Hybrid Mail
What is Hybrid Mail?
Hybrid Mail, digital mailroom, or online mail management are terms used to describe mail that is sent and delivered electronically and physically. It allows a business to send correspondence directly from a laptop or desktop PC, without the need to physically print or post it.
How does it work?
Hybrid mailing solutions are incredibly easy to use. When your letter is ready to send, you open a web portal so that you can specify what you’d like to happen next:
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Whether you want it printed in black, partial, or full colour.
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The size and type of envelope.
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Which letterhead you’d like to use.
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Whether you’d like to send it 1st or 2nd class.
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If you’d like any inserts included.
Then click ‘Send’, and a secure print provider will take care of the rest.
Who is Hybrid Mail for?
Small, medium, and large organisations alike – essentially any organisation that sends business mail. Some examples of the types of organisation that can use hybrid mailing solutions include:
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Charities – for emergency appeals, thank you letters and personalised campaigns.
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Financial Services – for billing, invoices, contracts and agreements.
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NHS & Healthcare Organisations – for appointment letters and awareness campaigns.
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Legal – for compliance documentation, contracts, and agreements.
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Estate Agents – for house pack documents, campaigns, branding, and advertising.
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Public Sector – for council bills, updates, housing association information, contracts and agreements.
What are the benefits of going hybrid?
Most organisations work with hybrid mail providers like Sharp or Royal Mail hybrid mail because of their ability to transform physical and digital communications into an efficient, hassle-free operation. The benefits include:
Time savings
With traditional mail, you have to purchase and store all of your supplies, then print, fold, sort, address and post each letter. Hybrid mailing solutions reduce the number of steps by automating the process on your behalf, letting your staff focus on tasks towards business development.
Reduce costs
Traditional mail can be expensive and labour intensive. There’s the cost of ink or toner, paper, envelopes, equipment, postage and labour costs to consider, which places the real cost per letter at between 60p - £1.20. Hybrid mailing solutions remove the need to invest in those supplies, and the admin burden from staff, saving you between 20-60% on average in the process.
Security, reporting and compliance
Typically, there’s no visibility of when a letter has been sent or received once it’s been posted. Hybrid mailing solutions give you full control with complete audit trails. There are also extensive reporting functions on mailing history, invoice records, account activity, and the ability to manage undelivered mail, helping your organisation with data security and legal compliance.
Flexibility
Depending on the provider you choose for your hybrid mailing solution, you won’t have to commit to a certain volume of prints. You only pay for what you use. You’ll also have more flexibility - web portals can be accessed remotely via the internet, so you can send important mail from your home, the office, or on the go.
About Sharp’s Hybrid Mail service
By partnering with Sharp, you’ll have access to industry-leading specialists who will work with you to establish your exact requirements and identify any cost savings in the process.
You’ll be trained on our web portal, which uses an intuitive step-by-step process to help you manage your mailing list, add documents, select communication types, and proof and submit an order.
When you start using our hybrid mail service, just click send and we’ll take care of the rest. We’ll check your addresses against Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File (PAF) to ensure you don’t pay for undelivered mail, then add them to your envelopes, print, fold and insert your letters, and mail them out complete with enclosures or inserts.
We can send them in a variety of digital formats , including PDFs and URLs. You can even set up SMS reminders, or we can place them in a secure digital repository to be collected at any time.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use the service for any and all business mail or correspondence – invoices, statements, reminders, payslips, postcards, brochures, greeting cards and announcements.
Your correspondence can be printed in black & white and colour, A4, A5 and A6, A3 folded to A4, and overprinted envelopes.
Sharp’s Hybrid Mail solution uses 256-bit RSA encryption. Once your mailing details hit our servers, you are in the hands of one of the UK’s most secure production facilities.
Production sites benefit from the highest levels of both physical and IT security, and have achieved the status of ‘C&CCC Standard 3’ approved printer.
We also hold the following accreditations:
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C&CCC Standard 55: Cheque Printer Accreditation Scheme
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UK Finance Standard 72: PINS Printer Accreditation Scheme
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BS ISO IEC 27001:2013 Information Security Management Systems
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BS ISO 9001-2015 Quality Management System
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BS ISO 14001-2015 Environmental Management System
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FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)
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PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification)
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Connecting for Health - 100% approval Information Governance Tool kit.
Once an order is submitted and the costs are approved, we’ll produce it during the next available production slot. Orders can be cancelled if you access the system before 5pm.
You can check the status of orders at any time. When the status changes to ‘Completed’, your mail has been posted.
First class is a two day service, standard class is a three day service. Items being posted overseas will take longer. Delivery schedules are available on request.
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