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EDDM Marketing: Planning a Campaign

A single EDDM® mailing is a coin toss. A planned campaign is a system: the right routes, a series of drops, one clear offer and a way to count every response. Here's how to plan one.

SPEC CHECKED 2026-11-06 · SOURCES BELOW

Start from your customers

The best predictor of who will buy from you is who already does.

1. Mark your best customers on a map. A spreadsheet of addresses dropped into a free mapping tool is enough.
2. Look for clusters. Neighborhoods where you already have several customers are your first routes.
3. Check the routes in the USPS tool. USPS's EDDM® tool on usps.com shows each carrier route with household counts, and filters for age, income and household size based on Census data.
4. Choose residential only if your customers are households, so you don't pay to mail businesses.

Neighbors notice each other's contractors, restaurants and dentists. Mailing around existing customers lets that work for you.

Frequency and schedule

One drop rarely tells you much. People see the card, keep it and act weeks later, often after the second or third time they see you. A simple series:

This is an example, not a rule. Adjust the gaps to your season and budget. Keep the offer consistent so the series builds on itself.

Timing by season

Mail a few weeks before demand peaks, not in the middle of it. Common seasonal patterns:

USPS doesn't guarantee delivery dates for EDDM®, so build in a cushion before any deadline in your offer.

Tracking every response

Set this up before the first drop:

• A dedicated phone number printed only on this campaign. Call tracking services can also record which route a call came from if you use different numbers per route.
• A QR code leading to a page just for this offer, with a tracked link.
• An offer code customers mention or type in.
• Asking. "How did you hear about us?" on every new call, written down.

A simple tracking sheet:

After each drop, total the booked jobs and value per route. Keep mailing the routes that pay and drop the ones that don't.

Budgeting the campaign

Multiply your homes per drop by your all-in cost per piece, then by the number of drops. Then check it against what each customer is worth with the break-even calculator. If three drops cost more than you can afford, mail fewer routes three times rather than more routes once.

Campaign checklist

• Best customers mapped and routes chosen around them
• Residential only selected if you're targeting households
• One offer with a clear deadline, kept consistent across drops
• Card passes the three-second test (design guide)
• Tracking number, QR code or offer code set up
• Drop dates on the calendar, a few weeks apart, before the busy season
• Printer and drop-off arranged (printing options)
• Tracking sheet ready for the first call

Questions people ask