Author: Marketing Team

Running any business is time consuming and from here in London, running a business can be extremely expensive. You may need space to work, store your files, computers and any other necessary equipment that ensures the day-to-day running of your business and for that you will require a virtual office.

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Skip forwards to:

Mail Handling and Letters

Registered Address

Mail Forwarding

Mail Scanning

Notifications

Time to collect

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I currently have a friend who is in the beginning stages or starting his own business. Like many of us, he has a dream to be his own boss and to run his project with efficiency and minor costs. We would all like to run our business with a few costs as possible but bootstrapping a business isn’t always an option.

There are usually costs involved with most businesses, however you may already be in a position where you have managed to negate some of the costs of starting up. Perhaps you were given essential equipment by a friend or have decided to make your hobby your profession. The reality though, is at some point you will require the paperwork of a business and the use of additional services to help you manage your accounts, mail or phone calls. Administration services can be expensive and more often than not, you will need to employ someone to help take calls and to deal with your clients and customers by the day-to-day.

Most of us, no matter how hard we work, will need some help from an extra pair of hands but you need not employ someone straight away. More often than not you can outsource your administrative tasks to a professional business service company.

Most professional business services come in the form of a virtual office. A virtual office can come in many shapes and sizes but usually acts as an address service. A fee is paid to the provider and in return they will sign for your mail, file it and often forward the mail to your desired address. A virtual office differs from a serviced office or executive offices in that it represents a non-physical address and cannot be used by a client or customer as a traditional office space in which to work.

The following are some services you may expect to outsource as a self starter who is working from home.

1. Mail Handling & Letters

A virtual office will usually include mail-handling. This means letters and parcels will be signed for. If you are out of your own office, whether that’s at home or a rented office, a virtual office provider can be there when you aren’t. It’s their job to sign for parcels and to deal with the postman. Letter sized mail usually makes up the majority of sent mail handled by postal services. Documents are normally printed on A4 paper (210x297mm) or a letter size (215x280mm). Although electronic mail is most popular for written correspondence and is usually the most efficient method, you may still receive mail concerning your business in the form of bills and new credit/debit cards as well as letters from your bank. Usually most written content that contains sensitive information is sent via physical mail to lessen the chances of that sensitive information being intercepted. In the United States of America it is considered a strict violation of the law for anyone other than the named addressee and government staff to open a mail not sent directly to them. However, in the UK and other countries you may request that an individual access the contents of an important letter on your behalf. A service that most virtual offices providers will happily oblige by.

Our top tip: When using your national post service to send mail (Royal Mail UK), it’s best to send your mail as registered mail. This allows the location and correct address of the mail to be tracked by you and by the mail provider. It’s usually more expensive but is generally recommended when sending and receiving important letters and parcels. Registered or recorded mail requires that an individual signs for the item upon receiving it. This method of sending is protected by The Recorded Delivery Services Act 1962.

2. Registered Addresses

Having someone to sign for your letters and handle them safely may prove beneficial to the daily running of your business but first you will require a registered address. Again, a registered address can come in different forms. Usually a provider will allow you to open two main account types.

A personal mailing address to be used by an individual for non-business purposes. This means letters must be directed to you as an individual, that’s by your own name. The address can not be used on websites, business cards or on any other form where it is showing as an address associated with your own business.

If you require the address for your business practices, usually an additional cost will ensue, but as this is the most popular use for a virtual address you will find that most services are setup to handle business mail. Additionally an individual can use a business account to receive mail addressed to their business, this also allow an individual to use the address of their virtual office as there own, for placement on business cards and daily correspondence.

The specific requirements of your business will vary but some may require that your business is associated with a prestigious address. To find out more about registered office addresses click here.

3. Mail Forwarding

Having an address to receive your correspondence, in the form of letters and parcels is great but you may also require that your mail is then forwarded to your personal address or a custom address that you have provided. A virtual office may include a mail-forwarding service. This means that you can get those important letters and parcels signed for and then sent to you, wherever you may be.

