UK Postage Rates

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UK Postage Rates: All You Need To Know About Royal Mail's New 2022 Postage Prices

Did you know that Royal Mail is updating its postage prices in April 2022?

Is your business prepared to handle the postage price change that is inevitably coming?

A lot of time and planning goes into executing direct mail campaigns for a business. One of the reasons most companies still use direct mail campaigns is their high ROI or Return On Investment. How big of an effect can the 2022 postage rates have on your direct mail ROI?

To answer this question, you first need to know how much does postage costs in the UK. Hence, here we have created a comprehensive list of the different postal services offered by Royal Mail and their latest postage rates.

This article will help you analyse the 2022 postage charges and prepare your new direct mail campaigns based on the latest data.

So, let us dig in!

Size and Weight Guide For UK Postage Rates

The postage rate for mailers everywhere globally is usually dependent on their size and weight unless it explicitly states otherwise. Hence, if you are trying to understand the UK postage rates, then the best place to start is the size and weight of postal packages.

Depending on the size and weight of the postal mailer, you can broadly classify it into six types, and they are:

• Letters
• Large Letters
• Small Parcels
• Medium Parcels
• Parcelforce Parcels
• Parcelforce Large Parcels

Type Of Mailer	Length	Width	Thickness	Weight Limit
Letters	24cm	16.5cm	0.5cm	100g
Large Letters	35.3cm	25cm	2.5cm	750g
Small Parcels	45cm	35cm	16cm	2kg
Medium Parcels	61cm	46cm	46cm	20kg
Parcelforce Parcels	1.5m	3m length and girth combines		30kg
Parcelforce Large Parcels	2.5m	4m length and girth combined		30kg*

Rolled and Cylinder-Shaped Parcels

You might have also come across rolled or cylinder-shaped parcels. If you did, you are probably wondering how their dimensions are measured. In such cases, the length of the package plus two times the diameter should not be over 104cm. Furthermore, Royal Mail also states that the most significant dimension of a rolled or cylinder-shaped parcel should not exceed 90cm.

Types Of Postal Mail Services And Their UK Postage Rates

We know the different sizes and weights for postal mailers you can send via a service provider like Royal Mail. What is another important aspect that might affect the postage prices in the UK? Apart from the size and weight of the package, the other thing that can affect the postage rate is the speed of delivery.

Royal Mail offers several postal mail services to its customers. Although not all postal mail services are based on the speed of delivery, the majority of the postage prices are dependent on the delivery speed. Some postal mail services have a higher postage rate because they include special services such as proof of delivery.

The types of postal services offered by the Royal Mail can broadly be classified into four distinct categories, and they are:

• UK Guaranteed 
• UK Signed 
• UK Standard
• Parcelforce Worldwide

UK Guaranteed Postal Services

The UK Guaranteed is one of the premium postal services offered by the Royal Mail. As the name implies, the postal service guarantees the delivery of your mailer within a specified time. Even within the UK Guaranteed services, you may see different postage rates UK. 

There are different types of UK Guaranteed services provided by the Royal Mail. The primary UK Guaranteed services you can use for your business communication are listed below.

• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm
• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am
• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am with Saturday Guarantee
• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm with Saturday Guarantee

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am or 1 pm 

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am or 1 pm is one of the most widely used postal mail services from Royal Mail. The primary reason why businesses prefer to use the Guaranteed 9 am or 1 pm service is that it enables them to ensure their mailer is delivered at the right time. Royal Mail provides a guaranteed 9 am or 1 pm delivery of your postal mailers. 

Trace And Track Facility

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am, or 1 pm comes equipped with a track and trace facility. It allows the sender to track the mailer’s journey from the moment it leaves your hands to the point of delivery.

Signature On Delivery

Both Guaranteed 9 am, and 1 pm services require the recipient’s signature on delivery. Hence, you will always get proof of delivery when you use UK Guaranteed postal service. Furthermore, you can view the signature online just 10 minutes after the delivery.

Cover For Valuable Items And Late Delivery

Another significant advantage of the UK Guaranteed service is that they offer coverage for your valuable items and late deliveries.  

Compensation And Additional Coverage

The Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm is entitled to a compensation of up to £500. However, the compensation for Guaranteed by 9 am delivery is only £50. Furthermore, you can also access optional coverages for your mailers. 

Royal Mail allows you to access additional cover up to £2,500 and optional consequential loss cover-up to £10,000! Hence it is no wonder that the UK Guaranteed service is preferred for sending items of significant value.

