Paper wrap is gaining popularity in the publishing and commercial arena. It is machine-readable and qualifies for Royal Mail services, including the Mailmark
Paper wrap mailing was designed as an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic and poly wrap, so it is not just a way to save money for your next marketing campaign but a way to save the planet too.
What is Naked Mailing?
Unlike paper wrap mailing, Naked Mailing is when an item is shipped as it is. That is, without any packaging, or not sealed on all the edges.
A good example is a catalogue, but any direct mail will do, such as leaflets and pamphlets.
How often are these just left at the door, naked and alone, waiting to be recycled? This is better for the planet than plastic poly, but it is not a very attractive marketing solution.
Why Do Advertisers Use Naked Mailing?
Hundreds of millions of items are sent through the Royal Mail network every year in this format, so there is a market for this form of delivery. Why?
Traditionally this has been the most viable commercial solution. In short: it is seen to be the best way to get the product onto people's doorsteps.
This form of sending mail is often perceived to be cheaper - and you will find many articles arguing this is the case. I often hear clients say that ‘as cheap as a paper wrap mailing may be, it is simply not cheaper than no paper wrap at all’.
And the lack of any plastic poly wrap, or any form of an environmentally unfriendly poly wrap (including potato wrap, so often cited as environmentally friendly – but isn’t), makes it seem like the obvious choice in the current climate. So, where's the catch?
Why Use Paper Wrap Mailing Instead?
A paper wrap mailing pack can accommodate more customer-focused content, such as promotional opportunities, it can be personalised to an individual customer, and it can hold more than just the one piece of collateral. This is all great – perhaps you only want to include your own one item? Then read on, you’re going to be surprised
It is actually cheaper to use paper wrap mailing than Naked Mailing because naked mailing is handled by the Royal Mail as individual items, and that means each one is manually placed in the delivery. When using paper wrap, it is machine readable, and handled automatically using Royal Mail’s Mailmark, therefore taking costs out of the system and that makes sending paper wrap significantly cheaper
So while Naked Mailing offers a solution to finding a recyclable plastic alternative, the price increase presents another problem.
Furthermore, there is the issue of damage. There is a risk of damage when magazines and publications are in the system, especially in adverse weather conditions. This is not a good look for any marketing campaign.
The paper wrap solution almost solves this problem completely.
What is Mailmark?
Royal Mail services handle a truly remarkable number of items every day. Every hour Royal Mail machines process somewhere near 30 000 items.
And this number is only going to increase as the popularity of direct mail does - it is not hard to imagine why there was a desire for an automated solution.
To that end, Royal Mail created Mailmark. This is the barcoding system in which items are processed by machines rather than by hand.
What Are The Benefits of Mailmark?
According to Royal Mail themselves, Mailmark's goal is to reduce "the cost of your letter and large letter format mailings by making them machine-readable."
With this level of automation comes postage savings: there are discounted Royal Mail services applied to the postage charge if they can process the items mechanically.
Paper wrap mailing is ideal for this new technology.
And there are other benefits of Mailmark beyond purely financial gain:
â— Faster delivery: Machine-readable frank marks such as Mailmark speed up the process of sorting, collecting and delivering mail. Also, consignment tracking and predicted delivery day for precise delivery estimates.
â— Clearer tracking: Mailmark-enabled franking machines instantly apply or read the Mailmark barcode so you can get all sorts of information in one place. Royal Mail offers online data and analytics for wholesalers on their online dashboard.
What Are The Limitations of Mailmark?
An obvious limitation of the letter format is that the item must be in some packaging. Mailmark can only process items sealed on all edges.
This leads to the question, Which area should be the target?
Endless questions swirl about the mind. Paper wrap mailings, plastic poly wrap, starch-based wraps, how eco friendly should we be, what are the printing and postage costs, and how will it look? And so on, and so on.
Solutions To The Problem
We must forget the previous poly wrap solution. And while many businesses are now using potato-starch and corn-starch wrapping, these are not as environmentally friendly as may first be thought.
There are, as I see it, two solutions:
- Put the item in an envelope.
- Put the item in a paper wrap.
We are left with two mailing solutions, but which is better?
Paper Wrap Vs Envelope
Both solutions are eco-friendly, so this is not an issue. And both fit Royal Mail's postage requirements for Mailmark.
Each allows personalised and promotional inserts too. It seems there is no difference to split.
The simplest answer, however, comes from asking which is more cost-effective:
â— Inserting an item into an envelope is roughly 25 per cent more expensive than using paper wrap when the cost of producing the paper wrap/envelope is accounted for, and envelopes are slower to fill than paper-wrap is to seal.
In short: the paper wrap solution saves more money. And can be as much as 34 per cent less cost to you, the customer
It is clear that this is a massive saving for the direct mail industry!
What are the challenges that remain?
Some advertisers still feel that a catalogue landing on the doorstep rather than one in a wrap mailing pack positively impacts the consumer.
Often it is felt that this can lead to a negative return on investment overall. But when you have so many options to use the front and back of the paperwrap to communicate directly with the customer, we are currently achieving opening rates of nearly 94%
The benefits of paper wrapping must be repeated and amplified and underlined, and the myth about opening rates and costs put to bed.
And The Winner Is...
Not only is it cheaper to use paper wrap mailing packs than Naked Mailing and aesthetically more pleasing to the eye, but it also allows for additional promotional opportunities and additional messages - plus the sender can add personalised inserts.
It can be processed by Mailmark, allowing greater efficiency and clearer tracking for the customers. The risk of damage to the item is also greatly minimised.
And the paper wrapping is eco friendly - plus there are plenty of eco-friendly alternative options available to increase the impact of the wrapping more.
As a marketing tool, it is a no-brainer - much better than a stodgy naked catalogue thumped on the doorstep. And there is no need to use a poly wrap or any harmful plastics as an alternative when paper wrap is about!
So why go naked, when covering up is cheaper, faster and gets better results?
Contact today to find out more, come and see what we do, and how we can help you improve your direct mailing and help you improve your results.