Most postal services have a mail-forwarding service although the cost and any additional forwarding fees will vary from provider to provider. Low Cost Letterbox has some of the most reasonable pricing for these services requirements.

Top Tip: It’s important to note that most providers will have a maximum size for parcels, usually a large parcel is up to 30x30x30cm or 5kg. This means that anything exceeding this size will require an additional fee to be both received and forwarded and may include additional charges

4. Mail-Scanning

Mail-scanning involves physical mail and the process of scanning the item via a scanner, to be consumed and mailed via a new electronic form, usually e-mail or via cloud services. Not all providers will include this type of service so watch out for additional charges from providers who include this service as an add on. Most of us deal with electronic paperwork on a daily basis and it may be that you prefer this type of forwarding over the traditional paper format. If this is the case look for a virtual office that includes this in their package types.

5. Notifications

So you have you virtual office up and running? Whilst your letters and parcels are being received and looked after, it then becomes no use to you if you don’t know what you have received and when. A virtual office provider will usually have a system for notifying you when you receive mail. This may be by text, by e-mail, a phone call or a notification by an app but most providers will be inclined to notify you that your mailbox has taken deliveries. Some clients may also require additional security, in which case a provider may be able to offer you alternative methods of notification.

6. Time to collect

Once you know you have mail you will need access to it. If mail-forwarding isn’t included in your plan you may need access to a nearby depot where your mail is being stored.

Top Tip: Make sure your virtual offices provider has an address close to your home or somewhere that you don’t mind commuting to collect. You will also need to bare in mind that your provider may not be open at early or late hours, beyond normal business hours, so keep an eye our for virtual office providers that have depots open 24 hours or on weekends.

Remote work and the use of virtual offices is on the rise. With an increase in rent and a decline in affordability, the most efficient and manageable system for handling your business administration may be through a virtual office provider. To find out more about our virtual offices, click here.

Author: Marketing Team

We invite you to review us on Google!

If you can help us out we can give you money off on your next renewal!

If you are an existing customer and have made use of services in recent months, you may have noticed we have been making changes to our site to offer you the best possible service we can provide.

Part of those changes mean that we would like to build trust in our services by posting reviews for new customers to see. However, we need your help, as an existing customer, if we are to achieve this!

We would love you to leave a review, it can be positive or negative, we will still reward you regardless!

 

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If you would like to help us follow these short instructions;

How does it work?

1. Click on the link down below

Review us here by clicking here.

2. Give us a star rating

3. Tell us what you think

4. Tell us that you have reviewed us or leave your name on the review and we will reward you with £10 pounds off your next renewal!

That’s it, thank you so much!

Author: Marketing Team

As a digital marketer I often spend my day wondering how I can improve my website to make it the best experience for my users. I’m still a junior and have encountered a hard learning curve when it comes to converting my leads into sales.

At times it can feel frustrating that so much effort is put into optimising my site for search engines, only to find that my customers aren’t using my site in a way that I would like. The new reality is that putting effort into search-engine-optimisation, social media and pay-per-click advertising are only some of the first steps to converting customer interest.

As the primary source for my traffic, Google is essential to my businesses well-being. With more and more regular updates from Google, the Hummingbird algorithm and the rolling out of Rankbrain, we can see the increasing importance of user experience design. Consistent specialist insight from the likes of Rand Fishkin at Moz, make it clear that there is continued focus, from search engines, on user experience through optimised user interfaces. And thus, everyday user experience is becoming increasingly prevalent in my work as a digital marketer.

I grew up playing video games from an early age and as such I have been exposed to digital user interfaces all my life. Some of the best and most refined user interfaces are from the makers of video games. With an increased complexity in video game manufacture, the menus that we use to navigate such programs require significant planning and thoroughly considered design. Intelligent design and the ease of use for customers can often make or break a video game. Confusing menus are to be avoided at all costs.

