The Ins and Outs of EDDM – Every Door Direct Mail

The biggest mystery that small business owners always look to solve is how to get their name, offerings, and promotions into the minds and hands of potential customers. It’s a constant quandary. There’s so much noise in the marketing world, too. Do you go with digital ads? Emails? Or do you the classic route with billboards, flyers, and commercials?

Customers are just as inundated with marketing noise as you are. Their inbox is filled to the brim with promotions they’ll never open. They scroll by ads without a glance as they look for friend’s latest comings and goings on social media.

Important business is done through the mail. Our physical mailboxes have thinned out over the years, but people still check it. Did you know that 80-90 percent of direct mail gets opened, only 20-30 percent of email gets opened on a good day?

That means, you can get your message in front of 80-90% of your intended recipients when you send your promotions through the mail.

What is EDDM

EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail. When you use EDDM, your messaging is sent to desired recipients through location and demographic targeting and you pay only a small fraction of the amount it would normally cost for bulk mail.

EDDM is especially great, because you don’t have to provide a mailing list or anything. You just have to know what neighborhoods, household types, general locations, or demographics you’d like to target.

What sorts of businesses use EDDM?

Any small business can benefit from smartly used EDDM campaigns. For example, say you’re a restaurant. You’d like to reach local people in your area to get them in try your tasty dishes. You could send an EDDM campaign on a folded postcard that includes your take-out menu and a coupon for their first visit.
How about a local salon? You could send an EDDM campaign that promotes a lady’s night open house or simply introduce your services with a limited time offer. Urgent care facilities are hyper-local and depend on the local community to be successful, EDDM is a great solution for this.

Basically, if you’re a business that would like to generate extra foot traffic coming through your door or eyes on your website, EDDM is an amazing option to consider.

What types of campaigns can I run through EDDM?

If you can create a message through a postcard, you can use EDDM to promote it. Some of the most common ways that businesses use EDDM is to tell their customers about:

Weekly, monthly, or annual sales/promotions
Featured products and services
Business grand opening or new location opening
Tell new customers about your business for the first time
Distribute monthly news or insights
Coordinate a new location launch and target just the service area
Increase and keep constant brand awareness

Truly, the sky is the limit. Customers find mailed promotions far more personal than emailed notices, which means there’s a high chance that they’ll read whatever you have to say to them.

What can I send through an EDDM campaign?

EDDM campaigns are for flat mail only. It can’t be enclosed in an envelope or sent on flimsy paper. Whatever you send through EDDM needs to be strong and light enough to be mailed as a stand-alone mailpiece.

EDDM campaigns can be sent on mailpieces with a maximum size of 12″ x 15″ or you can use one of the following standard sizes:

6.5” x 9”
6.25” x 11”
8.5” x 11”
8.5” x 12”
7” x 10” (folded in half)
12” x 4” (folded in half)

Basically, for EDDM, you want a smooth, flat piece of mail that isn’t too heavy (under 3.3 oz). This could include all types of products like:

Small or large postcards
Take-out menus
Business flyers
Postcard magnets
Perforated coupons
Promos with peelable stickers affixed
Folded postcards

Request Your EDDM Printing And Mailing Quote Today!

Reach Every Business and Residence In Your Town – for a fraction of the cost and you don’t need to buy a mailing list!

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What should I include on my EDDM mailpiece?

Think about it like this—these customers are being introduced to your business, potentially for the first time, through this small piece. What do you want them to know? Boil it down to a simple concept. Remember, a lot of your brand can be conveyed with images.

Now, let’s design this postcard with some have-to-have elements:

What problems can your product or service solve for the customer?

When you start planning your mailer, think about what you can do for the customer. While you may want to sing the praises of your business, most people are interested in how you can help their business. Define a problem that your promotion solves and focus your copy on that. From there, begin planning your design.

