This guide has been developed with input from Tom Lacey, Senior Mailing Account Manager at My Mailing Room. Every week, Tom helps businesses across the UK plan, print and deliver successful direct mail campaigns.
We’ve written this guide for business owners and marketing managers who are considering using direct mail for the first time or looking to reintroduce it as part of their marketing strategy. Throughout this guide, we’ve included many of the practical tips, insights and advice that Tom regularly shares with customers.
Everything in this guide is based on the practical experience of helping businesses plan, print and deliver direct mail campaigns every day. Rather than focusing on theory, we’ve concentrated on the advice, techniques and common mistakes we see in real campaigns across the UK.
In a world where businesses are competing for attention across email, social media and digital advertising, direct mail continues to be one of the most effective ways to reach customers. Unlike an email that can disappear into a crowded inbox within seconds, a well-designed piece of mail has a physical presence. It lands on a desk, sits on a kitchen worktop or is pinned to a noticeboard, giving it multiple opportunities to be seen, shared and acted upon.
Whether you’re looking to attract new customers, re-engage previous buyers or promote a special offer, direct mail can play an important role in your marketing strategy.
At My Mailing Room, we’ve helped businesses across the UK plan and deliver successful direct mail campaigns for many years. In this guide, we’ve combined practical advice from our experienced mailing specialists with real conversations, customer experiences and proven campaign techniques to help you get the best possible results.
You’ll also find links to more detailed guides covering topics such as creating a mail merge, writing effective sales letters, preparing mailing lists and measuring the success of your campaigns.
What is Direct Mail?
Direct mail is any physical marketing communication delivered through the post.
While many people think of direct mail as simply a sales letter, it can include a wide variety of printed communications, including:
- Personalised letters
- Promotional leaflets
- Flyers
- Brochures
- Catalogues
- Special offers
- Discount vouchers
- Product launch mailings
- Event invitations
Unlike unaddressed leaflet drops, direct mail is usually sent using a carefully selected mailing list. That means you’re targeting people or businesses that are more likely to be interested in what you’re offering.
The aim is simple: At My Mailing Room, we often describe direct mail as putting the right message into the right person’s hands at the right time. Get those three things right and direct mail can become one of the most effective marketing channels available to your business.
Advertising Mail vs Transactional Mail
Direct mail is different from sending invoices, statements, reminder letters or other transactional communications. Its primary purpose is to promote your products or services, encourage customers to make a purchase, return to your business or support a cause.
Because these mailings are classed as Advertising Mail rather than fulfilment mail, Royal Mail offers reduced postage rates through its Advertising Mail service.
To qualify, your mailing should contain a largely uniform marketing message with the primary purpose of promoting the sale or use of products or services, or encouraging support for a cause.
Transactional mailings, such as invoices, statements, insurance policies, order fulfilment documents, price increase notifications and other service communications, generally do not qualify because their primary purpose is to provide information or complete a transaction rather than advertise.
Royal Mail assesses each campaign individually, so if you’re unsure whether your mailing qualifies, it’s always worth getting in touch with a member of our team who can help.
Typically Qualifies for Advertising Mail
- Promotional sales letters
- Catalogues and brochures
- Discount vouchers
- Event invitations
- Loyalty offers
- Product launch mailings
- Promotional newsletters
Typically Does Not Qualify for Advertising Mail
- Invoices and statements
- Reminder letters
- Insurance policies
- Order fulfilment documents
- Price increase notifications
- Annual reports
- Membership fulfilment mail
Why Physical Mail Still Matters
One of direct mail’s biggest strengths is that it’s physical.
Unlike an email that disappears into a busy inbox, a letter gives people something tangible to hold, read and return to later.
Tom Lacey, Senior Mailing Account Manager at My Mailing Room, often explains it like this:
“An email is usually read once and disappears. A letter often gets left on the kitchen worktop, pinned to the fridge or placed somewhere as a reminder. It can be picked up several times and even passed to someone else in the household.”
That physical presence is one of the reasons direct mail continues to perform so well.
Recent research also suggests that people tend to place greater trust in physical mail than many forms of online advertising. Think about your own experience. How often have you ignored a promotional email because it looked suspicious or scrolled straight past an advert on social media?