There is increasing evidence out there that suggests digital interfacing can benefit from a technique coined as gamification. Gamification in UX is nothing new and you don’t have to be making a video game to make use of it’s techniques.

I recently finished reading a great article by UX Planet that outlines how user engagement can benefit from gamification. But, what is gamification? According to the article, gamification can be roughly defined as, “the technique of exerting game mechanics into the non-game environment”. This can cover anything from fancy graphical integrations to animation reward based interactions. Web-designers and user interface designers make use of the techniques of gamification to make their application more fun to use. Simply put; their efforts are to make the user experience more enjoyable for a customer by enticing them with game-like mechanics.

The article goes on to explain which techniques of gamification can be exploited to better a user experience for customers. It used to be that designers would refine their designs through simplification. This technique still rings true in many cases but is often outweighed by adding techniques from the game world. Whilst making an application or website more simple to use, designers in addition, challenge their customers and attempt to retain their usage via reward based interactions.

The primary goal here, in my opinion, is to focus on user retention. If a customer enjoys using a service or interface then they are much more likely to return and consequently make a purchase. Jeffrey Humble defines user retention as “the activity that a selling organization undertakes to reduce customer defections”. According to Dynaware only 16% of users will return to an app that has crashed twice. With 25% of the world’s economy being attributed to digital business (Source: Accenture, Technology vision), the innovation required for a better user experience is reinforced and can’t be ignored.

If you are a digital marketer you will be used to being pushed around by search engines and forced to alter the way you present your business online, for both the customer and the engine. I want to talk about the best techniques being applied by companies that are ahead of the curve when it comes to user experience. Some of which, make use of gamification.

Although gamification and VR technologies may be the latest additions to user experience. It’s some of the most successful internet companies today that had to pioneer their own techniques to best their competition.

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Amazon

As part of my learning, I have been paying considerable attention to some of the most successful consumer sites on the internet. No other site on the internet is as critically acclaimed as Amazon when it comes to being on top of the e-commerce game. When designing a user interface it’s important not to overwhelm your customer with endless features. Amazon are champions of customer experience. They make use of countless techniques, many of which I will have overlooked and/or will fail to understand. However, I wanted to focus on one feature that I, and many others, think make Amazon the superstar service it is today.

It concerns Amazon’s use of ratings. They first introduced their product review system in 1995 and it wasn’t very popular among experts. However, the so called experts were soon proved wrong. In actuality, the introduction of a ratings system proved to be a success. By the turn of the millennium the internet was quickly becoming one of the most used and trusted sources for product research by consumers. Amazon recognised this early on. By 2008 up to 70% of Americans said that they consulted product reviews and consumer ratings before making a purchase (Source: Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates). It’s this fundamental statistic that had drawn our attention towards customer views in the world of web-retail.

Ebay/PayPal

As far as online auctions go, Ebay is one the best. It’s right there as one of the most popular millionaire making sites on the internet. Ebay was launched in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar. Originally the site was set up as Auction Web, only a small part of a larger personal site. It had been set up to sell Pez dispensers and additional kinds of collectables. In 2002, Ebay became the market leader in electronic commerce. Ebay, like Amazon, defined their profit margins by taking a fee from transactions, rather than stocking or selling the products themselves.

Ebay relies on a number of core features. Feedback, a section on the site allowing customers and clients to give feedback to one another and to give feedback on the products that are being sold and bought. The feedback system is centred around a star rating, again much like Amazon.

Part of Ebay’s initial success depended on having a great payment system that would make their business of profiting from transactions, far easier to implement and manage by both their clients and themselves . PayPal also offers buyer protection, with a shield cover of up to $500. Ebay also offers their own protection, for buyers who are not using PayPal, with cover of up to $200. Ebay had previously built their own payment system called Billpoint. However, in 2002, Ebay acquired PayPal from inventors whom (included Elon Musk) for $1.5 billion.