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm

Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
100g	£6.85
500g	£7.65
1kg	£8.95
2kg	£11.15
10kg	£15.45
20kg	£19.45

Note: The above postage charges are applicable only if you want a standard cover of up to £500. If you wish to have additional coverage for your packages, you will need to pay higher postage, as shown in the table below

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm With Additional Cover
Weight Up To And Including	Postage With £1,000 Cover	Postage With £2,500 Cover
100g	£7.85	£9.85
500g	£8.65	£10.65
1kg	£9.95	£11.95
2kg	£12.15	£14.15
10kg	£16.45	£18.45
20kg	£20.45	£22.45

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am 

Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
100g	£22.95
500g	£25.95
1kg	£27.95
2kg	£33.95

 

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am With Additional Cover
Weight Up To And Including	Postage With £1,000 Cover	Postage With £2,500 Cover
100g	£25.15	£28.65
500g	£28.15	£31.65
1kg	£30.15	£33.65
2kg	£36.15	£39.65

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am or 1 pm with Saturday Guarantee.

Guarantee Saturday delivery is an additional option for the UK Guaranteed postal services. However, the Saturday Guarantee comes at an additional cost. If you opt for Saturday Guarantee, the whole structure of the  UK postage rates change.

Hence it is best to mention the postage rates of guaranteed 9 am and 1 pm with Saturday guarantee separately.

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm with Saturday Guarantee

Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
100g	£11.22
500g	£12.18
1kg	£13.74
2kg	£16.38
10kg	£21.54
20kg	£26.34

 

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1 pm With Additional Cover
Weight Up To And Including	Postage With £1,000 Cover	Postage With £2,500 Cover
100g	£12.42	£14.82
500g	£13.38	£15.78
1kg	£14.94	£17.34
2kg	£17.58	£19.98
10kg	£22.74	£25.14
20kg	£27.54	£29.94

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am with Saturday Guarantee

Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
100g	£25.95
500g	£28.95
1kg	£30.95
2kg	£36.95

 

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am With Saturday Guarantee & Additional Cover
Weight Up To And Including	Postage With £1,000 Cover	Postage With £2,500 Cover
100g	£28.15	£31.65
500g	£31.15	£34.65
1kg	£33.15	£36.65
2kg	£39.15	£42.65

UK Signed Postal Services

UK Signed services are another popular postal service offered by the Royal Mail. As you can guess from the name, it requires a signed proof of delivery from the recipients. You can get UK Signed postal service for your first and second class mail.

Most businesses use either first class or second class mail for their direct mail communication. Hence, the UK Signed services are an excellent way for companies to deliver direct mail to the target audience.

It can be beneficial for industries such as financial services. Financial service providers can use specialised tools like PostGrid to send adverse action notices and require the recipient to sign your letters.

You can learn more about how PostGrid’s direct mail system can help loan companies market their business on our blog “Marketing Ideas for Loan Companies UK”

Online Delivery Confirmation

A definite advantage of UK Signed services is the order delivery confirmation feature. It enables the sender to get a confirmation on the delivery, which can be crucial for many industry verticals and business organisations.

Compensation 

Royal Mail also provides compensation of £50 to its customers using the UK Signed services similar to the ones we saw in UK Guaranteed services. Such compensation can be ideal for businesses that regularly send direct mail communications. 

Eligible For eBay Seller Protection programme

Apart from its other features, the UK Signed services are also eligible for the eBay Seller Protection programme. Hence, it is also a perfect choice for E-Commerce companies for delivering their products and services. 

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Signed For 1st Class Mail

Type Of Mailer	Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
Letters	100g	£2.35
Large Letters	100g	£2.85
	250g	£3.45
	500g	£4.05
	750g	£4.70
Small Parcels	2kg	£5.55
Medium Parcels	2kg	£8.05
	10kg	£9.05
	20kg	£14.05

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail Signed For 2nd Class Mail

Type Of Mailer	Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
Letters	100g	£2.08
Large Letters	100g	£2.45
	250g	£3.05
	500g	£3.55
	750g	£4.10
Small Parcels	2kg	£4.45
Medium Parcels	2kg	£6.45
	10kg	£8.05
	20kg	£11.55

UK Standard Postal Services

The UK Standard postal service is the number one choice for businesses regarding direct mail marketing. UK Standard postal service includes the regular 1st Class and 2nd Class postal delivery services.

One of the main reasons businesses prefer to use the UK Standard postal service is the low postage costs. Hence, they are ideal for sending bulk marketing mail to the target audience. However, such extensive bulk mailing often requires an advanced automation solution like PostGrid to ensure your campaign’s optimal performance.

Want to know more about how an automated direct mail solution can help your business? Read our blog “Automated Direct Mail”

1st Class Mail

The advantage of using the 1st Class mail service is relatively fast. Royal Mail usually tries to deliver the 1st Class mail on the next working day, even if it is a Saturday. Furthermore, the 1st Class Mail comes with compensation cover up to £20.

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail 1st Class Mai

Type Of Mailer	Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
Letters	100g	95p
Large Letters	100g	£1.45
	250g	£2.05
	500g	£2.65
	750g	£3.30
Small Parcels	2kg	£4.45
Medium Parcels	2kg	£6.95
	10kg	£7.95
	20kg	£12.95

2nd Class Mail

The 2nd Class mail is the most affordable way to send direct mail to your customers. However, it does take a longer time to deliver. Usually, a 2nd Class mail is delivered within two to three working days, but this can vary from time to time. Similar to 1st Class mail, you also get compensation cover up to £20.

