Guide
Transactional Mail
Broadly speaking Transactional Mail is any mailing that is sent to a customer with details of their specific transactions, i.e. their financial...
What Is Advertising Mail?
Fraser Manning
Jun 17, 2024
The Royal Mail offer a discount for advertising mail but they are very stringent on what they consider to be compliant to qualify for the discount. In essence to qualify the recipient must not expect to receive it.
The specific criteria are that the mail piece is:
- Contain 100% advertising items *
- Must be letter, large letter or parcel format
- More than 4,000 items
- Largely uniform message
There are many other technical aspects which Stannp.com take care of in terms of data processing, sortation and submitting samples but you don’t need to worry about this we all make it happen seamlessly in the background.
You just need to ensure that your creative is compliant. Here are 28 examples of campaigns which will hopefully shed light on whether your campaign is compliant or not.
Please refer to the Royal Mail website for the full guide.
| Example | Compliant? | Why? | |
| 1 | A credit card company, store or retailer sending an offer of a new credit card. | YES | Promoting the sale or use of products or services. |
| 2 | A charity / society sending a reminder mailing to renew the subscription. Mailings informing of auto-renewal information do not qualify. | YES | Encourage donation to a cause. |
| 3 | A mail order company sending its new or seasonal catalogue to an existing or prospective customer base. | YES | Promoting the sale or use of products or services. |
| 4 | Customer satisfaction questionnaire which specifically captures information relating to a customer’s experience of the product, service or cause with the aim of using such information to be more targeted when sending further information on such products or services. | YES | Promoting the use of a product / service. |
| 5 | A travel company/tourist board sending its new or seasonal brochure unsolicited to an existing customer base or prospective customer base. | YES | Promoting the sale or use of products or services. |
| 6 | An unsolicited mailing of a discount code or discount vouchers, tickets or invitations with a uniform message to customers / prospects to encourage purchase or re- purchase. | YES | Promoting the sale or use of products or services. No obligation to send. |
| 7 | An organisation sends a letter to its customers/prospects to notify dates of future events promoting its products or services or cause. | YES | Promoting product/services/cause. |
| 8 | A company sends a sample of its products/services with or without a voucher, (unsolicited) | YES | Promoting the sale of products. |
| 9 | Loyalty scheme providing the opportunity to take advantage of offers or redeem coupons, either in store or on line. (this mailing may include details of an individual’s number of loyalty points available for conversion). | YES | Promoting the sale or use of products or services. |
| 10 | A customer publication i.e. a magazine or newsletter forming part of a company’s / charity’s customer communication programme to encourage purchase or support of a cause that is not paid for by the recipient or via subscription. | YES | Promoting a cause or the sale or use of products or services. There is no obligation on the company or charity to send the publication. |
| 11 | Insurance company sending letter to existing or prospective customers with quotes for products and services provided that the letter is not detailing a value of a previous/current policy | YES | Promoting the sale of products/services |
| 12 | A company/bank sending a statement which includes a leaflet advertising insurance | NO | Primary purpose is the statement (the ad/promotion is secondary and would not happen without the fulfilment) |
| 13 | Utility bill with advertising on back for other services | NO | Primary purpose is the bill (the ad/promotion is secondary and would not happen without the fulfilment) |
| 14 | A company sending personalised documents containing a level of detail that is unique to the individual, with or without advertising material e.g. insurance policy | NO | Message is not uniform as it is unique to the individual (promotional material is secondary) |
| 15 | Mailing customers with a uniform message informing them of a price increase | NO | Purpose is the information on prices (this is not an ad/promotion) |
| 16 | A company sending a shareholder annual report | NO | Purpose is providing information not promotion |
| 17 | Membership or subscription magazines / publications, with or without advertising | NO | The recipient has requested it or is expecting it(the promotional material is secondary and would not happen without the fulfilment) |
| 18 | A company/charity informing their customers/members of a change to their bank details or their VAT rate | NO | Purpose is providing information |
| 19 | Fulfilment of requested tickets / invitations (e.g. purchased by the customer for an event/holiday etc) | NO | Purpose is fulfilment / transaction, not promotion |
| 20 | A school/college/society newsletter or bulletin (publications), including alumni | NO | Purpose is providing information not promotion |
| 21 | A wine mail order company sending wine ordered by a customer containing leaflets advertising other services from different companies | NO | Purpose is fulfilment (ad/promotion secondary and would not happen without the fulfilment) |
| 22 | Mailings of a ‘public duty’ nature with or without advertising. Examples include swine flu, tax or car tax reminder, VAT change reminders, Council refuse collection days, etc. | NO | Purpose is the execution of a public service duty not promotion |
| 23 | Marketing Lifestyle / Consumer Survey / Product / Service questionnaire which is specifically seeking to gather information on a range of products/services/habits for trend analysis/data collection purposes and is not looking to further promote products/services. E.g. electoral/census. | NO | Purpose is to seek information / data for data collection not promotion |
| 24 | An AGM mailing informing shareholders of the AGM meeting | NO | It is a legal requirement under the Companies act for shareholders to be notified of the AGM. |
| 25 | A company sending out a loyalty/membership card to a subscribed customer | NO | The loyalty/membership card has been sent as fulfilment to conclude the service that the subscriber has already responded to and purchased |
| 26 | Local utility company explaining forthcoming changes to utility ownership. e.g. water company detailing changes to ownership and responsibility of sewage/water pipes | NO | Purpose is to provide clarity of boundary ownership and responsibility. |
| 27 | Political party mailings which have the aim of influencing the recipient’s political view point or the way in which they may vote in an election. | NO | There is no elasticity for this type of political mailing and the purpose is to influence a political view point |
| 28 |
Prize draw letters informing customers that they have won a prize |
NO | Purpose is information. It is not selling a product or service nor does the message promote a cause |