In my opinion, it was the acquisition of PayPal that had set Ebay apart from it’s competitors. PayPal could offer its users a safer transaction, with built in fraud protection. After years of trialling payment systems, Ebay had finally found the perfect fit, although at a cost.

By 2007 PayPal had announced that they would partner with MasterCard to develop and launch the PayPal Secure Card service. An unrivalled service that meant customers could make use of PayPal on sites that did not accept PayPal Directly. Prior to this however, Ebay had stood alone in offering the most secure and efficient payment system in e-commerce. A triumph to better their customers experience. They would go on to profit themselves and their customers until present day.

Facebook

A lot has been said about the success of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. I have previously spoken about Zuckerberg as an entrepreneur in my article, Top 10 Startup Gurus.

Facebook, originally called the Facebook, was developed under creative, black hat methods in order to undermine its competition. Zuckerberg had taken the hacker mentality and applied it to his development in Facebook. He took the idea that all information is free and should be shared freely. By extension Zuckerberg believes that through this rapid sharing of information, we should all become better connected and better off socially as a result. Whether or not this type of thinking will work or indeed has worked is yet to be determined but it has been this application of thinking that has brought Facebook to the forefront of social technologies.

Over the years, Zuckerberg and his team have been able to maintain key philosophies that have been consistent throughout Facebook’s lifespan. One of those being its design element. Users have never been and never will be subject to online adverts in the traditional sense. Facebook profits from ads but the philosophy of a simple and clean design that does not distract the user from a clean and efficient usage has been maintained and protected throughout Facebook’s development.

Although at times surrounded by controversy concerning the protection and/or profiting off of user data. Facebook has been able to sustain its high usage via regular updates to its intelligent design and user interface.

Tinder

Tinder may not have been the first dating application built for mobile but it is certainly the most well known. Tinder allows for communication between mutually interested users. By simply swiping right or left, an individual can indicate an interest for another.

Dating apps and websites have been around for as long as the internet has been. So why has Tinder has so much success?

Well I think it again comes down to the user experience. Tinder makes use of gamification by giving users a playful mechanic in the form of the swipe! On top of this, Tinders design allows users to feel rewarded for their use of the application. Getting matches can be considered as point based. The allocation of points that fulfil a reward based mechanic allow an individual to gain satisfaction and to track their status as a desired individual.

You can sign up for twitter via spotify and Facebook, this allows users to sign up very quickly, with very little effort and with most of their core profile data fully formed. This has meant that Tinder has become very popular among young individuals looking to form relationships.

This year (2017) Tinder has released a desktop version of the app.

Playstation

I started this rant by talking about video game design so it seems right to end with it! The battle of the consoles or, entertainment systems if you prefer, is a topic that you may have read into. Even as non-gamer you will most certainly have heard of this intense rivalry. The competition between technology giants Microsoft and Sony has lead to some of the best innovations we have seen in user interface design over the past two decades!

This vying for position has reached a pinnacle with the introduction of the latest generation of this type of consumer electronic. The recent efforts of both companies to gain top spot has lead their latest devices to be practically identical in internal capability, with almost equal power and practically identical parts. With each device’s physical presence having nothing to set one apart from the other, it has come down to the software and ultimately the user interface of each console that is set to define their success in the consumer market. Since the consoles have had time to settle in the marketplace it’s become clear that there is only one winner of this excessive battling. Playstation.

I strongly believe that Playstation’s success in beating out Microsoft’s Xbox is to be awarded to its user interface that greets it’s players on start up. A simple design that allows user to manage their game library and watch TV in an uninhibited manner. A cleaner and ultimately more efficient design has won Playstation fans and newcomers alike.

Author: Marketing Team

Whilst more and more businesses call for adaptable work hours, the virtual office makes an open door for individuals to work at whatever point they like from wherever they are.

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Info-graphic

Additional Information

Updated for 2017.

What is a Virtual Office?

A virtual office is typically defined as a location that does not exist in reality. A non physical address typically used by small companies who would like their mail and sometimes calls directed to.