The infographic below, produced by JICMAIL (Joint Industry Committee for Mail), demonstrates the important role direct mail plays in building trust.
That doesn’t mean digital marketing isn’t important.
In fact, the most successful campaigns often combine direct mail with email, social media and telephone follow-up.
Many of our customers use direct mail to generate the initial enquiry before continuing the conversation by telephone or email. Rather than replacing digital marketing, direct mail strengthens it.
Some business owners assume direct mail is only suitable for large companies or national charities.
In reality, almost any business can use direct mail effectively.
Some of our most successful customers have only a handful of employees yet send thousands of targeted mailings every month.
One customer purchases carefully selected homeowner data and sends promotional letters to people who have recently moved house. Because the mailing arrives at exactly the right time, when people are actively looking for products and services for their new home, the campaign consistently produces excellent results.
The size of your business isn’t what determines the success of a direct mail campaign.
The quality of your data, the relevance of your message and the timing of your mailing are far more important.
Many businesses assume email has replaced direct mail, but in reality, the two channels work very differently.
Emails often arrive alongside hundreds of other messages every week. Many are deleted within seconds or never opened at all.
One of the biggest differences between direct mail and email is how long it remains visible. As Tom Lacey, Senior Mailing Account Manager at My Mailing Room, often tells customers:
“An email is usually read once and then disappears into an inbox. A letter often gets left on the kitchen worktop, pinned to the fridge or placed somewhere as a reminder.”
That means your marketing message can be seen multiple times instead of just once.
Unlike an email, which is usually only seen by one person, direct mail can also be shared. A husband might pass it to his wife, a colleague might hand it to another department, or someone might simply ask, “What do you think about this?” One letter can often reach more than one decision-maker.
That extra visibility gives direct mail multiple opportunities to generate a response.
Modern Technology Has Made Direct Mail Even Better
Some people think direct mail belongs in the past, but technology has actually made it more effective than ever.
Years ago, most campaigns relied on reply-paid envelopes or telephone calls. Today, a simple QR code printed on a letter allows someone to scan it with their smartphone and be taken directly to a product page, enquiry form or online offer in seconds.
Direct mail now combines the impact and trust of printed marketing with the speed and convenience of digital response.
Direct Mail Works Best Alongside Digital Marketing
One misconception is that businesses have to choose between direct mail and digital marketing.
In our experience, the opposite is true.
Many of our customers use direct mail to generate the initial enquiry before continuing the conversation by email or telephone. Others use direct mail to re-engage customers who have stopped responding to email campaigns.
We’ve also worked with businesses that initially relied heavily on email marketing but found their messages were getting lost in increasingly crowded inboxes. After introducing targeted direct mail campaigns, they began generating enquiries from customers who had previously ignored their digital communications.
Rather than replacing digital marketing, direct mail strengthens it.
What the Research Shows
The practical experience we’ve gained from helping customers is backed up by independent industry research.
The graph below, produced by JICMAIL, shows the average open, read and recycle rates for direct mail during 2025. It demonstrates why physical mail continues to attract attention long after it has been delivered and why it remains an effective marketing channel for businesses across the UK.
When the right message reaches the right person at the right time, direct mail becomes far more than a piece of post, it becomes the start of a conversation.
Building a High-Quality Mailing List
If there’s one piece of advice our mailing team gives more than any other, it’s this:
Good data produces good results.
An important step:
“Before you design your mailing, spend time reviewing your data. In our experience, improving the quality of your mailing list will usually have a greater impact on results than changing the design of the letter.”
The quality of your mailing list will often have a bigger impact on the success of your campaign than the design of the letter itself. Even the best-written and best-designed sales letter won’t generate good results if it’s sent to the wrong people.
As Tom Lacey, Senior Mailing Account Manager at My Mailing Room, regularly tells customers:
“You can have the best sales letter in the world, but if you’re sending it to the wrong people, you’re unlikely to get the response you’re looking for.”
One of the first things we discuss with customers is the quality of their data. Accurate, well-maintained mailing lists lead to better targeting, fewer wasted mailings and a stronger return on investment.
