Virtual Mail has proven to be a robust business over the last 15 years, both in good times and in recessionary times. For this reason, every coworking operator should develop their own Virtual Office (VO) service offering. CloudVO can help in several ways:
What we can do today
During the COVID-19 crisis, we have seen high demand for Mail Services, particularly Digital Mail that enables clients to skip going to the office. We anticipate many members will keep this service as they go back to “normal”. CloudVO can help you structure a mail service offering and promote it online now.
Mail Services
Basic Mail Services are often provided to full time members, as part of the coworking or private office membership. VO clients should be charged a specific fee for the basic mail service. Add-on services, such as mail forwarding or digital mail plans, should be charged to both full time members and VO clients. Table 1 shows a description of various mail services easy to set up and suggested retail prices.
These services are easy to set up and may not require additional staff resources until the operator reaches 150 VO plans or so. Keep in mind that each incremental plan will require a minimum amount of resources and it may take 18 months or more to get to 100 plans. Also keep in mind that, much like in a gym membership, a few VO clients may be heavy users, but most receive little or no mail on a weekly basis.
The suggested prices in Table 1 reflect the expected costs associated with staff processing the mail, handling the VO clients, the cost of other resources that may be needed, and a profit margin in the 70% range. These prices have been adopted by many of our partners, and we would like to strongly encourage you to do the same. Consistency and standardization helps reduce customer confusion. But you are free to set up your own charges for this service. Update your price list here.
We recommend that you actively market these mail services in your local market. Listing with a value added reseller like CloudVO.com will help expand your market reach. It’s free. CloudVO only keeps 25% of the subscription revenue generated by the VO client, takes care of billing and collection, advertises across the United States, and pays its partners by the 5th of each calendar month. Any incidental or variable items can be charged directly by the operator to the client without any revenue sharing with CloudVO.
The Digital Mail application will typically automate the interaction with the member after taking a picture of the mail from a smartphone. The software recognizes what each piece of mail is for and automatically notifies the member who then instructs the operator to implement the desired action, including forwarding, retaining it at the coworking place for pick-up, scanning and emailing, or shredding.
Cost of the digital mail platform to the operator can be $4 to $6 per user per month, depending on volume, or quite a bit less with the CloudVO partner discount. Ask Support@CloudVO.com
Any incidental or variable items (non-recurring charges, such as copies or postage), can be charged directly by the operator to the client without any revenue sharing with CloudVO.
Partner with us and get a wealth of resources just like this specifically for shared workspace operators. Listing is free. Go to www.CloudVO.com to join the crew!
Other Resources
Virtual Offices & CMRA US Postal Service Rules
How to Add Meeting Room Hours to your VO Offering
How to build a healthy VO Business
