What are the advantages of using direct mail advertising? Direct mail can be highly effective in generating leads and sales from highly targeted lists.
Continue readingThe EDDM Myth
The EDDM Myth

Higher Costs of EDDM vs. Saturation Mailing
EDDM Mails to Bad Addresses
Have you ever wondered why EDDM counts are higher than a normal Saturation mailing? It’s because you are sending to records that should have been removed. Vacancies, do not mails, and excessive drops have all been removed from regular occupant files. Every “extra” EDDM address–often as high as 10% of the list–is a waste of postage and printing.
EDDM Does Not Allow Removals
To qualify for Saturation rates, you only need to mail to 75% of all addresses in a CRRT or 90% of all Residential addresses–whichever count is lower. So why blanket your mailings to every address? With standard occupant data, we have all sorts of removal options that allow clients to optimize their mailings, while maintaining the best possible rates. Here are three great choices
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Saturation Record Filters:
This allows you to trim a list to the count you want. For example, if you have 11,748 records and only want to mail to 10,000 of them, you can select to remove certain types of records (trailers, apartments, PO Boxes, businesses), or you can trim by lowest income CRRTs first. This gives you a “smart” way to remove those records. -
Penetration Indexing:
By analyzing your existing customer list and looking for areas you’re already successful, we can effectively target areas that contain “look-a-like” consumers that are more likely to respond to your offers.
EDDM Has Lower Response Rates:
Time and time again, we’ve had new customers come to us because EDDM just performs poorly when compared to normal Saturation mailings.
- The postal carrier, sometimes, packages all EDDM pieces together, so EDDM mailings become less of a standalone mail piece.
- EDDM mails to extraneous addresses that normal Saturation mailings would skip thus reducing the overall results.
But What’s the ROI Difference?
- The average cost to address a postcard: .004
- The average cost to purchase a mailing list: .007
- Postal savings will be .001 to 2.3 cents.
- Delivery savings will be .002 to .004, since only SCF is needed for letter Saturation mailings.
- You save 3% to 10% on wasted mail pieces: vacancies, do not mail addresses, and excessive drops (1 to 3 cents).
"Smart" Saturation Mail Costs Less Than EDDM!
All of this shows that saturation mailing generally ends up costing less than EDDM overall. Additional benefits of saturation include narrowing your list selections on a household level (through Saturation Record Filters, Penetration Indexing or Response Boosters) and Saturation mailings typically perform better.
EDDM® & Full Service Mailing Guide | |||
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Tasks to complete in Preparing Mailing | USPS Every Door Direct Mail® (EDDM) Retail Steps | USPS Every Door Direct Mail® (EDDM) Commercial | Full Service Mail Program One-Stop Solution |
Design Your Piece | Spectrum Handles | Spectrum Handles | Let Us Do it All for You! Design, Print, Mail Prep, Trucking, and Postage. PLUS: With Spectrum's Saturation Mail Program:
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Print Your Piece | Spectrum Handles | Spectrum Handles | |
Truck Your Piece to Location | Spectrum Handles | Spectrum Handles | |
Pick a Maximum of 5k Homes | Do-It-Yourself | No Maximum Spectrum Handles | |
Go to USPS.com to select routesbased on 5-Mile Radius | Do-It-Yourself | Spectrum Handles | |
Count Mailing in Bundles of 5 and band two ways | Do-It-Yourself | Spectrum Handles | |
Print Facing Slips and apply one per each 50 piece bundle | Do-It-Yourself | Spectrum Handles | |
Drive to each Post Office and pay on-site for the mailing | Do-It-Yourself | Spectrum Handles |
The Key Takeaway
Less, Waste, Better Campaign ROI!
You will typically get a better ROI with our “Smart” Saturation Mailings Program. While from a pure numbers standpoint, Saturation Mailings tend to beat out EDDM even with their “free data”, but there are other reasons other mail vendors might prefer to use EDDM.
Many mail and print providers don’t have the capability to ink-jet addresses or turn around EDDM jobs rapidly making it difficult to deliver on time. Many also don’t have the knowledge, capability, or expertise to execute them properly.
So if you use EDDM often, think about whether it is the right choice for your marketing campaigns – you may be wasting resources!
Not sure? Spectrum will do a free marketing analysis to help you to determine which targeted mailing list option is best for you.
Spectrum has the data technology, expertise, and mail formats to execute higher ROI campaigns using “smart” saturation mailings.
What are the advantages of using direct mail Advertising?
What are the advantages of using direct mail advertising? Direct mail has the highest response rates, is more trusted, tangible, more memorable, unavoidable, is not blocked by privacy walls, cuts through digital fatigue, allows for more creative design, is easily targeted, and has the best ROI in marketing.
Continue readingDirect Mail Meets Consumer Coupon Demand
Direct Mail has always used coupons effectively to drive action. But in the current market, it’s more critical than ever to get them in hands of deal-hungry consumers who are demanding better deals, special savings offers, and incentives.
Continue readingDirect Mail Response Rate Report 2021
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has released its long awaited 2021 Response Rate Report (membership required) that once again reinforces direct mail ROI as the highest of all channels they studied. Once again proving direct mail is the most effective marketing solution.
Continue readingMeasuring Direct Mail ROI
Measuring the return on investment (ROI) for direct mail marketing helps you to evaluate the success of the campaign.
Continue readingDirect Mail Marketing Strategies & Statistics for Black Friday Promotions
Direct Mail Marketing Strategies for Black Friday Promotions

