Prices Up! Prices Down!

The bad news for all businesses that use the post to communicate with customers is that, wef 9^th May 2011, the price for sending letters is going up. This is the second set of price rises from the Royal Mail so far this year and has to be described as inflation busting at a time when many businesses are struggling with costs.

There is however some good news. No doubt recognising the important part that Direct Mail plays in their own turnover, the Royal Mail (RM) have introduced a special scheme specifically for customers that send advertising material. Called Advertising Mail™, the new service offers a good discount for customers using this service on the new enhanced rates. Whilst the discount on offer doesn't quite take the costs back down to those available prior to the price increase, Advertising Mail is certainly going to help those business who use and rely on Direct Mail to get their message out to customers.

There has been some confusion about what does and doesn't qualify for Advertising Mail and as ever with these services the devil is always in the detail, so here is my guide:-

In simple terms Advertising Mail™ will be available in Letter and Large Letter formats and you will be able to choose from three delivery options: next day delivery, delivery within 3 days, or delivery within 7 days. Customers should however be aware that the price for using first class AM is the same as using Business Mail. Perhaps this anomaly will charge in the future, however for now it would seem that the RM do not want advertisers to use first class post as there is no discount.

Advertising Mail mailings will need to be sorted in a similar way to the current mailsort requirements. In addition, a minimum of 90% of addresses must have the correct postcode that match to Royal Mail's Postcode Address File and the database should have been 'cleaned' in the last 30 days.

Advertising Mail will still work based on the three old MailSort sortation levels of:-

Mail70 – this is aimed at campaigns where the number of items to be mailed exceeds 20,000.

Mail120 – this is aimed at smaller mailings of up to 4,000 letters in a single posting.

Mail 1400 – mainly used on the Large Letter format where at least 1,000 Large Letters or 4,000 Letters are being sent. (The minimum figure reduces to 2,000 if the entire mailing is within the same postcode area). Customers currently using Mailsort 1400 for small packages will not be eligible to use Advertising Mail 1400 as the service is only for Letter and Large Letter formats (i.e. items that are less than 25mm in depth and under 750g).

The Royal Mail have been criticised for not making it clear as to what items will qualify for Advertising Mail. The RM website has defined this as being mailings that "comprise a largely uniform message to all addressees, with the purpose of promoting the sale or use of products or services, or to encourage contribution to, or support of a cause."

Transactional mail, which makes up more than 60% of the UK mail market, does not qualify for the Advertising Mail. Advertising Mail is only available for mailings that comprise 100% advertising content, it would not be possible therefore to pack a statement with advertising material or flyers to qualify for the Advertising Mail rate. Equally insurance renewals, bills, statements and the like are specifically excluded from the product; you would need to use the newly named Business Mail (the original MailSort) for this type of mailing.

The position in respect of magazines containing third party advertising is different, the Royal Mail states "customer magazines containing third-party advertising, that are not paid for by the end recipient, and that from part of a company's marketing communications do qualify for Advertising Mail". There has been much debate about what exactly this means, and the Royal Mail has over the last few days made a number of clarifying statements. Undoubtedly further clarification will occur during the coming weeks as there are still some areas of confusion. Customers should note however that Advertising Mail is only available in Letter and Large Letter formats and therefore if the mailing piece exceeds these specifications then the item will not be suitable for Advertising Mail (this also means that items such as promotional gifts (eg mugs and the like) will not be able to be sent using this service.

A good quality mailing house, such as Mailing Expert will be able to help your business sort through the new regulations and will help you take best advantage of the substantial discounts available. This will help offset the price hikes approved by Postcom.