Bing allows you to insert a unique “reference” field in your letters that will allow you to:
1. Identify if any of these letters is returned as undeliverable (the reference will show in the returned mail report).
2. Utilise Bing's JSON mailing query "get_letter_status" to query the status of the submitted individual letter (as opposed to the Mailing as a whole).
Setup
In order to use this feature the reference number must appear in the first line of the address and it needs to be prefixed with “ref:” (without the quotes – in lowercase, exactly as shown).
An example:
As printed on the letter
ref:123456789
Ms J Jones
Bing Technologies Pty Ltd
Suite 54, Jones Bay Wharf
26-32 Pirrama Road
Pyrmont NSW 2009
As printed on the envelope (cover)
Ms J Jones
Bing Technologies Pty Ltd
Suite 54, Jones Bay Wharf
26-32 Pirrama Road
Pyrmont NSW 2009
As seen in the Mailroom
Fig 1.1
Fig 1.2
In the above example the reference identifier is “123456789”. This will be extracted for the letter and will not be printed on the address cover sheet – as shown above. If this letter is returned as undeliverable, the “Returned mail report” will identify the letter details along with the reference identifier – see sample “Returned mail report” at the end of this document.
Should you want to suppress printing of the reference identifier (including the prefix “ref:”) on your letter, you can do so by changing the font colour to that of the background – in most cases this would be white font colour.
Using reference with Bing's APIs
The requirements for using the “reference” identifier are:
1. Implement the reference identified as shown above in “How to setup”.
2. Please contact Bing to implement the letter status access. This will require you to build an automated query to request the status of each letter using a JSON mailing query.
Sample of returned mail report
Below is a sample of returned mail report that includes “reference” identifier returned as extracted from the letter. The report is sent via email as a CSV file.
Fig 1.3
Using reference to pass variables
In addition to providing a unique identifier for use as described above, the reference field can be 'subdivided' to provide other variables for example for use in email or SMS templates.
For example, if Title and Surname were required for a salutation (Dear Title Surname), and an amount owing be incorporated in email body copy , they could be provided thus:
ref:Unique ID|Mr Sample|$50.00
email:sample@sample.com
Mr A Sample
123 Sample Street
....
where the pipe character "|" delimits the reference itself, the Title, surname, and amount owing values.
Please note that the layout of the reference field must be provided to Bing Customer Service before use. If added to or otherwise updated, Customer Service must be notified.