It’s hard to believe that 2015 is half over, but the fall mailing season is just around the corner!

Before we know it, the rush of back to school events, political mailings (yes, even in this off year), holiday sales and end of year clearances will carry us into 2016. Use this calm before the storm to fine-tune your processes, investigate new areas to grow your business, and find any additional postal discounts you might be missing out on. Here are a few tips to help you make the most of mailing’s busiest season.

Plan for Postage Promotions

USPS is offering three big postage incentive programs this fall, and is running them longer than any year before. You can get a hefty 2% discount on your mailing postage, and try out some new technology as well. Here’s a snapshot of the promotions:

• If you send invoices and statements via First-Class Mail, you can get a 2% postage discount by printing marketing information in dynamic/variable color directly on the statement. This promotion runs through November 30. Get more information about the Color Transpromo.
• If you want to start playing with the latest in mailing technology, you can get a 2% postage discount by using Near Field Communication (NFC), advanced augmented reality, or even using some new paper or ink in your mail piece. This promotion for First-Class and Standard Mail runs through November 30. 
• If you’re using mail to drive customers to a shopping experience, include a barcode or digital watermark to link to a mobile shopping cart on your Standard Mail piece to get a 2% postage discount. 

To participate in any of these promotions, you’ll need to sign up via the Business Customer Gateway and get mail piece design approval. Plan ahead if you want to start using these promotions.

Build Out Your Offerings

Are you offering your customers the most value? Worried that your competitors are offering services and products that you don’t? July is the perfect time to do your research, try new things, and solidify your portfolio. If you’ve wondered about the latest in digital print technology, mail tracking, or just wanted to see if packages and fulfillment are right for your company, you can get the components into play now to experiment over the coming months.

We’ve put together several webinars to help you evaluate new functionality, services and efficiencies with your Satori Software solution. Recordings are available on our Webinars page, and more content is coming soon.

Eliminate Inefficiencies

When the time crunch is on, every second counts. Now’s the time to look at your floor plan layouts, job workflows and customer interaction points. Something as simple as upgrading your list processing computer can speed up each job. Add that savings up across all your jobs, and you could increase your throughput significantly. Put the magnifying glass to every aspect of your business – especially the ones you don’t like doing. If there’s a way to automate, enhance or eliminate a process, you’ll reap the benefits later. It’s time for some spring cleaning in July! For software users, processing time is the biggest bottleneck. Check your computers for the latest software updates, security patches, and yes, even hardware updates. An ounce of prevention now can prevent an outage at a critical time.

The fall mailing season is one of the most exciting and exhausting times in our industry. With a little preparation, you can get yourself into the driver’s seat to make 2015 your best year yet. We’d like to hear from you – what steps are you taking now to prepare for the coming rush? Send your comments to info@satorisoftware.com.