Solo mailers
Target specific consumers with solo direct mailers from MGA Innovation. Customizable, affordable and professional, this mailing strategy is a great way to generate leads and create interest in your business. Make an impact with a professional mailer.
- Format
- One brand, one offer
- Targeting
- Purchase history, interests, location
- USPS status
- Premier USPS Customer
- Exit
- To the Mailbox
What are solo mailers?
General notes
What is a solo mailer?
Solo direct mail is any form of advertisement that mails individually and is not combined with other companies or offers. This promotional material can target your customers on their purchase history, interests, location and other demographics. With the right data analysis and customization, solo mailers can be very precise tools to drive sales and increase brand recognition.
Is a solo mailer the opposite of commingled mail?
No. Solo and shared describe what is inside the piece: your offer alone, or yours alongside other advertisers’. Commingling describes how the finished pieces travel: your sealed solo mailers join other clients’ mail headed to the same regional destination, so the combined volume earns postage discounts your volume alone might not. A solo mailer can be commingled, and nobody else’s offer goes near your reader.
The mail format decision table sets out both decisions side by side, and USPS mail operations explains how commingling works.
Comparing formats
Comparing solo mailers
Solo mailers are a popular way to reach customers and improve response rates. But they are not the only form of by-mail advertising.
| Format | Strength | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Solo mailer | Focus on a single product, with no competing offers. | The postage is yours alone; presort and commingling bring it down. |
| Shared mail | Reduces the cost of postage dramatically. | Your message can be lost amidst other advertisers. |
| Catalog | Provides more information than is possible with smaller mailings. | Much more expensive to produce and ship. |
| Postcard | Good for lead generation. | The size necessitates succinct language. |
The offer
One product, one offer, no competition in the envelope
Unlike other forms of advertisement, solo mailers give you a low-cost opportunity to focus attention on a single successful product, without having to compete with other inventory or other offers.
For especially effective mailers, we recommend offering some form of discount, such as $10 off or free shipping, within a limited time frame to prompt consumers to act. Savvy marketing lets you control your mail strategy in a way that is engineered to make the most of your advertising budget.
Benefits of solo mailers
Solo direct mail offers many unique benefits. The most important is the control that comes with this form of advertising.
Control of brand and message
With solo mailers, you control your branding, your messaging, and who the mailers reach.
Targeted lists
Especially with targeted list capabilities, you can individualize your content to increase sales.
Personal details
Simple details, such as personalizing the font with your consumer’s name, can boost response rates.
Lower cost
There are financial incentives too. Catalogs are more expensive to produce and ship, and often less effective. Solo mailers let brands reach new and returning customers at a much lower cost than more traditional forms of mail advertising, so you can boost sales without breaking your budget.
How it runs
How a solo mailer runs through our plant
Step 1: The list
We analyze and clean your list to learn where your best buyers live, what they like and which promotions they respond to, then presort the file by destination ZIP code before anything is addressed. See database management.
Step 2: The piece
Personalized, printed, folded, assembled and inserted in our lettershop. Cards or samples can be affixed.
Step 3: The postage
The sorted mail is commingled with other clients’ mail to the same region when that earns a deeper discount. See commingling.
Step 4: The mail
Entered into the USPS mail stream from our own dock under Optional Procedure.
On the line
The processes a solo mailer runs through
| Zone | Process | Equipment | Food-grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Production area | Inkjet printing and addressingVariable-data addressing, personalization and coupon codes printed in line. | Inkjet printing · Address systems | No |
| Production area | Inserting and lettershopData processing, personalization, folding, assembly, inserting, packaging and mailing. Hand assembly for what the machines cannot run. | Automatic insertion machines | No |
| Production area | Affixing and gluingCards, samples and promotional items attached to mailers and inserts; tipping and gluing lines. | Hot-melt glue systems · Gluing lines with mobile units | No |
Related pages
- Mail formats
Solo or shared, presorted or commingled: the decision table.
- USPS mail operations
Optional Procedure, commingling and presort.
- Lettershop services
Data processing, personalization, folding, assembly, inserting, packaging and mailing.
- Mailing list and database management
Lists sorted by geography, demographics and customer interests.
- Product sampling custom mailers
When the mailer carries the product itself.
- To the Mailbox
How the format is chosen, alongside the rest of a mail program.
Start a targeted solo mailer campaign
Created with care, our solo mailers represent your business faithfully every time. To start a targeted solo mailer campaign of your own, contact us today.