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Printing the delivery address in all upper-case letters is recommended. The delivery address should have no more than five lines. The address should be legible from an arm's length away.

The last line of the address block area must include only the complete country name (no abbreviations) written in uppercase letters. If foreign postal codes are used, they should be placed on the line above the destination country.

Using a return address in the upper left corner is strongly recommended on all mail and is required when a company permit is used to pay postage. This ensures that an undeliverable item can be returned.

Don't get too creative with address placement. Addresses need to be in plain text (Arial, Tahoma, or Courier work best) and should be large enough to read without being cramped.

Avoid designing a piece with a box for the recipient address to fit in — some addresses contain lengthy names and won’t fit easily in a 2 x 3 inch box.

Metered mail and stamped mail are opened at the same rate. Consumers are more affected by the personalized feel of stamped mail. When your customers are professionals, metered mail is the better choice.

Consider your timing goals when choosing a mail class. First class mailings arrive between 1 and 5 days, while standard mailings can take up to 3 weeks

Automated mail processing machines read addresses on mail pieces from the bottom up. If the machines can’t find an address, then your mail piece could be delayed or misrouted. Any information below the delivery address line (a logo, a slogan, or even the return address) could confuse the machines and misdirect your mail.

Ten percent of any direct mail list moves each year and becomes invalid. To make sure that you are getting a list with accurate addresses, ask about the National Deliverability Index (NDI) of the list, which rates the percentage of addresses in a list that are deliverable. In addition, work with your lettershop to confirm the accuracy of the list — they can offer several USPS approved options, such as NCOA and CASS-certified software.

Leave 5/8" of blank space on the bottom of every mail piece, to allow proper placement for a barcode and accurate reading.

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