Forth Communication has invested £60,000 on a mailing inserter machine, the single largest investment the company has made to date on mailing equipment.  The machine is a 6-station inserter, which means it can enclose 6 different items into the same envelope.  The machine is a Mailcrafter Unit, with a Muller accumulator/folder, which will enable collation of multiple sheets of personalised A4 print outs (e.g. annual statements) then fold, and enclose them with other inserts (e.g. leaflets) in a single process.This significant investment will enhance the mailing capabilities of Forth Communication, and will advance the current standard of equipment.   The machine is ‘intelligent’, in that it uses camera reading ‘2D matching codes’ for personalised sets of letters/statements, which means personalising onto the sets at the same time as the client specific detail.  The machine will also have a custom built system fitted to the back end of the press, where the enclosed packs come out. This will take the form of a camera which will read a 2D barcode that will have been personalised onto the address carrier in the pack, which will be visible in the envelope window. The content of the 2D barcode will be compared to a database of the mailing file, to ensure that all the packs that are fed into the press are completed and packed ready for uplift by the postal provider.  This will also mean that clients will be provided with additional management information at the end of the enclosing run, to confirm that all packs they expected to be produced were indeed enclosed and passed to the mail provider.This investment was made to compliment the recent software investment at the end of 2011, which aids the growing requirements for Hybrid Mail. In addition, the machine will extend the existing service currently offered to clients on periodic, ad hoc mailing work.  As well as enabling the management and production of more complex mailing pack types in-house, with the additional control that offers, most significantly it will provide industry leading levels of management reporting on mailing work, for blue chip financial clients.The future aim is to increase the volume of ‘on demand’ Hybrid work; the new inserter will enable substantial additional capacity and provide the capability. Future investment will be directed to laser print to accommodate the increased throughput of work.To discuss individual project requirements email info@forthcom.co.uk

Returned mailIn the current financial climate companies are under increasing pressure to look at ways to reduce administration costs, which are often associated with large volume mailings. In recent years, one of the most popular ways we have been able to assist our clients achieve these objectives, is to help manage the returned mail process.The statistics show that 1 in 7 people (or 14% of the population) move home every year, however that may be impacted slightly by recent trends in the housing market over the last 24 months.  In addition to these changes, approximately 500,000 people die each year in the UK.  Thus the administration associated with keeping your client address database up to date can be labour intensive.Generally companies’ approach to dealing with returned mail falls into 3 categories:1. Those who do nothing and accept that returned mail is an occupational hazard associated with bulk mailing, or2. Those who employ staff to update their clients address files, or3. Those who adopt an automated process similar to that offered by Forth CommunicationThe costs associated with options 1 and 2 can be significantly high and are not the most cost effective way of managing returned mail.Removing returned mail before it happens – proactive data cleaningIt is possible to remove much of the potential returned mail records prior to the mailing actually being dispatched. This can save a significant amount in postage and production costs, in addition to the environmental benefits.  Prior to mailing, we can run the campaign file against several external cleaning and tracing databases and also against the available bereavement suppressions – ‘just in case’.  We can provide a FREE data audit on the file and then discuss the results with you to agree the way forward prior to undertaking any cleaning.Returned mail made simpleBy simply having your mail sent to our PO Box (which can include your name as addressee) or, if you prefer, by setting up your own PO Box and having all returned mail re-directed to us, we will be able to data capture and process the returned mail for you.Data captureWe are able to capture name and address details simply from the returned envelopes themselves. For more efficient and cost-effective handling we can pre-load the outbound mailing files and, by matching unique reference numbers through window envelopes or by scanning a barcode, flag the record as being a return.Data cleaning the returned records – back end processAt the end of the campaign or at agreed intervals we would run the returned mail against the National Change of Address register and other recognised and established tracing and cleaning databases.  This process will return new addresses for a percentage of records, and then we can supply you with 2 files for your records:1. Returned mail for which we have been able to find the new address (depending on the initial quality of data we can typically achieve a 20% - 40% match rate)2. Returned mail for which we have been unable to find the new addressManagement reportingWe can also tailor our reporting processes to meet each client’s requirements. Reports can be produced at agreed intervals and can be available via e-mail, or from our secure web site.Please see the chart below for how this process typically works.   Security screening and re-issuing the mailingIn many instances, where we have been able to identify a new address, it will also be possible for us to re-issue the mailing to your customers’ newly found and verified addresses.  We recommend that a ‘security’ letter is sent out by us as part of the verification process and the responses to that letter become the verification needed to update your records.  The responses to the security mailing can be by reply slip returned to you or to us, or by phone call into your call centre. For more info email us info@forthcom.co.uk or call 0131 467 4467Resources: UK National Statistics  