Start with an appealing, eye-catching picture and headline

People are visual. No one likes to read giant walls of text. The more you can convey with a simple picture and bold, concise headline, the better. You want to catch their eyes as they flip through the mail, so plan these two elements with care.

Plan your colors carefully

Once you know your header and image, you can use a website like coolors.co to create a color palette. Pick colors that match your logo and image elements. Use these colors for your fonts but keep legibility in mind. You’ll want to be sure that any text you use has great contrast when laid on the image. The simpler your color palette the better—for best results, stick to 3-4 colors max.

Call-to-action

A call-to-action instructs customers on what to do next. Ideally, what do you want them to do with the information you just gave them? Pick up the phone? Pay you a visit? Visit your website? Tell them clearly. Add a limited time or expiration date to increase the chances of them doing this action in a timely manner.

Leave room for the required Retail Indicia

You’ll need to include The Every Door Direct Mail™ (EDDM) Retail indicia in a clear space on the front of your mailer. If you’re not sure what to put here, we can help!

Designing a mailer is a lot of work. Expert design can make a huge difference on how effective your mailing ends up being. If you’re not sure where to begin with the design process, reach out to us. We can handle your EDDM campaign every step of the way. Our expert designers will create the perfect postcard for your message and, after printing and finishing, it’ll be sent on its way to greeting your customers at their mailbox.

Everything You Need to Know About the May 31st, 2015 USPS Postage Increase

Photo by Andrew Taylor - https://goo.gl/k3x2Tl — Photo by Andrew Taylor – https://goo.gl/k3x2Tl

Periodically, there is a USPS postage increase to accommodate naturally rising inflation. Instead of revealing price increases throughout the year, the postage update is given all at once. This keeps the information organized and consistent, but can be a lot to take in. Here are some of the most important updates made to the pricing for First Class Bulk, Standard, and Nonprofit mailings. These are the most common choices for direct mail marketing, and the new prices will go into effect May 31st, 2015.

Don’t know which class of mail is right for your business? Take a look at this blog post comparing First Class and Standard Mail. For a more detailed summary of all the price changes and postage updates, refer to this Powerpoint presentation from the USPS.

First Class Bulk Mail Price Updates for May 2015

Below are the most common First-Class Bulk Mailing price updates. An additional ounce price remains at $0.13, and presort letters up to 2 oz. are charged the 1 oz. price.

	New Price
Mixed AADC Automation Letters	$0.439
3-Digit Automation Letters	$0.416
5-Digit Automation Letters	$0.391

Standard Mail Price Updates for May 2015

Below are the most common Standard Mail postage rate updates. Detached Address Labels (DALs) also increased to $ 0.036.

	New Price
Letters (5-Digit Auto entered at Origin)	$0.266
Flats (5-Digit Auto Flat entered at Origin)	$0.392
EDDM-Retail	$0.183

Standard Nonprofit Mail Price Updates for May 2015

Below are the most common nonprofit mailing price updates.

	New Price
Letters (5-Digit Auto entered at Origin)	$0.147
Flats (5-Digit Auto Flat entered at Origin)	$0.249

Other Service Increases

Along with bulk mailing and direct mail, other USPS services will also be increasing on May 31st.

Product	CPI Percent Change
PO Boxes™	5.9%
Certified Mail®	4.8%
Return Receipt	3.8%
Registered Mail™	2.6%
Insurance	4.9%
COD	5.4%
All Other	-9.3%

Find out how much your next mailing project will cost and find answers to any questions you may have about printing and mailing.

Also take a look at some current promotions and incentives offered by the USPS that could save you some postage on your mailing!

3 Reasons Direct Mail Marketing Has An Edge On Email Marketing

We strongly believe in the power of Direct Mail even in this electronic age that we live in.

We see it every day, small to medium size businesses and large corporations use direct mail in their marketing mix and yes, they get results!

Even the likes of Google, who’s main business is internet based, uses direct mail to advertise and communicate with their advertisers and customers.