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail 2nd Class Mail

Type Of Mailer	Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
Letters	100g	68p
Large Letters	100g	£1.05
	250g	£1.65
	500g	£2.15
	750g	£2.70
Small Parcels	2kg	£3.35
Medium Parcels	2kg	£5.35
	10kg	£6.95
	20kg	£10.45

Parcelforce Worldwide Postal Services

The Parcelforce Worldwide postal service from Royal Mail offers to include several sub-services. The primary Parcelforce Worldwide postal services are classified into 7 categories, and they are as follows.

• express48
• express24
• expresssunday
• expressAM
• express10
• express9
• express48 (Large)

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail express48 Mail

Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£8.95
10kg	£9.95
20kg	£11.95
30kg	£14.95
Per extra kg	£1.56

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail express24 Mail

Weight Up To And Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£9.35
10kg	£13.35
20kg	£15.35
30kg	£18.35
Per extra kg	£1.56

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail expresssunday Mail

Weight Up To and Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£25.80
10kg	£30.24
20kg	£37.02
30kg	£53.70
Per extra kg	£1.56

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail expressAM Mail

Weight Up To and Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£18.49
10kg	£19.69
20kg	£21.49
30kg	£24.49
Per extra kg	£1.56

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail express10 Mail

Weight Up To and Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£22.00
10kg	£23.00
20kg	£25.00
30kg	£28.00
Per extra kg	£1.56

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail express9 Mail

Weight Up To and Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£39.90
10kg	£44.43
20kg	£51.18
30kg	£67.80
Per extra kg	£1.56

UK Postage Rate For Royal Mail express48 (Large) Mail

Weight Up To and Including	Postage Cost
5kg	£31.80
10kg	£36.60
20kg	£44.10
30kg	£61.20
Per extra kg	£1.56

Conclusion

The Royal Mail updates its postage prices every year. Businesses that regularly send direct mail to their customers, prospects, or partners need to update themselves with the latest postage rates. Even a slight ignorance on your part could lead to a significant loss, especially if you send bulk mail.

Besides keeping well-informed about the Royal Mail postage rates, you also need to employ advanced direct mail solutions like PostGrid. A fully automated direct mail software can optimise your direct mail process and minimise your direct mail expenses.

Furthermore, using an automated tool like PostGrid is also the most convenient option for businesses. It lets you personalise, print, and deliver your mailers with just the click of a button. As a result, it saves you valuable time and eliminates the scope for manual error, which ultimately saves you even more money.

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source https://www.postgrid.co.uk/uk-postage-rates/

Integrated Direct Mail Campaign

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Integrated Marketing: How To Successfully Combine Online And Offline Marketing Channels

Are you worried about your email campaigns not performing up to the mark?

A typical customer receives tens and hundreds of marketing emails every week. It is easy for your marketing email to get lost in the plethora of marketing emails the customer receives every day. What if we told you that there is a better, more innovative way to ensure the success of your marketing campaigns?

Integrated direct mail campaigns incorporate different marketing or communication channels to enhance the impact of your marketing message. Here, we discuss everything you need to know about integrated direct mail campaigns and how they can benefit your business.

We will also look at how you can integrate your direct mail and email marketing efforts. The article also discusses the scope of multichannel marketing. Additionally, we will explain why using a direct mail automation tool is essential for all multichannel or integrated campaigns.

What is an Integrated Direct Mail Campaign?

An integrated direct mail campaign is a marketing strategy that integrates multiple channels to your direct mail marketing campaign to communicate effectively with the target audience. In other words, you can pitch the same or similar marketing message to your target audience across different channels.

It enables you to plan your marketing message deep into the audience’s mind and generate better results for your marketing campaigns. There are several advantages of combining or integrating different communication channels for your marketing campaign.

As we know, direct mail marketing is one of the most effective marketing channels that offers an excellent open and response rate. Including direct mail in other marketing campaigns makes it stand out from the over-familiar digital marketing campaigns.

5 Reasons For Employing Integrated Direct Mail

The primary reason for integrating direct mail campaigns into your digital marketing is simple. It has become increasingly challenging to capture the customer or prospect’s attention via digital channels. Direct mail marketing enables marketers and business owners to reach their high-priority customers and prospects effectively.

But, that is only part of the story. Many marketers and business owners have realised the potential for direct mail marketing in today’s environment. However, only a few have realised the potential of fully integrating direct mail into their digital marketing efforts.

Here are 5 of the most significant advantages of integrated direct marketing that other marketers don’t want you to know about.

#1 The Halo Effect

With integrated marketing communication,  you can effectively integrate the marketing message across all marketing channels you use. Say that you use direct mail, email, digital ads, and social media as marketing channels.

Using an integrated marketing approach, you can time your marketing message to reach the audience simultaneously via different channels. Such an action creates the “Halo” effect, making the whole combination more remarkable than the sum of individual parts.