5 steps to understanding how it works: 1. We load your document templates on our web based Template Management System 2. You go on-line where you can view, edit and approve your final documents3. You upload your data to our secure file site4. We produce your final documents5. We post for you We offer all of this - including print and production at a cost equivalent to what you would be charged by Royal Mail for standard tariff postage alone. Aside from print, production and postage reductions there are significant savings in resourcing costs such as staffing, equipment and consumables.  Why Hybrid Mail? •    Cost Reduce spend on direct mailings, which you can measure and monitor more effectively with Hybrid Mail.  •    Speed Hybrid Mail offers increased control over your mailings, with the facility to designate different users the authority to manage and send individual mailings.  The process is streamlined and ideally designed for quick turnaround mailings. •    Ease As the software is web based, users only need internet access to manage mailings.  The system is very user friendly and designed to be quick and simple to use. •    Sensitive to the Environment Using Hybrid Mail in comparison to traditional mailings will reduce your organisations carbon footprint, by reducing waste and transport pollutants, and using less energy and consumables in the production process. Grahame Campbell, Creation Consumer Finance comments:“Forth Communication has been responsible for the daily production of business critical mailings to our customers for over 8 years. They have always performed in a professional way, meeting or exceeding our stringent service level requirements and we would have no hesitation in recommending them to others as a provider of these services”. To speak with someone about Hybrid Mail and arrange a FREE demo please call Karen Farrelly on 028 9147 3598  

Regular policy statements can be a key element in the ongoing communication with your customers.  Statements can be viewed as one of the foundation stones on which your customer contact strategy is built.  The quality of statements varies dramatically across companies, and sometimes even within the same company there are big variations in the content/design of statements by product type.Original statement formatCustomer statements have historically been poor in design and content. Many companies have taken steps to rectify this over recent years, however there are still a number who could look at improving this further.Statements re-designed...In October 2006 the ABI produced a Customer Impact guide which reviewed customer statements and made recommendations with regard to the design and content. Attached to the guide was an example of a best practice statement format.  The publication of this guide was the catalyst for many companies to re-design their customer statements.  We can provide a copy of the relevant ABI Customer Impact guide on request.Introduce personalised messagingAs technology has improved, it has become easier and cheaper to make statements more relevant to the individual recipient.  Some providers now incorporate highly personalised statement messages. Examples of the types of messages which can be incorporated are:- Maturity countdown messages- Retirement countdown messages- Pension top up- Exercising policy options- Cross sell messages- Life stage messages These messages can be triggered by flags in the data or by bespoke data selection routines. Use multiple personalised statement messagesAs above, but some companies, especially banks, like to incorporate more than one personalised message into their customer statements.  We can select multiple messages within an agreed hierarchy.Introduce highlight colour...It is possible and becoming increasingly popular to incorporate a second, or highlight colour into customer statements. We use this to draw attention to a particular key message or set of figures contained within the statement.Digital print, full colourThe cost of using full colour digital print has dropped dramatically over the past few years and it is now possible to produce full colour digital statements in one machine pass. The quality of these statements is now excellent and we already have a small but steadily increasing number of clients using this option.Digital print with full colour imagesThis is a continuation and the next development on from incorporating highly personalised messages. With digital colour you can incorporate variable images, perhaps from a concurrent advertising campaign, or graphs or charts and have these printed on to the statement, combining personalised images with highly personalised statement messages.    Roadmap image - click to view.jpg (895.80 kb) Online statement viewer...For many of our clients we host a statement or document viewer which allows their call centre staff to search for and retrieve PDF copies of their customer statements.  A major decision for these and others is whether to take it further by making those statements available online to the policyholders. JunctionWith the technology now readily available, we are at the junction:• Make statements available electronically via the internet,• Continue with the higher cost of sending paper statements, or• Offer your customers the choice of either or both services.There is a series of compelling arguments to encourage customers to switch to receiving their statements via the internet, some of which include: - Speedier delivery - Easier access - Cheaper to produce - More environmentally friendly There is no doubt that electronic statements are here to stay, and whilst they are unlikely to render paper statements redundant in the short term, it is certain that the number of people agreeing to receive electronic statements will continue to increase dramatically in the future.Send customers password &...If a customer agrees to access their statements via the internet then they will be sent two separate e-mails or letters one which details their password and the other which details their user ID. Statements available onlinePolicyholders will be sent an e-mail, with a link to the web statement access page, advising that their new statement is online.An e-mail will be sent to customers...Every time a new statement is available online an e-mail with a link to the statement access page, will be sent to policyholders thus allowing them to input their user ID and password to then access their own statement online. Real time statements available onlineTraditional paper statements are by necessity a snap shot, usually communicating the addition of the annual bonus. A first option is for us to just replicate those statements online and save the cost of production and mailing without improving the scope and relevance of the information or the timing of the delivery.  Alternatively you could make the move to real time statements populated with the most recent data from your legacy systems. That’s of greatest relevance to all your policyholders with unit-linked elements that have values changing daily.  There are intermediate stages, and options such as more frequent snap shots, made possible due to the absence of the cost of physical production. We can help you choose the communication formats that are right for your various policyholder types.  To view this and our other on-line brochures click here

Check out our new on-line brochures for Data & Mailing Services, For-Sight the Marketer's Database and For-Email. Post your comments and email us your feedback to info@forthcom.co.uk