Postal Issues — Rate Case Pushes Forward

“Higher postage costs mean mailings have to be targeted more effectively to provide consistent ROI,” Andersen says. “Effective use of personalization leads to higher response rates. Whether that personalization is black on a preprinted shell or full variable data printing depends a lot on volumes.”

Whether it’s via finding new production efficiencies, reducing volume or finding other channels, marketers invariably re-evaluate their prospecting methodology when increases are implemented, notes Dave Colatriano, senior vice president and general manager of direct marketing for Baltimore-based Vertis Communications. The result is a raised threshold level for attractive prospects, while those less attractive—for example, unresponsive in the past 12 months—are eliminated from the data lists.