What Is Hybrid Mail And How To Use It Effectively For Your Business?
The word hybrid tends to impact everything it is associated with and makes it sound positive. Whether it is a car or mailing service, the hybrid version is almost always more effective and efficient.
Similarly, hybrid mail enables your business to access a newer and more efficient way to mail your business letters.
The hybrid version of anything typically brings out the best of two or more different versions of an item, product, or service. In that case, what is hybrid mail, and what effect does it have on your business marketing and communication efforts?
If you are also looking for the answers to these questions, you are in the right place. Below we will discuss everything you need to know about hybrid mail and why your business needs to use it.
What Is Hybrid Mail?
The best way to explain hybrid mail is to call any postal mail you deliver without physically sending it. You can also think of it as any postal mail you produce electronically and send physically.
Typically, business organizations use hybrid mail to avoid the haggle of dealing with complex and large-scale printing of their marketing and communication materials. You would need an advanced software solution to accomplish this.
PostGrid is one of the leading direct mail automation software that can help you send hybrid mail for your business. It allows you to print marketing and communication materials efficiently using automation. You can use a template for large printing requirements and bulk mail them using PostGrid.
Sign up on PostGrid today to implement hybrid mail capability for your business!
Business organizations that use hybrid mail for marketing and communication use it to save time. Similarly, companies that cannot print and mail letters and other printed materials also use a hybrid mailing service.
How Does Hybrid Mailing Work?
The process behind hybrid mailing is relatively simple and quick to understand. In most cases, automation is an integral part of hybrid mail. It allows your business to significantly speed up the mailing process, optimizing your marketing and communication efforts.
Different hybrid mail service providers may follow unique processes. However, the core operation involved in this ailing process remains the same regardless of your preferred service provider. The general outline of the hybrid process for mailing is as follows.
Step 1: Template Preparation
The first thing to do before you can run a hybrid mail operation for your business is to prepare a template. Designing a template allows you to personalize your bulk mail if needed. However, it would be best to have PostGrid’s advanced print and mail solution for such extensive personalization.
PostGrid’s advanced hybrid mail tool has a free template gallery and editor. It means you can directly use a template from PostGrid or edit them as per your needs. You also have the option to use templates that you design internally. Once you have a satisfactory template, you can move on to the next step.
Step 2: Upload Your Document/Template
After preparing the document or template for the job, you must upload it. Modern hybrid mailing solutions offer a web interface and a dedicated API to meet your marketing/communication needs.
Before uploading, you must sign in on PostGrid’s web interface. You can use PostGrid’s minimalistic dashboard to control all your direct mail operations. The dashboard enables you to send postcards and letters in bulk quickly. PostGrid’s hybrid mailing tool lets you access your previous mailings from the dashboard and even track your mail.
Step 3: Add The Address And Select The Postal Services
After uploading the template or document, you can focus on adding the relevant address for the mailer. With PostGrid’s advanced direct mail tool, you can add addresses individually or in bulk using a CSV file.
You can download the customer data directly from your CRM solution into a CSV file and use it for your direct mail campaigns.
Using the CSV file from your CRM solution makes it less likely to face errors during the hybrid mailing process. However, you can only do a little if the address data in your CRM database is accurate. You can eliminate this risk by pushing your customer database through an address verification tool.
After adding the recipient address for hybrid mail, you can choose what kind of postal service you want. You can choose between standard Canada Mail postal services, including Registered mail, for sending your critical business documents.
Step 4: Printing And Mailing Your Document
Once you provide the addresses for the mailers, select the postal service, and make the appropriate payments, the direct mail tool can get to work. PostGrid’s advanced direct mail solutions immediately get to work and start your hybrid mailing process soon after you provide the details.
PostGrid has top-quality printers located in different parts of the world. As a result, we can minimize the time necessary for printing and mailing your business letters. Our automated solution ensures accurate printing and mailing of your business letters.
Step 5: Track Your Mailers
Last but not least, advanced direct mail solutions can track your business mailers. You can check the deliverability of your hybrid mail and ensure that it is up to the standards you expect.
The tracking and other features are easily accessible across tools. You can go to the dashboard and quickly find the option to track your mail there.
What Are The Benefits Of Using Hybrid Mail For Your Business?
Employing hybrid mail for your business has numerous advantages and benefits. It optimizes your marketing and communication efforts in the most efficient way possible. PostGrid’s automated direct mail solutions can significantly enhance your flexibility in sending business letters.
Since the whole hybrid mailing process is automated, businesses can save valuable time on their mailing process. It also optimizes resources, including the raw materials for creating your business letters.
Besides, it is the best and only efficient alternative for business organizations that need the equipment for extensive print jobs. Here are some other attractive advantages of using hybrid mail for your business.
No Need For Printing Machinery/Equipment
One of the hybrid mail’s primary benefits is that it removes the necessity of having print machinery/equipment. Setting up print machinery can be expensive and lead to other problems. For instance, some print equipment may require a clean room, creating logistical challenges.
