Power Up Your Productivity: Automating Operational Mail

This is not a drill.

Oh, wait, it actually is.

In the world of operational mail, you know the drill of manually managing operational mail, such as invoices or statements. You have to pull data, sometimes from multiple siloed data sets, build your audience list, prepare your mailing, getting sign-off, sending it to the printer, stuffing the envelopes, and getting your piece into the mail for delivery.

It can be exhausting. It’s a lot of work. A lot of work and man hours that could be productively used elsewhere. But, operational mail is critical for many organizations. Many that are in highly-regulated industries that have to follow specific compliance measures and laws.

But, what if you could meet those regulations and requirements without doing the countless repetitions of inefficient processes? What if you could automate your operational mail?

What types of mail are we talking about here?

Types of operational mail

• Event-based mail: This type of mail is triggered by an action, change by the customer, or by business logic. Explanation of Benefits, payment receipts, etc. are categorized as trigger-based mail.
• Scheduled mail: Come the end of January, everyone knows their mailbox will be full with tax statements and information. This type of mail is sent on a regular cadence and is often mandated by regulations, such as monthly invoices or annual policy renewal letters.
• One-off mail: This type of mail is sent on an as-needed basis or on demand. This type of mail may not be based on customer actions or changes in a database, but still need to be sent as a printed communication. Product sunsetting notices or price change notifications are some examples.

We know what type of mail we want to automate, but how do we do it?

Enter APIs for event-based mail

An Application Program Interface (API) creates a set of rules for interacting with an external system. An API opens a two-way street for information sharing, where data can be passed to and retrieved from the connected system using those rules. This is a contrast to sharing data via an FTP, in which data is simply pushed from one system to another without any information being returned. APIs can return data letting you know the status of your job, so you can focus on executing your next campaign with validated data.

An API-based direct mail automation solution allows you to be hands-off while your customers get their hands on their personalized mail. For example, as soon as Patient A is checked in at their doctor’s appointment, a piece of mail can be triggered without any human interaction.

Automated, integrated direct mail simplifies workflows, keeps data centralized, and intelligently routes your mail to the best printer for the job - without incurring a price difference.

By building an API integration, you can continue to leverage any databases and ERP, CDP, or CRM tools you’re used to and allow the direct mail platform to do the work for you 24/7. Let’s take a closer look at triggered sends that integrate with your database.

See our direct mail API in action:

Automation in action: VillageCareMAX

Automating direct mail workflows can increase mail production by 150% and decrease project timelines by two-thirds. VillageCareMAX, a provider-sponsored health plan, had its staff manually preparing and printing documents, stuffing envelopes, and taking the mail to the post office. After automating workflows to create these communications, VillageCareMAX saved its team 4,000 hours a year and sent mail at a fraction of the cost.

Want to learn more about automating operational mail? Download your copy of the Operational Mail Boot Camp!

Recommended resources:

Automating the Paper Billing and Collections Process

Modernizing the Direct Mail Process