This site is used to sort a mailing list in accordance with the
Royal Mail guidelines for Mailsort. It is built as a pure online service
that you use through your browser connected to the internet.
It is not a piece of software you can purchase and run Mailsort on your
own computer, as is the case with other suppliers of Mailsort software, and there
is therefore no capital investment required and nothing to install on your
own computer. Nor are you required to keep the software up-to-date with the
latest Mailsort Database. We do all of that.
This means that it should be regarded as a "Pay as you go" service
where you are charged a fee in accordance with the number of records
processed. This brings financial justification for Mailsort to all companies
who don't send out bulk mailings every day.
Click here click here to see some
examples of typical savings.
"As the Marketing Manager of a regional theatre with an ever increasing mailing list I
have been absolutely delighted with the Mailsort Online service.
We post our season brochure to approximately 13,000 customers four times a year - and
felt that purchasing our own Mailsort software for such limited use was hardly cost
effective.
Mailsort Online has provided the theatre with the perfect solution - it's quick,
accurate, easy to use and extremely good value for money - highly recommended!"
Judy Gibson
The Roses Theatre
Tewkesbury, Glos
Click here to read comments about this site made by other clients or write one yourself....
Please note that it is entirely free to try it out
to see what the savings are before you decide to download the sorted data. Please
be assured that you are under no obligations to start the download, and before
any charges are applied you will be notified in clear terms and
asked to confirm that you agree to that.
How to use Mailsort Online
In contrast to other Mailsorting software, the processing takes place on
our computer and not on yours. You use this web-site to upload your mailing list, select
a few processing options and away it goes. When the processor has finished
it automatically sends you an e-mail informing you of all the sorting details and
savings.
Here is the process described in short.
1. Select which service is suitable for you.
Click here for more help on the services.
2. You are asked to log in (or register your details if you are a new customer).
3. Specify the weight of each letter, Minimum Selection* and the postcode from where the mailing is sent.
4. Confirm your details. (You will also be given the choice to run another process on the same file)
5. Upload your csv file. Depending on the file size and your internet connection speed this may take a while.
6. Get ready to receive the "processing result" e-mail.
* Minimum Selection is the minimum number of letters you want in each mail bag, and only
applies to letters going to "direct areas". If you are unsure about the meaning of "direct areas", "residue areas"
and some of the other jargon used on this site,
the
Mailsort User Guides from the Royal Mail Technical Website can help
you to get a more in-depth understanding of the in's and out's of Mailsort.
The processing result e-mail contains the following information:
1. A copy of the standard Mailsort Statistics Report (Computer Planning Report).
2. A sample csv file containing the first 50 records in the sorted format.
3. Information on our processing fee, if you decide to start the download process.
4. A hyperlink* to the accept page for starting the download process.
5. If you do nothing you will not have incurred any charges and the file you
uploaded will be deleted automatically after 7 days.
* Don't worry if you click this hyperlink in error. No charges are applied until you have clicked the "Accept" button on the
page that is displayed when you click the hyperlink
Starting the download process:
You can do this at any time until seven days after the initial processing. After that
all files including the processed ones are automatically deleted and there is
no possible way they can be retrieved.
1. Click the hyperlink near the bottom of the result e-mail. (see above)
2. Click the "Accept" button to confirm that you agree to be charged the indicated amount in return
for receiving the sorted data.
3. Get ready to receive the "processed files" e-mail.
4. When it arrives (within a few minutes) click the unique hyperlinks to download each of the files.
How the sorted files are formatted
The files returned to you, after you have accepted our charges, are all you need
to fulfill your mailing. They include all the documentation, merge-files for producing
labels or letters as well as the merge-file for producing mail-bag-labels.
You are welcome to download the following sample files to have a closer look or
to set up your systems.
Please note that the files contain made-up sample data, but include a number of actual
randomly selected postcodes. They must under no circumstances be used in an actual mailing.
Click here for further information on the result files and how to format the labels.
How to make a CSV file
Our processor only supports files in a comma separated (csv) format. This means
that each record is on a separate line and each field is separated by a comma (,).
1. Address lines often include commas in the data and all text fields
should therefore be wrapped in double quotes ("). Our processor would otherwise
not interpret those records properly and you will loose out on discounts.
2. The data file must include a dedicated column for postcodes.
3. Please ensure that column names are included in the first row, and that the postcode column is
named "Postcode".
If this is not the case, our processor will try to locate the postcode column automatically, but
this is by no means fail safe.
In brief, the file must conform to the following standards:
It must be a comma delimited file and named with the file extension ".csv"
It must contain a separate column for Postcodes.
Please include column names in the first row, and name the postcode column "Postcode".
If your data contains commas, please ensure it is wrapped in double quotes (eg. "Smith, Fred")
You may "zip" the file to make uploading faster, but the zip file must contain only one valid csv file
The csv or zip file must be no larger than 7MB.
Please read below how to create a csv file. If you are still unsure how to do this you
are welcome to contact us and we will be
happy to assist you in any way we can.
* NB! Please note that the CSV file above contains only made-up sample data, but includes a number of actual
randomly selected postcodes. It must under no circumstances be used in an actual mailing.
We have allowed about 20 minutes for uploading the file, after which time the
process times-out. If your file is large please zip it first using any WinZip compatible
compression package. If you haven't already got such a compression package you can
download and install a free evaluation version of WinZip from
http://www.winzip.com/ddchomea.htm.