The best part is, it’s not just some generic flyer or brochure, they go all-in with variable data including graphs and charts reflecting the customer’s actual data.

Direct Mail marketing has evolved with the digital age and still brings in a very competitive ROI while consumers directly prefer receiving postal mail from brands:

59% of U.S. respondents and 65% of Canadian respondents agreed with the following statement, “I enjoy getting postal mail from brands about new products”
73% of U.S. consumers and 67% of Canadian consumers said they prefer direct mail for brand communications because they can read the information at their convenience. Additionally, 62% of Americans and 63% of Canadians said they enjoy checking the mailbox for postal mail
U.S. advertisers spend $167 per person on direct mail to earn $2,095 worth of goods sold; a 1,300% return

source: 6 Direct Mail Stats That Can’t Be Ignored – Epsilon

We’re not just saying this to convince you to use our direct mail services, Entreprenuer.com is saying the same thing (although we don’t agree 100% with the title, we believe it should be a mix of both but it’s still a great informative read):

4 Reasons to Use Direct Mail Marketing Instead of Email Marketing

How are you using direct mail and email marketing to increase sales and/or brand awareness?

Just In Time For Valentines: Forever® Hearts|USPS Stamps

The USPS has released the Forever Hearts, Forever® stamps, two versions depicting a heart shaped with lacy lettering spelling out “Forever”. Available in a white background with a red design and a reversed design in white design with a red background.

The perfect stamp to adorn your custom printed invitations valentines cards, announcements, anniversary cards and much more.

These beautiful Valentine’s stamps were first issued January 22nd, 2015.

Forever Hearts, Forever® | USPS Stamps.

Direct Mail Services

Don’t fret! The Marsid M&M Group has you covered for all of your printing and mailing needs. we are fully equipped to handle your next mailing extremely fast and accurately. Contact us right away toll-free at 1-877-mmprint or visit our mailing services page to request an estimate.

Getting There First: Standard Mail vs First Class

With all of the problems the USPS has been facing, it hasn’t changed the fact that direct mail is still one of the best ways to market a business or service according to a study by the Direct Mail Association and referenced in this article by Ad Age.

The political/internal/financial battle happening within the United States Postal Service has affected delivery times and in recent news, California Representative Darrell Issa suggested in a bill that the USPS will no longer deliver mail directly to your door. Only to curbside mailboxes and cluster boxes similar to those found in apartment complexes. You can pay a fee to keep the to-your-door service if you don’t mind paying for it and exceptions will be made for the elderly and those who can prove physical disability.

Although the USPS is changing and will keep changing, what most matters is that your target audience gets their mail pieces in a timely fashion and convert into customers.

The Differences in Bulk Mail Classes and Mail Delivery Times

Bulk mail is processed by the mail house before it gets to the Post Office saving the USPS time and money. The mailer typically has a mailing permit that must be printed on to each piece identifying the postage class and the account of the mailer who performed the mailing.

Presort software is used to connect to the USPS to presort the addresses, qualify the quantity and mail piece cost from your mailing list, add barcodes, check for duplicates and verifies address accuracy against the National Change of Address (NCOA) database. Planning ahead with delivery times in mind will help your direct mail campaign to be more effective and you can save money as well.

Standard Mail

Standard mail is the least expensive and slower class of bulk mail for for printed matter, flyers, circulars, advertising, newsletters, bulletins, catalogs, and small packages. Deeply discounted, Standard mail costs less because your mailing company or mail house does most of the processing for the Post Office and those savings are passed on to you in the form of a postage discount. With Standard mail, any pieces that are undeliverable are not returned to the sender which is also saves the USPS time and money.

What do you need to qualify for Standard Mail discounted postage?

