Review Our Product: CFH DocMail

[monkey_tennis]

I believe that comment was made with no research. You should become an MP.

 

[website]

I believe that comment was made with no research. You should become an MP.

Uh, just look at their website, it says they give u an address to get your mail sent to.
just say they have 10000 business and people per address. it only takes one business or scammer to missuse the address and 9999 people and businesses are effected in google searchs.

btw i am far to stupid to be an MP, i will just have your job instead!

 

[monkey_tennis]

Nah, stupid people can't do my job.

 

[website]

Nah, stupid people can't do my job.

your managing to do it arnt you?

 

[website]

I WIN hahaha

 

[monkey_tennis]

No, I win because of correct English.

your managing to do it arnt you?

This should be - 'You're managing to do it, aren't you'

School is that way *points left*

 

[website]

No, I win because of correct English.

This should be - 'You're managing to do it, aren't you'

School is that way *points left*

No i win becuase i can realise that this is a very ad offer and can realise how it can damage a business.

and this is a forum, who cares about spelling aslong as it makes sence.

p.s I WIN

 

[website]

if you put a few extra quid onto my account I will help you by doing some test ones to my house.

 

[Printing&Postage]

Hi all,

UK Postbox do offer a wider range of services than we currently have, but on pricing, there's not really any comparison to DocMail or even some of our closer competitors:

UK Postbox
- basic letter price = 89p + Royal Mail postage cost

CFH DocMail
- basic letter price = 25p Plus VAT (all inclusive)

A close competitor of ours
- basic letter price = 27p Plus VAT (all inclusive)

They do seem to have a good range of services, but at a high premium. We're not currently directly comparable, but certainly overlap in some areas.

Will

 

[Printing&Postage]

do you have a driver to download like with viapost? any viapost has a better affiliate program than you (upto 35%) maybe you should better that 4 more business.

Hi all,

We've just released the full T's & C's for our business Associates program!

The program is aimed at those actively selling and promoting DocMail.
Many affiliate offerings are limited/one-off with maximum return per order.

With DocMail, we've taken a different approach.
Our Associates Scheme works by paying you an ongoing commission from
people you introduce, for each new letter they send. Thus rewarding you
for the volume of business you bring us, not just the number of customers
or number the of orders they place.

We think it's fairer that way.

The full terms and a signup request are available at:
http://www.cfhdocmail.com/associate.aspx

Will

 

[website]

just sent another test letter, also what does viapost use 1st or 2nd class as standard???

 

[Printing&Postage]

Hi Website.

Without meaning to speak too much on ViaPost's behalf, I believe they use Royal Mail Downstream Access (Royal Mail's Wholesale postage).

That's the same service as DocMail's "Standard Delivery".

As far as I'm aware, they don't currently offer a First Class service option.

Will

 

[Printing&Postage]

Just a quick extra you may not be aware of; we can send items abroad.
The current overseas cost is an extra 20p per item.
Price List

 

[website]

who's sending abroad/??

 

[Printing&Postage]

Hi Website.

Sorry - went a bit off topic there after reading through the competition's website to answer your last question.

I noticed they made a point of saying they don't yet do foreign post & I couldn't figure out why they didn't include the service.
So I thought it worth a mention that our standard system is fine for overseas post.

But to answer the question; so far, not many people have used us for overseas letters.

Cheers.
Will

 

[website]

i think u shouldnt do afflicates and offer prices - 35% (or more) it would give u more of an advantage, p.s i sent a test message again.

 

[Printing&Postage]

Hi again.

From what I understand about ViaPost's 35% offer, it's capped at £100 per order.
The new DocMail Associate program doesn't have such a cap...

example:

DocMail Associate at top commission level:
Introduced customer places a 100,000 item mailing
Commission = £2,000

ViaPost affiliate:
Introduced customer places a 100,000 item mailing
Commission = £100

Our scheme pays in proportion to the items mailed out, so it is:
> sustainable in the long term,
> doesn't take away commission if you introduce a large customer (which the £100 cap does)
> and has far greater earning potential as illustrated by the above example.
> commission is on a sliding scale, rewarding you a higher commission, the more business you've bought in.

