Do you have a business that gets most of it’s customers from your local area?
If so, then you need to read every word of this article.
Imagine being able to send not one, but THREE, 15 inch by 12 inch mailers to EVERYONE in a local area for only $.17 cents.
Well, now YOU CAN.
It’s Called “Every Door Direct Mail.”
This is a new service being offered by the U.S. Postal Service as a way to help local small businesses who market to consumers in a tight geographic area.
For instance, if you’re a chiropractor, this service would be VERY helpful to you.
Most Chiropractor’s patients come from within a 3 mile radius of their office.
That statistic usually goes for…
1. Realtors
2. Mortgage Brokers
3. Insurance Agents
4. Dentists
5. Plumbers
6. Restaurants
7. Car washes
8. Auto repair shops
9. Grocers
10. Hair stylists
11. Fitness centers
12. etc…
All these businesses could benefit from the new “Every Door Direct Mail” (EDDM) service.
Actually, there are two EDDM services.
There is a “Every Door Direct Mail – Retail” service and a non-retail service.
So What Is the Every Door Direct Mail Service?
Here’s the facts about the program (the EDDM retail service).
Fact #1 – It’s the most cost effective option that the postal service offers for delivering mail to local consumers and businesses.
Fact # 2 – You’re allow to send up 5,000 mail pieces day.
Fact # 3 – You do NOT have to purchase a postage permit.
Fact # 4 – You can take your mailings to the front counter of the local post office and pay for them right there.
Fact # 5 – Your mailing will saturate every consumer within the area you select and if you’d like, it can also include delivery to businesses as well.
(You cannot just send to businesses. Your mailing must be to consumers first and then businesses as an additional option.)
NOTE: You can also select whether or not you want your mailing delivered to P.O. Boxes and Farm mail routes.
Fact # 6 – Cannot be more than 15′ long, 12′ high and .75′ thick (about 3 sheets of paper).
Fact # 7 – You can send standard mail flats, irregular parcels, periodicals, and bound printed flats.
Fact # 8 - You’ll need to include an Every Door Direct Mail form (PS Form 3587) with your mailing.
Fact # 9 - If you need to reach addresses in other cities or states, you can use Priority Mail® to ship your Every Door Direct Mail mailings to the Post Office in that area.
Just include your delivery instructions, documentation, and payment.
Fact # 10 – You need to prepare your mailers in bundles of up to 100 mailers. A “facing slip” must be placed on each bundle.
Fact # 11 – You can target consumers and businesses at the “carrier route” level, which gives you some very tight geographical targeting.
Fact # 12 – The U.S. Postal Service has a great online tool that can walk you through the process step-by-step and even help you print out the appropriate forms.
Fact # 13 – You can have a local printer do all the printing and direct mail bundling and paperwork for you.
Here’s a link to local printers that may provide Every Door Direct Mail services.
With Every Door Direct Mail, you can send anything from a quick sales announcement to an in-depth product story.
Plus you can include coupons, maps, menus, event calendars and more!
The 4 Step Process for Doing an Every Door Direct Mailing Campaign
STEP 1: Log in or Register for a Business Account
Create a USPS business account through the Business Customer Gateway. Please note your Customer Registration ID (CRID) for the PS Form 3587.
If you need help with this process, download the Every Door Direct Mail User Guide. PDF
STEP 2: Define Who You Want to Reach
Now you’re ready to start reaching customers.
The online tool helps you choose mailing routes by neighborhood, ZIP Code™, city, or a target area around your business.
It even identifies the number of active households and businesses in your chosen areas to estimate postage.
Next, you will be prompted to generate and print out the appropriate documentation and facing slips to take with your mailing to the Post Office™.
STEP 3: Create Your Mail Pieces
Once you’ve identified where your mailing is going, you can contact a local print provider to help you create your mail pieces.
Be sure to check the approved specs for Every Door Direct Mail, including allowed sizes and address formats and approved Every Door Direct Mail – Retail Indicia.
Download Quick Reference Guide. PDF
Download Retail Indicia. JPG
Download Retail Indicia Usage Guidelines. TXT
STEP 4: Let The Postal Service Take It From There
Simply bring your bundles with facing slips attached and postage statement (PS Form 3587) to your local Post Office — right through the front door and to the counter.
There you can pay by cash, debit card, or check.
Download the PS Form 3587, Every Door Direct Mail – Retail. PDF
Conclusion
That’s it.
Pretty simple.
This can be a super powerful tool for local businesses.
Imagine being able to reach 5,000 local consumers and businesses in your area for only $875.
Actually it will be more because you have to print out your mailing piece, but you get the idea.
It’s very economical and targets a local market extremely well.
Hope this helps!
P.S. Listen to this interview from David Frey (Me!) titled, “The 9 Step Fast Action System That Uses Direct Mail To Get The CEO’s of Big Companies To Call, Buy and Beg To Do Business With You.”
About David Frey
David Frey is the Founder, MarketingBlogger.com. He is also the author of the best selling book, "The Small Business Marketing Bible" and many other marketing courses. To find out more about this author, visit www.WhoIsDavidFrey.com.
Hi David – I sure wish we had this here in the UK. I know you spent time here mate, but do you know the current cost of UK postage? Never mind 3 mailers for 17 cents, how about $1 each!?
A single regular stamp here is between 79 & 94 cents (50-60p) ! Ouch!