A virtual office can provide businesses with an address that they can use to handle their general office admin. They are often sold within prestigious business locations such as a city’s commercial and downtown districts.

Consider drive time, low to no commute expenses and lower overhead expenses, having commuters travel less, builds efficiency, and allows those who work remotely to get a little extra out of their day.

In 2017 Jesse Cooper, took her London-based communications firm virtual. She saved money by not paying rent on downtime for her company building. For her, what was supposed to be a temporary cash saving method, ended up becoming a permanent situation. Jesse saved money, her productivity increased and her employees became far happier!

She was able to employ a plethora of talented individuals, all of whom were happier to work from home and non required the costs to relocate.

So why choose a virtual office?

1. Little to no commute time.

Many of us live close to our place of work, but for those of us who don’t, working remotely can offer an individual more time to sleep and work. This means less time wasted and more time spent being productive.

2. Your employees have more energy for the important things.

Although rather morbid, there are studies that suggest sitting at a desk for more than 11 hours a day can increase your risk of death by more than 40% in the next 3 years. Allowing yourself and your employees the freedom to move about will not only help to keep them energised but will also be beneficial to their well-being.

3. There are no limits on who you can employ with a virtual office.

So you’ve taken your business virtual? Well now you can employ anyone from anywhere! Say you need to be overseas every week, why not hire someone from the country you commute to instead? They can deal with the overseas clients and you won’t have to board a plane.

4. Save money.

Let’s be honest, most of us are in business to make money and the best of us know how to save it. Switching to a virtual office can save you money on utilities, office leasing and necessary hardware. Not to mention the costs of travel, if you commute to London like I do, saving money by staying at home could be a deciding factor when it come to choosing a virtual office.

5. You’ll gain in productivity.

As business owners we know that keeping our employees happy is fundamental to their productivity and in turn, the productivity of our business. You lose the stress of getting people together all in one room and instead you’ll replace it with a satisfying feeling, knowing that you can rely on a number of conference call technologies to handle the meeting for you.

Virtual offices have a number of benefits for business – more than this list entails. With better technologies for keeping people connected the traditional office is becoming outdated and uncomfortable.

If you would like to find out more about setting up a virtual office, visit our product page Virtual Office.

Author: Marketing Team

I recently took the time to form this info-graphic from recent data shared via the Office for National Statistics. I hope you enjoy reading this info-graphic and feel free to share it.

Updated for: 02/11/2017

We have decided to put together an info-graphic, made up of collated statistics from the Office for National Statistics. The report is formed from facts and figures of different studies and surveys concerning the UK labour force from 2008 – 2017.

The virtual office can be a place of great benefit to those who are unable to make use of a physical office addresses.

Although services can vary the virtual office is usually aimed at the young entrepreneur, a startup or simply a freelancer who needs an office address for business use.

Remote workers can make use of virtual office services and as home-working is on the rise, now has never been a better time to sign-up.

If you would like to use this info-graphic, please contact, info@lowcostletterbox.com

Author: Marketing Team

I’ve just finished writing my first list, ranking startup gurus and why they are successful. However, most of those creative entrepreneurs who appeared in the list such as Mark Zuckerberg and Andy Rubin, are actually no longer owners of startups and stand behind some of the biggest corporate powerhouses in the world.

I work for a UK based startup and I thought it would be great if I covered some of the more recent companies that have been formed in the UK, specifically focused on those businesses that are performing beyond expectation in 2017.

Updated For: 01/11/17

Cornerstone (formed 2014)

Founder: Oliver Bridge.

Website: www.cornerstone.co.uk

Cornerstone was ranked number 10 this year in Startups top 100 list. There are a ton of other startups I could have picked for this number five position but I have to include Cornerstone in my top 5 based on the brilliant premise of Oliver Bridge’s business.

Oliver set out in 2014 with very particular goal in mind. He realised that the male grooming market was dominated by ‘ineffective and expensive’ products. So he created Cornerstone, an online subscription service made up of own-brand, quality shaving products for men.

