure for responsible marketing and demand for even better ROI wastage can no longer be put to one side. Lean DM battles it head on and wins,” Rides claimed.
Pureprint Group head of data and marketing communications Scott Evans added: “Lean DM is a solution that the industry has been crying out for. It’s a one-stop-shop for targeted, responsible direct marketing and as a result will help bolster the reputation of direct mail in general but also save clients’ money, making it even more of a cost effective channel.”

TOPICS:direct mail The Software Bureau