Poor-quality data can result in:
- Mail being sent to old addresses
- Duplicate mailings
- Incorrect personalisation
- Higher postage costs
- Lower response rates
If your customer database hasn’t been updated for some time, it may contain people who have moved home, businesses that have relocated or records that are no longer accurate.
Cleaning your mailing data before sending can eliminate many of these issues. Address validation software can also standardise address formatting, correct postcode errors and improve delivery rates, helping to ensure your mail reaches the intended recipient.
Many businesses already have valuable customer data without realising it.
For example, online retailers often hold the postal addresses of previous customers because they’ve already delivered products to them.
One regular campaign we helped with involved a garden furniture retailer. Rather than advertising to completely new prospects, they contacted existing customers each spring to introduce their latest product range.
Because the mailing was relevant to previous purchases and arrived just as people were getting back into their gardens as the weather started to warm up, it generated an excellent response.
Knowing who to contact is every bit as important as what you send them.
A good example is a bed retailer promoting replacement mattresses.
Rather than sending the same promotion to every customer, they filtered their database to identify people who had purchased a bed around eight years earlier. Those customers were far more likely to be considering a new mattress than someone who had bought one only twelve months ago.
This simple change made the campaign far more relevant.
The more relevant your audience, the better your campaign is likely to perform.
If you don’t already have a suitable customer database, it’s also possible to purchase carefully targeted mailing data based on criteria such as:
- Geographic location
- Age profile
- Household demographics
- Income brackets
- Business turnover
- Industry sector
This allows campaigns to be highly targeted rather than relying on broad, untargeted marketing.
The more precisely you define your audience, the more likely your direct mail campaign is to generate meaningful responses.
Personalisation and Mail Merge
One of the biggest advantages of direct mail is the ability to personalise every communication.
Many businesses think personalisation simply means adding the customer’s name to the top of a letter. While that’s a good starting point, the most successful campaigns go much further.
A great example comes from a piece of direct mail received by one of the My Mailing Room team.
Rather than simply addressing the owner by name, a pet insurance company personalised the mailing around their Cocker Spaniel, Bertie. The headline included Bertie’s name, while the subheading highlighted the average treatment cost of a common injury affecting Cocker Spaniels.
Instead of feeling like a generic advertisement, the letter immediately felt relevant to both Bertie and his owner. This is exactly the type of personalisation that captures attention.
The campaigns that achieve the best results don’t just personalise the recipient’s name—they personalise the offer.
For example, one customer might automatically receive a 10% discount, while another receives 15%, all generated from the same mailing data.
Businesses can also tailor:
- Products based on previous purchases
- Renewal reminders
- Local branch information
- Events in the customer’s area
- Seasonal offers
- Individual account managers
It’s very similar to the way online retailers recommend “Products you may also be interested in”, except you’re doing it through a printed communication.
Even relatively small details can make a mailing feel more personal.
Including the name of the recipient’s town, a nearby landmark or even referencing their local community can help create a stronger connection with the reader.
The good news is that you don’t need expensive software to achieve this.
Applications that many businesses already own, such as Microsoft Word and Google Sheets, can create personalised mail merges using information stored within a spreadsheet or CRM system.
Typical fields include:
- Customer name
- Company name
- Previous purchases
- Account manager
- Renewal dates
- Individual discount offers
- Event details
- Membership numbers
All of this information can be merged automatically into every letter, allowing each recipient to receive a communication that feels relevant to them.
Businesses with larger or more complex campaigns often choose specialist mailing software capable of even greater levels of personalisation, but many organisations achieve excellent results using standard Microsoft and Google applications.
Think Like Your Customer
As Tom Lacey often says, the software isn’t the important part.
The important question is:
“What would make this letter feel like it was written specifically for the person receiving it?”
- That might be their pet’s name.
- It might be the product they purchased last year.
- It could be their town, a nearby landmark or an offer that’s only available to existing customers.
The more relevant your mailing feels, the more likely it is to be opened, read and acted upon.
That’s what effective personalisation is really about.
At My Mailing Room, we regularly help customers personalise everything from names and discount codes to product recommendations, local offers and variable images, allowing thousands of individually personalised letters to be produced from a single mailing file.
Writing Sales Letters That Get Read
One of the questions we’re asked most often is:
“How do I write a good sales letter?”
