Don’t Let the End of Saturday Mail Impact Your Business

It’s official. As of August 8, 2013, USPS has announced that there will be no more Saturday letter mail delivery. Due to dispute about the legality of this issue among lawmakers, this recent announcement may not hold, though it still stands as a strong sign of the times.
 
Currently, USPS is losing about $25 million a day. Our first notion is that the Internet is solely to blame. Though that isn’t entirely true, its impact is irrefutable.
 
The question many business owners are asking?
 
Can businesses continue to make an impact, despite no Saturday delivery?
Yes. In fact, many successful companies have become more profitable and effective by diversifying their marketing strategies. How? It’s all about email marketing.
 
Our top reasons for starting an email marketing campaign:

1. 1. Snail mail is inefficient.

   Postage costs will continue to rise every year, perhaps even more steeply if the recent announcement to end Saturday Mail Delivery stands. Right now, the typical mailing costs around 50% more than the actual product itself, and if that trend continues, who knows how much expense it will create for business mailings in upcoming years. Plus, mailings require much more planning. Whereas you can specify that an e-mail go out at a specific day and time, with direct mail you have to give you best guess, and sometimes, it still doesn’t get to its destination on time.

2. 2. It is more cost effective.

   Direct mail campaigns can cost you thousands of dollars. With email, you can literally cut that cost in half while maintaining more frequent and direct communication with your clients and customers.

3. 3. The data is trackable.

   The inconvenient part about direct mail is that you have no idea what happened when you sent your mailing. Did customers and clients look it over? Did they throw it right in the trash? Did they use it to find your website? With direct mail, unless they call, you have no idea. However, with email marketing you can track everything from how long they looked at it, to what links they clicked on and what emails were most effective.

4. 4. You get immediate results.

   With other tactics, you often have to wait days or weeks for results. Not so with e-mail marketing. In fact, data shows that 23.63% of all email opens occur within the first hour after delivery, making results almost immediate.

5. 5. You can automate campaigns.

   Unlike most marketing collateral, email marketing can be automated. This is a great feature, and gives you the ability to set up emails in advance and schedule them to be sent out at whatever time and date you specify.

6. 6. It’s easier to engage.

   When someone gets a letter, they might look at it. They might also look at your website or call. However, if they aren’t already beside the phone or computer, chances are that they will forget. With email, recipients have the ability to click links directly from their inbox to your website, making it less likely that they will forget and more likely that they will stay engaged.