How to Mail Postcards in Bulk?
How Do Bulk Mail Postcards Ensure Efficient Communication For Your Business?
Generally, people do not enjoy receiving marketing offers or messages, sometimes even when the product/offer is relevant to them. We often don’t even bother to read the message if we receive the marketing message when scrolling through social media. However, there exist one marketing channel people still get excited about receiving a message – direct mail.
“70% of consumers say direct mail is more personal than online interactions.” – Fundera.
Postcards are probably the best kind of direct mail a customer can receive. They are short, meaningful, and can carry attractive pictures on them. Hence, it is no wonder that bulk mail postcards often generate an excellent response regarding direct mail marketing.
But one thing often concerns business organizations about using bulk mail postcards. And that is how they can mail postcards in large quantities. Many organizations still struggle to find an effective solution for sending their marketing postcards to their customers.
Here, we look at how you can mail postcards in bulk while keeping your expenses to a minimum. Additionally, we discuss the different options you have for bulk mailing postcards.
What is Bulk Mailing?
Bulk mailing, as the name suggests, involves sending mail in bulk. You can typically see bulk mailing in business communication. It provides a cost-effective way for business organizations to get in touch with their customers. USPS offers special discounts on bulk mailings for business organizations.
USPS provides bulk mailing services to help companies have a cost-effective way for business correspondence via mail. Hence, it is your best choice if you want to mass mail postcards to your customers.
Of course, USPS bulk mailing allows your to send a variety of printed materials to your customers, including
- Flyers
- Brochures
- Catalogs
- Magazines
- And more.
But as far as a business organization is concerned, the postcard is often the best choice because it costs significantly less. Hence, bulk mail postcards let you reach out to many potential customers without burning a hole in your pocket.
How To Send Bulk Mail Postcards For Your Business?
There are mainly two ways for you to send bulk mail postcards. You can either prepare and send the mail by yourself or do it with the help of a mail service provider. Therefore, we would advise you to go for the latter option because it is more convenient, accurate, and reliable.
With a mail service provider like PostGrid, it is significantly easy to implement bulk postcard mailing for your business. Below, we discuss how to prepare the mail and send it yourself. You can then see how you can benefit from employing a mail service provider like PostGrid.
How To Prepare Bulk Mail Postcards By Yourself?
You can take some precautionary steps to prepare yourself for bulk postcard mailing. Below we list the significant steps you must follow to send your postcard mail bulk. So, let’s get straight to it.
Choose How You Want To Pay The Postage
The first thing you need to consider before you send bulk mail postcards is to decide the method of payment for your postage. You have three options for paying postage for your bulk mail postcards, and they are as follows.
- The Permit Imprints
- The Postage Meter
- The Precanceled Stamps
Obtain a Permit
Next, you must procure a permit from the USPS for bulk mailing postcards and access to bulk mail discounts. There are two ways for your business to obtain a license.
Business Customer Gateway
If you are looking for the most convenient option, you can apply online at the Business Customer Gateway. However, the gateway may not apply to every business organization.
Form 3615
Suppose the Gateway option does not work out for your business. In that case, you can get a bulk mail postcard rate when you fill and submit a PS Form 3615. You should note that Form 3615 is an application for getting your mailing permit. In addition to that, you also need to complete a Customer Profile. You can get it from the local Post Office or Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU).
Submit Form 3615
After filling out Form 3615, you must take it to your local BMEU or Post Office. Besides Form 3615, you should also take two Identification documents with you. And at least one of those identification documents should contain a photograph.
USPS does not require you to pay an annual fee at the time of form submission. In most cases, you have until sending your first bulk mail postcards before paying the yearly fee. Hence, it would be best to plan the payment and the timing of your campaign to avoid any unnecessary glitches.
Obtain The Permit Number And A Receipt
After submitting the completed Form 3615, your identification documents, and making the necessary payments, you will get two things. One is a receipt for the amount, and the other is the permit number. It would be best if you had the latter for every mailing operation your business completes, including mailing postcards in bulk.
Bring The Necessary Documents For Your Mailing
Now, you are all set to send your first mailing using the USPS bulk mail service. Whether you send bulk mail postcards or enveloped letters, you must bring the following documents to USPS.
- Postage statement(s) with sign and date
- Related or Supporting documents
- Payments to cover any additional postage costs (check/credit card/cash)
- A check for the annual mailing fee
What Happens After The USPS Receives Your Bulk Mail Postcards?
Above, we discussed how you could prepare for sending bulk mail postcards until you hand over the mail to USPS. Now, let’s see what happens once USPS receives your mailers.
Mail Check By The Acceptance Clerk
Immediately after you hand over your mail to the USPS, the acceptance clerk checks your mailers. They are responsible for ensuring that you prepared your mail per USPS standards.
