EDDM^® mailings allow you to advertise locally without purchasing a mailing list or permit, but it has its limitations when it comes to targeting. In many cases, a full-service saturation or full-service targeted campaign via a direct mail company or commercial printer is a smarter choice. In this blog, we’ll compare the targeting capabilities of these three mailing options to help you make an informed decision about which one is best for your business.

Who Can I Target with EDDM^®?

You don’t need a mailing list to do an EDDM^® mailing, which means your pieces mail to every address along a carrier route (a further breakdown of a zip code). Hence the name, “Every Door Direct Mail^®.” However, just because you’re mailing to every home in an EDDM^® carrier route doesn’t mean you don’t have targeting capabilities. With EDDM^®, you can do the following:

• Mail to most residents in a carrier route
• Remove business addresses and PO boxes
• Target carrier routes based on median demographics

The USPS Every Door Direct Mail^® tool allows you to filter carrier routes by median age, household size, and income. This means you can select routes that meet the median demographics you’re targeting, rather than those that don’t. Keep in mind that you’re dealing with median numbers (the figures in the middle of a data set), so your pieces will go to some households that fall outside your desired demographics. For example, even if you select all carrier routes with a median age range of 25-30, your pieces will still reach many individuals outside that age range.

EDDM^® marketing isn’t the best choice for businesses offering a product or service that’s not applicable to everyone or companies looking to target very specific people. But the good news is there are other service options besides EDDM^®, which we’ll explore below.

What’s the Difference Between EDDM^® and Saturation Mailing?

Technically, EDDM is a type of saturation mailing, but it’s more limited than a full-service saturation mailing you could get from a direct mail company. With a full-service saturation mailing, you can filter your carrier routes by median age, household size, and income – just like EDDM^®. But there are some additional targeting options you can only get from a full-service saturation mailing. With a saturation mailing, you can:

• Remove residential addresses (like apartments, drop addresses, seasonal dwellings, and mobile homes)

The biggest benefit of a full-service saturation mailing is the ability to remove certain residential addresses in addition to business addresses and PO boxes. For example, home service providers looking to drum up new business wouldn’t want to mail to renters, since landlords typically take care of maintenance. In this case, they could remove all apartments and drop addresses to make sure they’re only mailing to people who can actually use their services. This ability to remove residential address types sets a full-service saturation mailing apart from EDDM^® and makes it a better choice when you need more targeting options.

If you’d like a more detailed breakdown of the differences between these two services, check out our saturation mailing comparison.

Should I Choose EDDM^® or a Targeted Mailing List?

Saturation mailings like full-service and EDDM^® are great for targeting broad groups of people. But if your audience is very specific – or if you want to mail to your current customer list – you may need to go with a targeted mailing. With a targeted mailing list, you can:

• Mail to a very specific list of consumers or businesses

Targeted mailing lists are made up of people and/or businesses who match the exact criteria you’re looking for. This means you don’t need to remove any address types (like business addresses or PO boxes) since the list you get already matches your desired criteria. For example, if you want to mail to female golfers between the ages of 45 and 50, you’ll get a list that contains only individuals who meet those requirements.

Targeted campaigns aren’t right for everyone, though. For consumer-facing businesses that offer services anybody can use (like restaurants and auto shops), EDDM^® or saturation mailings through a direct mail company are usually a better choice for marketing to prospective customers. Targeted mailing lists can be significantly more expensive than saturation lists, and in some cases, saturation mailings offer the targeting capabilities businesses need at a lower price point.

Conclusion

It’s important to understand the targeting limitations of EDDM^® mailings when planning out your direct mail campaigns. While EDDM^® can be an affordable and effective option, there are plenty of times when saturation or targeted mailings are the better choice. Ultimately, you should consult with a direct mail expert before choosing a mailing option. They’ll help you figure out the most cost-effective solution for your business and work with you to choose the right service and mailing list to get you the best results.