Cornerstones 24 person unit, has over 110’000 customers in the UK, a figure that has doubled in only a year – and it’s no wonder why. Having almost given up on clean shaving, I find Oliver and his two year old startup not only beneficial to me personally but also satisfying from a business perspective.

Ever since I shed my adolescence and started shaving I have been faced with a choice of two brands (that will remain unnamed). Both of which, have become increasingly overpriced, leaving many men ,including myself, with scruffy unshaven beards. In fact, this uncomfortable way of living has becoming so common that beards have become fashionable. Either that, or beards are simply cheaper to maintain.

Oliver said he ‘wants to completely destroy the men’s aisle at Boots and have every man in the UK getting their toiletries from Cornerstone’.

By growing his product line, Bridge wants to go on to sell his business for £100 million pounds by 2020. At the moment, he seems very much on track to do so.

Housekeep (formed 2014)

Founder: Avin Rabheru

Website: www.housekeep.com

Avin Rabheru, Housekeep’s founder and chief, first launched his Uber-esc house cleaning service back in 2014. Since then Housekeep has gained over 20’000 loyal customers with 1000 of those signed up for recurring subscriptions.

House keep was named by Startups Awards as Service Business of the Year in 2016 and they show no sign of slowing down with aims to increase their subscription customers to 10’000 over the next 12 months.

Housekeep currently operates within zones 1 -4 of the Greater London metropolis but Avin claims that there is every intent to take the company global.

Eve Sleep (Formed 2015)

Founders: Jas Bagniewieski, Kuba Wieczorek, Felix Lobkowicz, James Fryer, Abid Ismail

Website: www.evemattress.co.uk

In just two years Jas Bagniewieski and his team have launched six products in 12 countries. In May of this year, Eve announced its first IPO on the London Stock Exchange. A phenomenal indication of growth and potential for investors. Customers can see the benefit too, with more efficient advertising and faster delivery times, Jas and his company are surely on a path for further success.

Although inundated with an influx of competing brands, it’s stands as a testament to these creative entrepreneurs, that they have been able to brush aside competition and come out on top with increased revenues of up to 355%. They went from an initial £2.6 million investment in 2015 to now showing capital of over £12 million.

The team said it took great branding, a great team and a great product but most importantly, a little bit of luck.

Perkbox (Formed 2012)

Founders: Saurav Chopra and Chieu Cao

Website: https://www.perkbox.com/uk/

According to the Perkbox website, ‘Perkbox helps business become happier by creating more inspiring places to work – through incentives known as perks, in order to provide financial, emotional and physical well being’.

Perkbox incentivises companies to sign up for it’s service by building tailor made perk plans for a company’s employee workforce. These perks can include supermarket savings, high street savings, gym discounts and free phone insurance as well as cycle2work schemes.

They have also teamed up with a number of well know brands such as M&S, Argos and Odeon. Companies with a subscription service can allow their employees to make use of these perk schemes with the idea being to improve productivity among the workforce. As smart idea from two genius, creative entrepreneurs.

Laundrapp (founded 2014)

Founder: Edward Relf

Website: https://www.laundrapp.com/

Laundrapp is another Uber-esc business. An app that allows its customers to have their washing picked up, cleaned and then dropped off at their desired location.

I was fortunate enough to meet the founder and CEO of Laundrapp, Edward Relf at his Covent Garden based offices. Although it was little known to the public at the time, Edward has just secured a deal to launch Laundrapp in 15 countries by the end of 2017. The idea was to license it’s logistics technology to laundry franchises across the globe.

Currently the service is available in 100 towns and cities across the UK and the app has been downloaded over a quarter of a million times since launch.

Despite not yet being a profitable business, it’s Edwards clear goals to expand that land him the number one spot on my list.

We hope you enjoyed our article be sure to comment and like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.

Check out my previous article on Startup Gurus here.

Part two now available.