Avoiding bumps in the inserts road

You should be tracking everything from the receipt of your raw materials to their collation to getting them in their envelopes or packages. Stay in contact with your fulfillment plant to know how much inventory it has moved and preferably which lot number it's on.

A successful insert program is managed through good communication. You should be able to give the participants hard start and stop dates. Marketers are advised to give offer expiration dates as much leeway as possible - you don't want to be stuck with unusable materials.

> THE TAKEAWAY

Keep in close contact with your fulfillment center to re-forecast shipment.

Re-forecast your monthly package numbers regularly. With inaccurate quantity numbers you stand to either not leverage your opportunities and lose money or, worse, not run inserts when promised.