What Are Business Reply Cards?
If you are looking for an easy way to get prospects to respond to your mailings, consider adding a business reply card (BRC). These cards are easy to add to most mailings and can generate responses where other methods might not be so effective.
A business reply card is a simple postcard that the prospect can return in the mail without adding any postage. On one side of the card, there is your company address along with a special barcode used for routing. When you receive the card, you pay the postage for it. The back side of the card is where you customize it for your needs. The Post Office does require mailers to meet strict guidelines on how the BRC is formatted.
Uses For A Business Reply Card
The uses for a BRC are actually quite numerous and diverse.
Do you have an incentive available for interested parties on your prospect list? You can describe that incentive on the custom side of the reply card and give the prospect an easy check box option to indicate if he or she is interested in receiving the incentive.
Are you trying to get some demographic data on your prospects? Ask a few simple questions that are easy to reply to on the card. You don't have to have identifying information on the card to maintain privacy if you are polling for general audience data. Or, alternatively, you can have a code on the card that indicates which customer is replying, while maintaining privacy.
Do you want to make it easy for your prospects to subscribe to your magazine?Probably the biggest use of BRCs is as inserts in magazines. If the prospect is interested, he or she fills out the name and address on the back of the card, then sends it in. You gain a new subscriber.
Setting Up The BRC
Before you send out your first BRC mailing, you need to get a special permit from the post office. It is a simple form that you can turn in at your local post office. The annual fee (as of 10/31/2015) is $225. Once the permit is approved, you can start sending out BRCs.
When a prospect replies using a business reply card, you will have to pay postage on each piece. As of 10/31/2015, the card price is $0.339 along with a $0.066 per piece handling fee.
Adding business reply cards to your mailing is one way to prompt your prospects to reply. PPS can help with any mailing needs you might have. Give us a call today for a free quote!