When Nick Keegan launched his startup a decade ago, he was building a mobile app to organize household bills. It flopped. But the idea that failed turned into one of Europe’s most interesting customer-communications stories.

Today, Mail Metrics sits at the intersection of print and digital communication platforms a digital-first technology company that also happens to be Ireland’s largest transactional printer.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because Amit Sawhney, CEO of FCI in India, described almost the same journey in an earlier podcast. Both leaders telling a similar story: technology-led firms using print as an access point to win trust, control data, and modernize how regulated communications are created, tracked, and delivered.

The Turning Point

By 2020 Mail Metrics had no presses. Then came a string of acquisitions like Persona, Fourth Communications, Dafil, and then Adare SEC giving it full control from data to delivery. Keegan discovered that transforming communications requires owning the last mile, not abandoning it.

“We thought going digital meant less print,” he told me. “It turned out the more digital we offered, the more print clients trusted us with.”

The Mail Metrics Model

Keegan rejects the math that has trapped many PSPs. Selling digital messages for fractions of a cent while pricing print by the page is a race to the bottom. His answer: sell the platform: the secure, audited, multi-channel engine behind regulatory communications.

It’s a different conversation with a different buyer, one who values compliance and customer experience over simply cost-per-envelope.

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Europe Ahead, U.S. Behind

Keegan views digitization as uneven across markets. Denmark and parts of Europe are already paperless. The UK is mid-curve. The U.S.? Still mailing half of the world’s letters with only 4 % of its population. For him, that’s not decline, it’s opportunity, with a clear focus on targeting print-first PSPs in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Investment and AI

Private equity is fueling consolidation, but Keegan warns that capital alone won’t create platforms. Transformation requires technology DNA. And while AI is now the default buzzword, Mail Metrics treats it as a toolkit for incremental improvements optimizing journeys, processing inbound data, and speeding template creation rather than a headline.

Andy’s Take

Mail Metrics is the inverse of the typical U.S. print service provider. Where most PSPs were born from ink and paper and are now chasing digital relevance, Mail Metrics began as a digital company and deliberately acquired print capacity to accelerate that transition.

Its strategy isn’t about keeping presses busy it’s about using technology to make mail meaningful again, in all its forms, not just on paper. Backed by private equity, Mail Metrics is also part of a larger story playing out across the industry: investors are betting that the next wave of growth won’t come from more volume, but from smarter orchestration.

Closing Invite

If you’re in London on November 12, join us for Communicate ’25 at King’s Cross — where leaders from across Europe will discuss how digital-first thinking is reshaping customer communications and I will be giving the opening keynote.

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