What is Every Door Direct Mail® - EDDM

Avoid missing potential customers or making a mistake on your next direct mail campaign. Knowing how to use Every Door Direct Mail® will help you efficiently increase revenue by extending your reach while remaining extremely targeted.

clashgraphics.com gathered the following details about what Every Door Direct Mail® (EDDM®) is, how it works, and what it costs.

What is EDDM?

Every Door Direct Mail® (EDDM®) is targeted bulk mailing, offered by the United States Postal Service (USPS), allowing your marketing strategy to reach potential customers without maintaining a mailing list or even knowing their address. Choose the mailing routes you determine to be priorities (by neighborhood, city, or ZIP code), and your mailers will be delivered to each active address on those routes.

How Does USPS EDDM Work?

There are 2 types of EDDM®, one is “retail,” and the other is “Business Mail Entry Unit.” EDDM® Retail won’t require you to have a mailing permit, is limited to standard flats (postcards), and permits a maximum of 5,000 daily pieces. EDDM® BMEU (Business Mail Entry Unit) requires bulk-mail permitting and provides more flexibility as to what may be mailed.

You can put together an EDDM® marketing campaign (printed in accordance with USPS guidelines) in 4 easy steps:

Step 1. Define Your Marketing Strategy and Goals - Why are you considering using EDDM®. Are you trying to:

• Explore an under-targeted community?
• Increase lead generation?
• Promote a product launch, event, or sale?
• Promote a company expansion or branch opening?

EDDM® allows you to reach an entire community or laser focus on a select demographic within that community.

Step 2. Create or Use an Existing USPS.com Account - Businesses and individuals can create an Every Door Direct Mail®-Retail mailing online with a USPS.com account. To use EDDM® Retail, you must send a minimum of 200 mail pieces but are permitted up to 5,000 per day per ZIP Code.

Step 3. Design and Print Your Mail Pieces - The USPS has defined physical standards and print placement guidelines that must be followed when designing your creative. Click this link to have our team design and print your Every Door Direct Mailing Postcards according to these guidelines. For the specific requirements and a DIY campaign, read the following:

• Flat minimum dimensions must be more than 10.5 inches long or 6.125 inches high or .25 inches thick.
• Flat maximum dimensions are 15 inches long, 12 inches high, and .75 inches thick.
• Mailing labels must appear on the top half of mail pieces and not appear upside-down when placed parallel to the shortest end of the flat.

Business Mail Entry Units (BMEU) label options must include:

• “Postal Customer” for active business and residential deliveries
• “Residential Customer” for residential deliveries
• “PO Box Customer” for PO Box deliveries
• City, State, and 5-digit ZIP Code can be included but are not required
• “EDDM” must appear after “ECRWSS” on flats 10.5 to 11.5 inches in length submitted at a BMEU

Note: All pieces must include “ECRWSS” in the address area or within/below the permit indicia.

Retail EDDM® labels must include:

• “Local Postal Customer” for active business and residential deliveries

Note: All retail pieces must include “ECRWSS” and “EDDM RETAIL” within the retail indicia.

For more detailed information about proper placement and the indicia requirements, visit usps.com/business/pdf/quick-reference-guide.pdf

Watch this video about BMEU and Retail EDDM.

Step 4. Select The Best Mail Routes for Your Marketing Objectives - After you’ve done your research on “who you want to receive what,” the USPS has developed a powerful interactive map to help you determine the routes for your EDDM® marketing campaign.

Using census information, the map also allows you to define your recipients by showing:

• Number of business and residential postal customers
• Average age (you can define this metric)
• Average household size
• Average household income

The map will calculate the number of Post Office drop-off locations, the total number of addressees, the estimated cost, and provide you with a route number. You can find this map at eddm.usps.com/eddm/customer/routeSearch.action

Once your flats are printed and ready to go, you will need to decide how to get them to their destination. Having your printer take care of your EDDM® preparation can save your business considerable time and money. Your printer’s customer service representative can help you determine the best course of action to help you make the most of your investment.

How Effective is EDDM?

Since the onset of digital marketing, many have claimed that direct marketing would simply disappear. However, even in an increasingly digital world, direct marketing still works, and here’s why:

• Direct mail is interactive and tangible
• It is easily shared between household members and friends (not everyone is online)
• It can be creative and unique
• Direct mail campaigns pair nicely with digital campaigns

Perhaps the most significant advantage of direct mail, specifically EDDM®, is the ability to affordably personalize a highly targeted marketing campaign with little effort.

According to the U.S. Small Business Association, research found that direct mail campaigns result in purchases five times larger than from email campaigns. When email and direct mail are combined, purchases six times larger than email alone were generated.

How Long Does Every Door Direct Mail Take?

The longer phase of your marketing campaign will likely be the design, printing, and preparation of your mail pieces. This process can take anywhere from 3 to 10 days or more.

From the time USPS receives your EDDM®, you can expect delivery to occur within 3 to 10 days. While this delivery window is not guaranteed, anything delivered after 14 days is considered late.

If no significant challenges arise, your campaign’s concept to final delivery may take from 2 to 4 weeks.

How Much Does EDDM Cost?

EDDM® Retail rates are in the range of $0.16 to $0.20 per piece. The postage savings can be as much as 7 cents over standard mail, or 3 cents over first-class 4×6 postcard rates.

You can calculate the approximate cost per piece for your campaign by using the USPS EDDM® interactive map found at eddm.usps.com/eddm/customer/routeSearch.action

Watch this video from the USPS about Every Door Direct Mail.

EDDM “Every Home, Every Address, Every Time”

In this article, you discovered what Every Door Direct Mail® (EDDM®) is, how it works, how to use it in your marketing campaign, and what it costs.

Using EDDM® will help your marketing campaign extend its reach deeper into communities and demographics otherwise unattainable.

Without incorporating EDDM®, your direct mail marketing campaign may underperform or miss reaching its full capacity.

Sources:
usps.com/business/every-door-direct-mail.htm
sba.gov/blog/direct-mail-hot-again-heres-how-use-it
federalregister.gov/documents/2012/10/15/2012-25059/every-door-direct-mail-retail
uspsoig.gov/tags/eddm

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