Reduce Returned Mail Costs

By giving control of its returned mail operation to DST Output and implementing an automated solution called Returned Mail Processing.

In combination with Address Direct^SM with AEC, this turnkey offering cut costs and set the stage for improved mail delivery and customer satisfaction.

Within six months, this biller realized:

• Better, faster mail delivery and enhanced customer satisfaction with addresses are being corrected more quickly and efficiently – and 31 percent fewer pieces forwarded by the USPS® back to the client.
• Reduced address errors to help lower overall postage expenses and more accurately deliver mail – with a CASS error decline of 70 percent.
• An increase in mail that qualified for 3-digit and 5-digit rates, which cut in half the number of full-postage mailpieces and shaves an estimated $100,000 in postage costs annually.
• A reduced total number of dunning notices and adverse action letters by 20 percent.

The Challenge: Dealing with Mounds – and Costs – of Returned Mail

The biller received hundreds of thousands of pieces of undeliverable mail (aka return mail) every month caused by incomplete or old addresses. This required physical management, manual processing, and secure shredding – and was a cumbersome process to reconcile the correct addresses with the customer database. They looked to DST Output for an automated, turnkey solution to reduce related costs and handle the overall process.

The Solution: Returned Mail Processing

In conjunction with Address Direct with AEC, this service managed and improved the address database while driving down undeliverable mail costs. Returned Mail Processing takes advantage of Intelligent Mail® barcode technology to capture detailed and accurate information about whose mail was returned, directly linking to account information, name and mailing address, and production details. This end-to-end solution includes gathering mail from the Postal Service with process management that continues through to secure shredding of the documents.

How DST Output’s Returned Mail Processing Can Help You

Let DST Output manage your returned mail to add to your bottom line. In addition to cutting costs, Returned Mail Processing and Address Direct with AEC provides:

• Improved mail delivery with proactive address quality tools for clean, complete, and current customer addresses.
• Capture of detailed information directly tied to customer account number, name and mailing address, and production details, with follow-up electronic reports and weekly address-update files.
• Automated, turnkey services that replace your physical and manual processing of returned mail, concluding with secure document shredding.
• Valuable online reports available via Customer Portal that enable you to monitor address quality and returned mail volumes – and provide detailed information that enable you to implement strategies to improve mail deliverability and customer satisfaction.