An employee mailer sent to home addresses may break through more easily, when employees are accustomed to receiving most of their internal communications through digital channels. Some clients are surprised, however, at how long it can take to get that mailer into employees’ hands — and by unexpected costs in the production and fulfillment processes. Thinking proactively and planning ahead can help prevent that production timeline from dragging out and frustrating all involved and can help maximize the impact of your available budget.
Before you get too far down the road, consider how these three factors will impact your employer mailer’s timeline, budget and its effectiveness:
A format that’s more involved than a simple trifold brochure can be significantly more engaging — and employees might spend more time with it, absorbing more of the finer points of your messaging. You might consider a folding cross, a circle, a die-cut accordion fold or some other interesting shape and construction. Based on the content that is given, any number of design options are available for production. While different-shaped mailers drive up production costs and often require more design time, they also provide an interactive experience for your employees. If you’re looking for some cool formats that might work for your employee mailer, check out our ideas for various formats to consider.
Whether it’s copywriting, design or in the production phase, revisions take time. At each step in the process, make sure all the decision makers have weighed in so that you can handle everyone’s concerns in one round of changes, if possible.
Whether it’s an employee mailer or any other print production project, it takes time to loop in multiple points of contact, for the writer, designer or production house to make the changes, and to upload the files (often multiple files). That’s why making even a small change can take longer than you might expect.
The best way to minimize the rounds of changes is to be sure all parties are in approval with each step, before moving on to the next step. If someone’s boss sees the employee mailer for the very first time when it’s in the printer’s proof stage, that could derail the entire timeline (and budget).
Don’t forget that before your employer mailer can be handed off to the US Postal Service, it will need to be printed with your employee addresses. Then, it might need an envelope, a poly bag, or wafer seals before the post office will accept it. That step of the process may involve a lot of handwork, which will drive up your price and add a day or more to your timeline.
Finally, postage itself will be more expensive for heavier pieces, or for unusual shapes and sizes. For instance, a square employee mailer takes extra postage, even if it’s the same weight as a rectangular one. If you opt for bulk mail instead of first class, you’ll save money but increase the length of your timeline. To learn more about postal service requirements, check out this USPS tutorial.
Interested in getting your people’s attention with an employer mailer sent to their homes? Tribe can help.
