Roofing Industry Direct Mail Resources | Best4mailing

How Roofing, Window & Siding Companies Can Accurately Track Direct Mail ROI

Josh Davis — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 19:03:08 +0000

If you’re using (or considering) direct mail marketing to acquire and retain customers for your roofing, windows, or siding business — tracking ROI accurately is critical.

Without clear data, it’s nearly impossible to optimize your budget or make confident, data-driven marketing decisions. Unfortunately, many contractors struggle to measure direct mail performance, leaving them guessing.

Here’s how not to track ROI — and the best method that works.

1. Why Call Tracking Falls Short

At first glance, using a unique phone number for each campaign seems like a good way to track responses. But here’s the catch:

Most prospects don’t immediately call the number printed on your mailer. Instead, they’ll:

Google your business
Read online reviews
Visit your website

When that happens, your tracking number gets bypassed — and the mailer gets zero credit.

Quick Tip: Call tracking is still useful for listening to conversations and evaluating call quality. But it should never be your primary method for ROI tracking.

2. QR Codes Are Great — But Limited

We do recommend including QR codes on your mailers — especially to promote online scheduling. It creates a sense of convenience and makes it easy for customers to book appointments.

However, QR codes only show you how many scans occurred. They don’t provide full transactional data — and don’t link back to revenue.

3. Relying on Customers to Tell You Isn’t Reliable

Even if you ask every single customer how they heard about you, you’ll often get inaccurate or incomplete responses.

Why? Because customers are exposed to your brand in many ways:

A yard sign
A neighbor’s referral
A billboard or truck wrap
A direct mail piece
Your online reviews
And more

Most customers will only mention the first thing that comes to mind — not the full journey. This leads to misleading or overly simplified attribution.

The Best Way to Track ROI: Matchback Reporting

Here’s the good news: there’s a simple, accurate, and proven way to track direct mail ROI — it’s called a Matchback Report.

How it works:

You send direct mail to a list of targeted homeowners.
When a prospect contacts you and schedules an estimate, you collect their address.
A Matchback Report compares the list of mail recipients to your list of new customers.

If there’s a match — Bingo, you can attribute that customer to your direct mail campaign.

What a Matchback Report Tells You (and Doesn’t)

What it shows:

Which customers received and were influenced from your direct mail campaign
True return on investment (ROI)

What it doesn’t show:

Leads who contacted you but didn’t convert
Appointments that didn’t result in sales

So while it won’t capture response rate, it does give you the most accurate ROI data possible. What’s even more helpful is that with many of our powerful integrations into CRMs like ServiceTitan, we’re able to provide this data seamlessly — automatically reporting it daily in our proprietary ROI dashboard.

Final Thought

Direct mail is a powerful tool for your roofing, windows, or siding business — but only if you can measure its impact.

Matchback Reporting is the gold standard for ROI tracking. It’s simple, reliable, and based on actual customer conversion data — not guesswork.

Ready to stop guessing and start measuring?

Contact one of our direct mail experts today to learn how Matchback Reporting and address-based campaigns can help your business grow.

No pressure. Just proven strategies and clear ROI.

— Josh Davis

The post How Roofing, Window & Siding Companies Can Accurately Track Direct Mail ROI appeared first on Best4mailing.

Roofing Companies: Think Twice Before Using Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM)

Josh Davis — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 19:02:12 +0000

If you own or manage a roofing, window, or siding company and you’re exploring direct mail marketing to acquire new customers, you may have heard of the USPS’s Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) program. Before jumping in, take a moment to consider a few important facts — because EDDM might not be the most effective use of your marketing dollars.

This article is short, sweet, and straight to the point. We won’t dive into all the technical details of EDDM options like Retail vs. BMEU. Instead, we’ll focus on what you really need to know before deciding to use EDDM.

1. EDDM Targets Every Residential Address in a Postal Carrier Route

EDDM mailers are sent to every single residential address within the postal carrier routes you choose. A carrier route is simply the path your local mail carrier takes each day, and routes often include a mix of:

Single-family homes
Apartment complexes (MDFUs: Multi-Dwelling Family Units)
Trailers
Off Campus College housing
Seasonal Addresses

Your roofing, windows and/or siding services are intended for homeowners, particularly those who own single-family homes, EDDM can lead to significant waste — because renters and apartment dwellers will never need roofing, siding, or window services.

Quick Tip: Just because an address is labeled a “Single Family Home” doesn’t mean it’s owner-occupied. Many of these homes are rentals. That’s why working with a real direct mail marketing professional is key. We help you analyze and select routes based on owner-occupied vs. renter demographics and other valuable data.

2. You Can’t Exclude Your Existing Customers

The EDDM program doesn’t let you remove specific addresses from any carrier route. That means your direct mail will be going right back to customers you’ve already served — wasting your marketing dollars.

Even worse, your new customer direct mail is designed to attract new business with first-time offers or messaging for new customers and it could alienate past clients.

You should never market to a past customer the same way you market to a brand-new one.

3. Using EDDM Makes Tracking ROI More Difficult

One of the best ways to track your return on investment (ROI) is through a “Matchback Report.” This report compares the list of addresses you mailed to against the list of new customers you’ve acquired, giving you clear insight into the performance of your campaign.

However, EDDM does not provide a list of specific addresses delivered to — making accurate Matchback Reporting virtually impossible.

With mailers that have a physical address on each piece, you can get a complete, trackable list of all recipients. This allows for transparent ROI reporting and smarter decisions about where to invest future marketing dollars.

So, What Should You Do Instead?

Partner with a direct mail provider that uses actual physical addresses on each mail piece. This gives you far more control and allows for truly strategic targeting.
- - Exclude non-ideal addresses like apartments, trailers, and student housing.
  - Remove your current and past customers to avoid message mismatches and save money.
  - Easily track ROI using address-based Matchback Reports.

Small Tweaks, Big Results: Let’s Talk Smarter Marketing

If you’re investing time and money into direct mail, make sure it’s backed by data, strategy, and clarity. A small shift in strategy can lead to a big difference in results.

Want to explore how to make your next campaign more targeted and effective?

Contact us to learn more — no pressure, just real insights.

The post Roofing Companies: Think Twice Before Using Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) appeared first on Best4mailing.