One of the Biggest Shopping Days of the Year
The day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday, kicks off one of the biggest shopping days of the holiday season.
Between the coronavirus, increased adoption in online shopping, supply chain woes and several retail giants choosing to remain closed on Thanksgiving, retailers didn’t know what to expect during the five major online shopping days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. While the Cyber 5 period looked much different than previous years, thankfully, that didn’t put a damper on spending. According to Adobe Analytics, online sales totaled a record $34.36 billion, up from $28.49 billion for the same period in 2019. ***
November and December make up 20% to 40% of annual sales for small to medium-sized businesses so make sure you are optimizing your ad spend. If you choose not to run a cohesive Black Friday direct mail marketing campaign, you could miss a large percentage of annual sales.
Put Your Best Offers in Customers Hands!
Create Even More Impact with One of Spectrum’s Eye-Catching Black Friday Direct Mail Solutions!

Leverage Spectrum’s Cross-Media Direct Marketing Solutions to Lift Your Campaign’s Response!
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Spectrum MailPlus Direct to Digital Solutions: Increase marketing response 23-46% with direct mail to digital omni-channel advertising
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Email Marketing: Our designers will convert your Black Friday direct mail piece to a responsive email that will capture the attention it deserves.
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IP Targeting/Banner Ads: Target Black Friday customers and prospects before, during, and even after your Black Friday direct mail campaign drops. Direct them to your website or landing page and present your offer(s).
- Social Media Advertising: Gain even more traction by engaging with your target audience on Facebook and Twitter.
Start Planning Your Black Friday Promotion Today
Top 7 Reasons Direct Mail Wins More Customers
Top 7 Reasons Direct Mail Wins More Customers
“For those of you who are already on the direct mail bandwagon – because you really should be in this day and age – here’s what you should know about 2018: It’s going to be irresistibly amazing!”

1) Better Response Than Other Channels

2) Effective Targeting
3) More Trusted By Consumers
4) It’s More Persuasive
5) Direct Mail Is More Memorable
6) Creative Options Allows For Unique Engagement
7) Able To Reach All Demographic Groups
81%
Direct Mail Response Rate Continued From Blog
Direct Mail Has Explosive Response
Direct Mail Records the Highest Response Since Being Tracked!

The contributing factors to Direct Mail’s recent success:
It's More Trusted
Better Data & Lists

Better Pieces & Offers
84%
Mobile Shift
Direct Mail Response Rate Continued From Blog
Direct Mail Response Rates for 2018
Direct Mail Response Rates Rose Significantly In 2018!
There was significant growth in direct mail response rates from 2017 to 2018! House rates rose to 9% (3.9% increase) while prospect response rates rose to 5% (2.1% increase). This is the highest number for house lists since the report started.
