Which direct mail option is best for marketing your business in your area: Every Door Direct Mail or Targeted Direct Mail?
While no one answer is correct for all businesses, the following brief Q & A should help you decide which is best for you and why.
Q: What is Every Door Direct Mail® (EDDM)?
A: EDDM is a simple low cost direct mail program recently launched by the U.S. Postal System (USPS). It offers a low postage cost; however, there are some stipulations:
• You must mail to complete postal carrier routes (all mail stops)
• The mail pieces do not need to be addressed
• The mail pieces have to be prepared in the manner specified by the USPS
Q: How is EDDM different than targeted direct mail?
A: Targeted direct mail is just that: targeted. A high prospect list is purchased or used in which all of the selection parameters are determined by the mailer (meaning you, the dealer). Selections can be both demographic (income, age, homeowner, presence of children, etc.) and geographic (zip code, postal carrier route, sales territory map).
Q: How do I know which to choose?
A: Generally speaking, if you can identify U.S. Postal Carrier routes that are 100% within your broadband service area, EDDM is a great option—especially if your mailing quantity is low. The lower the concentration of high prospect households on a postal carrier route the more likely that using targeted direct mail to these households makes more sense—even if it costs more per mail piece.
Q: How do I determine which option to choose?
A: Here is a quick example to explain the economics. Let’s assume the following:
• You have identified three postal carrier routes that you want to mail
• The total mail stop count (including single family homes, multi-family homes and businesses) is 1,500
• The number of households in your service area (defined by your propagation map) is 525 or 35% of the total mail stops
• Your costs for mailing EDDM to all 1,500 mail stops is (including printing, postage and mail preparation costs): $0.50/pc or $750.00
• Your cost for a targeted mailing of 525 pieces to just the high prospect households is: $1.01/pc or $530.25
In this example, it is less expensive to only mail the households inside of your service area with targeted direct mail. Your particular answer for your area is dependent upon the quantity of the mailing and the concentration of households you can service within those postal carrier routes.
Q: So how do I find the out the information that I need to do the calculations:
A: Lorex has on staff experts on GIS mapping and also offers U.S. Postal Carrier route maps. This information makes it very easy to determine which type of mailing will work best for you. Lorex provides three different, easy to use EDDM Products.
Just call us at 800-792-8812 and ask to talk to someone about EDDM in a Box™. Our consultants can help you choose the right product for you and get your program started right away—whether it is EDDM in a Box™ or Targeted Direct Mail.