Will

 

[website]

i ment that afflicates are bad becuase they put your prices up, why not just spend a few £k on adwords??? then u can have lower prices and gain more customers

 

[Printing&Postage]

We're already the lowest price in the market!
(unless you've found anyone cheaper)

We are raising the web profile, but are finding that AdWords a difficult way to draw custom.

As we're a in a relatively new market - not that many people seem to be aware of Hybrid Mail as an alternative to franking machines, stamps, etc. Many potential customers don't seem to understand the benefits of DocMail in the short Google Advert blurbs (though the MD is constantly refining them to improve the hit rate).

The idea with the Associates scheme is to encourage word of mouth and more face-to-face selling than we can manage alone, meaning the benefits of Hybrid Mail can be explained in full.

Will

 

[website]

i personaly think you need a more attractive website, it would be alot better and more tempting to look through.

 

[Printing&Postage]

Hi everyone,

Since I last posted, we've made some updates for Docmail, based on some of the feedback we've had:

- More info and resources for the Docmail Associates scheme.
- new blog updates: Docmail Blog
- new Mailing discussion and Docmail support forum
- updates to the ordering system
- update to make despatch dates clearer
- "As Soon As Possible" delivery option available, to ensure mail isn't unnecessarily held in production. This should improve our delivery speed.

There are more updates to come, with delivery speed and usability in mind, so I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for the feedback so far.
It's been much appreciated!
Will

 

[Happy2Help]

Tried to take a look by clicking on the signature link - page cannot be found!

do small businesses out there know about/have some awareness of hybrid mail services like DocMail?

Its the DocMail link which is broken

 

[Printing&Postage]

Hi Happy.

We're trying to spread the word on Hybrid Mail, but any businesses aren't aware there is such a thing, so aren't looking.

In many cases things like franking machines could be replaced by a quicker, easier and cheaper services with Hybrid Mail, if we can get the massage out.

Those we have contacted through exhibitions, forums etc.

Cheers.
Will

p.s. we (not me personally) were recently at the B.Startup exhibition at the Excel centre. It would be interesting to find out if anyone on these forums was there & if the saw our stand....

 

[Printing&Postage]

Its the DocMail link which is broken

Hi Happy,

I've finally stuffed a redirect on the server to handle my earlier typo, so the like now works as intended!

Cheers.
Will

 

[Printing&Postage]

I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who got in touch, both on here and by email/the Docmail forum, your feedback was much appreciated.

In fact you've helped inform some of the updates planned for the coming months.

I'll keep you posted on the updates & any new features.

Cheers for the help!
Will

 

[Printing&Postage]

Hi all,

There are some new features on their way (no release date yet).

For more info & to keep up-to-date with the goings on at Docmail, sign up to our email newsletter: Docmail News

If anyone's feeling in the mood to review, we'd appreciate a mention via on our Freeindex listing: Docmail

Thanks.
Will

 

[Call Assistant UK]

You have just answered a problem we had come across, and I will be looking further into your program later.

We are a virtual assistant service, but we don't offer a mailing address, so it is difficult for people to collect things.

We have a fax to email system, but if someone wants a hard copy of the fax, this type of idea would be excellent for us, though generally the fax to email is sufficient.

I can see us being able to use your system, though please tell me there is no barcodes on what is printed - its just the envelope?

 

[Printing&Postage]

Hi Call Assistant,

We do have barcodes I'm afraid, though they're generally not as obtrusive as most people
expect, but it is down to preference & requirements.

For this reason (among others), you get to try the service for free with the £1 credit on
each new account. There's a sample letter on there to send, so it's worth giving us a
try, and seeing what you think.

Why have barcodes?

We use them to ensure the integrity of the printed documents passing through our
automated enclosing machines + to improve the sortation for the Royal mail.

Without automated enclosing/document tracking, and Royal Mail barcodes, we wouldn't
be able to reach the level of accuracy, or the prices that we have right now.

Hope that helps.
Will

 

[whitej_d]

Hello,

I'm glad I found this thread as I stumbled across your website today and it perfectly solves a problem I had of sending letters when I am overseas on business. I intend to sign up tomorrow.
The most important thing to me is the API which I can hopefully integrate into my website which also doubles as my CRM, therefore sending things like payment reminders (generated in pdf by the website) automatically.

