An Post is the state-owned provider of postal services in the Republic of Ireland, providing a “universal postal service” to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Its business is split between two main areas (i) Mails & Parcels – which includes their rapidly growing eCommerce and mail marketing businesses, and (ii) Retail – including all expanding financial, and post office services providing a trusted gateway to government services both online and in person. An Post has approx. 7,600 staff and operates through approx. 950 post office locations, making it Ireland’s largest employer.

THE CHALLENGE

The implementation of the new EU GDPR policy, new data privacy, and opt-in rules impacted various digital channels such as Email and SMS marketing. This opened a great opportunity for services like Publicity Post, a leaflet delivery service offered by An Post for businesses to market their products. As mail and leaflet services like Publicity Post are an opt-out channel – i.e., recordable opted-in consent is not required, which is permitted by the principle of legitimate interest.

THE SOLUTION

This positioned Publicity Post extremely well in this new GDPR era as a very impactful and competitive marketing channel. And so, it is in this environment that An Post sought to digitally transform Publicity Post, making it more automated, sales, and customer-centric, whilst also aiming to capitalize on the new GDPR opportunity.

TEKenable, along with our partner Strata3, built a user-friendly e-commerce website for An Post where customers can easily log in and set up their own leaflet campaign. The website also provided a unique option of Print &  Delivery or Delivery Only, where users can select from a variety of leaflet size options, choose their delivery zones, time period for delivery, and immediate pricing based on the number of delivery addresses.

Moreover, it provided users the option to pay for the campaign by simply using their card or account. The front-end design was developed by Strata3, while TEKenable provided all the back-end administrative support systems for the service, to ensure the smooth flow of data and information between users and An Post.

THE OUTCOME

This new Publicity Post system helped An Post successfully target new SMEs and enterprise customers. Simple and user-friendly design helped in onboarding new customers for An Post.

https://publicitypost.anpost.com

This not only increased revenue, but also ensured service efficiency, saving a lot of time which An Post staff earlier consumed in taking orders on the phone, tracking the delivery of leaflets, and updating customers about the progress of their campaigns.

This project ensured An Post’s success in achieving its two main and overriding business goals i.e. to increase the existing enterprise customer base by enhancing their experience and to target new SMEs with a service offering that meets their business needs.