DYMO Endicia

Outreach

Outreach Reaches Out with the U.S. Postal Service

Outreach logo From the earliest days of organized religion, Christians continue to find more effective ways to spread the Gospel message - in person, in print, and now via the Internet. Outreach remains a common activity as churches use a variety of methods to reach out to their communities.

These days, especially in the U.S., one of the most effective means of outreach is direct mail. Thousands of churches regularly mail postcards, inviting recipients to a worship service, teaching series, or a special event - like a concert or seasonal fair.

Background.   Outreach Inc., a San Diego-based provider of communications products and services to churches, offers a variety of cost effective and proven communication methods: books, movies, banners, bulletin covers, campaign materials and more. One of the fastest-growing services in its marketing division is direct mail. According to Dee-Dee Hartland, supervisor of mail services for Outreach®, the company uses Priority Mail® Open and Distribute (PMOD) — formerly known as Drop Ship — to send bundles of presorted mail pieces to the appropriate U.S. Postal Service® facility for local delivery. The service has been a success, as Outreach processes millions of customized postcards for churches each year, especially during the weeks leading up to Easter and Christmas.

But success has brought challenges, too. “Preparing mailings really required a lot of manual labor and was a lengthy process,” On its best days, Outreach could only process about 30 trays of PMOD mail per hour — too slow during busy seasons when time-sensitive mailings ran the risk of delays that could threaten the company’s reputation with clients. The labor-intensive process also proved to be expensive for Outreach as harried employees accrued overtime hours while working to meet tight deadlines around busy times like Christmas Eve.

Endicia's Role.   Seeking a quicker and more efficient high-volume direct mail solution, Hartland contacted DYMO Endicia upon the suggestion of a U.S. Postal Service representative. One of the world’s leaders in Internet Postage Technologies, DYMO Endicia’s software-based mailing solution was quickly integrated into Outreach’s order processing and delivery system. Almost immediately after converting the mailing system to DYMO Endicia software, Hartland noticed significant improvements in the Outreach order fulfillment process — the company can now process almost 61 mail trays per hour, a 100 percent increase over its previous rate.

GreatLife Product Currently, the company is using DYMO Endicia Enterprise™ system, which further integrates its various related software programs into one, easy-to-use web-based platform. With DYMO Endicia Enterprise, Outreach can monitor their various accounts’ activities on a central platform. The added functionality of this tool allows them to measure costs, effectiveness and customer service.

Using DYMO Endicia’s software, Hartland and her team are now guided quickly and easily through the presorting process. Not only can address lists be validated online, and personalized postage included as needed, but critical PMOD-required postage forms are automatically pre-filled. Everything from forms and postage to receipts and reports is printed from a PC or Mac; no special equipment is required. DYMO Endicia software also supports a multitude of label sizes and types, envelopes and postcards, so Outreach can continue to offer and produce highly-customized direct mail orders, while staying in compliance with all postal regulations throughout.

The Future.   “DYMO Endicia has effectively doubled our mail processing efficiency,” said Hartland. “And, they have saved us thousands of dollars in costs since we’ve practically eliminated the need to pay overtime wages.”

As the next wave of holiday-themed mailings commences, Outreach is also looking to further improve its direct mail processing, with DYMO Endicia’s help. With the time and costs Endicia has saved Outreach, Hartland has become a true convert to electronic postage.

To learn more about Outreach, go to www.outreach.com.