Last Updated on January 25, 2023 by Carlos Alonso
As a business, few factors are more important than community awareness and participation. One of the best ways to achieve outreach for a local business is through the mail. Believe it or not, over 80% of people still read or skim their mail on a regular basis meaning that with a simple elegantly designed postcard, you can get thousands of new eyes on your brand and offers with a low-cost EDDM postcard campaign. Keep reading to learn how to design EDDM postcards for your business!
EDDM stands for “Every Door Direct Mail”. Rather than the postman taking cards to specific houses and addresses, EDDM postcards go to every single house or business on a mail route. Why is this so useful? It all hinges on how you make use of EDDM distribution.
It is Important to Design EDDM Postcards Because They Can Reach An Entire Neighborhood
The unique thing about EDDM is that it doesn’t go to individual houses or businesses, it goes to everyone in a region. For businesses trying to raise local awareness, you can canvass huge swaths of the city or surrounding neighborhoods without knowing a single resident’s name or worrying about printing thousands of address-unique mailing labels. EDDM is the number one way to reach an entire neighborhood, business or residential. This can be used to reach out to new potential customers or provide a blanket opportunity in neighborhoods that already include many of your regular patrons.
EDDM is also significantly more affordable than targeted direct mail marketing. You can send up to 5,000 postcards without need for additional postal permits and at very low postage costs. EDDM saves you on address labels, while still providing the same kind of regional targeting that traditional direct mail marketing has always used. You gain the benefit of canvassing a neighborhood without the costs of mailing to each house one by one.
Tips for Designing an Impactful EDDM Postcard Campaign
1) Map Your Mail Routes
The 40/40/20 rule of direct marketing campaigns states that 40% of your mail respondents will come from carefully selecting your recipients. The next 40% will come from the quality and appeal of your offer. The last 20% will be influenced by details like art and design.
This means that your first task after you decide to design EDDM postcards is to choose a mail route that matters. Simply canvassing the entire local region is going to be less effective than targeting exactly the neighborhoods that are most likely to be responsive. To do this with EDDM, that means choosing the right mail route. Your mail route is the path the mail carrier truck takes and for each home or business, the mailman takes a postcard and adds it to the personal stack.
To get exactly the distribution you’re looking for, you’ll want to choose a route that goes through the neighborhoods that matter most. Fortunately, USPS is ready with this handy tool that allows you to visually examine and select the routes in your target area.
2) Design EDDM Postcards that are Eye-Catching and Action-Inspiring
Your next goal is to make sure that your postcards catch the eye and win the attention of your EDDM recipients. You want to avoid the recycle bin and encourage your recipients to really consider the offer your postcard proposes. Your postcards first need to catch the eye with bold colors and a definitive design. Too many design elements and you’ll “bury the lead”. Too bland, and your cards will be discarded without a thought.
This is why marketers work hard to create powerful eye-catching designs that include action-inspiring messages. Your design will likely have a photo or image of some sort, a title of opportunity and a call to action. “Summer Blowout Sale at Barnie’s Pool Supplies”, says the title. “Get 30% off with This Discount Code!” says the call to action. These are your EDDM building blocks designed to catch the eye and spur recipients to the action you desire.
3) Approved USPS Card Dimensions
Of course, all that hard work is for naught if your EDDM postcards aren’t an approved USPS size. Whether you’re sending folded brochures or simple flat cards, the USPS system handles mail in a few standard sizes. Especially for EDDM campaigns. The standard sizes make it easier for mail machines to sort the stacks of cards and for mail carriers to quickly flip through the cards and distribute one to each home or business on the route.
All templates and designs should be based around the dimensions required by the USPS for EDDM delivery. Fortunately, there’s some variety in the size and the card design you can choose to best serve the purposes of your brand and campaign.
4) Clear Purpose and Use
Recipients should never be confused about why they have received the EDDM postcard or what they are expected to do about it. Your card design should prominently feature a statement of purpose and a call to action that recipients can understand with a single glance. The more complex your design, the more people will discard it without fully understanding the value you have to offer.
Whether your goal is to build awareness or send out coupons that people will put to use, make it clear. Use short declarative statements and design the flow of your imagery to direct readers to the best possible conclusion via a call to action. Make sure your purpose and the use of your EDDM card is unquestionably clear.
5) The Motivator
Next, think about the motivator. A simple call to action is often not enough to spur a call, walk-in, or website visit. But an offer, special deal, or opportunity might be. Remember the 40/40/20 rule. The second forty percent of your respondents will follow through on the call to action because of the value of the offer on the card.
Here is where your brand and campaign design matter most, as you decide what kind of offer will be most compelling and rewarding for the residents who will receive your EDDM postcards. Make your motivator friendly, powerful, and with enough of a time limit to prevent the indefinite put-off.
6) An Online Landing Page
No modern marketing campaign is complete without a landing page. Some cautious respondents may want to visit your website and check out your brand before they take any real action. This is a combination of curiosity, due diligence, and a desire to be engaged by your brand. So be sure to build an engaging landing page and include its URL on each of your EDDM postcards. This way, your respondents not only have a call-to-action to follow, but they also have a website to interact with and possibly even a customer portal to open an account for and track their new services.
7) Mobile App Features
Finally, don’t forget the mobile crowd. Many postcard campaigns today feature more than just a discount code and a nice design. They also feature QR codes for cellphone scanning or opportunities to log in through a mobile app for even more features and services. Just like the landing page, mobile features are key to engaging high-tech younger generations and those who would rather interact online even if they’re responding to a postcard.
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Your next EDDM marketing campaign has huge potential to be a hit; increasing awareness and drawing customers in for discounted or special package services. For more on how you can customize EDDM postcard campaigns to serve your business’ specific goals an brand personality, contact us today!
