What Are Lettershop Services for Direct Mail?

Key Takeaways

• A lettershop is a company that specializes in preparing direct mail for mailing, and often handles services such as addressing, printing, sorting, sealing, folding, drop shipping, and other postal preparation.
• Lettershops services for direct mail can combine several production and mailing preparation steps, which can reduce the total number of vendors that a mailer may need to coordinate with.

Introduction

When you have your designed mail piece ready, have decided whether you want to use a postcard or an envelope, and have your mailing list, the next step is to turn your design and mailing data into finished pieces that are ready to enter the mail. A location that you can do this is a lettershop. If you’re conducting a direct mail campaign, knowing what a lettershop is, how it works, and how to utilize lettershop services for direct mail can assist you with saving time, labor, and money.

What Are Lettershop Services for Direct Mail?

A lettershop, whose name derives from the literal process of manually preparing mail by physically folding and inserting mail pieces into envelopes, are physical locations where a mailer can get their mail pieces ready to mail. Now, with advancing technology, lettershops are thankfully no longer physically doing all of this manually, as they can automate the process. Lettershops offer a wide variety of different services that can help with one or multiple steps of producing your mail piece.

Lettershop Services for Direct Mail Include:

Data Processing

Data processing is the process of cleaning, updating, and removing data from a mailing list. No mailing list is going to be 100% accurate, as people move, pass away, etc. This process of processing the data is known as data hygiene. There are multiple ways to have proper data hygiene, such as Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS), National Change of Address (NCOA), Delivery Point Validation (DPV), merge/purge, address verification, and address standardization. These allow mailers to standardize addresses and update mailing addresses respectively.

Addressing

Lettershops can mass print addresses onto your chosen type of mail, so needing either address or individually print isn’t something that the mailer needs to worry about.

Printing/Personalization

Going along with addressing, lettershops can individually personalize the mail piece and offer to every consumer that will be receiving the mail piece. The Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) can also be put onto the mail piece at this stage.

Folding/Inserting

Lettershops have equipment that can fold and insert your mail piece into the envelope or other packaging that you’ve chosen for your campaign.

Sealing/Tabbing

After the mail piece has had its insert placed into the envelope, lettershops can seal up the packaging.

Sorting/Postal Preparation

Lettershops have the ability to presort mail according to USPS requirements and prepare the mail pieces in the appropriate containers to be transported to the post office. Mail that has been properly prepared and presorted has already been completed before the USPS receives it, which means that the mail could qualify for lower postage rates or discounts.

USPS Paperwork

Most lettershops can assist with the USPS paperwork that goes alongside getting your mail shipped.

Delivery to USPS

After your mail piece has been prepared, many lettershops can help with coordinating getting all the printed pieces of mail to the USPS. This means that the campaign manager doesn’t need to worry about the logistics of transporting and getting a bulk mailing into the postal system themselves.

Drop Shipping

Some lettershops might offer a service to drop ship your mail closer to its destination, which could save on postage.

Why Do Lettershop Services for Direct Mail Simplify the Mailing Process?

Due to having everything needed for your campaign in one place, lettershops help simplify the process of creating the mail pieces. With every additional step that is needed to either transport the mail or otherwise communicate with an additional vendor, the risk of a mistake occurring increases. Because of this, utilizing lettershop services for direct mail can be a fantastic idea to to minimize the risk and effort in launching your direct mail campaign.

When Should I Contact a Lettershop?

If you’re thinking about using lettershop services for direct mail, then they should be contacted early in the process, ideally before your mail piece has been printed. Doing this will give you time to get multiple pricing quotes and timeline expectations and allows the chosen lettershop to review your planned mail piece. They can also go over their available services with you and identify any production or mailing requirements that need to be addressed before any printing begins.

FAQ

• Q: Can lettershops assist if I want to send some mail using USPS Marketing Mail and some using First-Class Mail?
  • A: Yes, most lettershops can assist with using both classes of mail, just make sure that you go over pricing and delivery expectations before choosing a class of mail.
• Q: How much notice does a lettershop need to accommodate me and my mail campaign?
  • A: There isn’t one standard turnaround time for lettershop work as a whole. Mailing out a simple postcard might require less production time than a campaign consisting of personalized envelope packages that contain several inserts. Contacting your lettershop early in the process can help them review your specifications and provide a production schedule.
• Q: Does the lettershop do the shipping, or does the USPS still do it?
  • A: The lettershop doesn’t do the shipping. Once the mail has been created/sorted, they can offer to give the mail to the USPS for you as a service.

Conclusion

Lettershops are a fantastic resource for mailers and campaign managers. With everything being in one place, the risk for a production or communication error decreases. From their humble origins as businesses that would individually process mail, lettershops have evolved to be places that can help with your campaign, no matter how big or small.

New to Direct Mail?

Are you running your first direct mail campaign?

Read Geon’s beginner’s guide for to direct mail here.

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