It essentially means that your marketing message creates a more significant impact on the audience than a regular marketing campaign. Furthermore, direct mail plays a substantial part in making your marketing message memorable. It is possibly the most impactful marketing channel for conveying the message.

#2 Increases Direct Mail ‘Cut-Through’

As we have already mentioned, direct mail’s cut-through rate is significantly higher than any digital marketing channel. More people are eager to open a direct mail and check out its content than a digital channel such as Email.

As a result, it helps you promote awareness or boost brand recognition of online organisations. Hence, you can drive more traffic to your website or social media pages. So, it effectively increases your website’s SEO ranking on the digital marketing side.

In other words, you can use direct mail communications to improve the visibility and traffic of your online assets.

#3 Move Valuable Responders Online

Integrated marketing strategy connects online and offline marketing channels and allows the user to move from one medium to another. Although direct mail offers several advantages to its customers, ‘ cost to touch’ is not one of them.

Direct mail campaigns are often more expensive than online marketing channels because of their requirements. Furthermore, snail mail is not a convenient communication channel as it can take days to talk to someone via mail.

You can use direct mail to lead the customers and prospects to a desired online channel, including your website and social media page. Hence, direct mail acts as a gate-opener to facilitate low-cost and convenient conversation between you and your customers.

#4 Personalised Direct Mail Messages That Align With The Online Experience

With online marketing capabilities, you can easily segment the audience data. Marketers and business owners can use this segmented data for creating personalised direct mail messages that align perfectly with the online experience.

What does it mean for your marketing integrated direct mail campaign?

It means that you can create more impactful marketing messages. More importantly, it means that the marketing message that you wish to convey continues to reach the audience beyond the direct mail. The same message and offer are reflected on the online channels.

However, such details are dependent on the marketer or business owner who executes the integrated marketing campaign. If you can get it right, it will enable you to minimise the possibility of buying drop-outs.

#5 Hyper-Personalised Direct Mail

You can go a step further in integrated marketing by employing hyper-personalised direct mail. As the name suggests, hyper-personalised direct mail involves creating a one-on-one and consistent customer journey.

Also, hyper-personalisation needs to apply to offline and online channels in integrated marketing communication. It can sometimes be tricky, especially if you don’t have post data on the customer.

It is an approach that works best for your past customers or retargeting campaigns. You can base your marketing campaign on the previous buying behaviour and pitch an offer that’s relevant to them. You can even use a PURL in the mailer to pique the customer’s curiosity and make them take action.

Integrating Direct Mail And Email Campaigns

One of the most convenient ways of implementing an integrated direct marketing campaign is to integrate your direct mail and email campaigns. The majority of the marketers are well familiar with both marketing channels, making combining the two relatively easy.

By combining direct mail and email campaigns, you can effectively optimise your marketing efforts and get better results than independently using either of the channels. It means getting a higher response rate and meeting your marketing goals more effectively.

Direct Mail vs Email

Both direct mail and email are two very different marketing channels. Both have their own set of benefits and challenges. You can achieve success for your marketing campaigns using either of the marketing channels. However, both channels do not have the same features as a marketing channel.

Email Marketing

On the one hand, an email campaign is relatively easy to set up, and they provide some great insights such as open rates and the number of clicks. But, on the other hand, the marketing noise level of email marketing has already reached its peak.

In other words, the customer’s inbox is blowing up with unopened marketing emails from EVERYONE. As a result, the open rate of email marketing campaigns has generally come down. Hence, it is no longer viable to use Email as your sole marketing channel. The risk of losing consumers to competitors is high.

Direct Mail Marketing

Direct mail marketing is not as mainstream as Email marketing. Not many marketers or business owners have stopped using it. Furthermore, people generally like receiving direct mail and opening its content. As a result, direct mail always tends to have a higher open and response rate than Email.

According to Fundera, “the direct mail open rates can reach up to 90%“. However, the challenge with implementing direct mail campaigns is much more significant than email marketing. Companies used to have to manually print and write/print letters and then deliver them to the target audience.

Today, advanced direct mail solutions like PostGrid are available that let you automate the entire direct mail process. Direct mail still needs more time to execute Email campaigns as it involves printing and delivering the mailer via postal service.

How to Integrate Direct Mail and Email Marketing Channels?

Integrating direct mail and email marketing channels is one of the basic forms of integrated direct marketing. Because of its simple integration, it is an easy way to understand the concept of integrated marketing. Therefore, learning how to integrate direct mail and email marketing channels will help you use the strategy in more complex situations.

The new and advanced direct mail automation tools enable you to integrate the direct mail system with CRM and other marketing tools. Thanks to direct mail automation tools like PostGrid, marketers can easily create personalised and targeted direct mail campaigns.

It enables you to send direct mail to the target audience on every significant part of the customer journey. For example, you can send a direct mail for pitching a new offer or product your company is launching. Later you could send a thank you note to customers that brought what you were selling.

Here are some ways to integrate direct mail and email marketing channels for your business.

