If you’re looking for a way to reach every single household in a specific area with postcards, the Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) postal program is potentially cost effective option. While your postcards may be my super targeted or personalize, it is certainly a less costly method to flood an area with direct mail.
The EDDM program can be effective, but it’s important to keep in mind that there are direct mail formatting and other restrictions from the USPS which can limit your campaign effectiveness.
First, the good stuff. The EDDM allows regular publishers who use EDDM services frequently to mail at an amazingly low 17.5 cents per piece. It’s not for everybody, but some direct mail marketers love this new program because it is relatively fast (although not nearly as fast as CustomMail), low cost, and does not require a mailing list. ling house costs and postage without purchasing a mailing list.
The short story – you can saturate an area and reach everybody in a specific neighborhood with oversized delivered at a low price.
Now the bad (or at least not great) stuff. First, your targeting is limited to an entire carrier route. Second, there is no personalization on the piece, such as name, address, or personalized message.
So how exactly does it work? Read on for all the details:
Procedure for EDDM – Retail™
– Submit your pieces to the postal station serving the area you desire to reach.
– Send as many as 5,000 mail pieces daily.
– Keep your weight per-piece less than 3.3 ounces.
– Utilize Standard Mail® flats and follow the format specs at usps.com/business/every-door-direct-mail
Main points for publishers
Below are the main points that publishers need to keep in mind when using the EDDM. This information should help you determine if EEDM makes sense for you.
Requirements to get qualification for EDDM/Retail:
– Your mailing must be 200 or more mail pieces and less than 5,000 per day.
– Your piece should be a standard mail flat
– The mailing piece should be more than 0.25” thick or more than 6 1/8” high or more than 10 ½” long. USPS always considers shortest side as the “height” and the longest side as the “length”.
– Your mailing piece should weigh 3.3 ounces or less
– You should do a saturation mailing to a mail carrier route.
Now, if you do not meet all the requirements, you can still possibly qualify for EDDM/BMEU if you meet the following requirements:
– First, you should have your own mail permit number (you can get this by paying $190 annual fee at the main post office in your area). You can access one by visiting the USPS online at www.uspseverydoor.com.
– You might also select to use your printer’s permit or mail center number, so ask them if they have one for you to use. If you do this, you can have your mailing confirmed at their place and then dropped shipped to the local DDU that your job is mailing to
– Keep in mind, your mailing piece should be less than 15.994 ounce.
– Next. the mailing piece should be more than 0.25” thick or more than 6 1/8” high or more than 10 ½” long.
Some other points to consider:
– To get low rate EDDM/Retail should ship to the local DDU, so you must get a shipping cost to that place and add it to the 17.5 cents per piece cost – so keep that in mind when calculating your total mailing expenses. Your printer may also charge a small fee to get everything ready for your mailing. But, all in all, you should not pay in excess of $10-$15 per thousand. That’s a lot cheaper than the $20-$25 per thousand which you would pay for a usual addressing/mail processing fee, so the discount is significant.
– You will be required to have a CRID (Customer Registration Identification) in order to mail through EDDM/Retail. It is available free at www.uspseverydoor.com
– EDDM/BMEU should be verified at the BMEU where the permit number is registered. And even though it’s not needed any longer, the USPS recommends using the city, state, 5digit zip code, as always.
Calculate the rate for EDDM/BMEU:
– Go to http://dbcalc.usps.gov/ and select “Standard Mail” under “Flat”. Rates begin at 15.1 cents and from there go up depending on weight and the place where you drop these.
EDDM® Mailing Requirements
If you want to qualify for the EDDM® program, the USPS requires that all EDDM® mail pieces follow specific guidelines. Learn a lot more about the kinds of materials which can be sent through EDDM®, how these pieces must be addressed, and what type of details your print piece must include.
Dimensions
For simplified addressing the EDDM® program needs to mail Standard Mail commercial flats. To simplify addressing the USPS has defined a mail piece of rectangular shape having 4 square corners that is less than 0.75 inches thick, 15 inches long, or 12 inches tall and is more than .25 inches thick, longer than 11.5 inches wide, or more than 6.125 inches tall. To qualify as a commercial flat, the mail piece should exceed just one of the sizes, but not exceed any of the maximums. If not, it’s considered as a parcel.
Mailing Label Options
While you can get this information at the USPS, we went ahead and listed the mailing label options for you below. Mailing labels should appear on the upper half of the mail piece. The positioning of the label is immaterial. The upper half of the piece will always be the shortest end.
BMEU Options
A pre-printed mailing label which uses a simplified addressing format must also feature all EDDM® mail pieces. If using a BMEU (Business Mail Entry Unit), standard forms of this format are:
– “PO Box Customer” for PO Box deliveries
– “Residential Customer” for residential-only deliveries
– “Postal Customer” for business and residential deliveries
Indicia
For EDDM® there are two types of indicias:
Notes:
– The EDDM® – BMEU indicia shows the permit number on the last line and “PAID” appears on a different line.
– The EDDM® – Retail indicia shows “EDDM Retail” printed on the last line and “PAID” appears on a different line.
-All of mail pieces must contain “ECRWSS” in the address area.
If you want more information on the program, contact the USPS. Then again, if you want to send out a targeted campaign, you’re better off contacting custommail!
