How to Find Direct Mail Savings After Postal Rate Hike

With the cost of postage increasing yesterday — for the second time this year, it is imperative that nonprofits find a way to save on their direct mail campaigns. As the lifeblood of fundraising, direct mail is a very valuable tool. The best way to increase the value of your fundraising campaigns is to save where you can and increase donations too. 

Here are some of the postal rates that went into effect on July 9:

First Class Regular:

• 1 oz. stamped letter size: increased to $0.66 each
• 1 oz. metered letter size: increased to $0.63 each
• 1 oz. flats size: increased to $1.35 each

First Class Presorted:

• Mixed automated area distribution center (AADC) letters: increased to $0.561 each
• Mixed AADC cards: increased to $0.388 each
• Mixed area distribution center (ADC) presorted flats: increased to $1.234 each

Standard Mail:

• Mixed AADC letters: increased to $0.381 each
• Mixed ADC flats: increased to $0.976 each

Nonprofit Mail:

• Mixed AADC letters: increased to $0.226 each
• Mixed ADC flats: increased to $0.751 each

3 Ways to Save on Direct Mail

So, let’s look at where you can save.

1. List

Make sure your list is clean with the right people at the right addresses. Then make sure that you are not sending mail to people who have not donated in a while. Instead put them on a call list. Once you have spoken to them, you can then decide if you should start sending them mail again.

2. Prospecting

Make sure that when you are sending mail to prospects that you have targeted them very well. There are many tools out there now to help you identify your best targets.

3. Size 

Keep your mail pieces at letter-postage-rate sizes to make sure you are paying the lowest postage rates. For a postcard or envelope, you can use up to 6.125x11.5”. For a self-mailer, you can use up to 6x10.5”. You can also stay at the same postage rate for pieces up to 3.5 oz., so take advantage of the extra weight.

Beyond these options there are some postal discounts being offered through the rest of this year.

4 Postage Discounts for 2023

The Postal Service has four promotional discounts running this year. Do you have a planned strategy to not only save money on postage but really stand out? 

1. Emerging and Advanced Technology

The emerging-and-advanced-technology promotion encourages incorporating technology creatively into direct mail through Nov. 30. Get a 3% discount with the use of augmented reality, basic voice assistant and QR codes for mobile shopping. Receive a 4% discount by including advanced voice assistant, near-field communication (NFC), mixed reality, video and virtual reality. 

Since technology is rather expensive, this is not the best way to save money. However, if you were looking to try something new this promo will give you a discount to do it.

2. Reply Mail IMBA

Reply mail Intelligent Mail barcode accounting (IMBA), which runs through Dec. 31 and requires enrollment in the program, helps to achieve a faster and easier way to handle reply mail. Incorporate a static barcode to receive a 3% discount or opt for a serialized barcode for a 6% discount. 

The former option has no out-of-pocket costs, but you may find an increase in your print costs on the latter option as each envelope will require variable data to be printed.

3. Informed Delivery

With Informed Delivery, you can engage donors through the integrated campaign to generate additional prospect or donor impressions, interactions and insights. This promotion, which saves your organization 4% from Aug. 1 through Dec. 31, is a good option to save some money. Check with your mail service provider to see if it has any fees associated with setting up the ads with the post office.

4. Retargeting

The retargeting promotion offers a 5% discount from Sept. 1 through Nov. 30. It works by matching the visitor’s IP address after they visited your website or app to their physical address. After that digital interaction, a postcard containing a targeted message is sent to the prospect’s or donor’s home via First-Class Mail. 

This one is worth considering since you know they are interested in your organization. If you get one nice donation out of it, it might be worth it.

These programs may not be a good fit for you or your organization, but if one or more sounds appealing, test them out to reach donors in a new way. Don’t let the postage rate increases scare you away from this important fundraising channel. The postage rates increase, on average, was less than a penny per piece, so it won’t drastically raise your overall direct mail budgets, but it is important to account for the additional postage costs.

The preceding blog was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.