Standard Mail Mailing Permit (you can use our mailing permit free if we are mailing for you!)
Minimum of 200 pieces or 50lbs of mail
Maximum weight of 16 ounces
Domestic Mail only

First Class Mail

First Class Mail is the faster of the two and if the address printed on the mailpiece is undeliverable, the USPS will automatically forward it to the correct address (if it’s on file) or return it to the sender. This ensures that the recipient receives the mailpiece or at least you can remove them from your mailing list saving you money on postage costs on the next mailing.

Depending on your budget and time-frame, the extra cost for First Class Mail can be worth it and it’s still less than the cost of a regular single-piece stamp.

What are the requirements to qualify for First Class discounted postage?

First Class Mailing Permit (you can use our mailing permit free if we are mailing for you!)
Minimum of 500 pieces
Maximum weight of 13 ounces
Must be rectangular in shape

Note: A 4.25 x 6 Postcard is mailed First Class by default at a special Postcard Rate.

First Class and Standard Mail Postage Costs

First Class and Standard mail are considered Unzoned Mail. Meaning you pay the same price without regard to where the mailpiece goes (within the U.S.). Nevertheless, there are differences in the cost of each piece depending on mailpiece type (postcard, letter, flat or parcel – each mailpiece type has its own size restrictions), weight and traying sequence (5-digit, 3-digit, AADC and mixed AADC) which is determined by the mailing software used by your mail house.

The United States Postal Service offers a handy Business Price Calculator to give you a good idea of what your postage costs may be per piece.
Download our convenient Envelope Size Chart to learn about standard envelope sizes and differences.

For other types of mail classes, the price is determined by the distance the mailpiece travels to arrive at it’s destination. The further it has to travel, the more postage paid for that piece. The distance is established by the use of zones.

[note color=”#FFCC00″] You may still have questions regarding your direct mail campaign.Give us a call at 1877-mmprint to speak with a mailing service professional about your project or visit our mailing services page for more information and to request a quote. [/note] [divider top=”1″]

USPS Folded Self-Mailer Regulations Update 2013

Effective January 5, 2013, the United States Postal Service (USPS) is revising the regulations governing the Folded Self-Mailer Standards. The final rules were published in the Federal Register on December 1, 2011 and can be found in the Federal Register / Vol. 76, No.231 / Thursday December 1, 2011 / Rules and Regulations [PDF]. Continue reading USPS Folded Self-Mailer Regulations Update 2013

USPS Retail Postage Rate Increase for 2013

The United States Postal Service (USPS), a “Self-supporting government enterprise”, has announced a retail postage rate increase effective as of January 27, 2013.

The Postal Service funds its facilities and operations with the sale of postage, different products and services. It does not receive tax money from the US government for its operating expenses.

The USPS can only make postage increases that reflect the rate of inflation.

First Class Mail Postage Rate Increase – Retail

First Class Single Piece Letters (up to 1 oz.) will increase from 45 cents to 46 cents, up a penny
The additional cost per ounce for Letters over 1oz. will not increase the cost of 20 cents
Postcards will increase 1 cent from 32 to 33 cents

Priority Mail Retail Flats Rate Increase – Retail

One ounce or less Flats will increase from 90 cents to 92 cents
Flat Rate Envelopes new price $5.60
Legal Flat Rate Envelope new price $5.75
Padded Flat Rate Envelope new price $5.95
Small Flat Rate Box new price $5.80
Medium Flat Rate Boxes new price $12.35
Large Flat Rate Boxes new price $16.85
APO/FPO Large Flat Rate Box new price $14.85

New Global Forever Stamp

The USPS will introduce a new Forever stamp to be used with First Class Mail International 1oz. letters or cards to any country around the globe.

The cost is a flat rate of $1.10 for any letters or cards under 1oz. and can be used to send a 2oz letter to Canada

International Forever stamps have a round shape and say “Global Forever”.

Art director for the US Philatelic William J. Gicker selected this depiction of Earth by Italian artist Leonello Calvetti. Greg Breeding designed the stamp.

