Transactional mail refers to direct mailing sent by a business or mailing house. As a UK mailing house, we understand the benefits of transactional marketing, which can be sent on behalf of your customers, via mailing companies. The transactional mail service completes a transaction, with a paper trail for your company to measure. The form of mailing, typically utilised for B2B direct mail, can convey changes in membership to your business, any in service or even legal requirements. However, with that said, terms and conditions must be adhered to with transactional mailing.
Transactional Mail Terms and Conditions
All organisations have terms and conditions documents that state the way a business is willing to conduct its engagements with its customers. It is usually the first and most important legal document a company produces. The terms and conditions document may also be called a user agreement, terms of use, or terms of service. Whatever it is named, it is vital that a company keeps this important legal document up to date and ensures its customers and prospects have access to the latest edition.
Mailing the terms and conditions document to a customer is a type of transactional mail. Transactional mail is a mailing that is sent to an individual customer and forms part of their transaction. It isn’t marketing mail sent to a large quantity, and it isn’t focused on delivering a commercial message. However, it is possible to use adverts to encourage additional purchases.
Before we look at when it is necessary to mail out the terms and conditions document, here is a quick summary of its main functions.
The Primary Functions of the Terms and Conditions Document
- To protect a business’s interest: Having terms and conditions in place fully protects a business’ interests with an essential clause. A legal professional should also produce these terms.
- To protect the customer: The terms and conditions document should state the customer’s rights in areas of dispute resolution, defective products/services, insurance and complaints.
- To create legal certainty and allow legal enforcement: The document should state exactly what is expected of the business and the customer. They are easier to interpret and are enforceable in a legal dispute unlike other contract types, such as letters, emails and verbal exchanges.
- Legal compliance: There are legal reasons why terms and conditions are required. This varies between industries.
- Minimises the needs for court action during a dispute: The terms and conditions document can be reviewed when a dispute occurs and can often eliminate the need for costly court action.
Sending out Terms and Conditions as Transactional Mail
There are two scenarios that require a business to send out terms and conditions as transactional direct mail.
- A new customer: When a customer first carries out a transaction with a business and a new relationship is entered into, a standard part of the transactional process would be the automatic issuance of the terms and conditions document.
- Revised terms and conditions: Terms and conditions are often revised and updated. When this happens, they then need to be sent to all existing customers. This would usually take place on an annual basis.
Like any other type of direct mail campaign, transactional mailings require careful planning and managing. Mailing companies and mailing houses, such as WDM, are best placed to manage the entire process which includes printing, mailing and postage services. Alongside the direct mail fulfilment, mailing companies will endeavour to automate the sorting of data, to ensure you are communicating with the correct prospects.
Transactional Marketing Examples
Alongside the above types of direct mailing as terms and conditions, there are a number of transactional marketing examples that can be used to spread the word about your business. Order receipts, welcome packs and changes to an account are some of the most popular for this direct mail format, but you can read more with our 15 business uses for transactional mail article.
At WDM, we specialise in transactional mail services. You can speak to our team today to discuss how we can help with your terms and conditions mailing, or any other general questions with regards to marketing.