Target Your Non-Responders

Sometimes, you create a near-perfect or perhaps even perfect Email marketing campaign for your business. You have an exciting new offer, an innovative new Email message, and just about everything you need. Yet, the campaign will still have some non-responders.

There are several possibilities why the audience didn’t respond to your message. They may have lost your Email in the marketing emails cluster they receive every day. You may also have caught the customer at the wrong time, and they did not feel like responding then.

In this case, an integrated direct mail campaign can do wonders for your business. Create a list of non-responders to your email campaigns. Then, create a highly-personalised direct mail piece for the target audience and send them the mailer. Such campaigns yield excellent results for business and connect with the audience that you would have otherwise lost.

Create Efficient Follow Up Campaigns

Acquiring new customers via Email marketing is not easy, and it gets more and more difficult as time passes by. Furthermore, the constraints of GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation makes it even more difficult to target new customers via Email.

Nonetheless, acquisition marketing can benefit businesses, especially start-up companies. It is also ideal for momentarily boosting your revenue. You can bypass the challenges of GDPR to some extent by integrating direct mail communications.

Direct mail ads are not as tightly wound as Email marketing regarding GDPR. It means that you can use direct mail for the initial outreach mail and then direct the reader to a landing page. Once they reach your landing page, you can categorise the relevant audience and follow up with Email campaigns.

Use Direct Mail as Basket/Cart Reminder

As a customer, we are all well-familiar with basket or cart reminders. Every time we add a product on an eCommerce site and do not complete the checkout process, we get reminder emails about it. However, these basket reminder emails often go ignored or worse. They go to the spam folder.

Such a situation could lead eCommerce businesses to a substantial loss of revenue. Integrated direct mail can offer a solution to this problem. Direct mail automation solutions like PostGrid enable Ecommerce companies to automatically send basket or cart reminder letters via post.

As we know, the chances of the customer opening the direct mail are significantly higher than any other marketing channel. Hence, if the customer is genuinely interested in the product, they will likely complete the purchase. Furthermore, sending direct mail as a basket reminder will also help your company stand out and establish itself as a brand.

You might also find our blog “Triggered Direct Mail Marketing” helpful if you are interested in trigger-based automatic direct mail marketing.

Event Marketing

Conducting events are a great way to attract new customers and engage with the existing ones. Numerous companies attend networking events and trade shows every year. Such trade shows are highly beneficial to the event organiser. They can collect relevant information on the attendees and create priceless and appropriate mailing lists.

The success of such an event is very much dependent on how significant a reach you have in delivering the event invites. With integrated direct mail campaigns, you can use direct mail and email communication channels to maximise the invite reach. Furthermore, a printed event invite looks more professional and excites the event to some extent.

Similarly, companies taking part in the event can use direct mail to customers or prospects that visit their booth. You can even collect the company’s details, such as company name, email address etc. so that you can follow up with them. Hence, using an integrated marketing approach can be a driving factor for event ROI.

You can also consider sending postcards as event invites. Read our blog “Automated Postcard Mailing” on using postcards for marketing campaigns.

Multichannel Marketing Approach

In many ways, integrated direct marketing resembles a multichannel marketing approach. However, a multichannel marketing campaign is usually more complicated than integrated marketing. We merely integrate the new channel or channels to an existing marketing campaign in integrated marketing.

In multichannel marketing campaigns, the whole marketing strategy incorporates several marketing channels. Furthermore, the marketing strategy itself is more complex for multichannel marketing campaigns.

Tips For Multichannel or Integrated Marketing Campaigns

Here are a few tips that can help optimise your multichannel or integrated marketing campaign.

Maintain Consistency

Make sure that your messaging is consistent throughout the marketing campaign regardless of how many channels you use. It is one of the most crucial tips a company needs to use multiple channels for marketing campaigns.

Additionally, you should also try to be more consistent in your branding. Give special attention to finer details such as maintaining a consistent tagline, colour scheme, and even the font you use. In other words, a prospect who has already received the marketing message should immediately recognise your brand from the follow-up.

Stagger Your Communication Points

We never send three consecutive Emails in one go for Email marketing as it runs the risk of looking like spam. The same goes for your advertising mail. You must not send consecutive mail to the customers without adequate intervals in between. 

Marketers must learn to stagger their communication points in integrated marketing campaigns. It is the only way the user has enough time to take in all the presented data. For example, if you are targeting new customers, the best place to start would be to introduce your brand.

You may then follow up with your products/services and explain how their life can be better with what you have to sell. So, you need to gradually rope in your customers with regular follow-ups instead of presenting with a lot of complex data.

Use Landing Pages Intelligently

Landing pages are an integral part of almost every digital marketing campaign. However, many may not realise that landing pages are incredibly beneficial to direct marketing. You can lead the customer to a landing page via a QR code printed on your mailer.

It will take the audience to the appropriate page on your website. The strategy has forever been used in Email marketing. It is now a popular choice for direct mail marketing. There are several advantages to connecting a landing page to your integrated direct mail campaign. 