Sometimes, you may also need a separate room for storing freshly printed materials. It can lead to businesses changing their entire shop layout, costing you more time and money to set up hybrid mail for your business.
The print machinery/equipment may also require trained personnel, which can further add to your expenses.
Go Paperless
Another significant advantage of using hybrid mail solutions is that it lets you go entirely paperless. More and more companies are getting rid of their in-house paper usage.
With PostGrid’s advanced direct mail solution, you no longer need to keep any paper within your organization. The service provider takes care of everything you need, including the raw materials for the job.
Not just paper, the hybrid mailing service provider has every stationary you need for your business communication via postal mail. Storing the printed material is another concern you can avoid when using a specialized service provider.
It lets you keep all your mailers securely and without taking up extra space in your office.
Faster Mail Delivery
The manual process of sending postal mail is often time-consuming and prone to errors. Automation eliminates all such disadvantages and streamlines the delivery of your business mailers.
Our advanced hybrid mailing tool uses standard-size postcards and letters for your marketing and communication needs.
Additionally, the tool is also capable of applying the necessary postage for your mailers. Since there is virtually no manual involvement, there is no scope for human error.
As a result, the hybrid mailing process becomes significantly faster. You can even run bulk mail campaigns within minutes using an advanced automated solution.
Ideal For Companies With Remote Workforces
More and more companies are opting for a remote workforce to get the best talent for the job. With the remote workforce gaining traction, it only makes sense to incorporate hybrid mailing solutions for your business operations.
Any hybrid company or organization with remote offices does not require an in-house printer. The hybrid mailing solutions provide the flexibility the companies need to run their direct marketing campaigns effectively.
Avoid Expensive International Postage
Reliable hybrid mailing solutions offer you access to printers at different locations inside and outside Canada. You can save money on international postage and send your letters locally.
Besides all the money you can save, it also saves you the valuable time necessary for sending international business mail.
You can even use PostGrid’s direct mail tool to run a remailing campaign for your business. Remailing allows you to send confidential letters to your customers without revealing any details about your business on the envelope.
Moreover, the hybrid mail service can also presort your mail and get discounts from postal service providers.
When To Use Hybrid Mail For Your Business?
Business organizations can use hybrid mail for their various marketing and communication purposes. You can use it to send all kinds of marketing and communication materials for your business. To get the most out of your automated mailing service, you must learn the different materials you can send using it.
Here are some of the most critical business documents or materials you can send using PostGrid’s hybrid mail tool.
All Types Of Letters And Postcards
You can use PostGrid’s hybrid mailing tool to send virtually all kinds of letters and postcards for your business. We are talking about more than just marketing materials. You can use the automated solution to streamline your business communication too.
For instance, PostGrid for healthcare lets you send monthly billing statements, cancellation notices, renewal declarations, Etc. Similarly, PostGrid also provides specialized hybrid mailing services to other industries, such as insurance, real estate, financial services, and more,
Postcards, in particular, are an excellent choice for running your direct mail campaigns. They offer a reasonably high response rate of 4.25%, much higher than most digital marketing channels.
With PostGrid’s advanced hybrid mailing solution, you can design your postcards using the free template gallery and send them to your audience.
Business Cheques
Financial institutions and other business organizations can use PostGrid’s hybrid mail solution to print and mail bank cheques. PostGrid has high-security standards and compliances, including PIPEDA, PHIPA, HIPAA, GDPR & SOC-2.
As a result, PostGrid ensures safe and secure communication for your business. You can send personalized cheques to your business organization with peace of mind. Our hybrid mail solution guarantees the safety of your confidential data and ensures its accurate delivery to the recipient.
Retargeting Campaigns
You can use hybrid mailing solutions for running effective retargeting campaigns. For example, you can send the customer a direct mail marketing postcard.
Make the retargeting campaign more effective by adding an incentive to your mailers, such as a coupon or discount code. Adding incentives like that increases the likelihood of a positive response from the customer.
You can also use hybrid mailing services to add a QR code to the mailer. The QR code can direct the customer to your website or landing page. You can also use it to upsell or cross-sell campaigns for your business.
By including an upsell/cross-sell product on the mailer along with a QR code, you can streamline the buying process for your customers.
Self-Mailers (Folded Postcards)
Another ideal situation for using hybrid mailing for your business is to send self-mailers or folded postcards. Self-mailers include any postal mail you can send for your business without an envelope. The self-mailers are significantly easy to produce and mail.
Moreover, as self-mailers do not require an envelope, the expense of sending them for your business is less. The price difference becomes more noticeable as you send more and more mailers.
PostGrid’s hybrid mail makes it even more affordable by enabling you to access bulk mail discounts from the postal service provider.
Talk to our experts to learn what is hybrid mail and how you can effectively use it for your business marketing and communication efforts!
