A Key to Mailer Success

By Maggie DeWitt

Direct mailers know recipients respond better to paper-based communications delivered to home mailboxes than unsolicited e-mails sent to computers. Yet, there is no denying the effectiveness—and pervasiveness—of electronic media for disseminating information today.

That being said, October’s mystery product is a perfect blending of the traditional and digital. To guess what the product is, check out the following clues:

• It can be designed as a printed self-mailer, as well as an envelope format.

• It features a unique, patented design resulting in a two-piece product.

• It is a United States Postal Service (USPS)-approved product—weighing less than one ounce with a CD or DVD enclosed—which can be mailed at automation letter rates.

mystery product revealed

Western States Envelope & Label, Butler, Wis., presents the eKEY family of multimedia mailers for sending CDs and DVDs at automated letter postage rates. Since the USPS increased rates in May, the cost of using traditional methods to mail CDs and DVDs has skyrocketed. Now, eKEY products not only minimize breakage of CDs and DVDs, but can deliver Internet advertising via the USPS for less than the cost of e-mail and search engine marketing.

Steve Brocker, vice president of sales and marketing for Western States Envelope & Label, explained how the automated envelope saved one client $8,400 on a 10,000-piece mailing.

The line includes four designs which the USPS has tested and approved. Two-piece eKEY envelope mailers feature an insert that anchors disks within an envelope per postal regulations.

The 6x8" eKEY product comes in a white window style, as well as a non-window design in white and Roptex (brown kraft), and weighs less than one ounce with a CD or DVD enclosed. There is also a 6x91⁄2" eKEY product for including collateral materials with CDs or DVDs, designed to mail at standard bulk rates up to 3.5 ounces.