Years ago, many businesses would have hired a professional copywriter to create their marketing letters. Today, AI tools such as ChatGPT allow businesses to produce a well-structured first draft in minutes.
However, technology is only one part of the process.
The best sales letters are still:
- Clear
- Relevant
- Easy to read
- Visually appealing
- Written in a natural, conversational style
Using AI Without Sounding Like AI
AI is an excellent starting point, but one of the biggest mistakes businesses make is publishing exactly what it produces.
If your letter sounds like it was written by a robot, your customers will notice.
One of the easiest ways to improve AI-generated content is to tell it how you want it to write.
For example:
- Ask it to use British English.
- Upload examples of previous letters or emails you’ve written so it can learn your tone of voice.
- Give it information about your business and your customers.
- Upload a transcript of a real conversation you’ve had with a customer and ask it to write in that style.
Example AI Prompt
“Write a friendly sales letter in British English promoting our new garden furniture range to customers who bought from us more than five years ago. Keep the tone conversational and avoid sounding overly sales-focused.”
The more context you provide, the better the results will usually be.
We’ll cover this in much more detail in our dedicated guide to using AI to write sales letters.
The Face-to-Face Test
Before approving your final version, ask yourself one simple question:
“Would I actually say this to a customer if they were standing in front of me?”
If the answer is no, rewrite it. People buy from people, not perfectly written paragraphs.
This simple test helps remove exaggerated claims, overly pushy sales language and awkward AI-generated phrases, leaving a letter that feels much more genuine.
Need Some Inspiration?
If you’re staring at a blank screen wondering where to begin, don’t start from scratch.
Instead, look at the direct mail you’ve received yourself.
At My Mailing Room, we often bring interesting pieces of direct mail into the office, particularly if they’ve caught our attention.
Looking at successful examples is often far easier than trying to invent something completely new.
Make Your Letter Easy to Read
Unlike a website or an email, recipients won’t normally scroll through your letter.
Instead, they’ll usually glance over the page first before deciding whether it’s worth reading properly.
That means your layout is just as important as your wording.
Avoid large blocks of text and instead use:
- Clear headings
- Short paragraphs
- Bullet points where appropriate
- Plenty of white space
Many of our customers use Canva to create professional-looking sales letters and promotional flyers.
Once the design is complete, it can be exported as a PDF before the address block, barcode and personalisation are added during the mailing process.
Print Quality Matters
A design that looks fantastic on your computer screen can lose much of its impact if it’s printed in black and white or on poor-quality paper.
Fortunately, that doesn’t mean every mailing needs professional commercial printing.
Many office multifunction printers and photocopiers produce excellent results when combined with quality paper.
As a general guide, we recommend:
- Sales letters: 100–120gsm paper
- Flyers: 150gsm
- Postcards: 350 gsm
The right paper helps create a better first impression and reflects positively on your business.
Always proofread your letter before sending it.
Spelling mistakes, incorrect customer details or poor grammar can reduce confidence in your business before the recipient has even reached your offer.
Traditional spellcheckers are useful, but modern AI tools are often better at spotting words that are correctly spelt but used in the wrong context.
Whenever possible, ask someone else to read the letter before it goes to print.
A fresh pair of eyes often spots things you’ve overlooked.
Many of our customers don’t have marketing departments or professional copywriters, yet they continue to generate enquiries from straightforward, well-written sales letters.
Remember, your return on investment isn’t just about generating responses—it’s also about controlling costs.
We spend a great deal of time helping customers prepare and clean their mailing data because lower postage costs improve campaign profitability.
The same principle applies to print.
An expensive embossed envelope and laminated brochure may look impressive, but they can more than double the overall cost of your mailing.
In many cases, a well-written A4 letter printed on quality paper with a clear call to action is all that’s needed to encourage someone to pick up the phone, scan a QR code or visit your website.
Sometimes, simple really is more effective than elaborate.
Finally, don’t be afraid to let your personality come through.
Recent research suggests UK consumers respond well to understatement, wit and self-deprecating humour. However, use humour carefully. A joke that’s funny when spoken doesn’t always work in print, and if it misses the mark, it can make your business appear less professional rather than more approachable.
