For more and more organizations, print and mail outsourcing offers an increasingly attractive alternative to the clunky and costly reality of managing in-house printing and mailing operations. Building and maintaining an internal print and mail infrastructure might be practical if your organization has a high volume of outbound mail, but that's not the case for many businesses – especially if you’re a small-to-medium-sized business. Partnering with a provider can ensure companies retain control over their communications streams while acquiring more agility to meet changing corporate and consumer requirements. In this article, we take a closer look at what mail outsourcing fully entails, its benefits, and what you should consider when choosing an outsourced mail provider.
What is mail outsourcing?
Mail outsourcing is when an organization contracts an external mailing provider to handle its mail and related functions rather than manage these operations internally. This can include various services, from sorting and delivering incoming mail to managing outgoing mail, including packaging, postage, and shipment.
There are two primary types of providers for outsourcing mail:
- A traditional print service provider
- A hybrid mail solution
Print service providers are external entities that optimize or manage a company's document output. Large enterprises widely use print service providers to offload many print-related activities. A hybrid mail solution uses a third-party mailing facility that a mailing partner manages. This mailing partner has already handled the negotiations, ensuring their provider has all the essential certifications. Your organization simply uploads the mail and manages it using document automation software. A cloud-based hybrid solution only requires employees to upload their documents via an intuitive interface for a secure mailing facility to handle the rest.
Essential aspects of mail outsourcing
Mail outsourcing services vary widely depending on the provider and the organization's needs. Common services include:
- Outgoing mail operations: Printing, enveloping, stamping, and sending correspondence and marketing materials.
- Parcel handling: Packaging, labeling, and sending parcels through various courier services.
- Bulk mailing services: Handling large volumes of mail, often including printing, envelope stuffing, and postal sorting, helps take advantage of bulk mailing discounts.
- Document management: Some services include storage, retrieval, and digital document management.
While the primary reason for most businesses to outsource their mail is to reduce operational costs, there are plenty of additional benefits, including: [link to new blog on outsourcing benefits post here]
- Improving the company's focus
- Liberating employee time for other higher-value tasks
- Increasing efficiency for some time-consuming functions for which the company may lack resources
- Improving the overall customer experience
- Manage communications production and sending from anywhere
- Flexibility to send communications via different channels (traditional or digital )
Here are some examples of industries that use mail outsourcing:
- Financial services: Banks and insurance companies often outsource mail services to handle customer communications and regulatory mailings efficiently.
- Healthcare: Hospitals and providers may outsource mail services to manage patient communications, billing, and confidential records.
- Retail: Large chains use mail outsourcing to manage promotional mailings and customer correspondence.
- Government: Various entities outsource to handle large-scale mailings such as tax notices, voting materials, or census documents.
What should you consider when looking for an outsourced mail provider?
Mail outsourcing is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires a careful evaluation of your unique business needs and priorities. Here are some things to consider:
- Multi-channel delivery capabilities: The more you offer your customers a choice over their delivery preferences, the higher the satisfaction and retention rate.
- Security and compliance certifications: Make sure the partner you choose adheres to the strictest standards and latest best practices for regulatory compliance.
- Flexible solution architecture: Look for a partner that can easily integrate into your existing systems.
- Trusted industry experience: Of course, you want to select a partner with a solid reputation and history of expertise, knowledge, and innovation in the mailing industry who will offer onboarding, training, and support throughout your partnership.
- Cost saving: nt of employees needed to fulfill a task, length of time it takes to deliver a task.
- Implementation support:
Mail outsourcing can be a strategic decision for businesses looking to improve their operational workflows and focus more on their core activities. And the decision of what to outsource is entirely up to you – outsource more complex monthly mailings and keep smaller ones in-house. Evaluate your team processes and work regularly to see where there may be an opportunity to optimize your mail process through outsourcing.
If you're ready to learn more about the benefits of outsourcing your mail, contact us here.
