Direct Mail Services

We believe that a high-quality personalised campaign piece with the right message will consistently outperform any digital campaign for customer engagement and ROI. Nothing beats the results of a tactile direct mail product in the hand.

Our mail fulfilment capabilities are the cornerstone of our operation and have been built on a foundation of guaranteed pack integrity, reliability, efficiency and fair pricing. If you’re looking for a supplier who you can trust with your brand then look no further than the safe hands of Washington Direct Mail. Make an impact with our direct mail services today:

Transactional Mail

We’re very proud of our transactional mail capabilities, which have been a core service since opening in 1983. We can receive data files in almost any format, create complex documents, print and enclose at high speed using 2D barcodes to guarantee pack integrity, and provide high level reporting. We have several solutions to automate the secure data transfer, data processing, print file generation, and reporting.

Envelope Enclosing

Using envelopes for your direct mail piece allows you to achieve the best postage rates and gives the professional look of a transactional mail piece. We use the same barcode and camera functionality that we use for transactional mail, as well as weight checkers to guarantee that every envelope has the correct contents. Our cameras can also be used for matched mailings (matching up to three personalised inserts or matching two personalised inserts to a personalised envelope) or for selective feeding (up to six generic inserts).

Hand Fulfilment

Some jobs just aren’t suitable for machine fulfilment, and for these we have a vastly experienced hand fulfilment team. If you have a mailing with a non-standard insert (t-shirt or pen for example), more than eight inserts, very short run or anything else, our team will be able to tackle it. We also offer pick and pack services where we store your products and compile custom packs based on your order history.

Poly Wrapping

Wrapping your direct mail piece in clear polythene allows the recipient to see the pack contents before opening, which can be incredibly advantageous. Polythene is very light when compared to an envelope, and it can be used to keep the overall pack weight under the threshold for postage price increases (100g or 250g typically). It is also very strong and is better for very heavy direct mail pieces like chunky catalogues for example. Potato starch wrap is an environmentally friendly alternative to polythene as it is fully biodegradable.

Shrink Wrapping

We are able to offer shrink wrapping for short runs. Ideal for bulk packing, heavy/large items, or just to achieve a more compact mail piece compared to poly wrapping.

Postcards

If the message on your mail piece is short then a postcard is the most cost-effective way to send it. For larger volumes, we will litho print the cards and then either inkjet or laser print the personalisation. For shorter runs or fully personalised postcards, we will print digitally. Either way, there is no finishing or fulfilment required other than trimming to finished size, and there are no open edges so postcards can meet the cheapest postage prices.

One-piece mailers

Standard examples are 4pp, 6pp, and 8pp which are creased, folded, and either sealed with a clear tab (see below) or glued. With die cutting and expert print finishers, in house there are plenty of options for creating something more distinctive and unusual.

Tabbing

Applying a clear circular label with a perforation across the open edge of a folded leaflet, one-piece mailer or booklet is a neat and cost-effective way of sealing your direct mail piece. If the mailer has a flap that creates a closed edge, we can also apply the clear perforated label to the face of the mail piece to seal.

Packaging

Creating bespoke packaging in short runs is often considered to be too expensive to justify, but at WDM we can digitally print (and personalise) on up to 400gsm stock and die cut to create unique packaging solutions that are very cost effective. We have a range of standard dies that we can apply your design to, or we can create new dies to meet your brand specification. We can create boxes that fold together or trays that are sealed with a separate lid or wrap around sleeve. Ideal for small products, giveaways or samples

Undelivered Mail Handling

You can use our PO Box address with your company name, and any undelivered mail will be returned to us. We will capture the addresses and the reason it couldn’t be delivered, and either supply this information back to you or store it and remove those addresses from future mailings.

What Makes Us Different

Integrity

We know that a single mail piece delivered to the wrong person or with the wrong information in it can be extremely damaging to your brand. To prevent this, we print barcodes on every letter we produce that can be read by cameras and guarantee pack integrity. Every feeder we use has double detection, and we can even weigh every single envelope to verify the pack contents.

Versatility

We strive to be able to machine fill as many jobs as possible. So, when selecting our range of envelope enclosing lines, we chose five different machines. All have different capabilities but with many overlapping features so there is never a single point of failure. We can enclose into envelopes from C6 to C4, and we have a range of feeders that include rotary, friction and swing arm that means we can handle a wide range of insert types. Then we have automatic page feeders that can feed variable numbers of pages, nest, and fold inline. We have machines that are very quick to setup for short runs, and others that are designed for serious volumes and they all have cameras and/or weigh checkers for guaranteed integrity.

Fast Turnaround

It’s great to get lots of notice for an upcoming project, but in the fast-moving world of business, it is not always possible. We specialise in hitting very tight deadlines, and we often meet same-day releases for our customers. Our bespoke MIS allows us to create estimates, add new jobs, and schedule production slots extremely quickly. Our data, print, and fulfilment departments are flexible and well versed in prioritising urgent jobs. We will always pull out all the stops to hit a deadline, but we will never compromise on quality when doing so.