10 Hints for mailing internationally

As every good student of Direct Mail knows, the points of leverage, listed in order are: List, Offer, Timing, Creative/ Format. With Format being the least influencing factor, why go to the trouble of taking account of local conventions to boost response? Because a disregard of the subtleties of local formats ignores the very cornerstone of Direct Marketing: the individuality of your customer or prospect.

Thus format comes high on any list of Hints & Tips for direct marketers concerned with mailing internationally. And format takes many forms.

1. Addresses.Each country in Europe has a preferred style in which this information should be presented. In France, Germany and Italy, the postcode should precede the town on a single line; whereas in the UK, the postcode usually follows the county name unless that is omitted in which case it follows the town or city

In France, as in the UK, the house number precedes the street name; yet in Germany, Italy and some other European countries, the opposite is correct.

2. Windows.From a production point of view, the addressing conventions of each country also dictate where the window should be positioned in an envelope. In the UK, Netherlands and Ireland this is on the left-hand side; while the right-side is the norm in France, Sweden, Belgium and Germany.

3. Databases.Obviously, the manner in which the address should be presented has clear implications for the structure of the database. If the city (say, Nuremberg or London) is held in a field discrete from the postcode, then the printing routine can be programmed to see that this is properly positioned within the correct format for that country.

Field sizes, too, should be as flexible as possible. Typically, the German language can occupy as many as a third more characters than the English language equivalent. Ideally, it may be useful to have your name and address files contained within separate databases by country but if this is not possible, the need for variable length field sizes increases in importance.

Care should also be taken to see that these field requirements are maintained when converting a list from one database format to another especially if it has been captured/built in one country and is to be used in another.

4. Salutations.When mailing across international boundaries, it is not always easy to recognise the difference between Jean (female in English) and Jean (masculine in French). Yet the importance of doing so need not be stated.

Many American mailings simply ignore the difference, by addressing the recipient as Dear Jean Surname if the salutation is personalised in the first place!

Further local conventions should also be recognised. In France, for example, it is not acceptable to personalise the salutation with the recipient's name. Cher monsieur or Chere Madame is standard practice; therefore knowing the gender becomes vital. Specific defaults must be capable of covering the variations in gender and mother tongue, especially in countries such as Switzerland and Belgium, so that, where necessary, gender-specific copy is used.

In Spain, individuals often have the combined christian name and surnames of several family members within their own name, thus it is simpler to avoid personalising the salutation.

5. Valedictions.Take care, too, with valedictions. If writing in the local language, these can vary in some countries according to gender. In France and elsewhere, this will change depending on whether you are addressing an individual or a company.

6. Language.If you wish to correspond in the local language, it is a good idea always to have two translators: one to convert your mother tongue to the local language and a second native-speaker to translate the translation back into English. Only by these means can you make certain that, when translated, your message still says what you intend it to say!

7. Postal regulations.Generally across Europe it is possible to bulk mail and secure postal discounts if mailing locally in envelopes up to C4 (229x324mm) size. While discounts are generally available after 5-10,000 pieces, the amount of discount varies country to country and is dependent not only upon sortation but, in some cases, presentation too.

There are any number of alternatives to mailing locally, not the least of which are services provided by the USPS and Royal Mail International as well as the international postal services of other European countries. Sometimes international courier companies can provide attractively priced services too.

The costs of each mailing will vary according to weight and destination, so there are good grounds for considering each one individually and re-re-examining mail costs every time.

The big taboo, of course, is Re-mail. While mailing out of Russia at 7 roubles each, or whatever, may look attractive at first sight, all European postal authorities are acting in concert on this issue. There is simply no value to you or your client of having 200,000 mailings stuck in cages going nowhere, maybe with fines as well as local postage due!

8. Legal requirements.With legislation varying tremendously from country to country, it is essential that you are certain the contents of your mailer comply with local regulations. Data protection is very strict in Germany, for example, but almost unknown in Italy. As marketing has evolved across Europe, so different countries have developed their own consumer protection laws. Statutory bodies in the UK are very strict about offers for financial services; and in Germany certain types of offer are illegal. There, as in Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and Sweden free draws are not permitted.

Offers, copy, terms & conditions may all have to change for each country mailed, or at least batched into countries with similar regulations. So beware.

9. Commonalities.Having said much about the divergence and differences within European markets for direct mail services, it is, perhaps, rewarding to know that they are similar in some respects - chiefly in their common adoption of standard paper weights and sizes (A for papers; C for envelopes).

Whereas in the US 201b of newsprint is not the same as 201b of art paper, in Europe the measure is simply gsm (grammes/ square metre) and the weight, therefore, is a function of the area of paper. In order to know what your paper supplier or printer has included within their quotation it is often useful to forward samples of your pack and specify the quantities involved.

10. Currency.If you permit your customers to pay in one of several currencies, it is often useful to have a field within your database to record the payment. The value of this quickly becomes apparent at times of subscription renewal, where applicable, when making further offers or having to deal with refunds.

Bear in mind also that quite a few countries throughout the world denominate their currencies in dollars and pounds ($ and £). Where this is the case, make sure your copy is quite clear as to whether payment is required in US or Hong Kong dollars, for example.

Be certain, though, to approach your bankers or clearing house first - both to stay on the right side of the law (local and domestic) as well as to establish what you can expect to pay for currency rates and conversion. There is little to be gained paying £10 for currency conversion each time a £15 renewal is paid.

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