USPS Every Door Direct Mail (E.D.D.M.): A Potential Disaster for Small Businesses? (Updated for 2020)

I’m sure you’ve heard about the US postal service called EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) because the USPS has been spending some money focusing on their EDDM advertising…

We’ve received a good amount of inquiries about EDDM, so I wanted to give you an explanation of this program and let you know which businesses should use it and what businesses it could potentially be a disaster for.

First off, I applaud the USPS on their direct mail marketing and advertising efforts. And, since we do cheap EDDM postcard printing right here at PostcardMania, we are happy that they are spending their money teaching businesses about the power of direct mail — specifically Every Door Direct Mail!

What most don’t realize is that this every door delivery option has been around for years, also known as carrier route mailing.

Here’s the main difference:

The US Postal EDDM size specifications are quite exact — meaning your EDDM postcards absolutely must be a VERY specific size or they can’t be mailed. It’s these specific EDDM sizes which justified a re-brand — and advertising push — of this door to door mail delivery postal service.

So let’s look at Every Door Direct Mail in detail to see if it is actually going to help you get out more promotion for less money, what all business owners actually care about!

What is EDDM USPS (Every Door Direct Mail)?

EDDM is a way for businesses to mail to every home in a specific area or zip code at a discounted postage rate.

The mail piece has to be a very specific size — in fact, you can get samples of the Every Door Direct Mail template so you can see what I mean. Again, your EDDM postcards simply HAVE to follow exact EDDM post office guidelines which inform how to format the direct mail postcard, pull the mailing list, prep the mailing, and deliver it to the post office.

The US Post Office Every Door Direct Mail department has laid out all of these instructions in a way that small business owners can understand, in an effort to make sending out direct mail easier for them. You can figure out the EDDM postage USPS cost and the different USPS EDDM postal routes as well.

Even though you can do it yourself, it is still time consuming. Plus, you can hire an EDDM printer who will help design, print, bundle, and mail your EDDM direct mail for you, oftentimes saving you additional money over doing it yourself.

What Kind of Businesses is an EDDM Mailer Good For?

Here’s how you can decide if an EDDM campaign is going to be your best option or whether you would actually be worse off with EDDM services over a normal, USPS targeted direct mail campaign.

First, you’ll want to look at who your ideal customer group is and if they’re the best size for EDDM.

Let’s take an example: a women’s clothing shop that caters to middle-aged women.

The people who actually buy from you are women ages 30-50.

You run a count of how many women aged 30-50 live in your targeted zip codes, and you come up with 2,200 (call us and we can run these counts for you at no charge, 877-436-3836).

Next, run an EDDM mailing list count for those same targeted zip codes — let’s say you come up with 9,000 total records.

If you use Every Door Direct marketing, you will have to hit 9,000 homes to reach the 2,200 people that are actually your target market — the people who REALLY want and need your product.

Or…

You can pay a few cents more per piece and ONLY mail to those 2,200 qualified people, so your overall every door direct mail cost is actually MUCH less than EDDM flyers, letters or brochures.

Follow this link to get Free Every Door Direct Mail Samples!

Now let’s look at another example of someone who should use door to door mailing.

Let’s take a restaurant who is targeting anyone in a 5-mile radius who makes more than $30k per year.

You run a specific count with the income criteria and come up with 12,300 records.

You run a US Postal Service every door direct mail count and get 13,000 records.

This business will most likely benefit from going with EDDM marketing since they’re targeting almost everyone in their 5-mile radius.

Make sense?

For some businesses it can get a little bit more complicated than the above EDDM direct mail examples because while they may be able to service everyone in their area, they may make more money off of targeting people with specific income levels, homeowners, genders, etc. and all of this needs to be considered into their Every Door Direct Mail printing cost vs. income return from their mailing.

Here are a few industries EDDM is elite for in attracting community business (if you don’t see your industry listed, give us a call at 1-800-628-1804 and we can tell you whether or not it will be good for you):

– Restaurants
– General Retail stores
– Dentists
– Attorneys
– Doctors
– Dry Cleaners
– Churches
– Moving/Storage companies
– Museums/Amusement Parks
– Auto Repair Shops
– Gyms
– Car Washes

The number one industry? Real Estate EDDM, especially postcards made for realtors, have historically performed incredibly well at my company.

