Direct mail marketing: what to know

What the job involves, what changes the price, and what to ask a pro.

What direct mail marketing is

A direct mail marketer designs and mails postcards or letters to an address list you choose, handling the printing, the list selection, the postage and tracking of responses. Businesses use direct mail to reach people in a set area or group who may not see their ads online.

Signs you need it

  • You want to reach homes or businesses in a specific neighborhood or area that your online ads do not cover well
  • Your customers are older or local, and they respond to printed offers more than to email
  • You are opening a new location and need a local announcement to nearby households
  • You want to reach a group of past customers or lapsed customers with a printed offer
  • You need a campaign with a trackable response, such as a special code or a call number on each card

What the pro does

  • Review your offer, your audience and the area or list you want to reach
  • Select the address list and confirm it meets the rules for mailing to those addresses
  • Design the postcard or letter with a clear offer, a call to action and a tracking code or phone number
  • Print the pieces and check the proof for accuracy, the address placement and the postage layout
  • Mail the pieces through the postal service at the rate and the class chosen
  • Track the responses by code or phone line, and report the results with the cost per response

What changes the price

Every job is different, so we do not publish prices. These are the things that move the quote up or down.

  • The number of pieces mailed and how many versions of the piece are needed
  • The size, paper and finish of the piece and the printing method
  • The postage class and the rate for the mail class chosen
  • The cost and the source of the address list, and the number of addresses needed
  • Whether the marketer designs the piece or only prints what you supply
  • Whether variable data, such as names or codes, must be printed on each piece

What a written quote should spell out

  • The number of pieces, the size, the paper and the printing method
  • The address list used, its source and how it was checked
  • The postage class, the rate and whether postage is billed separately
  • How responses are tracked, such as codes, phone lines or landing pages
  • The mailing schedule and the report that follows the campaign

Questions to ask before you hire

  • Where does the address list come from, and how do you check it?
  • What postage class will you use, and how long will the mail take to arrive?
  • How will I know who responded, and how will you track it?
  • Can I see a proof of the piece before it is printed and mailed?
  • What is the minimum number of pieces to make the campaign worth mailing?
  • How do you handle returned mail and undeliverable addresses?

Red flags

  • Will not show the source of the address list
  • Mails before you approve the proof and the list
  • Cannot explain how responses will be tracked
  • Promises a set response rate or a set number of customers

What you can do yourself

You can hand deliver a small number of flyers to nearby homes, or use the mail service's own tools to send a small mailing to an address list you already have. Hire a direct mail marketer when the mailing is large, when the list must be chosen carefully, when printing and postage must be handled together or when you need tracking across a campaign.

Licenses and permits

No license is usually required for direct mail marketing. Ask for examples of past campaigns, references and a written description of the address list source; mailing lists must be used within the rules of the list provider and the postal service, so check those rules before you mail.

Direct mail marketing questions

How do I know the mailing list is legal to use?

Ask the marketer for the list source and the terms of use. Lists bought from providers come with rules on how they may be used, and the marketer should follow them.

Why should the piece include a tracking code?

A code or a unique phone number lets you see which mail piece produced a call or a visit. Without one, the campaign is hard to measure.

What happens to mail that comes back?

Ask the marketer how returned pieces are handled, whether the address is updated and whether you are told about returns.

Pro reviewers

Pros who offer direct mail marketing remotely can improve this guide, like Wikipedia. We check every edit before it goes live. Every approved edit is credited in the edit history and on the pro's profile.

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  3. 3. They reach out

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