transactional printing

Direct mail is a long-standing category in the printing world. It’s how businesses communicate and market to customers. It’s typically promotional, and therefore, it doesn’t matter if it ends up in the wrong mailbox. Transactional printing is direct mail, but it’s something that businesses must treat very differently.

What Is Transactional Printing Direct Mail?

Transactional printing direct mail is another category because it focuses on highly compliant, secure, and personal information. The information for every piece contains personal and confidential information. It includes financial statements, HIPAA letters, invoices, and EOBs (Explanation of Benefits).

Accuracy in this type of mail is non-negotiable. Even a few mis-mailings can result in non-compliance or a breach. It exposes your company to risk.

With these critical criteria in mind, businesses that handle transactional printing should be cautious about working with shops that specialize in direct mail.

Promotional Direct Mail Is One to Many

The objective of promotional direct mail is to canvas an area via the mail. The messaging is typically one to many and not specific to an individual. They can roll off the print line without the need for technology to monitor accuracy.

Shops that specialize in this type of printing often lack the equipment and expertise to run your transactional mail. Finding a vendor that does both is very rare because of the setup required to run this type of operation effectively and securely.

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What Transactional Printing and Mail Operations Should Include

promotional direct mailA print and mail partner specializing in transactional printing and mail runs a very secure operation, both for data and physical access. Here are the things to seek out in such a partner:

  • Advanced technology that uses barcodes, sensors, and cameras to verify every piece of mail. End-to-end integrity is possible with this equipment. It works by reading 2D barcodes to ensure letters fold separately and inserts into the correct envelope. Cameras take pictures, as well, at high speed. Image decoding involves the identification of each letter via a unique sequence code that matches your daily file.
  • An accuracy rating that’s above the industry average of 99.6%. That seems like “good enough,” but it actually translates to 4,000 errors for every one million mailings. That’s a lot of opportunity for mistakes that could jeopardize your organization’s reputation and much more.
  • Compliance measures that go beyond the minimum: Look for certifications such as HIPAA, HITRUST, FISMA, SOC I & II, and others. Ensure that the facility lives up to these compliance measures by visiting it. Also, ask if they have a full-time compliance officer.
  • Sophisticated data security protocols that ensure any data received from you is secure, both in transit and at rest. Ask about firewalls, IPS (Intrusion Prevention System), and user-level security at a minimum.
  • Physical security that limits access to only those with authority. A data breach can happen in the physical world, too.

Transactional Printing: Much More Than Direct Mail

Transactional printing is an entirely different animal than direct mail. To protect privacy and comply, your organization must be choosy about outsourcing it. There are lots of boxes to check when comparing vendors. And no one checks more boxes than PCI Group. Transactional mail is all we do, and as such, our commitment to security, compliance, and accuracy is unwavering.

Learn more about outsourcing transactional printing with our team.