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Considering Every Door Direct Mail ® as the mailing service for your next direct mail campaign? Then it is very important to understand who you can target. Simply put, targeting refers to who you send your pieces to. Reaching the people who are most likely to respond to your ad helps you make the most of your marketing budget, so targeting is very important.
EDDM mailings allow you to advertise locally without spending money on a mailing list or bulk mail permit, but it has its limitations when it comes to targeting. In many cases, our full-
service postcard saturation or consumer targeted campaign via a direct mail company or commercial printer is a smarter choice. This blog will compare the targeting capabilities of these three mailing options to help you make the right decision about which one is best for your business.
You will not need a mailing list to do an EDDM Mailing, which means your pieces mail to every address on a carrier route (a map and breakdown of a zip code). Hence the name, “Every Door Direct Mail.” However, just because you’re mailing to every home in a postal carrier route doesn’t mean you don’t have targeting capabilities. With Every Door Direct Mail, you can do the following:
The USPS Every Door Direct Mail tool allows you to filter carrier routes by median income, median age, and home value. 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 30-35, your pieces will still reach many individuals outside that age range.
Every Door Direct Mail marketing would not be the best for businesses offering a product or service that’s not applicable to everyone or companies looking to target very specific consumers. But the good news is there are other service options besides EDDM ® , which we’ll compare below.
Technically, EDDM is a type of saturation mailing, but it’s more limited than a full-service saturation mailing you could get from Premier Mail Marketing, llc. With a full-service saturation mailing, you can select 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:
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 maintenance or general contractors looking to drum up new business wouldn’t want to mail to renters, since landlords or property management companies typically take care of maintenance and general repairs. 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 Every Door Direct Mail 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 have a very specific audience or niche – 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:
Targeted mailing lists are made up of consumers and/or businesses who match the exact demographics you are 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 runners between the ages of 45 and 50, you will 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, salons and auto shops), EDDM or saturation mailings through Premier Mail Marketing, llc are usually a better choice for marketing to prospective customers. Targeted mailing lists can be more expensive than saturation lists, (depending on demographics selected) and in some cases, saturation mailings offer the targeting capabilities businesses need at a lower price point.
It’s important to understand the targeting limitations of EDDM mailings when planning out your next direct mail campaigns. While EDDM can be an affordable and a good option, there are plenty of times when saturation or targeted mailings are the better choice. Ultimately, we would consult with you to see what option is best for your business. We will 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.
