Wayne N. Kawamoto
Managing Editor, www.smallbusinesscomputing.com
Zairmail, Inc. announced that it would power a direct mail service for Office Depot, Inc. The service, called Office Depot Express Direct, will be located on Office Depot’s website and will be powered using mail-on-demand software and Internet infrastructure created by Zairmail. The service will allow businesses to send targeted direct mail pieces such as letters, postcards or flyers at the push of a button.
According to the Direct Marketing Association, direct mail is the most effective advertising medium available, returning $10 for every dollar spent. Historically, it has been most commonly utilized by medium and large businesses that have the time and expertise to manage elaborate direct mail campaigns. Zairmail says that it’s the first company to facilitate the convergence between the Internet and postal mail on a large scale to bring the advantages of direct mail to smaller businesses by sending postal mail quickly and easily via the Internet.
Office Depot Express Direct will be designed to let small business customers launch entire direct mail campaigns online. Businesses should be able to send hundreds or thousands of letters, postcards or flyers straight from their PC in just 15 minutes. This compares to the three weeks or more required by traditional direct mail processes. Zairmail’s nationwide network of printing facilities is designed to ensure that the mail is printed and delivered to recipients in the fastest manner possible, often overnight. As an added bonus, Zairmail says that its service is less expensive than doing it yourself due to the tremendous economies of scale.