If you’ve been thrown off by some of the terminology you’ve encountered on Direct Mail Manager, you’re in the right place! Scroll down to get definitions of key direct mail phrases.
What is the Direct Mail Manager Dashboard?
The Direct Mail Manager dashboard is the starting point of all of your campaigns. Your Direct Mail Manager dashboard also allows you to view important metrics related to your ongoing campaigns. If you want to see how many of your mailers are still in the mail stream, or have been returned to sender, you can view all of these insights from your dashboard.
In Mail Stream:
The mail piece has been received at the entry/origin facility and is now on its way to the destination facility.
Processed for Delivery:
The mail piece has been processed for delivery at the recipient’s nearest postal facility. The mail piece should reach the mailbox within 1 business day of this tracking event.
Re-Routed:
The mail piece is re-routed due to recipient change of address, address errors, or USPS relabeling of the barcode/ID tag area. It can often occur due to the recipient filing an NCOA (national change of address) form.
Returned to Sender:
The mail piece is being returned to sender due to barcode, ID tag area, or address errors. Please contact your intended recipient to update the address and possibly re-trigger a new mail piece with the corrected address. Returned to Sender mail pieces will be sent back to the sender (return address) listed in the “From:” field of your mail piece.
Mail Strictness:
Mail Strictness is the ability to define what verification status is eligible to still mail – Relaxed, Normal, or Strict. When strictness is relaxed, addresses with Green, Yellow and Red results may be used to mail postcards to.
When mail strictness is Normal, addresses with Green, Yellow results can be used for mailing postcards. Yellow signifies that there is missing or unrecognized secondary information like an apartment number. With Strict mail strictness levels, only addresses with Green verification results can be used to send postcards to.
What is an API Key and How Do I Create One?
An API key is used for identifying and authenticating applications or users. For currently existing integrations, an API key is an identifier used to seamlessly connect an app with your account. You can create an API key for Direct Mail Manager here: https://app.directmailmanager.com/settings/api-keys
What Are Bleed, Trim and Safe Area?
Bleed is the area of your mailer that will be trimmed. The safe area of your mailer is the section of your mailer that will be visible to recipients. Learn more about Direct Mail Manager’s design requirements here.
What is Archiving?
Archiving allows you to save and store data related to your campaign like artwork and mailing lists. To Archive your information is similar to deleting it. Archiving will completely remove artwork from your account. For archived addresses, once your artwork has been moved to the “archived” section of your account they won’t be mailed, but you do have the option of restoring them if necessary.
What is A Suppression List?
A suppression list is a list of contacts you have who will not receive your communications. The “suppression list” contains a list of all suppressed contacts where you can remove them from the suppression list if necessary. Suppression is mandatory for each list. The suppression list doesn’t suppress the addresses from new lists from being uploaded. That means it’s necessary to suppress any unwanted records as you upload each list.
Custom Fields:
Custom fields are used to provide personalized messaging with variable data printing. In order to use variable data printing, custom fields need to be added to your account here, after ensuring that the spreadsheet you upload includes a column for your variable data.
What is The Difference Between Postcards and a Campaign/Letter?
You can assign multiple postcards/letters to a campaign. A postcard is just a one-off.
What is An Integration/API?
An integration allows you to unify the capabilities of Direct Mail Manager with the additional marketing platforms you rely on. API is an acronym that stands for Application Programming Interface.
Duplicate Addresses:
In review address import the duplicate addresses indicated are across all addresses uploaded in the account Duplicate addresses match the name and address exactly to a previously uploaded record. If you’re attempting to add new records to a master list in your account, but you do not want recipients to get the same mailer more than once, you’ll need to import without duplicates. If you’re uploading a list to an individual campaign list for a unique mail piece you’d like for everyone to receive, you’ll select import with duplicates.
What is A Segment?
A segment is a small subset of your entire audience. They’re updated as records and are added to the accounts that match the defined segmentation. This insures that they receive the next communication tailored for that particular audience. You can create new segments based on numerous variables, mainly the customer data you’ve collected, and the message you’re attempting to communicate. Read more about segmentation in your marketing campaigns on our blog.
What is An Indicia?
An indicia is a small imprint that alerts mail recipients that postage has been prepaid. Postal indicia replaces a postage or stamp meter imprint. It’s typically printed directly onto mailers, saving time and money in comparison to manually applying postage.