The actual cost difference between mailing through EDDM retail and mailing a standard-sized postcard to a targeted list is about 3 cents per piece.

So in the above example of the women’s clothing shop, the 3-cent savings will not justify having to mail to 9,000 people to hit the 2,200 qualified people. See that?

Feel free to call us, and we’ll do a full cost analysis for you so you can see which way makes the most sense for you: 800-628-1804.

We can also offer you FREE Samples of EDDM Postcards!

EDDM Benefits: Postage Savings

The USPS EDDM rates and postage costs give you a discounted rate over the standard letter rate. It’s hard to beat USPS direct mail prices and EDDM cost per piece rates.

The nice thing about EDDM postcards is that you can mail a much larger piece which will serve to grab recipients’ attention in the mail box.

You will want to quote the entire campaign with USPS EDDM mailer pieces — including EDDM printing and mailing — and then quote the entire campaign with a targeted list to get an exact EDDM pricing comparison of the difference in the costs of the complete campaign. USPS EDDM prices.

EDDM Specs: Postcard Sizes

EDDM approved postcards have very specific rules about the size of the piece.

While many different sized pieces may qualify, there are very specific guidelines to figure out the correct size of a USPS EDDM example mailing template so your piece will actually mail.

To follow the EDDM approved postcard sizes, your mail piece must be taller than 6.125” or longer than 11.5” and smaller than 12”x15”.

This gives you an almost endless variety of sizes which can get a bit overwhelming.

We have simplified this into a few USPS EDDM templates that are cost-effective to print:

– 6.25” x 8.5”
– 4” x 12”
– 6” x 12”

You can also call us at 1-800-628-1804, and we can send you some Every Door Direct Mail samples.

EDDM Printing: Where To Go?

Once you’ve decided you’re going to go with an EDDM postcard, you’ll want to find a good EDDM full-service printer – someone who can do EDDM postcards and who prints enough of them so that their EDDM prices are good (ahem, low.) I would do my research and not just pick the first suggestion on Google after an “EDDM printing near me” search. The more they do the better their EDDM postage rates will be!

For a professional looking every door direct mail printing piece, you should look for a paper thickness of 12 or 14pt card stock, and if possible you should find out if they can use UV lamination on one side for a sleeker professional look.

You will want to confirm with the EDDM printer that their paper stock is EDDM compliant. When everything is confirmed, print those EDDM postcards!

Every Door Direct Mail Mailing Lists

Now it is time to pull your EDDM mailing list, which will show where the carrier route will go.

There are 2 ways to figure out the post office EDDM routes – one is doing it yourself through the EDDM USPS website, or you can just find out if your EDDM printer will do it for you. Either way, it should give you a good idea of the local every door direct mail map.

Most of the time your EDDM printer can just pull it for you if you specify the zip codes that you want to target.

Preparing Your EDDM Postcard

If you plan to mail your USPS every door direct mail postcard yourself, then you need to get the PS Form 3587, bundle your postcards, and deliver the direct mail in a very specific order to the post office.

When submitting your EDDM mail, you can either deliver it to a regional business mail entry unit (BMEU) or at any local US retail Post Office. The difference between the two the USPS services is that when you use BMEUs, the mail gets labeled BMEU and at retail locations it gets marked at retail.

The essential difference between the two services is the order size. If the EDDM minimum quantity for your business’s needs is very high and will cover many USPS routes with multiple post offices, BMEU marketing mail would make more sense.

However, it isn’t that simple. It gets a little complex because if you are mailing to addresses in other cities or states then you have to take the USPS direct door mail campaign mailings to that post office with instructions – a pretty big pain.

The best thing to do is find an EDDM mailer who will just do ALL of the legwork for you.

Tracking Your EDDM Mailing Response

Finally, if you rely on phone calls as your response metric, you’ll want to include a call tracking phone number on your mail piece to see how much response you get from your EDDM postcards.

This way you can track how many leads and sales you get it’s clear what your return on investment really is.

In summary, the EDDM program is a good one for SOME businesses. We believe the best EDDM service can make this entire process easiest for you, and that’s what we strive for every day.

If you are wondering if it will work for your business, feel free to give one of our marketing consultants a call at 800-628-1804.

They’ll be happy to discuss all of your options with you so that you can make an educated decision!

Best,
Sarah

Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) Reviews