My only question is how does the payment work with mail sent through the API. From the website I was under the impression you had to pay by credit card as you go and I couldn't see a way of topping up through the user account.

 

[XanderMarketing]

Hi,

I tried this service a couple of weeks ago and have now come across this thread on the forum.

I was pleased with the quality and speed of the service. The barcode is a bit of a distraction but I understand this is a trade off for the price.

The biggest issue I have is it has the docmail logo on the front of the envelope. This may put people off from opening the envelope and also confuse them when they see a letter from us (or anyone else). Maybe there could be an option not to have that logo on the letter?

Other than that I'm happy with the service and it's very easy to use. I'm doing my first proper campaign with it next week so will see how it goes.

Alex

 

[Printing&Postage]

My only question is how does the payment work with mail sent through the API. From the website I was under the impression you had to pay by credit card as you go and I couldn't see a way of topping up through the user account.

Apologies if I've this has already been covered (I may have spoken to you on the phone earlier)...

There's an option to use Top-Up credit available under:
My Account Administration
> My Account Activity
> > Top-Up Credit

Hope that Helps.
Will

 

[whitej_d]

Thanks Will,

That was me on the phone earlier, but thanks for the sample scripts. I'm going to have a go at gettting everything connected tomorrow, and I'll let you know if I get stuck.

Thanks for your help,

Joe

 

[Printing&Postage]

The biggest issue I have is it has the docmail logo on the front of the envelope. This may put people off from opening the envelope and also confuse them when they see a letter from us (or anyone else). Maybe there could be an option not to have that logo on the letter?

Hi Alex,

We have a more discreet logo (known as an indicia) on the way, but it needs approval with Royal Mail. The intention is to go for something a little more stamp-like, to separate Docmail as the postal service, not the sender.

Here's an example of what we're going for from our Blog. We've had to begin a redesign since, to try to satisfy the Royal Mail approval process, but this should give you some idea of where we're heading:

http://blog.cfhdocmail.com/2009/06/indicia.html

Will
p.s.
We're unable to remove the indicia entirely, as it's part of the Downstream Access agreement we have with Royal Mail Wholesale.

 

[travelspirit]

I have just signed up to a free trial for this and I must say I am really quite impressed. As a self employed Tour organiser (soon to be a limited co!!!) I send out loads of letters, confirmation letters, recruitment letters etc, and DocMail will save me money! I don't have to root around buying stamps or paper, or even envelopes.

Absolutely fantastic, and not only that I feel it makes the document look more professional. Even more so, it also means I haven't got thousands of bits of paper floating round my tiny office.

Mark.

 

[adamsgi]

I am interested in this service from a payroll perspective. Before signing up for the free trial I wanted to find out whether you have a service that can cater for producing payslips. As a payroll bureau, we have the necessary evil of printing and posting payslips. Do you have the option for doing this on Security Seal payslips? Also, if so, how would we upload them? Is it possible to just upload one large pdf file which is then split out and sent one page to the address on the payslip?

The same applies at year end with P60s - if we could send you a large pdf file, can they be split out and individually mailed?

 

[Printing&Postage]

I am interested in this service from a payroll perspective.

Hi Adam,

as a commercial printer, we can certainly produce P60's and Payslips & it's very likely we can use Docmail, with the single large PDF as your route in to us.

The large pre-merged PDF is something Docmail handles already - in Docamail it's called a pre-formatted stream. The address file is can then be used to split the file down for production/mailing.

If it's Ok, I'd like to pass you on to someone else Jason form our Docmail team, who can take you through the best options to get what you need from Docmail.

Could you PM me with your contact details, or contact [email protected] (FAO Jason).

Cheers.
Will

 

[Printing&Postage]

Hi everybody,

Just a couple of updates regarding Docmail:

Our new indicia are now live. We're running a seasonal one over the Xmas period as a little extra:

We have our first launch of the extended features of "Corporate" Docmail going live imminently as part of our contract with Hays Recruitment.

Docmail for Hays Recruitment

We'll make a features list available when we start making the Corporate version available more widely & some of the features should make an appearance in the Public Docmail site too.

We also re-launched our Xmas cards service again recently with some new designs for our personalised, mailed cards for just 76p including VAT, & delivery to the final address.

Will