You can use it to increase traffic to your website and make your marketing campaign more visually appealing to the target audience. Furthermore, you can use your website analytic tools to access detailed insights about your marketing campaign and customer behaviour.

Conclusion

Implementing an integrated marketing campaign is not easy. A lot of planning and hard work is necessary to incorporate multiple communication channels for a single integrated marketing campaign. And in many ways, an integrated marketing campaign is similar to multichannel marketing campaigns.

Multichannel marketing campaigns can be even more complex as they usually include more communication channels. However, using advanced marketing tools like PostGrid can significantly make your life easy.

PostGrid’s automated direct mail tool enables you to execute advanced integrated direct mail with minimal errors. You can even integrate PostGrid’s systems into your CRM and personalise your letter. It saves you valuable time and even helps to streamline your direct mail communications.

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The post Integrated Direct Mail Campaign appeared first on PostGrid UK.

source https://www.postgrid.co.uk/integrated-direct-mail-campaign/

How to Send a Letter UK

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How To Send a Letter In The UK: An Easy Step-By-Step Guide

Have you ever wanted to implement an old-fashioned direct mail campaign but couldn’t because you didn’t know how to send a letter?

If yes, you would be among many who don’t send a letter because they don’t know how to. Today, most marketers and business owners have no idea how to mail a letter UK. However, direct mail offers a significantly higher response rate than most mainstream marketing ideas.

Furthermore, you can use direct mail for bulk mailing invoices, bills, patient reports, and much more. It is crucial to understand how you can send a letter via post for business communication. Here, we will teach you how to send a postal letter in the UK.

You will get a step-by-step guide to sending a letter in the UK, the services you can use and their salient features. The article also explains how to address your mailers and tips on writing or printing your business letters. 

Step-By-Step Guide To Sending a Letter In The UK

Step 1: Check If You Can Post

The first thing you need to do before you can send letters in the UK is to check whether you can send them. Some items are prohibited from being sent via Royal Mail. You need to ensure that your mailer does not contain any prohibited items.

What usually happens is that most senders are unaware of which items are prohibited from sending via post. Even something as simple as a lottery ticket is not permitted to be sent by post. Similarly, there are many such items that you might think are okay to send via post.

Here is the complete list of restricted and prohibited items you CAN’T send by post.

Step 2: Select An Envelope For Your Letter

As you know, the postage cost of your letter depends on the mail piece’s size and shape. Several vital documents and foldable letters require an envelope. Envelopes also come in different sizes, and you can pick one that’s best suited for your mail piece. You can get the envelopes for the letters from your local Post Office. 

Step 3: Address Your Letter

When you write a postal address on a letter, consider putting the information from smallest to largest. Just remember to add the postcode at the end of the address. Hence, the addressee’s name comes first in the address, then the house number/name and street name. You can then write the town/city. 

If necessary, you would also have to provide the locality of the address. Similarly, you would also have to provide the country name if you send an international mail. Finally, ensure that your delivery address is aligned to the left. 

We will give you a detailed explanation of addressing a UK letter as you proceed further.

Step 4: Weigh Your Letter

We know that the size and weight of your letter determine its postage rate. Hence, it is good to weigh your letters before going to the nearest Royal Mail branch. It helps you get an accurate idea of the required postage for your mail piece.   

As a result, you can spend just the right amount of postage you need. Such a practice is hugely beneficial, especially for businesses sending bulk mail. It saves you a significant amount of postage. And all you need is a weighing scale for measuring the weight of the postal item from home or company.

Keep in mind that the weight of the package need not be accurate to a microscopic level. The postal service provider such as Royal Mail defines a specific range for the postal mailers. So, as long as you ensure the letter weighs falls within the specified range.

Step 5: Choose The Best Postage Option For Your Letter

Individuals and businesses can choose a postage option based on how soon they want their letter to arrive at its destination. Sometimes, the sender may also be required to track the package or a sign from the recipient if they are sending legal documents or essential items. Again, you need to consider the dimensional measurements of your mailer to decide what kind of postage it needs. 

Normal Letters

A standard letter can have a maximum width of 16.5 cm, a max length of 24cm, and a max depth of 0.5cm. You can use a 1st Class or 2nd Class stamp from Royal Mail for your normal-sized letter. Remember that the former costs only 66p, whereas the latter costs 85p.

Large Letters

When it comes to larger letters, the maximum width increases to 25cm, and the max length to 35.3cm. Similarly, large letters also have a higher maximum depth limit than regular letters. Additionally, the weight is also a big concern for large letters.

For letters that weigh up to 100g costs you about 96p to post by 2nd Class. However, sending the same postal letter can cost £1.29 if you use the 1st Class postage service. Your postage charges vary as you increase the weight of large letters. The following table should help you get a good idea of the postage for large letters.

