RESOURCES

At Wood & Associates, we believe in sharing with you our vast expertise, honed over our many years in the business. We will regularly consult and strategize with you, providing practical recommendations and solutions.

Whether your direct mail campaign is large or small, simple or complicated, you can save time and money through good planning. Here are some guidelines that will make your projects run smoothly and help ensure your campaigns are successful.

• How to achieve inkjet perfection
• Three keys to optimum job efficiency
• Targeting direct mail – tips and traps
• Canada Post Guidelines: What are address standards?
• Canada Post Guidelines: What is Address Accuracy?
• Canada Post Guidelines: What is Lettermail?
• Canada Post Guidelines: What is Address Admail?

How to Achieve Inkjet Perfection top

Minimum Size of Material: 3" x 5"
Maximum Size of Material: 15" x 17"
Maximum Thickness of Material: 5/8"
Print Area: 2" in total
Resolution of Print:150 dpi up to 600 dpi

Most flat-surfaced envelopes and single sheet cards or flyers will inkjet well. The following surfaces and/or types of material are still inkjettable, but will take longer:

• High Gloss Surfaces – Success can be achieved by applying a fast drying ink, but it is best to avoid high gloss surfaces where the outgoing name and address are to be inkjetted.
• Newspapers, Folded or Stapled Pieces - All of these will require inkjetting at a slower speed.
• Magazines/Catalogues - If the spine cannot be fed first due to the print area required, feeding the piece open pages first will require a slower feed.
• Clip Sealing - All clip sealed materials require a slower feed. It is not a requirement by Canada Post to have advertising materials clip sealed when mailed at addressed admail rates; the choice to do so is an aesthetic one. NOTE: If the material being mailed at lettermail rates is clip sealed, it must be mailed at oversize postage rates even if the material is sized as standard.
• Varnished Stock or Finishes - Varnished stock or finishes containing varnish will likely present problems. It is often necessary to print labels and adhere them to these materials because varnish tends to prevent ink from drying properly and therefore produce smudging even when fast drying ink and heat are applied. To ensure a smooth inkjet process, it is best to have your printer leave an uncoated area for the name and address to be applied.
• Avoid paying higher postage rates by keeping in mind that the maximum size for a standard size piece is 6 ½“x 9 5/8".  All larger pieces must be mailed at the oversize postage rate.

Wood & Associates uses only non-toxic water based ink for our inkjet printing.

Three Keys to Optimum Job Efficiency top

1. Shipping and Receiving:

• Ship materials in a tidy fashion with items clearly identified to ensure efficient job set up.
• While box and skids counts are verified upon receipt, exact material counts are not taken, so provide a packing slip with all shipments, noting the identity and quantity of each type of material being received.
• It is best to clearly mark the contents of each box right on the box. A good way to do this is to tape a sample piece to the box with the quantity written on it. If materials are being shipped directly from your printer, ensure these guidelines are followed.
• Because it is common for shortages to occur due to print or other equipment damages, it is a good idea to provide approximately 5% over the amount required to avoid shortages on the job. 
• Keeping French and English materials separate when shipping will help avoid costly errors down the road.

2. Lasering Materials:

• All letterhead or other materials to be lasered must contain laser-friendly ink. If not, there is a high probability of ink bleeding on to the document when lasered.
• Materials should not be heavily powdered to expedite drying time as powder will accumulate in laser equipment and jams will likely occur.
• All material containing perforations should be micro-perfed to ensure it stays intact during processing. 
• NOTE: our various laser machines can accommodate many different sizes of material.  For lasering or copying a specific size that is not standard, please consult your Account Manager.