The USPS is the only existing delivery service that reaches every single address in the United States. That is over 151 million residences, businesses and PO Boxes. The postage rate increase is another consecutive year of rate increases for the USPS which may reflect heavy decreases in profits over the past few years.

3 Easy Steps To Every Door Direct Success

Every Door Direct Mail Retail is incredibly easy to prepare and mail.

The following steps will show you how to take your E.D.D.M. from concept to delivery.

Before you continue reading, please make sure you have familiarized yourself with E.D.D.M. by reading 5 Reasons Every Door Direct Mail Will Work for You and then come back to see how it’s done in 3 easy steps.

1. Discover Your Surroundings

The USPS offers a very useful tool on their website where you can enter data about the area of your mailing and it returns detailed information about that area:

Number of residences in a route
Number of businesses in a route
Number of total routes
Approximate cost of Postage
Local Post Office for each route

There are various ways to select the areas where your Every Door Direct Mail will hit:

By City
By County
By Zip Code
By radius around a specific address

You can choose the type of routes served:

City
Rural/Highway Contract
PO Boxes

You can select from two delivery types:

Business and Residential
Residential Only

Once you have made all of your selections and have a final count of the area and routes that will be covered, you can continue by clicking “Next” to generate all of the paperwork required when delivering your EDDM prints to the Post Office. Don’t forget your postage check! But don’t fret, they also take cash and credit cards.

2. Bundle Your Advertising

Every Door Direct Mail Bundle Facing Slip

This is the most labor-intensive step of completing your E.D.D.M. mailing, but it’s simple!

The USPS requires that you bundle your Every Door Direct Mail pieces into stacks of 50-100. The reason for this is that the Mailman takes these bundles and places them in his bag or cart and delivers one to each mailbox on his route. Please be considerate! Don’t make the bundles too heavy.

One of the forms that the system generates for you is the Facing Slip. This form needs to be on the very top of every bundle, so make copies before you fill in all of the information.

I recommend that you fill the Date, Company Name and Post Office of mailing before making copies so that you don’t have to fill it in every time.

These are the required fields you must complete on the Facing Slip:

Route Number
Date
Number of Pieces in Bundle
Total Number of Bundles
Company Name
Post Office of Mailing

3. Delivery to the USPS

Once steps 1 and 2 are completed, the final and easiest step is your delivery to the Post Office. One of the forms generated by the E.D.D.M. system, the “Facility List”, is a summary of the entire mailing.

For your convenience, the form will list the address of each Post Office you must deliver the bundled mailers to, the hours of operation and contact information.

You will also find a table listing the Carrier Routes selected and number of mail pieces for each route and at the very bottom, the total postage cost (number of mailpieces x 14.5 cents)

The number of Post Offices listed will usually only vary if you selected more than one Zip Code.

That’s it! Your Post Office representative will review your paperwork and mail pieces, process the paperwork in the register and accept payment for your Every Door Direct Mail.

Your mail pieces will be delivered within the Standard Mail delivery time.

If you have any questions or would like a quote, please visit our E.D.D.M Page.

Is there anything you have noticed that can make Every Door Direct Mail even easier or more efficient?

5 Reasons Every Door Direct Mail Will Work for You

E.D.D.M.- Every Door Direct Mail

Recently released by the United States Postal System (USPS), the purpose of Every Door Direct Mail is to enable mom and pop shops, small businesses and corporations to send a direct mail piece to every mailbox in a specific area. The area of the mailing can be specified by zip code or radius around an address and further defined by selecting routes within the results. Get Every Door Direct Mail For Your Business Now

Every Door Direct Mail is Not for Every Type of Business

If your main customers are businesses (B2B), E.D.D.M. is really not for you. Every Door Direct Mail requires that you mail to residences. If your product or service caters to a very specific demographic, targeted direct mailwould be more beneficial to your campaign, not E.D.D.M.

Who benefits from Every Door Direct Mail?

