What are the costs involved with Direct Mail?

If you've been thinking of doing a postcard mailing you might be wondering just what is involved, how much it will cost and what are my options. This series of articles on direct mail marketing is being written to help small business owners understand just what they are buying when they invest in a mail campaign. Here, in a nutshell, are the costs that are involved with most direct mail campaigns:

• obtain a mailing list (you may have a list already)
• graphic design (of course you can do it yourself)
• printing
• mailing house services (sorting, ink-jetting, use of indicia, postal verification)
• SCF drop shipping (for saturation mailing or postal discounts on larger mailings)
• postage (your biggest expense)
• list clean-up/address verification to meet postal requirements

You may have your own database of customers you’d like to target or you may need to purchase a mailing list. Lists are priced per thousand addresses. The content of your list is an important factor in determinging how expensive your mail campaign will be as well as how successful. Mail campaigns start with the decision of who your target recipient will be.

Targeting the right customers can be a challenge. You can choose a list that targets a specific area and qualifies for reduced (bulk mail) postage rates depending on the ‘density’ of the list or alternatively, you can choose a list that targets specific demographic criteria within a broader area. For example, you might target households within a specific income range or people who buy green products.

The cost of postage is usually your greatest expense. Your mailing may qualify for lower postage rates based on the number of addresses within a 5-digit zip code area or within a 3-digit zip code area. This is referred to as the 'density' of your addresses.  Your mailing list is evaluated and postage is calculated when the list is sorted prior to address ink-jetting. Residential Saturation Mail is the least costly postage rate offered by the US post office. To qualify for saturation postage rates you must mail to the majority of the addresses within a postal carrier route. There are multiple postal carrier routes within a zip code.