Three things are sold as handwritten letters. Only one of them involves a pen

The three products hiding behind one phrase

A person writes it. Real pen, real hand, real variation. Slowest, most expensive, and unmistakable when you hold it. Inkpact built a business on this.

A machine holds a pen. A plotter writes on real paper with real ink, so the indentation and the ink behaviour are genuine even though no human wrote it. Middle price, much higher volume. Scribeless, RoboQuill and others work in this territory.

A printer reproduces handwriting. A handwriting typeface, printed. No ink indentation, no variation in pressure. Cheapest and fastest by a distance, and convincing at arm's length rather than under a desk lamp. Rockkt is here, and we would rather say so on our own page than have you find out.

How to choose between them

Start with one question: will the recipient hold this up to the light? A thank you note to a customer who just spent six figures with you, yes, possibly. A first touch to a stranger who receives forty pieces of post a week, no. The envelope decides whether it is opened and the first line decides whether it is read, and neither of those cares whether the ink is real.

If you decide real ink matters for your use case, buy a human or a plotter service and do not let anyone talk you out of it, us included.

The seven questions worth asking any of them

1. Which of the three is it, exactly? Some marketing language is carefully vague about whether a pen is involved. Ask directly.
2. What is the minimum order? This is what removes most vendors from a small team's shortlist. Some start in the hundreds.
3. Can I send exactly one, today? A different question from the last one, and the one that separates a sales tool from a mailing house.
4. Where is it printed and posted from? UK printing and Royal Mail affect transit time and whether the stamp reads as domestic.
5. Do you find the address, or do I? Most do not. On cold outbound, this is where the actual work lives.
6. What do I learn after it lands? Without a QR code or a link to a page you control, a letter is a leap of faith with a receipt.
7. What is the all in cost per letter? Paper, print, envelope, postage, platform fee. Per unit print prices are not comparable between vendors and everyone knows it.

Where we fit, and where we do not

Rockkt finds and verifies the address from a LinkedIn profile, writes the letter, prints it in a handwriting style, builds a personalised page with QR tracking, and starts at nothing a month by invitation, 29 pounds after that, with no minimum order or term.

We are not the right answer if you need real ink, if you are sending outside the UK, or if you want a person to sit and write your letters. Three of the names above will serve you better in those cases and we would rather tell you now.