Eligibility Check
After the initial check by the acceptance clerk, the USPS carries out an eligibility check for USPS Marketing Mail. It involves the clerk opening one of your mailpieces. As you can imagine, it does not apply to your bulk mail postcards because there is no envelope to break in the first place.
However, it does apply to your other enveloped marketing letters. USPS does this to ensure the contents qualify for the marketing mail rate that you are claiming.
Markings And Endorsements Check
Up next, USPS checks the markings and endorsements on your business mailers. USPS has to give thumbs up on all the marketing and endorsements printed on your bulk mail postcards before they proceed to send them out.
Sortation
At this point, USPS starts to sort your mailer. It means that the USPS checks all went well, and it is unlikely that you will have any issues from here on. But, there is one last thing you must do before you know your bulk mail postcards are all set to go.
Postage Payment
The final step USPS takes before accepting your bulk postcard mailing is to check your postage payment. Suppose you are paying with the permit we discussed above. In that case, the USPS clerk checks to see if you have enough money to cover your mailing in your advance deposit account.
There are instances where USPS might encounter some problems with processing your mail.
For example, if the presorting of your mail is improper, the USPS clerk will inform you of that and help you fix it. But suppose the problem is with the mailpiece characteristics. In that case, you might have to pay an additional fee or surcharge to mass mail postcards.
How To Bulk Mail Postcards Using A Mail Service Provider?
Above, we discussed how you could send bulk mail by yourself. However, you may have noticed that we didn’t mention designing the postcard. And we didn’t because it’s a standalone process when you send bulk mail postcards by yourself.
With an advanced direct mail system like PostGrid, you can use a template for your mailers. Below we will discuss how you can implement bulk postcard mailing for your business using a mail service provider like PostGrid.
Step 1: Sign Up/Sign In On PostGrid
The first step to bulk mail postcards for your business is to sign up or sign in to your account on PostGrid (or any other mail service provider). In the case of PostGrid, the signup process is short and straightforward. You only have to fill up some essential details to create a profile.
Step 2: Go To The Developer’s Section In The Dashboard
After signing up or logging in to PostGrid, you can access the PostGrid dashboard. On the dashboard, you can find a section marked “Postcards.” Click on “Postcards” to proceed to the next step of mailing postcards in bulk.
Step 3: Provide Description And Size Of The Postcard
After clicking on the “Postcards” section on the dashboard, you will reach a page where you can set up your bulk mail postcards. Here, you can describe the mailing to identify the campaign later. You can also pick the postcard size you want to send to your target audience.
Step 4: Upload Recipient Details
In this step, you get to add the recipients for your bulk postcard mailing. As you can see from the image below, there are two options for selecting the recipients of your business mailer. Use the “Upload Recipients” option to upload a CSV file of all the recipients you want to send the postcards. And just like that, you can select multiple recipients for your business postcards.
Step 5: Pick A Template Or Upload A PDF File
In this next step, you get to upload or select the ideal postcard template for your campaign. You can choose from the template already available on PostGrid or upload it as a PDF file.
Step 6: Select Mail Class And Create The Campaign
In the last and final section of the Create a Postcard page, you can select the mailing service you want for your postcards. For bulk mail postcards, you can choose between First-Class, Standard, and Express services. When done, you can finally finish the setup by clicking on the “Create” button.
Why Should You Use A Mail Service Provider To Send Bulk Mail Postcards?
Above, we discussed the process involved in sending bulk mail postcards using a mail service provider like PostGrid and doing it yourself. A mail service provider like PostGrid is the more convenient and accurate option for your business organization.
If you were to print and mail postcards in bulk, you would have to go through lengthy processes, including form submissions. But with a direct mail automation system like PostGrid, printing personalized postcards and mailing them is tremendously simple.
Furthermore, PostGrid offers a fully automated solution for bulk postcard mailing, making it practically error-free. It also means you don’t have to worry about going to the post office whenever you want to send bulk mail.
Conclusion
Sending bulk mail postcards may seem scary at first. But, as long as you have the right tools for the job, printing personalized postcards and mailing them is relatively easy. The best way for you to ensure effective business communication or marketing via postcards is to employ a mail service provider.
Advanced direct mail solutions like PostGrid have features that allow you to send bulk mail postcards easily. You can also personalize your postcards easily by connecting PostGrid with your CRM solution.
And that’s not all. As PostGrid provides you with a fully automated solution, the postcard delivery time significantly improves too. In short, using an automated direct mail system like PostGrid streamlines your bulk postcard mailing, saving you valuable time and money.
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The post How to Mail Postcards in Bulk? appeared first on PostGrid.
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