Holy moly. I didn’t know that. You know, it’s not that much more to send a mailer from the US to UK than from the UK to the UK. LOL
Very well explained, Dave – I’ve talked to a couple of local business people who’ve gotten all excited about this program and ordered several thousand postcards – and found out they did it wrong. (Wrong size postcard, indicia not on the card, etc.) I’ve sent several @EDDM postcard mailings on behalf of local businesses. As web marketing has gotten more competitive, I think there’s even more opportunity to use direct mail, postcards in particular.
Diana Ratliff recently posted..Use Direct Mail for Hyper-Local Marketing
Hi Diana,
Yeah, they have pretty strict instructions on how to do the mailings. The best thing is to just find a printer that offers it as a service and let them deal with all the requirements.
That’s why I started a business offering this (among other things) a few months ago – I’ll handle the design, printing, mailing etc, even do co-op (shared) mailings using EDDM.
The concept isn’t new – the post office has offered “saturation mailing” for a long time, I think – but this makes it a bit easier and they’re really pushing it.
Diana Ratliff recently posted..Businesses Who Profit from Dynamite Deals Postcard Mailings
It’s not new, but you don’t have to provide addresses and stuff like that. So it makes it a lot easier.
David Frey recently posted..Your Seven-Step, One-Day Marketing Plan
Twitter: DavidCarleton
says:
Hi Dave
As a San Diego Local Business Marketing Consultant, I have seen the USPS TV commercials on this and plan on using it form my local clients. Thanks for the reminder.
Dave Carleton
http://LocalBusinessMarketingSuccess.com
David Carleton recently posted..San Diego Local Business Marketing Consultant – 5 Recession Busting Tips
Hold on, let get this right…your’e a “San Diego Local Business Marketing Consultant” right?
And your website is http://www.LocalBusinessMarketingSuccess.com right?
Whew! I thought I missed that. ha ha LOL
Thanks David…you da man!
Excellent post David! I’ve already sent the link to a few of my local clients. I’ve been implementing a lot of your tips and my business is on fire! Thank you sooo much! BTW – can’t wait to show you my new website… couple weeks until it’s completed.
Awesome Dean. Get that thing done so I can take a look at it. We need to catch up!
This program works great! Depending on your price of your product or service, you can realize a huge ROI.
This is great! And I agree with Diana, web marketing and we can say email marketing is highly competitive nowadays. You may not be costing too much on those, yet the chance of getting your email being read is about 7-15%. I say, what’s $875 if you can reach the whole pack, and chances are, they’ll be reading it right after they receive it. This is absolutely the future of mail marketing.
Hi David –
I just downloaded your direct mail program and quickly reviewed it – it has some great information. I am in the middle of a lumpy package direct mail program for new business for myself – so this information is very timely for me. My question is – what kind of a response rate can I expect from a direct mail program – it’s a cold list – but a very targeted list? Thank you. I have been following you for a few years now – you are my marketing guru.
Hi Eleanor,
The answer to that question and just about any marketing question is…”it depends.”
In direct mail, there’s a ratio called the 40-40-20 success rule.
It means that 40% of your success will depend on the list you’re sending it to, another 40% will depend on the offer and the last 10% will depend on the creative (envelope, graphics, copy etc.)
If it’s super targeted and the copy is outstanding and everything else is correct AND you’re sending a lumpy package, you might see up to a 5% response. Perhaps even more.
But I always say that if you financially can’t make your direct mail campaign work with a .05% response rate, don’t do it.
Hope this helps a little.
Great article David! Just curious, I do remodeling and new homes. Since any one mail route probably contains both mansions and ghettos, wouldn’t I be better off doing repeat (and more expensive) mailings to targeted neighborhoods? Love to head your thoughts. Thanks!
Yes Eric and you can do it by carrier mail routes so you can target, literally, by neighborhoods.
I’ve done e-mail marketing before and stopped it for my open rate was so small, even though I’m working on my headline. Just turned up to social media now.
This is a fantastic program especially for food businesses such as restaurants and bakeries. The downside is that many small business owners make offers good for them, but not their customers and wonder why it did not work.
Jerry recently posted..Save 95% by Using San Antonio Marketing CO-OP
This will give business people to give variations in their advertisement campaigns. This is personalized way of getting the clients.
This is a fantastic tool, and a brilliant way of avoiding the “spray and pray” campaigns you see with so many mail drops. I just wish there was a way to target by demographic a bit more specifically.
Hi David Frey,
I think you have shown your great dexterity to teach about various marketing lesson step by step. Undoubtedly, we’re helpful for the post. Please, let me love not only the the post but also your marketing book “The Small Business Marketing Bible”.
Thanks,
Tareq Marc
Cool! A fast and effective business here…thanks for sharing this to us!
Actually I think this is among the most vital information for me. And i am glad reading your article. But want to remark on some general things, the web site style is ideal, the articles is really excellent. Thank you for sharing with us. I think it would be effective for all. Good job, cheers! invites you to read
Car Service
Twitter: lamleite
says:
hey David or whoever is there that can help me. I’m about to print 5000 postcards and have them mailed with EDDM. I’m confused about this part:
“Be sure to check the approved specs for Every Door Direct Mail, including allowed sizes and address formats and approved Every Door Direct Mail – Retail Indicia”
I have post cards that are 6×9 inches. I was told at my local post office that’s ok. Now, I have no clue how to deal with the address formats and also the Retail Indicia thing? Should I have them printed on the postcards? If not, does the post office need some room to print their own thing on the postcards? Thanks.
Informative posting! I think this posting would be effective for all. Thank you for sharing with us. invites you to read
Car Service