There’s a wealth of compelling data highlighting the effectiveness of direct mail, not the least of which is a higher response rate than any digital direct marketing medium. In fact, direct mail generates a five to nine times higher response rate than email, paid search or social media.

In the post-pandemic “new normal,” the importance of direct mail is amplified and the need for your message to stand out is more important than ever. While direct mail involves costs – from design and paper to print and postage, there are countless ways to produce effective direct mail pieces for a wide range of budgets.

So what can we do to get the best possible return on a direct mail investment?

• Paper already has the edge over digital because it’s innately sensory. Think about how much more engaging a piece can be simply by the choice of paper. Does your brand convey luxury? Consider a premium soft-touch paper. Promoting a family-friendly vacation getaway? Consider a paper that has a sandpaper-like texture to evoke a beachside sensation. Trying to attract new customers to your bakery? Think about using scent paper infused with the aroma of cake baking or vanilla frosting.
• Specialty inks can also be a relatively cost-effective way to get noticed. For example, a photochromic ink that changes color with UV light exposure could be an effective way to make the fireworks image on your Fourth of July sale promotion more eye-catching and therefore more likely to get opened.
• Take recipients on a journey and enable your brand story to unfold with the use of interactive elements such as pop-ups, infinite folds or by using dimension. Trailing edge or shapes envelopes are cost-effective ways to achieve dimensional impact.
• Take advantage of the USPS incentive promotions for savings on postage!

The focus of the Personalized Color Transpromo incentive is on elevating the value of bills and statements, which are key areas of interaction with consumers. It’s intended to incorporate marketing messages highlighted through the use of color, dynamic variable print and personalization – attributes that can foster a better connection with and a response from consumers.

Aligned with our core value of Trusted Reliability, we want to assure you that Mac Papers has business continuity plans in place for our envelope converting operation in response to the escalating Coronavirus pandemic.

Our Envelope Operations

• We continue to be fully operational.  As a number of states have issued Stay at Home or Shelter in Place orders, one of the exceptions consistently being made is people going to work to provide essential services or those in a critical infrastructure industry. We can confirm that based on U.S. Department of Homeland Security CISA guidelines, the Mac Papers envelope converting operation is deemed Essential Business and remains open to serve your needs. In other words, Mac Papers is deemed critical to the infrastructure, in a number of ways including as a producer and distributor of supplies needed to support manufacturing, financial institutions, utilities, and packaging staging and distribution operations. The same applies to all of Mac Papers’ branches located throughout the Southeast.
• Mac Papers Envelope Converters (MPEC) is a long-term active member of the Envelope Manufacturing Association (EMA) and continues to stay in close contact with the EMA regarding the evolving COVID-19 situation. The EMA indicates that envelope converters have been classified in Pennsylvania and California as exempt from mandatory closures as part of the critical infrastructure of the Nation. While the EMA is confident that the same classification decision would be made in other states, they are also seeking the classification on a federal level.

Our Supply Partners

• Our purchasing teams and business leads remain in close contact with our primary mill partners and key suppliers, offshore and U.S.-based, for the latest information on possible supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19.
• The vast majority of our paper products are sourced domestically and inventory is not currently a challenge. We are monitoring inventory levels, assessing contingency sources and making planning and sourcing decisions as needed to minimize any potential impacts to our customers.
• Per the CISA guidelines referenced above, paper mills are also considered as essential and therefore will continue to operate.

For questions about a specific supplier, please reach out to your local MPEC account manager. They have access to the most current statements we are receiving from our mill partners.

Logistics & Delivery Expertise

• With a proven 99% on-time delivery rate, MPEC is committed to finding the most expedient way to deliver your order. That commitment does not waver, even in the most challenging of times.
• Whether it’s our own fleet of trucks driven by dedicated employees, one of the multiple carrier lines we have partnered with for years for the bulk of our full truckload and some of our less than truckload (LTL) deliveries, or the extensive Mac Papers distribution network, we’ll identify the fastest, most cost-effective option to make your delivery.
• We have been in constant contact with our carrier partners and they have all indicated that they are in full operations mode.

Employee Safety and Well-being

• We have put a number of temporary policies and procedures in place to help ensure the safety and well-being of our employees and their families.
• We have halted all travel by air and rail and are also curtailing all “nonessential” employee travel of any kind. In addition, we have canceled and are no longer scheduling any events or gatherings and we have asked our salesforce to conduct business meetings by telephone or web conference for the time being.
• We are sharing the latest reliable information available from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding preventative measures and recommended hygiene practices at all of our locations.
• We have provided additional hand washing and cleaning supplies as available at our facility and have increased the frequency and intensity of professional cleaning services.
• We have implemented a strict sick policy with clear parameters for when employees should stay at home and we have made additional paid time off (PTO) days available to employees, should any of our team members be diagnosed with COVID-19.

Visitors to our Facility

• Although we thoroughly enjoy seeing our valued customers and suppliers in person as often as possible and love providing tours of our state-of-the-art operation, we implemented a temporary curtailment on visitors to our facility.
• All unplanned visitors except shipment deliveries will be turned away. Any visitor requests must be received 48 business hours in advance.

Our Business Partners’ Policies

• We will follow and respect any procedures and requirements our customers and suppliers institute – regarding meetings, deliveries, etc. Please be sure to communicate any such policies or needs through your standard and local contacts at MPEC. You may also send any questions or concerns to [email protected].

Keeping You Updated

• We will continue to post updates on this section of our site and also to our news subscribers.

As always, we greatly appreciate and value the opportunity to serve and partner with our customers and suppliers.

Thank you for your business. Please stay well.