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
- 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 first class postcard: $.062
- The average cost to purchase a mailing list: can range from .$.02 to .$030 a record.
- 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).
Consider the following:
Saturation mailing can be more cost-effective per piece in high volumes due to specific postage discounts, particularly when utilizing options like the DDU (Destination Delivery Unit) entry level, where the mail is brought directly to the local post office for delivery.
• EDDM has the lowest postage rates available from the USPS, mainly because it requires less sorting and handling by the Postal Service.
• EDDM postage rates are around $0.219 – $0.30 per piece (for EDDM BMEU) and $0.223 (for EDDM Retail), with the DDU discount bringing the EDDM BMEU rate down to $0.219 per piece.
• Saturation flats sent to the DDU entry level can have a postage rate of $0.218 per piece.
However, it’s important to remember that EDDM postage savings can be offset by other costs:
• EDDM may require larger mail pieces (flats), potentially leading to higher printing costs compared to saturation mailings using standard postcard sizes.
• EDDM requires the sender to prepare, sort, and bundle the mail into stacks for delivery, potentially incurring labor costs and time.
• Saturation mailing, especially when utilizing a full-service provider, might offer additional discounts, like a 5-digit postal sortation discount, which could further reduce postage costs and potentially result in lower final costs than EDDM, according to Mail Shark.
Factors impacting savings:
• Volume of Mail: Higher volumes in saturation mail can unlock greater discounts, potentially surpassing the per-piece savings of EDDM.
• Level of Service: Full-service direct mail providers often have access to deeper discounts and can handle the complexities of saturation mailings, making it more cost-effective than DIY EDDM.
• Targeting Needs: If specific demographic targeting is crucial, saturation mail (which allows for excluding certain addresses) might be more efficient, reducing wasted mail pieces and maximizing ROI, even if the per-piece postage is slightly higher than EDDM.
"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.
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.