Large Letter Weight	2nd Class Postage Rate	1st Class Postage Rate
Up to 100g	£0.96	£1.29
Up to 250g	£1.53	£1.83
Up to 500g	£1.99	£2.39
Up to 750g (Maximum weight for a large letter)	£2.70	£3.30

Postage Option And Delivery Time

Businesses and individuals prefer using 1st Class posts when making fast deliveries. Usually, the 1st Class post is delivered within one working day, but there is no guarantee. On the other hand, sending a letter via 2nd Class takes roughly 3 working days, but it is much cheaper than 1st Class post.

Special Delivery Guaranteed Services

Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm® and Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am® is postage options from the Royal Mail. As the name suggests, the Special Delivery Guaranteed services guarantees the delivery of your postal letters by 1 pm and 9 am on the next working day.

Step 6: Place The Necessary Postage Stamp/Postage Sticker On Your Letter

Once you know the necessary postage for sending your letter, all that’s left to do is place the necessary postage stamp/postage sticker. Ensure it is clear and visible when placing the postage stamp or sticker. 

Also, make sure you don’t place the stamp so that it bends over the edge. Additionally, ensure that the postage stamp is not placed on the same face of the letter with the address. It is also worth noting that many postage stamps contain barcodes that help track the postage. To protect the integrity of these barcodes, you must ensure that the postage stamp is flat and easily scannable. 

Step 7: Post Your Letter

Once you have got the proper stamp and the address for sending a letter in the UK, all you have to do is post it. You can go to your nearest post box or go directly to your local Royal Mail branch for posting your letter. 

Furthermore, Royal Mail offers reliable customer service that can help you with any queries about the postal service. So, you can always contact Royal Mail regarding any questions, such as finding the correct postage or delivery time for a specific letter.

Did you know that there are several rules and regulations that you need to follow when implementing direct mail marketing for your business?

Read our blog “How To Comply With Laws Regarding Direct Mail Marketing?” to make sure you are compliant with the laws and regulations of direct mail marketing.

How To Address A UK Letter

Getting your delivery address is one of the most crucial parts of sending a letter in the UK. If you are unsure about the address in any way or if you do not have the full postal address, it may lead to delayed deliveries or returned mail.

Such issues may not be a big deal if you send personal letters. Still, it is never desirable for business communications. Hence, most businesses employ a print and mail API like PostGrid to personalise, print, and deliver business letters.

However, not all companies have an advanced system like PostGrid to manage their direct mail operations. Here’s how you can address your UK letters to ensure fast and efficient delivery. First, you should check whether the following details are in your mailing address.

1. Name of the recipient or addressee.
2. House name/number and street.
3. Locality (if relevant for the specific address).
4. Village/Town/city Country (usually not necessary)
5. Postcode. 

Things To Note When You Write A UK Address

Royal Mail does not require you to write or print all the information listed above on the postal delivery address. For example, most UK postal addresses do not include the “locality,” as it is only relevant to some postal addresses. 

Similarly, there are also instances where you may have to provide additional detail on the postal address. Here are a few things to note when writing the UK postal address on a letter. 

Remote Addresses

The geographical location of some postal addresses may be at the remotest places in the UK. In such cases, you can use the geographical location of the address’s nearest village or town. You can write or print “Nr” followed immediately by the closest named area. However, it is also worth noting that this is usually unnecessary in a UK postal address.

Country Name 

The country name is usually unnecessary for letters, especially for domestic postal addresses. If you do not have the town and postcode for the postal address, you can add the country name to the address.

Writing Or Printing Postcode

As you might have noticed, the UK postcode uses an alphanumeric, unlike the ZIP codes used in the US, which only contains numbers. When writing the postal code for UK addresses, ensure that you write or print it in all capitals. It will ensure that Royal Mail’s mail sorting system can easily read your postcode and sort it without delays.

Tips For Writing/Printing A UK Letter

Here are some tips you can use to ensure no unnecessary delays or return mail when sending a letter in the UK. 

• Never use full stops and commas when writing a UK address.
• Always align each line to the left and never centre the lines.
• Always try to include the postcode of an address.
• Use Royal Mail’s Postcode Finder for finding the postcode of an address. 
• If you are sending the letter to an organisation, add a line for the organisation’s name.
• Make sure to leave a margin around the entire address, which is about ½ inch wide.
• If you are writing the postal address on the envelope by hand, use a pen or ink that’s clear and visible against the envelope’s colour. 
• Do not use pencil or other writing equipment that easily smudges, and always maintain a text size similar to the font size of 10 to 15.
• If you are printing the address, use an easily readable font and make sure that the colour of the ink stands out against the envelope. 
• You don’t need to write down the country name in the address if you have already provided the town and postcode in the letter.

Different Types Of Mail Services From Royal Mail

As we have mentioned earlier, the sender can choose from various direct mail options for sending their letters. There are primarily three different types of direct mail services that businesses can use, and they are

• UK Standard Service.
• UK Signed Service.
• UK Guaranteed Service.

However, Royal Mail breaks down the three different types of mail even further. For example, the UK standard service includes both 1st and 2nd Class options. The significant difference between 1st Class and 2nd Class mail is their delivery time and postage rates.

