1.

Standardise your sizes. Making your mailings an unusual
size or a bit larger than normal may provide additional 'stand-out' appeal,
but it comes at a cost. If you slip over the threshold from letter to large letter you could
increase your postage costs by over 45%. Putting it the other way, shaving off a few millimetres around the edges, could shave over 30% off your postage costs.

2.

Watch your weight. Going from one weight threshold to the next can seriously increase your postage. One gram over the threshold could increase your postage costs by over 85%. And don't forget, a 95 gram A5 brochure will weigh 108 gms in an envelope with a covering letter (104 gms in poly). So losing a few pages, or using a slightly lighter stock paper could cut your postage costs by over 45%.

3.

Watch your waistline. Expanding round the middle? Going from a thickness of 5mm to 6mm will cost you over 45% more to post. A thinner stock, or a few less pages would cut postage costs by over 30%.

4.

Become less transparent. Moving from poly to an envelope could save you almost 20% as well as demonstrating your environmental responsibility and credentials.

5.

Go Green. Adopting Royal Mail green mailing criteria could save you over 10%. As you would expect there are a number of hoops to jump through to take full advantage, but we're here to help you all the way.

6.

Get your data audited. Audits from Mediascene are free and will tell you the state of your database. If you have undeliverable addresses, or people that have moved or passed away, you are just throwing money away. And it's not just your postage – there's the wasted print, packing and packaging costs to consider.

7.

Update yourself with all the mailing options and the various account types now available. If you are sending 25,000 A5 letters, there are now at least 30 different options available to you from Royal Mail. Speak to us and we'll identify the ones that save you most.

8.

Consider other carriers Royal Mail are not the only providers these days and more services are becoming available. We have experience of using most of them at some time and will help you choose the one that meets your requirements best.

9.

Analyse your database consider your market and segment your database. Is someone in John O'Groats really going to attend an event in Lands End?

10.

Get your envelope design and inserts checked. Some of the biggest discounts go to those mailings that meet the Royal Mails clear zone criteria, and breaking the rules means you can lose most of your discounts. The same applies to failing tap and S or J tests for inserts.