Adtool Client Success Story : The Royal Mail Takes on Adtool MRM Solution

The Royal Mail recognized that there are a huge number of small businesses that do not have the capability to undertake direct marketing activities and produce creative marketing campaigns. It found that it is often very difficult for small businesses, especially if there is no in-house marketing resource, to understand exactly how to select a cost effective creative agency and to then be able to brief that agency adequately on their specific requirements. Royal Mail realized that there was a definite need from this community to have access to an online system that would provide them with an easy way to manage and produce direct mail campaigns.

(PRWEB) October 23, 2005 -- Before undertaking this initiative, Royal Mail searched for a proven software solution that would help them develop the online capability. Adtool, a software company specializing in the development and supply of Enterprise Marketing Resource Management (MRM) solutions was selected for the task. By working closely together with Royal Mail, they developed Mailshots Online which has now been successfully launched.

Solution
Using the technology and experience provided by Adtool, small businesses are able to access everything that they need for their campaigns through the use of Mailshots Online. The easy to use tool allows companies to navigate through the entire design and production process in clear easy to follow steps. The creative module provides a number of templates (postcard, letter, leaflet etc.) in which businesses can insert personalized copy. There is provision for a choice of fonts and colors and additionally, an option to utilize the free image library or to upload the company’s proprietary images and logos.

The Adtool system adds extra functionality by including a planning and budgeting element which allows campaign objectives and timeliness to be tracked. It also helps businesses calculate the number of mail pieces that can be produced within budget, the cost of a particular number of mailings, and how many sales would be generated at a given cost. When the mailshot is ready for production companies can proof their prints and upload mailing lists ready for dispatch. Royal Mail provides the facility for businesses to buy data from over 100 different databases and allows them to build a mailing list to meet precise targeting requirements. Should the data require cleaning then the system allows for a data management company to undertake the cleansing before the mailing is dispatched. If a small business has all of the elements that it wants included in its campaign pre-prepared then it is possible to work through the entire process of building the mailshot within 30 minutes.

Results
Mailshots Online has proved to be a compelling package for small businesses allowing them to cut through the complexities of creative media and take advantage of a cost effective and easy to use online solution.
Donald Mclaren who has responsibility for all media products at Royal Mail commented “Using Adtool has allowed Royal Mail to assist the small business community by providing it with the capability to carry out mailshot campaigns, removing the barriers of where do they get the data from, where do they get the creative from and, where do they get the mail piece printed?”

A business that has benefited from using Mailshots Online is Pro Auction Ltd, one of the leading specialist auctioneers providing a comprehensive range of services to the food manufacturing industry. According to Managing Director Mark Flynn, “Mailshots Online enabled us to send out 12,000 direct mailers with minimum effort. We were able to action everything on-line, eliminating the need to work with third parties which can be costly and time consuming. The system allowed us to print envelopes containing our corporate branding and a return address. The latter has provided us with accurate statistics on how clean our data is and the inclusion of our branding has helped to raise the awareness of our company”

Royal Mail working in partnership with Adtool has successfully opened up the direct mail capability market and has provided all of the elements to allow small businesses to produce strong creative marketing campaigns thereby allowing them to compete on a level playing field with their much larger competition.

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