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1. Make Sure Your Pieces Meet USPS Size Requirements

The USPS has specific rules for the dimensions, shape, and thickness of EDDM^® mail pieces. If you don’t meet these requirements, you won’t be able to mail your ads via EDDM^®. To make sure you don’t waste precious time and money designing and printing pieces that can’t be mailed, familiarize yourself with these regulations beforehand. You can find more information on EDDM® size requirements in this article.

2. Use Templates to Design Your Pieces

Templates help ensure your pieces are compliant with USPS regulations before you put the time and effort into designing your advertisement. They’ll not only keep you within dimension requirements, but also ensure your address panel and indicia (an imprint on each mail piece that signifies the postage has been prepaid) are properly placed.

Many direct mail companies and printers will provide you with free EDDM^® design templates if you choose their services, or they’ll design it for you. If you’re doing the design work yourself, just be sure to double check your piece against the USPS’ EDDM^® size requirements before printing. See the link above for these specific requirements.

3. Weigh Your EDDM^® Bundles

It’s important to know how to bundle EDDM^® pieces in order to meet USPS regulations. To start, EDDM^® bundles must contain between 50 and 100 mail pieces. Rather than counting out every single one of your bundles, try using a scale. After making sure one bundle meets the requirements above, record its weight. Then, weigh out your remaining bundles and make sure they match the weight of the first bundle.

4. Stack Your EDDM^® Bundles

If you don’t have a scale, you can stack your EDDM^® bundles and compare them based on height. Keep in mind that your bundles cannot be higher than 6 inches tall. Start by counting out one bundle to ensure it meets USPS regulations. Then, stack the rest of your bundles next to each other. Make sure they’re all the same height as the first bundle to ensure they all contain the same amount of pieces.

5. Photocopy Your EDDM^® Facing Slips

USPS EDDM^® facing slips tell the USPS how to process and deliver your mail pieces, and you can’t mail without them. Rather than filling out a new facing slip for each bundle on your chosen route, fill out the information that doesn’t change and make copies for your other bundles. If you need to download facing slips for your campaign, the USPS offers EDDM^® Retail and EDDM^® BMEU versions. Below you’ll find an EDDM^® facing slip example.

The following information should remain the same for each carrier route:

• Company Name
• Post Office of Mailing
• 5-Digit ZIP Code
• Route Number
• Delivery Type
• Date

However, the information below will change for each slip:

• Total # of Mail Pieces per Bundle (i.e. 50)
• Total # of Bundles (i.e. 2 of 4)

Regardless of whether you’re submitting 5 facing slips or 50, making copies streamlines the process of filling out USPS paperwork.

Conclusion

Executing an EDDM^® campaign on your own is time-consuming, but the tips above can help streamline the process. Understanding mail size requirements ensures you design a compliant piece. And taking shortcuts when preparing your bundles and filling out your paperwork saves time. But the best way to save time on your EDDM^® campaign is to work with a full-service direct mail company or commercial printer that can handle the bundling and paperwork for you.

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Bulk mail rates have changed 7 times over the past nine years (in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and now 2020). Each change resulted in an increase in USPS Marketing Mail and EDDM^® postage rates.

USPS Commercial Bulk Mail Rates

Direct mail postage rates can be very confusing. A variety of factors like weight, size, and even where you drop your mail off can dramatically affect the rate you pay for your postage. This variance in price makes it hard to accurately calculate what you’re going to pay to mail each piece.

The postage rates in this table come straight from the USPS Price Change Index for postage, not Best4mailing’s direct mail costs. Postage is just one part of the total cost of a direct mail campaign. The other things that factor into your total cost are your mailing list, design, and printing costs. Best4mailing’s direct mail prices are all-inclusive, which means they cover all of these elements.

Non-profit businesses looking to send direct mail campaigns can get a lower postage rate:

Are you looking for pricing to send a direct mail or EDDM campaign? Check out our products to see pricing for your campaign needs.

If you need help navigating the confusion of direct mail and its costs, give us a call or contact us today. We’ll simplify the process and walk you through how to get the lowest possible rates on your next direct mail campaign.

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