UK Standard Mail

UK Standard service consists of mainly two postal mail services from the Royal Mail

• 1st Class Mail Service.
• 2nd Class Mail Service.

1st Class Mail Service                                          

The 1st Class mail letter allows you to send letters from rates as low as 88p and small parcels starting from £3.85. One of the most significant advantages of 1st Class mail service from Royal Mail is that the letter is usually delivered on the next business day.

Furthermore, Royal Mail delivers 1st Class mail deliveries even on Saturdays. It also comes with a compensation cover of £20. The maximum weight of a Royal Mail 1st Class mail is 20kg. So, in case you want to send something heavy and want to do it fast, you can always count on 1st Class mail service.

2nd Class Mail Service

Royal Mail’s 2nd Class mail service enables you to send a letter from 66p. Sending small parcels using 2nd Class mail is cheaper than 1st Class mail and costs you only £3.20. Royal Mail also tries to deliver your packages on Saturdays.

1st Class mail usually delivers your letter within one working day and costs more in postage. 2nd Class mail costs less, but the delivery time is two to three working days. Both 1st Class and 2nd Class mail are the same regarding the compensation and maximum weight. 2nd Class mail also includes compensation covering up to £20 and a maximum weight of 20kg.

1st Class And 2nd Class Mail: Delivery Confirmation & Tracking

You get an online delivery confirmation if or when you post a letter at a Royal Mail Post Office branch. The online proof is available for small and medium parcels. However, that does not mean it is a tracked service. 

All you can do is check online and confirm whether your parcel has been delivered or if a delivery attempt was made. You can also access when the delivery or attempt was made on the Post Office page. 

UK Signed Service

When it comes to UK Signed mail service, there are two distinct options, and they are

• Royal Mail Signed For
• Parcelforce Worldwide express48

Royal Mail Signed For

The Royal Mail Signed For service is a part of Royal Mail’s UK Signed mail service. You can get the Royal Mail Signed For service at £2.60. The postage rate for this UK Signed service compared to Parcelforce Worldwide express48. 

Hence, Royal Mail Signed For service enables you to ensure that your vital package safely arrives at its destination. You get the recipient’s signature as proof of the delivery of your item. Furthermore, the service is available for both Royal Mail 1st Class and 2nd Class mail.

Apart from the signature proof, you also get online delivery confirmation for your delivery. Royal Mail Signed For service even includes compensation of up to £50. 

Parcelforce Worldwide express48

The Parcelforce Worldwide express48 provides businesses and individuals with a fully tracked delivery of two working days. You can get the express48 service for sending a letter in the UK starting from a price of £12.12.

As you can see, the express48 service is significantly more expensive than sending a Royal Mail Signed For mail. However, express48 service lets you track the entire journey of the mailer, and it requires a signature from the recipient.

You can even opt for a Saturday delivery if you are willing to pay an extra £9. Additionally, you get a £100 compensation and the option to buy additional coverage as high as £2,500. You can use the service to send packages within a 30kg weight limit.

UK Guaranteed Service

Royal Mail provides several postal mail services that guarantee your mailer’s delivery within a specified time. Listed below are the popular UK Guaranteed services

• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am and 1 pm
• Parcelforce Worldwide Express24
• Express9, express10 and expressAM

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9 am and 1 pm

• Your mail gets guaranteed delivery by 9 am or 1 pm.
• Royal Mail guaranteed Saturday delivery for an additional fee.
• Full tracking of your postal mail.
• Requires a signature from the recipient upon delivering the mailer.
• You get covered for valuable items and late deliveries.
• Get up to £500 compensation for delivery by 1 pm.
• Get up to £50 compensation for delivery by 9 am.
• You can opt for additional coverage up to £2,500.
• Get optional consequential loss cover-up to £10,000.
• Royal Mail provides a refund for late deliveries.

Parcelforce Worldwide Express24

• Fully tracked delivery services starting from £16.68.
• Signature required from the recipient on delivery.
• Get up to £100 compensation.
• You can opt for additional coverage up to £2,500.

Parcelforce Worldwide Express9, express10 and expressAM

• Get guaranteed delivery by the next day, 9 am, 10 am or noon. 
• Each parcel can weigh up to 30kg.
• Send full consignments of parcels without a weight limit.
• It comes with a loss of damage cover up to £200.

You can also learn more about optimising your business’s direct mail delivery on our previous blog –“How to Speed Up Direct Mail Delivery“

Conclusion

Sending a letter in the UK is not difficult. Royal Mail provides you with various services to meet all your personal and business needs. However, business communications via letters or direct mail can be significantly improved with automation capabilities.

Businesses that often use bulk mail services can significantly benefit from a direct mail automation tool like PostGrid. Industry verticals, including healthcare, insurance, financial services, and more, can use PostGrid for sending important documents. 

You can send documents such as patient statements, payment reminders, event invites, invoices, etc., to the target audience. PostGrid enables you to automatically personalise, print, and deliver your letters so that you don’t have to learn how to mail a letter UK.

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