Author: jdrgroup

6 Branded Envelope Design Tips

Posted on by jdrgroup

Whether you’re new to branded overprinted envelopes, or you’ve been using them for a while, there are always new things to learn. Here are some of the best ways to ensure that your mailshots make an impact with their target audience, to maximise open rate, response rate, and revenue.

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1. Make Good Use Of Available Space

Think about how you use the space of the envelope. If you’ve chosen an envelope with an address window, can you incorporate it into the design, or build a design around it? A creative, personalised envelope will really stand out from the crowd.

2. Make Sure Your Logo Is Visible

Depending on the nature of your business – and whether the letter is a routine or marketing communication – you may or may not want to go for a wild, unique design. Charities and utilities are known for their use of bold designs in direct mail – a strategy that brings them results. In other sectors, prospects respond better to understated designs, so the impression is not given that money is ‘wasted’ on envelopes. Do your market research carefully before commissioning an overprinted envelope design. However, all companies should have their logo in a prominent place on the branded envelope, even if this is a simplified, black and white version. This ensures customers can see clearly who the mail is from. Your envelope should help you develop brand recognition.

3. Choose The Right Size

A company like Eagle Envelopes has a huge number of sizes and types of envelope available. This allows you to stand out from your competitors, optimise your postage costs, and sustain the appropriate budget for different types of communication. Not every communication needs to feature a bells-and-whistles design, but it should be of the appropriate size and material for its purpose.

4. Mix It Up

If you’re running a large campaign, why use the same envelope design for everyone? Use different overprinted envelopes with a variety of images for different database segments, then monitor the results to see what works best. This is especially true if you’re trying to target customers from different demographics, or you’re working on a long-running campaign that will see its focus change over time.

To make the most of split print runs and segmentation, use a company like Eagle Envelopes which has the capacity to do short runs of overprinted envelopes. This allows you to experiment with different images and styles.

5. Put Contact Information On The Outside

When you put your contact information on the outside of the envelope, customers can connect without even reading your mail out. Your phone number, website, email address, campaign landing page, and Facebook page are a great starting point.

The appropriate brand messages and contact information is essential to envelope design if you’re running an integrated campaign involving postal direct mail, social media and digital marketing channels (e.g. email marketing, pay per click advertising, SEO). Just make sure your brand voice remains the same across the board.

6. Continue The Theme Inside The Mail

The outside of your envelope should match the content inside. Think about your images; are you using the same colours? Do you have any connecting pictures that bring the outside and inside together? Look at the tone of your mail out, too. An eccentric, fun design with very serious written content is jarring and dilutes the impact and credibility of your brand. You’ll want a clear line running throughout the mail out; this helps establish your brand in the eyes of your customers, and gives you a clear voice.

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To speak with one of our advisors about envelope ordering, or our bespoke branded envelope overprinting service, please give us a call on 01922 613888.

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What To Look For In An Envelope Overprinting Service

Posted on by jdrgroup

What To Look For In An Envelope Overprinting Service

Now more than ever, physical mail – whether for marketing or communication purposes – needs to stand out to attract people’s attention. Overprinted envelopes are a great way to catch the eye, get brand recognition, and ensure that your mailing gets noticed by your target market. Before you start investing in overprinted envelopes, though, make sure that you’ve chosen the right overprinting service. Here are the key criteria to look out for from a service provider.

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1. Short Run Printing

If you’re new to using overprinted envelopes, especially for general communication purposes, you may just want to dip your toes in the water to determine the best and most cost-effective strategies for your business. The easiest way to do that is by finding a company that offers short runs. Eagle Envelopes, for example, can offer runs from just 1,000 envelopes – ideal for any business getting started with a new post-based direct marketing strategy, or making infrequent mail-outs to a small mailing list.

2. Wide Range Of Products On Offer

To the untrained eye, there may not be that much difference between one unprinted envelope and another. However, experts in the field know that there is, in fact, a huge variety. That really comes out when you start using overprinted envelopes, as the size, configuration, material and layout directly affects the scope of the images, colours and messages you can feature in the design. For example, the address window of an envelope can have many different dimensions, and sit in different positions. However, there are many readily available window options regarding size and position which are designed specifically to accommodate the address which is printed in some of the most commonly used positions and, therefore, it is worth considering where the address is printed on the letter before you set about designing the contents and the printed design for your envelope.

It’s important to get the dimensions right when you are overprinting to ensure your design will fit and look its best. Even minor errors can result in the design not matching – with the resulting expense and delays of endless small adjustments. For this reason, look for a company that offers a wide range of stock envelopes, and who can advise you on the best products for your application.
Look for quality when it comes to printing, too; flexibility is essential here. Digital printing is generally better for short runs, while litho printing is a good solution for longer runs. A good company will be able to offer both services to minimise your costs and give you the most flexibility.

3. Quick And Valuable Communications

Communication is an essential tool when two companies work together. You’ll want to find a business that can offer you quick, productive advice about your artwork, production, and postal needs.
The ideal overprinting service will also give you quick estimates, with options available for print runs of different sizes and types. The entire process should be fast, with timely communications from both sides, allowing you to get your product quickly to your customers quickly and without unseen costs.

Finally, a good service will offer you timely and valuable advice. If you are new to using overprinted envelopes, or to direct mail in general, you might not know what type of images print well or are most effective. Look for a service with expertise and experience, to help you make the right decisions – that means a hassle-free service, from start to finish.

