Flow Group launches “five-minute” leaflet web-to-doorstep service

The Leaflet Distribution Co., launched at the start of June, began development in lockdown; now, live over a year after its initial scheduled launch, the platform has evolved significantly from its original conception, according to Andrew Robinson, Flow Group’s mergers and acquisitions director.

“It has become much bigger over time – but now we have something pretty special, that does far more than what we originally set out to do,” he told Printweek.

Through the platform, customers can create leaflets with their own artwork or using templates, schedule campaigns, select distribution and repeat orders as drip-fed marketing campaigns.

“The idea is that you can get a full leaflet distribution campaign done, from start to finish, in five minutes,” Robinson said.

Customers can likewise choose their postcode sectors and filter recipients by demographic, giving them fast and easy access to targeted campaigns; soon, they will also be able to carbon balance their orders through environmental charity The World Land Trust.

“What a lot of customers want, especially the younger generation, is to be able to have our services without having to actually speak to anyone – they want to do it online in real time, whenever they want.

“Whether it’s an evening or weekend, they don’t want to have to be reliant on speaking someone to get the service done. We’ve tried to make it as easy as possible to purchase from us.”

Printing the leaflets digitally in-house at The Flow Group or through trade partners, the firm then dispatches with Royal Mail.

For the first few months, the firm will focus on gathering feedback and giving the platform any tweaks it may need; after that, work will continue on the group’s next effort, The Direct Mail Co., which will run on similar lines.

Both platforms’ names, Robinson explained, come from an effort to capture online traffic using search engine optimisation (SEO) tactics – here, by making the service what it says on the tin, or rather, on the domain name.

“We noticed that some of our companies that had their function in the domain name seemed to be doing better,” he added.

After launch, Flow Group is looking to profit both directly from customers and potentially through licensing the software – though only should a suitable partnership arise, Robinson said.

“We have built it in a way that allows it to be replicated,” he said.

“But in any decision that we make as a company, we want to see a win-win, so it has got to work for both parties. So if we were licensing it out for next to nothing, that wouldn’t be a win, because we’ve spent all this money on it, and another company is effectively creating competition for us.

“But if another company with similar values to us, and a real, sizeable potential order stream, then we would potentially license it to them on the basis of a monthly subscription and revenue share.”