You have to remember, repsonse to EDDM depends on multiple factors:
What time of year are you sending it out? What day of the week is it hitting people’s mailboxes? Are you doing one round and then stopping? Have you done research on the areas you are sending them out to? Do your cards correspond with the demographics of the neighborhood?
Most tend to do multiple mailings in a row. Even if it is one route of 1000 people, repetitiveness is key. 3 or 4 mailings might bring a better response.
It is true, there is a small ROI on EDDM, however there are a ton of window cleaners and pressure washers doing 25k piece mailings multiple times a year. There has to be a reason for that!
Make your card stand out, and be professional looking. The WCR website has a TON of templates to download for free, that you can edit yourself or purchase an editing service.
Time of year and day of mail drop is key. Holiday time= stacks full of circulars and junk mail. Pick a time when people aren’t being flooded with mail, your card will not get lost in the mix.
Try and set it so your piece drops on a weekend. People are always rushing during the week, and mail gets plopped on a table and lost. On the weekend, people are more likely to sit and read through everything.
Call to action- Everyone loves a coupon. Make it enticing, but don’t sell yourself short at the same time.
Demographics- what type of areas are you targeting? You images on your card should reflect this. EX: If you are targeting a high income area, you want your card to have a high end house image, as well we personal before and afters. Same goes for lower income, or commercial.
Use the USPS tool to your advantage- you can enter a starting point ( your business location, your home, a current client) and get an idea of every route in the area and how many locations are in each route.
REPEAT!!! You can not just hit a location once. Pick a route, and whether it is the same card or different, hit that route 3 or 4 months in a row. They might eventually need you, and showing up in their mail every month will bring brand awareness as well as stick in their memory.
I always recommend door hangers if you’re just starting out. It’s inexpensive and it works. If I had to do it all over again I would skip EDDM entirely and work on Google Adwords. I know there are mixed feelings about Adwords in here but I’ve had success with it. EDDM was very hit or miss for me, and when you miss it’ll cost you. EDDM is not cheap.
Some guys here like the 5 arounds. There is a method to it and must be folllowed to work properly. I don’t do it but I see it come up a lot in marketing articles.