4. Quick Turnaround On Orders

Finally, speed is crucial when it comes to orders. As soon as you have signed off on the artwork, you’ll want your envelopes available quickly; a good company will do this.
When you choose an experienced, expert overprinting service, you’ll have your product quickly. However, although speed is important, a good company will not compromise on quality, either. Your envelopes should be exactly as you envisioned them, with the artwork exactly as approved.

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A company like Eagle Envelopes will help you enter the world of overprinted envelopes and deliver great results. To discuss your requirements, please call 01922 613888 today.

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Image source: Unsplash

What Is Envelope Overprinting & How Can It Benefit Your Brand?

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What Is Envelope Overprinting & How Can It Benefit Your Brand?
Envelope overprinting is an important branding tool for many businesses. A design is created to fit a specific envelope size, including slogans, images, colours, patterns and other messages. The design is then overprinted onto finished stock envelopes using a lithographic printing press for the highest quality production. Some presses can accommodate up to 4 colour designs, giving extensive scope for personalisation and customisation.

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Overprinted envelopes are frequently used by all sorts of businesses when sending tangible business communications to their customers and prospects for both routine correspondence and promotional mail, from mail order brochures to charity appeals.

Overprinting your envelopes adds value to your communication and although there is the additional cost of print to add to the plain envelope cost, careful and thoughtful designs do offer an attractive return on investment, even if they are as simple as your business logo, so what advantages can overprinting bring to yours or your client’s mail? On top of an enhanced brand image, your company will appear more secure and professional, and the recipient will feel more valued due to receiving personalised mail, an increasingly rare find these days.

Let us explore these benefits and a few others in more detail…

1. Enhanced branding

Whether your mail is intended for a Business to Customer or a Business to Business audience, when it arrives it will be competing with several other organisations for the recipient’s attention. With the volume of promotional mail sent by post remaining high, overprinted envelopes stand a better chance of being noticed and opened, enhancing your branding and helping you stand out from your competitors. Research shows co-ordinated digital and physical mail work well together to enhance opening and response rates.

2. Improved Company Image

Overprinted envelopes look and feel professional. They create an impression of an established business with a dependable reputation and encourage intrinsic confidence in the company’s ability to deliver their services. This ‘postal psychology’ improves your company image and potentially increases the response rate.

3. Personalisation

Envelope overprinting enables a high degree of personalisation, which makes each recipient feel more valued, unique, and important. This increases the chance of the letter being opened and encourages the recipient to be increasingly receptive to brand messages and appeals.

4. Promotional tool

Overprinted envelopes are themselves a marketing tool, capable of holding brand messages, content teasers for the letter inside and could even include promotional QR codes to link the campaign digitally.

5. Cost Effective

Overprinted envelopes are a cost-effective means of promotion. Although there is an additional cost for printing, the printing costs decrease per unit as volume increases. The added benefits of printed envelopes offer an attractive return on investment and therefore out-weigh the cost of overprinting, which is usually more than covered by the increased response that comes from their promotional value.

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At Eagle Envelopes, we supply high quality, bespoke printed envelopes to match your branding or that of your client – and deliver better returns from direct mail. We also stock a wide range of plain envelopes, with extensive availability and flexible order volumes. To place an order or to find out more, please call 01922 613888 today.

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Overprinting Vs Plain Mail: Making The Right Choice For Your Campaign

Posted on by jdrgroup

Overprinting Vs Plain Mail: Making The Right Choice For Your Campaign
Despite the huge role the Internet plays in the way people do business in 2020, postal mail still has pivotal importance in many sectors. In the financial year 2018/2019, the Royal Mail delivered 10.3 billion letters, a lot of these being business correspondence. Why has postal mail retained its popularity deep into the digital age? Perhaps this is because, for charity direct mail, mail order businesses, utility providers, print and office stationery suppliers – among many others – it continues to deliver an excellent return on investment.

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The question for us in this article is: are letters sent in plain envelopes or in envelopes overprinted with branding, custom colours and campaign messages the better choice for your business?

Overprinted Envelopes – The Advantages

An overprinted envelope is a stock product which is printed with a personalised design, colour scheme, logo, message and images. They can be as simple as a standard sized envelope bearing a company logo and address, to the elaborate printed designs frequently used in mailing campaigns. In an age where personalisation plays an essential role in marketing, overprinted envelopes can give a brand a crucial advantage over one which uses plain envelopes – with an increased chance of the letter being opened on the doorstep. But what are the advantages of choosing overprinted mail over regular, plain mail?

Advantages

  • More eye-catching – overprinted envelopes are more likely to be opened and read than plain, or black and white envelopes.
  • Overprinted envelopes can include a summarised version of the letter’s content. People know who the letter is from, creating a level of expectation and anticipation over the contents before they open their mail – leading to an increased response rate.
  • We process visual images quicker than written word which means the inclusion of colour and visual imagery makes important information easier to absorb and remember.
  • Core marketing and branding messages can be conveyed from the envelope before the letter is even opened, strengthening your content. They are also a great way to grab the receiver’s attention and further compel them to open the envelope and see what is inside.

So, whilst overprinted envelopes have added design considerations, and a higher cost per unit, this is money well spent if you can achieve a greater return on investment from your direct mail campaigns.

Next Steps

We are Eagle Envelopes – an envelope overprinting specialist based in Walsall ideally positioned to distribute nationally. We can apply custom designs, branding and important postal indicia to a wide range of stock envelope products, including campaign messages, slogans, web addresses etc. Our overprinting service is fast, flexible and reliable, with print runs available from as little as 1000 envelopes or more for larger campaigns. To request a free quote please click here, or call 01922 613888 for more information.

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