Printing, Postage and Fulfilment
One of the biggest questions businesses ask is whether they should print and mail everything themselves or outsource the process.
The answer often depends on the size of your campaign, the resources you have available and how much time you’re prepared to spend preparing your mailing.
Smaller campaigns can often be produced successfully in-house using an office printer or multifunction device. However, as mailing volumes increase, outsourcing can become a far more efficient and cost-effective option.
Don’t Overlook Postage
One area that’s frequently overlooked is postage.
Many businesses simply use stamps because they’re familiar. However, stamps are nearly always the most expensive way to send larger mailing campaigns.
Alternative postage solutions can significantly reduce mailing costs without affecting delivery quality, particularly when you’re sending larger volumes of mail.
For many businesses, the savings made on postage alone can make outsourcing worthwhile.
Presentation Matters
Before a customer reads a single word, they’ve already formed an opinion about your business based on the envelope and the quality of the printed piece inside.
Good colour reproduction, quality paper and sharp printing all help create a more professional first impression.
As Tom Lacey often asks customers:
“Would you keep this if it came through your own letterbox?”
It’s a simple question, but an incredibly effective way of judging whether your mailing is likely to capture attention.
Modern mailing technology also offers far more choice than many businesses realise.
Some organisations prefer digital stamp impressions because they closely resemble traditional postage stamps, giving the envelope a more personal appearance.
Others choose to reinforce their branding by printing their logo and company colours directly onto the envelope, while some deliberately use plain brown (manilla) envelopes because they create a more official appearance and encourage recipients to open them.
There isn’t one right answer, it depends on the audience you’re trying to reach.
Why Businesses Outsource Their Mailings
Outsourcing doesn’t just save postage costs.
It also removes the time and effort involved in printing, folding, inserting, sealing and preparing hundreds or even thousands of letters.
That allows your team to stay focused on running the business while your mailing is professionally produced and dispatched.
At My Mailing Room, we work with businesses that send anything from a few hundred letters to many thousands each month. Some customers print everything themselves, while others ask us to manage the entire process from data preparation through to printing, enclosing and posting.
The right solution depends entirely on your business and the volume of mail you’re sending.
How Businesses Automate Their Direct Mail Campaigns
Whether you’re considering investing in mailing equipment or outsourcing your campaigns, the short video below explains how the process works and the options available.
Before You Send Your Mailing
Before approving any campaign, ask yourself one final question:
“If this came through my own letterbox today, would I read it or would it go straight into the recycling?”
It’s a surprisingly effective test, and one our team regularly suggests before customers approve mailings and commit to printing and posting thousands of items.
Whenever possible, we also recommend producing a small test run.
For many of our customers, we’ll print a sample mailing and post it back to them so they can see exactly what their customers will receive. It allows them to check the print quality, paper stock, envelope choice and overall presentation before the full mailing is produced.
That extra check often gives customers complete confidence that they’re sending out a piece of direct mail they’ll be proud to put their name to.
Measuring Your Campaign Success
Sending your mailing is only the beginning.
If you want each campaign to perform better than the last, it’s important to measure what happens afterwards.
Before your mailing even goes to print, decide what success looks like.
Depending on your objectives, you might measure:
- Website enquiries
- Telephone calls
- QR code scans
- Returned reply forms
- Sales generated
- Voucher redemptions
- Appointment bookings
The important thing is to choose measurements that genuinely reflect the goal of your campaign.
Make It Easy to Track Responses
One of the simplest and most effective ways to measure success is by using a unique QR code that directs recipients to a dedicated landing page.
Because that page is only promoted on your mailing, every visit can be directly attributed to that campaign.
Similarly, businesses can use a dedicated telephone number, unique promotional code or campaign-specific email address to understand exactly where enquiries are coming from.
The easier you make it to track responses, the easier it becomes to improve future campaigns.
One of the advantages of direct mail is that it often continues generating responses long after it has been delivered.
Unlike an email that may be deleted within minutes, a letter can remain on a kitchen worktop, desk or noticeboard for several weeks before the recipient decides to take action.
For that reason, avoid judging the success of your campaign too quickly.
Monitor responses over several weeks and compare them with previous campaigns to identify what worked well and where improvements can be made.
The experience we’ve gained from helping customers is supported by independent research from JICMAIL.
