Yes Response

The Royal Mail have recently commissioned a UK nationwide study that has revealed that the number of online-only e-retailing businesses has more than doubled over the past five years. The report shows that e-retailing is an increasingly strong area for business start-ups and that growth of online shopping is continuing to increase in the UK.

This is good news for Royal Mail as online retailers need a reliable delivery partner to ensure that goods are reliably and efficiently delivered to their customers.

Yes Response are working with several e-retailers to store and despatch their goods, to manage mailings of catalogues, to send emails informing customers of special offers, to process orders by telephone or post and much more.

So if you’re an online retailer that needs the headaches of offline customer communications to be taken away, speak to Yes Response today about our comprehensive range of customer communications and fulfilment solutions on 01889 561 400 or enq@yesresponse.co.uk

Yes Response are always keen to review the Quality of Service reports published by the Royal Mail to see how they have performed against their targets. The latest report provides the figures for the period of 24 September 2012 to 2 December 2012, and the statistics show a bit of a mixed result:

• First class mail next day deliveries were achieved for 91.2% of mail, against a target of 93%
• Second class mail deliveries within three working days were achieved 98.5% of the time, meeting the target
• The on time delivery of standard retail parcels fell from the previous quarter to 94.8%, but this was still above their 90% target

So overall, the results from this later quarter are mixed, and it’s difficult to comment on how well Royal Mail are meeting standards. We must also bear in mind that these figures come from the busiest period for postal services with a seasonal increase in mailing volumes and bad weather.

If you’d like to take advantage of Royal Mail’s postal service to communicate with your customers or prospects, don’t hesitate to contact Yes Response, who have a comprehensive range of customer communications services to take away all the headaches. Call us today on 01889 561 400 or email enq@yesresponse.co.uk

A recent report by the Direct Marketing Association has shown that the direct marketing industry grew by 7% in 2012. UK businesses reported an increase in spending on direct marketing of 7% to nearly £15.2 billion.

This increase in spending on direct marketing activities is largely due to UK companies being able to attribute 23% of their total sales to direct marketing. With further economic uncertainty in 2013, it’s very encouraging to see these increases, and the positive impact of customer communications and fulfilment solutions on sales figures.

If you would like any assistance with increasing your sales through direct marketing activities, contact Yes Response today to discuss our comprehensive range of customer communications services – call 01889 561 400 or email enq@yesresponse.co.uk

As online retailers continue to see increasing sales, especially with the growing popularity among consumers shopping via smartphones and tablets, they need to ensure that as an online business they are not overlooking the role of offline channels of communication with their customers.

Depending on the market sector and the target audience, an important offline communication for many customers is a printed catalogue. Many online retailers do not use catalogues as they prefer customers to purchase online. It is important, however, to ease customer purchase in any way possible, and we find that these printed items do drive visitors to websites, and that these customers still purchase online.

Many online retailers offer only one contact method to their customers and potential customers – email. At Yes Response we find that our customers greatly benefit from additionally having customer carelines so that customers can ask questions about products or their existing orders and get an answer immediately. This greatly increases customer satisfaction and the likelihood of repeat custom. An option to place an order offline is also important to some target audiences, so online only purchasing options can potentially mean lost custom.

At Yes Response we are experienced in providing offline support for online retailers, including product storage and order fulfilment, catalogue despatch and inbound telemarketing. If you’re an online retailer that needs advice or support on using offline channels effectively, contact us now on 01889 561 400 or enq@yesresponse.co.uk