Why Shared? 

This section of the web site considers the benefits of shared mailings in comparison with solo mailings.

A shared mailing can cost you as little as 5p to mail one page to a school - although the cost for most mailers is normally a little higher than this at many 8p or 10p (for heavier items).

However for most mailings up to around 90g there is going to be a saving against a solo mailing (which when postage, packing and everything else is included can come out at around 40p per school reached).

But response rates in shared mailing are lower than in solo - and here we consider the key factors that will be involved as you decide if a shared mailing is better than a solo mailing for you.

Weight issues raises the point that although in the past shared mailings were for light weight items this is no longer true. 

Reminders looks at the way companies use shared mailings to remind customers of their products where they have earlier sent out a catalogue.

Old stock considers using shared mailing as a way of keeping older products moving.

List builder reveals how some companies use the shared mailing as a way of adding new customers to the list of people who always get their catalogue.

Solo vs Shared goes into the whole cost analysis of the two approaches.   This gets a bit technical at times, but if you really do want to work out the most cost effective approach for you this is probably the best analysis that exists.

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Weight issues

In the old days it used to be the fact that shared mailings were reserved for light weight items.  While you can still use shared for lighter items, it is now possible to mail items weighing up to 100g and still make considerable savings against conventional mailings.

In fact there are two services in relation to weight - the regular service which charges a basic fee with an extra fee per gram after 15g, and then the "Brochure Shared" service, which is ideal for anything weighing 20g or more.

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Reminders

Many firms use shared mailings in combination with solo mailings.  What they might do is have a list of interested teachers, to whom they send their catalogue.  

Then they send out shared mailings with special offers and updates on, perhaps including new product, to all schools that teach the right age group.    On the shared mailing leaflet they include not only an order form but also a simple tick box so that the reader can apply for a catalogue.   

In response to such a reply the reader will be put on the interested teacher list, and so next time there is a new catalogue this teacher will get his/her own copy.

Thus the shared mailing helps build a list of interested teachers, as well as reminding people all the time that the company is there - and of course as well as selling further products.

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Old stock

If you have a limited number of copies of an item for sale, you can offer it to schools through a shared mailing, knowing that your promotional costs will be low and you are unlikely to get too many replies for the level of stock you hold.

If you do this regularly people will come to look for your half termly leaflets, knowing that you are always updating them with special offers.

You can also use these leaflets to promote your web site by saying that there are further special offers on the internet.

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List builder

Many companies use shared mailings as a way of offering a free product.  Teachers get the leaflet and then apply for whatever the product is.   Not only does this ensure that the free products only go to people who are interested, it is also a way of getting in the names and addresses of teachers who are clearly interested in your services.

This way of using shared mailings as a list builder is very effective if you want to have a smaller selected mailing list of people who are really interested in your products and services.  Among other things it means you don't have to try to mail out your more expensive catalogue to everyone - you just send it to the people who have shown an interest in the past.

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