How to Send a Letter Online: The Ultimate Guide (UK)
Sending marketing, compliance, and transactional letters is part and parcel of every company. It is important to have your letter-sending procedure sorted so that your employees can get the task done efficiently and in the least amount of time.
Typically, there are a lot of steps involved in printing and mailing letters. From drafting and printing them to enveloping and mailing, the steps can get time-consuming and monotonous. Therefore, companies should consider learning how to send a letter through different methods and select the most speedy and effective one. Though sending a letter manually via mail has been in the books for quite a long time, sending a letter online is getting popular these days. In this blog, let’s find out how to send a letter online and its benefits.
How to Send a Letter in The Mail Manually
Firstly, you should know how to send a letter in the mail to understand the difference between sending letters offline and online. The offline steps include:
Draft and Print
The very first step is to plan your letter contents and draft your letter. For business letters such as contracts, applications, tax documents, and others, it is recommended to use a formal template. Marketing letters can be creative and personalised. After the final draft is ready, you can get the printing done either by using your own printer or through a printing vendor.
Choose the Right Type of Envelope
The type of envelope that you should use depends on your size and shape requirements, budget, destination, and mailing motive. Non-standard size and unusual-shaped envelopes can cost you more, so make sure to keep your budget in mind before selecting an envelope type. Moreover, if you are mailing to an address that is far, you would require a sturdier envelope. Hence, you need to make these considerations and choose the right envelope type accordingly.
Measure Size and Weight
Staying within the Royal Mail letter weight and size dimensions can help you avail affordable rates. The standard letter dimensions are 240 mm x 165 mm, and the weight should not exceed 5 mm. For large letters, the dimensions are 353 mm x 250 mm. Letters larger than 25 mm will be treated as parcels. Measure your letter’s weight and size in advance to calculate the postage later.
Enclose and Seal
After the above steps are completed, enclose your letters in envelopes and seal them securely. You can use small tapes or glue to seal envelopes. Some people simply lick the edge and shut the flap. Others use a sponge to wet the glue on the edges and then seal them. Whatever method you are using, be sure that the seal is shut tightly and the envelope contents are well protected.
Address the Envelope
The next step would be to add the mailing address. This address should be written on the top-front face of the envelope and should be clear. According to the Royal Mail address format, the first line should always make the recipient’s name, followed by the house number and street address on the second line, local area name on the third line, town name in capital letters on the fourth line, and the postcode in capital letters on the last line. Use the same format to write the return address on the back with the words “Return Address” clearly mentioned above.
Calculate the Postage
Based on the mailing speed you want, calculate the postage for your letters. The postage depends on a number of other factors as well, such as weight, size, and destination. You can visit the post office to calculate your postage or simply check the rates on the Royal Mail website by entering your letter weight and size along with some other details.
Mail the Letter
After calculating the postage and selecting from among the first class and second class mail options, it is finally time to mail the letter. Note that the first class mail option delivers faster but costs more. You can decide which option you want to select and accordingly pay the postage. There are about 115,000 post boxes all across the UK. You can locate one near your home or office and drop your letters there. Alternatively, you can carry them to the post office for mailing.
Why and How to Send a Letter Online
Now that you know how to send a letter in the mail let us also understand how to send an online letter so that you can look out for the differences and decide the best option for yourself.
As we discussed above, there are a lot of steps to be completed before you can mail a letter. If you want to save time or shift to a more efficient way to print and mail letters, you should send mail online. Below are the steps for the same:
1. Integrate
Businesses can integrate their CRM or other software applications with an automated direct mail API like PostGrid. This integration allows the speedy import of data required for drafting your letters. It is very simple to mail a letter online using PostGrid as the integration is very simple and quick. Moreover, there is no technical expertise required for you to get started.
2. Use In-Built Templates
There are several letter templates offered by PostGrid for you to select from. Choose one of them, add some customizations like your logo and tagline, and draft your letters within minutes. If you know how to mail a letter online, you can skip through the designing part with our easy-to-use templates.
3. Print
You can select from different paper sizes, stock, and finishing options. That’s all! You do not need to contact several printing companies or stock any inventory like paper and ink to print letters yourself. PostGrid’s print network can get the printing done for you effortlessly.
4. Mail
After getting your letters printed, PostGrid’s automated solutions can help you mail your letters directly. There is no need to collect your letters from the printer and drop them off at the post office. Using PostGrid’s online letter printing and mailing solutions, you can both print and mail your letters in an automated manner. Hence, there is no longer the need to stuff envelopes, calculate postage, or stand in a long queue outside the post office.
Once your letters are mailed, you can start tracking your letters through PostGrid’s dashboard. Furthermore, you will also receive timely reports and analytics to know more about your mail status and performance.
Sending a Letter Via Email
Knowing how to send a letter via email can be helpful as there are several advantages of sending letters through this mode. Though physical mail gets more attention, sending email offers instant delivery. All you need to have is a letter file, an email account, and the recipient’s email address. Here’s how you can go about it:
Draft Your Letter
Draft your letter the same way you would while sending a letter offline. You can use a word processor to draft your letters speedily and add customizations.
Compose
Login into your email account and compose a new message. Add the subject line and the recipient’s email address. The subject line should explain the motive and content of the letter clearly.
Attach Your File
Attach your letter document to this email. If your letter is plain, you can simply copy and paste the entire letter into the message field. You can now proofread everything and click on the “send” button to complete the process.
If you have to mail a lot of people, you can copy all their email addresses and paste them into the bcc field. For personalised letters, you can opt for using the mail merge feature.
There are many ways to send a letter. However, it is advisable to send your letters online using automated print and mail solutions like PostGrid. This step can help you avail yourself a lot of advantages like saved time, speedy mailing, no manual intervention, real-time tracking, timely reports, and much more.
PostGrid’s print and mail API enables you to send letters, postcards, and cheques online – in a direct and hassle-free way.
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The post How to Send a Letter Online: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on PostGrid UK.
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