Why are the discounts available for direct mail but not business mail?

Royal Mail Wholesale aims to support the use of mail as a cost effective advertising medium delivering compelling return on investment.

Customers tell us that better ROI will result in them sending more direct mail. Effectively targeted items will generate extra business for customers and for Royal Mail Wholesale through welcome packs, order fulfillment, billing, up-sell and cross sell activity. This rationale does not apply to traditional transactional mailings like statements and invoices. We are, however, exploring ways in which transactional mail can be successfully used as a more effective channel to support selling, brand loyalty and customer retention. Please contact your account manager for further help and advice on accessing research and case studies or visit the Marketreach website Unleash The Magic Of Mail - Mail Marketing | Marketreach. 

We accept Advertising Mail six working days of the week (Monday to Saturday), and our aim is to deliver on the first working day after handover and acceptance by Royal Mail. Advertising Mail can be used for standard and economy services.

Customers are required to certify in writing, as an additional schedule to their contract with Royal Mail Wholesale, that any Letter or Large Letter items posted as Advertising Mail will conform to the specification for the service. For each posting, customers will also be required to provide Royal Mail with a sample of the Mailing Item to be used prior to posting, or include Royal Mail as a seed in the posting to verify conformance to the Advertising Mail specification. The sample/seed must be an exact reproduction of the Mailing Items posted in terms of both envelopes used and contents enclosed for each Advertising Mail posting. Please refer to the Adverting Mail guidelines to help you understand if an item is eligible for Advertising Mail. Royal Mail Wholesale - Royal Mail Advertising Mail®.

We will check the seed to ensure it is eligible for Advertising Mail. We will contact you if we do not feel it is eligible. This may result in Advertising Mail discounts being removed. We may request to audit our customer's supply chain and procedures as laid out in the Advertising Mail contractual schedule. Please ensure you apply the correct Unique Customer Identifier (UCID) on the outer of each mailing item. This will enable us to correctly identify seeds against your posting for items not sent via the Mailmark service. For items sent using the Mailmark service please ensure you include a seed item in your mailing and in your eManifest.

As with all our Access services, you must declare Advertising Mail on your docket using the correct service codes. You must ensure that a seed address is added into your mailing list so you can generate and provide the required seed item. In addition if your Advertising Mail item is sent using our Mailmark Service you must ensure that a seed item is included in your eManifest.

No. The Advertising Mail service is for "pure" Direct Mail and would not apply to, for example, a bank statement with an element of advertising included in the mailing, or a Customer Magazine with an element of adverts. Please refer to the Adverting Mail guidelines to help you understand if an item is eligible for Advertising Mail. Royal Mail Wholesale - Royal Mail Advertising Mail®.

Existing Access customers wishing to use this service will need to sign an Advertising Mail Schedule before a start date can be agreed. As always, please talk to us about the relevant lead times for your first posting.

If the answer to your question is not here then please email us or contact your Access Account Director.

Can advertising mail items be sent using the Economy service?

Yes. Economy service can be used to send your advertising mail items. Items must be eligible for the advertising mail service. Items sent via the economy service can only be sent via Mailmark. Please ensure your mail items are eligible for the Mailmark service and can be processed by our machines. The correct values to reflect the economy service must also be present in the Mailmark barcode. Items will be delivered in line with the economy service aim.

Can my advertising mail items be sent as Partially Addressed (PAM)?

Yes. Mailing items sent using the PAM service must meet the advertising mail content requirements. Items sent using the PAM service relates to the way in which items are individually addressed. Please speak to your access account director or check the User Guide for more information on the PAM service.