3. Database Structure:

Following Canada Post addressing standards make it easier for our programmers to utilize your data, minimizing manipulation time and costs. To create the most effective database, structure the data in the following manner:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Address information:  Street number and name 
• City
• Province
• Postal Code
• Country

 Targeting Direct Mail – Tips and Traps top

Direct marketing success is largely based on the type and quality of your data. In other words – the more you know about your customer, the more effective and targeted your communication can be. Here are some guidelines that will help make your campaign a winner:

• Integrity of your database is critical. If you don't have database expertise in-house, consider outsourcing. Wood & Associates has over 10 years of experience in database design and set up and would be happy to show you where your most profitable improvements can be made.
• Avoid multiple mailings to the same person as this is costly, shows poor planning and can even anger your customer. And in this age of heightened environmental consciousness, it indicates you are wasteful – a bad image to project particularly if you are a not-for-profit.
• Always track the effectiveness of your campaign. The advantage of direct marketing over other marketing media lies in its measurability.
• Collect data. Every campaign is an opportunity to increase the amount of information you have about your customer. Did they respond? If so, to what, when and how? Constantly build on your information.
• Always save customer data in a format that is useable. Good database design doesn't just take care of today – it helps you plan for the future.

What are Address Standards? top

Wood & Associates processes and delivers mail according to Canadian Postal Guide specifications. We are able to work with many different database formats. In order to minimize time and costs in data manipulation, we suggest that the following format be used.

Your database file should contain the following information in distinct and separate fields:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Address information:  Street number and name 
• City
• Province
• Postal Code
• Country

What is Address Accuracy? top

Address Accuracy is a program that was introduced by Canada Post to improve the deliverability of mail by providing incentive to mailers to use accurate addressing data. Software programs were created to compare and correct addresses against the Canada Postal Guide electronic database. Databases with an accuracy rate of more than 90% are exempt from surcharges imposed on mailings with a lower accuracy rate, therefore lowering the cost of the mailing.

Correction software can attempt to fix incorrect address records using the central Canada Post database. Records that cannot be fixed are either dropped from the mailing or can be mailed at higher postage rates. Wood & Associates uses industry leading address correction software.

What is Lettermail? top

Also known as First Class, Standard Letter or Basic Letter, Lettermail is the most convenient way to send personalized messages and business correspondence. The sender can apply a stamp, use a Lettermail permit or apply metered postage using a Canada Post approve mailing meter. There is no presort required, and the mailing list does not need to be in postal code sequence (although it is recommended).

The following are acceptable items that qualify for Lettermail: letters, postcards, invoices, financial statements, voting proxies.

What is Addressed Admail? top

Addressed Admail is a proven and effective direct marketing medium that offers customers the ability to personalize their mailing and target their promotional messages to specific consumers or prospects. Each piece bears a uniform message, that:

• promotes the sale or use of products or services,
• solicits donations or contributions, or
• reports on financial performance, primarily for promotional purposes.

The following are examples of acceptable Addressed Admail items:

• items with the intent to promote a product or service
• promotional catalogues
• promotional newsletters (exception: paid subscriptions)
• items with the intent to solicit donations or contributions
• annual reports reporting on financial performance
• promotional renewal offers
• promotional CDs
• promotional samples
• promotional items.

There are three different methods for pre-sorting Addressed Admail that must be used to realize the postage savings that apply to Addressed Admail. Pre-sorting involves the bundling of the mail in pre-designated sequence as outlined by Canada Post’s postal walks. Pre-sorting the mail decreases the work involved in delivering the mail for Canada Post and therefore reduced postage rates are charged. The three formats are:

• Letter Carrier Presort (LCP) – involves software to sort the database in postal walk sequence right down to the specific walks, this is the cheapest postage rate
• National Distribution Guide (NDG) – involves manually sorting the mail in postal code sequence, if the mailing list is not in postal code sequence it may have to manually be put in that sequence (Dead Sort) before sorting NDG
• Machineable – this involves specific formatting of the printed address block for use in Canada Post’s high speed scanner system, no physical sorts on the mail need to be done but mail must “pre-qualify” to use this service level

 

Need more information?

Looking for some advice? Contact Us We’d be happy to help.