If your product or service serves your local community and appeals to both individual consumer households and local businesses too, E.D.D.M. is a great and inexpensive way to make your presence known and can lead to an increase in foot traffic and phone calls if you plan it out well. Every Door Direct Mail works great for local businesses:

Pizzeria
Laundromat
Deli
Diner
Lawyers & Accountants
Tax Service
Taxi & Limo Service

Don’t forget, franchises do most of their marketing at a local level…E.D.D.M. Win!

Why Every Door Direct Mail Will Work For You

1. Marketing at a Local Level

Local deals, local search, local , local, local!A perfect example is the announcement of a new pizzeria in town. Let’s say the owner is not a marketer or just doesn’t have the time to put together a marketing campaign. Yet, naturally he knows that his target market is every home and business in the surrounding area of his pizzeria. Every Door Direct Mail would be the quick and efficient way for the pizzeria owner to let every home in say, a 2 mile (or more) radius know about the grand opening of the new pizzeria. Simple and inexpensive.

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2. No Mailing List or Permit Required

So, you’re a Franchisee and you own 3 stores that each serve their own local communities. Your main marketing objective is to make sure that everyone in the local vicinity of each store knows about the store, letting them know the address, contact information and hours of operation. Since Every Door Direct Mail service does not require an address list, you can send a direct mail piece to every single residence in the town of each store for a measly 14.5 cents each in postage. No requirement for a Postal Permit also saves your out-of-pocket costs in application and yearly fees.

3. Like Sending a Billboard to Every Door

Every Door Direct Mail requires that the size of your mail piece falls within the USPS “Flat” dimensions. A common size is 6.25 x 9 which is a huge amount of real estate to cover with big graphics of your products or services, coupons and anything else that makes sense to include in the direct mail piece. You can go all the way up to 15 inches. You can also mail folded prints as long as they fold down within the size restrictions: Full color custom Calendars give you 12 months of continuous marketing and fall within the “flat” dimensions.

4. Easy Coupon and Specials Distribution

With the low cost of distribution, E.D.D.M. is a great tool to use to give out your coupons, announce specials and event sales. Spruce up your marketing and offer “neighborhood only” coupons. Sure, you can always use a Valpak type of service but with 1700 other coupons in the same envelope, will your coupon even get noticed ? (See #3 above)

5. Setup is a Breeze

Besides being cost effective, Every Door Direct Mail only takes a few simple steps to put together. Have your E.D.D.M. postcards printed, band them into bundles with a facing slip and a rubber band and then deliver them to the Post Office with your payment for postage. That’s it. Too busy? Your preferred printer can do everything for you, all you have to do is bring it to the Post Office with your postage payment.

One of the reasons the United States Postal Service created the Every Door Direct Mail program is to help local business grow (and to try to get back on track with it’s own revenue of course). But when used correctly, it really is a great opportunity to expand your marketing efforts.

Don’t Put All Of Your Eggs In One Basket

E.D.D.M. doesn’t necessarily need to be your only means of advertising; Use it to augment your web, TV and radio marketing campaigns and remember to add QR Codes to connect the offline with the online.

Have you used Every Door Direct Mail for your business? What was your response like?

Envelope Size Chart Quick Guide

It’s easy to get confused when selecting the correct envelope sizes for invitations, business letters or Direct Mail pieces… A2, A4, A7, #10, #9, #10 Window…

So we decided to build this common envelope size chart with the goal of providing a sort of cheat-sheet or quick reference for envelopes for our customers and anyone who can use it.

If you find it useful or know someone who could use it, please share it!

Need Envelopes Printed? Get A Quote Now!

You can also download a High Resolution Print Ready Version of the Envelope Size Chart Quick Guide [PDF].

or view the large version on your browser [JPG]

This envelope size chart is provided as a quick reference when selecting the proper envelope size for your projects. If you have questions or are in need of an envelope size not listed in the envelope size chart, please feel free to leave a comment below or contact us right away!