JICMAIL measures how people interact with direct mail after it’s delivered, including how long it’s kept, how often it’s is revisited and the actions people take after receiving it.
One particularly interesting finding is:
“The average Direct Mail item was interacted with for 143 seconds by anyone in the household across a 28-day period.”
This reinforces one of the biggest strengths of direct mail, it continues to work long after it arrives through the letterbox.
You can explore more research, statistics and free resources on the JICMAIL website.
Industry research provides an excellent benchmark, but every business is different.
The more campaigns you send, the more you’ll learn about what works for your own customers.
Keep a record of your response rates, enquiries and sales after every mailing.
Also, don’t be afraid to change one element between campaigns. Testing a different headline, offer, envelope or call to action can help you understand what resonates most with your audience.
Over time, you’ll build your own valuable data that helps you refine your targeting, improve your messaging and achieve a better return on investment with every campaign.
Common Direct Mail Mistakes to Avoid
Even the best ideas can fail if a few simple mistakes are overlooked.
At My Mailing Room, we genuinely want your direct mail campaign to be a success. That’s why we offer a personal service rather than simply processing your mailing and sending it out.
If we spot something that we think could be improved, we’ll tell you.
Many of the suggestions we make are small but can have a noticeable impact on the finished mailing. That might be improving the layout, making the call to action clearer, increasing the size of a QR code, checking image quality for print, recommending a better paper stock or suggesting a different envelope that may encourage more people to open it.
Sometimes we’ll even suggest changes to the wording if we think the message could be clearer or more engaging.
These recommendations are all part of the service we provide because we know that a successful campaign isn’t just about printing and posting, it’s about helping you achieve the best possible results.
The most common issue we see is poor-quality mailing data.
Incorrect addresses, duplicate records and poorly targeted mailing lists all reduce the effectiveness of a campaign and increase unnecessary costs.
As we’ve mentioned throughout this guide, good data produces good results. Taking the time to clean and prepare your mailing list before sending can make a significant difference to your response rates.
First impressions matter.
Smudged printing, poor colour reproduction or low-quality paper can affect how your business is perceived before the recipient has even read your message.
The same applies to your images and branding.
If you’re using photographs or even just your company logo, make sure they’re high-resolution. Images copied directly from a website often look acceptable on screen but can appear blurred or pixelated when enlarged for print.
A professionally printed letter creates confidence in your business before a single word has been read.
Always proofread your mailing before it goes to print.
One small mistake can result in hundreds or even thousands of incorrect letters being produced.
Ask someone else within your business to review the final version before approving it.
A fresh pair of eyes will often spot spelling mistakes, formatting issues or missing information that you’ve overlooked.
One of the benefits of working with an experienced mailing company is having another pair of eyes review your campaign before it’s produced.
Our account managers regularly review customers’ artwork and will often suggest improvements, whether that’s strengthening the call to action, improving the layout, refining the wording or making the message easier to understand.
Sometimes a small change before printing can make a significant difference to the response your campaign receives.
Every mailing should tell the recipient exactly what you’d like them to do next.
Whether that’s scanning a QR code, visiting your website, calling your office or redeeming a special offer, make the next step obvious and easy to follow.
Never assume your reader knows what to do.
Perhaps the biggest mistake businesses make is expecting a single mailing to transform their results overnight.
The most successful direct marketing campaigns are rarely built around one letter.
They’re built through consistency.
If a customer hasn’t heard from your business for several years, don’t assume one mailing will be enough. Follow it up, test different headlines and offers, measure the results and continue refining your approach.
As we’ve discussed throughout this guide, every campaign teaches you something about your customers. The more you learn, the more effective your future mailings become.
Like most forms of marketing, direct mail isn’t a single event, it’s an ongoing process of testing, learning and improving.
Conclusion
Direct mail has been helping businesses generate enquiries for decades, and despite the growth of digital marketing, it remains one of the most effective ways of putting your message directly into the hands of potential customers.
As you’ve seen throughout this guide, successful direct mail isn’t about expensive brochures or complicated software. It’s about sending the right message, to the right people, at the right time.
Whether you’re planning your very first campaign or looking to improve an existing one, spending time on your data, your message and your presentation will always produce better results.
