Mailstream

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mailstream is defined as the physical and digital mail, documents and packages, that flow across organizations to their customers and back. It encompasses people, technology and processes from document creation to production, distribution and management.

The term takes a broad perspective on the mailing process as part of the interconnected media mix marketers use to reach customers. The process of using targeted mailings lists, printing, inserting into envelops and mailing communications has an information systems layer residing over it. This is called customer intelligence. The ability to leverage customer intelligence while communicating with physical and digital mail is the essence of the mailstream.

Print mail – postcards, letters, catalogues or brochures – drives consumers and business professionals to corporate and retail Web sites. A particularly effective medium for direct marketers is called transactional mail. Financial statements, mortgage bills, credit card statements, insurance premium statements and even driver’s license renewal forms arrive in homes with useful information. Advertising and promotions included in transactional mail is particularly effective in driving consumer behavior.

The term mailstream recognizes the evolution of mail in the Internet-era and Pitney Bowes mailstation can be acquired online. Correspondence mail - postcards, personal letters and telegrams - has been on the decline as it has been replaced largely by e-mail. However, direct mail and catalogue volumes have increased as online retailers use market data to target customers who often visit their sites or have specific tendencies. As an example, customers living in warmer climates are more likely to purchase air conditioners in the summer. Businesses track when customers are most likely to make certain purchases, and communicate with their customers accordingly through direct marketing. When businesses leverage this intelligence by synching their communications with customer data, they are optimizing their mailstream.