Stop direct-mail errors they happen.

• Author: Turner, Jim

Creating a direct-mail campaign is a manufacturing process. Certain errors at any stage in the process can waste your budget and ruin your response. Here are some typical problems you can watch for.

Wrong Insert. One of the most common errors occurs in the insertion process: One or more of the correct inserts are omitted or an incorrect one is added. This occurs because lettershops--the place where most mass mailings are assembled-typically are processing many mailings simultaneously. They can miss one or even select the wrong box and insert material from some other mailing. Errors at this stage are devastating to your mailing. Once the mailing has been processed and sent to the post office, there's no pulling it back. At that point, you have spent your budget for printing, lists and postage. The best control, of course, is to be on-site to monitor the process, but that's not always possible. So, give your lettershop clearly written instructions along with a sample showing the correct contents. It also is a good idea to have them fax you a copy of each insert they will use on the day they are processed.

Weight Errors. Miscalculating your postage expense due to weight or size of the piece is an expensive error and can cost perhaps 40 percent or more over what you had budgeted. It's a problem often not discovered until the mailing has been printed and is being processed, so it may be too late or too costly to fix. This problem sometimes occurs when another insert is added to the package design late in the process, or when a paper stock other than what was planned is used. A small error such as the wrong basis weight of paper can cost thousands of dollars in additional postage, especially on first-class mailings.

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