At My Mailing Room, that’s exactly what we help businesses do every day.
If you’re planning a campaign and would like some advice, we’d be happy to help. Whether you simply need guidance on your mailing list or want us to manage the entire process from data preparation through to printing and posting, our team is only a phone call away.
Direct Mail Campaign Checklist
Before you send your mailing, ask yourself:
☐ Is my mailing list clean and up to date?
☐ Am I targeting the right audience?
☐ Have I personalised the letter where possible?
☐ Is there a clear call to action?
☐ Have I proofread everything?
☐ Are my images suitable for print?
☐ Have I chosen the most cost-effective postage?
☐ Have I tested the mailing?
☐ Do I know how I’ll measure the results?
☐ Would I open this if it came through my own letterbox?
Direct Mail Marketing Glossary (A–Z)
If you’re new to direct mail marketing, you may come across some unfamiliar terms. This glossary explains the most common words and phrases used throughout this guide.
Address validation is the process of checking and correcting postal addresses before a mailing is sent.
It helps improve delivery rates by identifying incomplete or incorrect addresses, standardising address formatting and reducing returned mail. Cleaning your data before posting can also reduce wasted postage costs.
Advertising Mail is a Royal Mail service that offers discounted postage rates for qualifying marketing communications.
To qualify, the primary purpose of the mailing must be to promote products, services or a cause, rather than provide transactional information such as invoices, statements or reminder letters.
A call to action tells the recipient what you want them to do next.
Examples include:
- Call us today
- Scan the QR code
- Visit our website
- Request a quotation
- Book a free demonstration
Every successful direct mail campaign should include a clear and obvious call to action.
A covering letter is the main letter included within a direct mail campaign.
It introduces your message and is often accompanied by additional items such as brochures, leaflets, price lists, reply forms or promotional offers.
A CRM system stores information about your customers and prospects.
Businesses often use their CRM to create mailing lists, personalise communications and record responses to marketing campaigns.
Mail fulfilment is the process of preparing and sending direct mail.
This can include printing, folding, inserting documents into envelopes, sealing, applying postage, sorting mail and handing it over to Royal Mail or another postal operator for delivery.
JICMAIL (Joint Industry Committee for Mail) is the UK’s independent audience measurement body for advertising mail.
It carries out research into how people interact with direct mail, including how long mail is kept, how often it is read, shared and revisited, and the actions people take after receiving it. This research helps businesses understand the effectiveness of direct mail campaigns.
A leaflet is a printed promotional document, usually consisting of a single sheet of paper.
Leaflets are commonly used to advertise products, services, events or special offers and are often enclosed with a covering letter.
Mail merge is a process that combines a standard document with information stored in a spreadsheet or customer database.
This allows every letter to be personalised automatically with information such as the recipient’s name, address, previous purchases or personalised offers without creating each letter individually.
A mailing list is a database of people or businesses that you intend to contact by post.
It normally contains names, addresses and other information that can be used for targeting and personalising your communications.
Personalisation is the process of tailoring a mailing so it feels more relevant to the recipient.
This could include using their name, referring to previous purchases, mentioning their town or displaying a personalised offer based on information held within your customer database.
A postcard is a single piece of printed card sent through the post without an envelope.
Postcards are often used for promotions, appointment reminders, event invitations and local advertising because the message is visible as soon as it’s delivered.
A QR (Quick Response) Code is a two-dimensional barcode that can be scanned using a smartphone camera.
Businesses commonly include QR codes on direct mail so recipients can quickly visit a webpage, request a quotation, redeem an offer or watch a video without typing a web address.
Return on Investment (ROI) measures how successful a marketing campaign has been compared with how much it cost.
For example, if a direct mail campaign costs £1,000 and generates £5,000 in new business, it has delivered a positive return on investment.
A sales letter is a marketing letter designed to persuade the recipient to take action.
That action might be requesting a quotation, making a purchase, booking an appointment or visiting your website. The primary purpose of a sales letter is to promote your products or services.
Variable Data Printing (VDP) is a printing process that allows text, images and offers to change automatically from one printed document to the next.
For example, every customer could receive a different headline, photograph, discount or product recommendation while all the letters are printed in a single production run.