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4 Easy steps to using Royal Mail Printed Business Reply or Royal Mail Freepost Envelopes
A choice of envelope sizes – 100% Hassle-Free
Royal Mail Business Reply or Royal Mail Freepost – It’s Easy!
Using Royal Mail Printed Business Reply or Royal Mail Freepost envelopes is easy – when you know how!
We’ll help you all the way as we are Royal Mail Business Response Printed Envelope experts. Just follow these easy steps.
Using our simple four-step process, you’ll be up and running in no time! Just follow the steps below All orders are delivered free in the UK and we’ll explain how it all works. If there is anything that you don’t understand (and yes, it can all seem a bit confusing at first) have a look at our Frequently Asked Questions page
Starting to use the Royal Mail Business Response Service is easy – here are the steps…
Step 1
Choose the Royal Mail Reply Service that you require. There are four services available from Royal Mail. These are Business Reply Standard, Business Reply PLUS, Freepost Standard and Freepost PLUS (Freepost means free to the person who posts the envelope, not to you). The Royal Mail PLUS service is cheaper, but is only available for envelopes up to C5 size. Envelopes over this size have to be hand sorted, so must be sent using the Royal Mail STANDARD service.
Step 2
If you have not already got one, you’ll need a Royal Mail licence. This is easily available and opens an account with Royal Mail to pay for the licence and postage that you will use. You will have to pay a deposit for the postage, but you only charged for postage on each envelope that is posted back to you, so there is no risk or waste.
Royal Mail Questions
If you need to know anything about Royal Mail Business Response licences or have a question for them, please ring Royal Mail on
Royal Mail – 08457 950 950
If you already have a Royal Mail Business Reply or Freepost licence, skip to stage 3.
Step 3
The most popular size for Royal Mail Business Reply or Royal Mail Freepost envelopes is DL (220mm x 110mm), which takes an A4 letter, folded into three. You can order any quantity of any size from just 1000 upwards. Printed envelope SIZES – DL is the most popular size (click small image on left to see an example of a DL response envelope) but we produce all other sizes as well. Please remember that the Business Reply PLUS service is not available on C4 size envelopes – The Royal Mail PLUS service is only for use with envelopes up to C5 size (162mm x 229mm).
Choose your envelope size from the chart on this page.
Step 4
Ordering is easy! Just choose a size (DL is the most popular) then decide if you want to use the Royal Mail Business Reply Service or the Royal Mail Freepost Service. They both do exactly the same job and the prices are the same.
The Royal Mail Business Reply Envelope Licence
To be able to have a first or second class business reply licence, you will need to fist apply to Royal Mail for a licence. There is no need to supply any artwork or layout to us as we follow Royal Mail strict guidelines on artwork preparation for printed envelopes and always proof both to you and to Royal Mail. Visit the Royal Mail website where you can learn about using Business Reply or Freepost envelopes and download an licence application form or download a Price Guide and User Guide:
Read more about: | Royal Mail Business Response STANDARD service | The Royal Mail Business Response PLUS Service |
What’s the difference between the Royal Mail Business Reply Standard and Business Reply Plus licences?
The only difference between the Royal Mail Business Reply PLUS licence and the Royal Mail Business Reply STANDARD licence is that with the “plus” licence, Royal Mail charge you (currently) 6p LESS in postage. This is your ‘reward’ for using standard size machine sortable envelopes, such as our standard size DL or C5. The reason is that the ‘Plus’ service envelopes do not need to be sorted by hand, which saves Royal Mail money, which they pass on to you.
WARNING
Business Reply or Freepost envelopes larger than C5 size (162mm x 229mm) CANNOT be used on the PLUS licence as these have to be hand sorted. If you need to use C4 envelopes, make sure that you apply for the STANDARD licence. If not, always apply for the PLUS licence as this will save you money. Further details are available on the Royal Mail website.
See Royal Mail advice pages on Business Reply Plus or Business Reply Standard for more details.
Contact Royal Mail about the Business Response Service
If you need any help from Royal Mail you can contact them here or telephone them on 08457 950 950 (Monday to Friday 8am-6pm).
Printed Royal Mail Business Reply Envelope and Royal Mail Freepost Envelope sizes
We print the most popular sizes of Royal Mail C6, DL, C5 and C4 Business Reply Envelopes or Freepost Envelopes.
- C6 is 114mm x 162mm and takes A5 folded twice or A4 cross-folded.
- DL is 110mm x 220mm and takes A4 folded into three. It is the standard business envelope size.
- C5 is 162mm x 229mm and takes A5 flat or A4 folded once.
- C4 is 324mm x 229mm and takes A4 flat. C4 envelopes are OK for Business Response Standard use but are not allowed by Royal Mail for Business Reply Plus, which is only for standard machine sortable sizes such as DL and C5. C4 envelopes have to be sorted by hand.
Does the exact address on my envelope matter?
Yes, it certainly does. Every house and business in the UK has an entry into the Royal Mail Postal Address File (PAF). This is what the sorting machines use to identify your mail. It is vital that you use the EXACT address that is printed on your Royal Mail Business Response Licence, otherwise Royal Mail will reject the proof of the envelope. (Don’t worry, if they do we will just get the correct address from you and re-submit it to Royal Mail- No extra charge – all part of the service).
If you are curious, you can look up your own correct postal address (or any other) here. Type the address into the search box. As you type, the search will narrow your options.
If you’re looking for a common street name, you may need to provide more details, such as town or city to narrow your search down. When you see the address you are interested in, you can select it from the list.
Artwork and layout
We create the envelope artwork and add the barcode for you at no extra charge. No need to get the artwork from Royal Mail as ours is created by experts and is FREE. We then proof the envelope layout to you and once you confirm that you are happy with the proof, we submit the mandatory proof to Royal Mail on your behalf. Once they pass it, we print the envelopes and deliver to your home or office FREE of charge.
The Royal Mail Artwork generator is available on the Royal Mail Website and many people are tempted to use it. They mistakenly assume that the artwork it creates has then been passed by Royal Mail. This is NOT the case. You could type in any address, in any format and the automatic artwork generator would still create the (incorrect) artwork for you. ALL Business Response artwork HAS to be passed by Royal Mail before being printed. Failure to get it passed by the correct department risks a Royal Mail Postage SURCHARGE being applied to every envelope that is used. A very expensive mistake! Much safer to let ‘s experts create the barcode and the artwork for you and to submit the mandatory proof to the correct department at Royal Mail, on your behalf. There is no extra charge for this service.
Ready to order?
Ordering is really easy and we are here to help you from start to finish. Get in touch now, 100% hassle-free.