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Direct Mail Planning Center

Plan a direct mail campaign from the audience to the mailbox

Start with what the mailing has to do. Each step below answers one question, from who gets the mail to how it is ordered, and opens the tool that works it out. Most tools need no sign-in, and the ones that need a free account say so.

Start With Your Goal Estimate the Cost

Where the answers come from

  • Household counts: US Census data bundled into Plavidian's system
  • Carrier routes: the USPS EDDM route service
  • Postage: the USPS Notice 123 price list
  • Printing and mailing services: Plavidian's current prices

Step 1

What are you trying to do?

Choose the goal and the page opens the approach that fits and the tool for the first step. You can change course at any step.

Not sure yet? Start with the area in the steps below.

Step 2Your industry

What type of business?

Each industry guide covers how businesses like yours use mail: the campaigns, the audience and area, the pieces that fit and the timing, with the tools set up for them.

HVAC: Read the HVAC direct mail guide

Auto RepairService-due and declined-work reminders from the shop's own records, win-back cards, and EDDM coupons on the routes around the bays.DentalNew-mover welcomes, recall and reactivation, benefits-reset reminders and opening announcements for dental offices, with California ad rules.HVACTune-up and plan renewal postcards, neighbor mailers, EDDM flats and repair-or-replace letters for HVAC contractors, timed to cooling and heating seasons.Real EstateFarm postcards, just listed and open house mail, past-client cards, and the California license and fair housing rules that govern them.RoofingHomeowner lists, neighbor mail around each job, pre-rain and Santa Ana timing, and the California ad rules a roofing mailer must follow.Financial ServicesWorkshop invitations, RMD letters, credit union new-mover mail and tax-season cards, plus the FINRA, SEC and banking rules to have reviewed.Fitness and GymsJanuary EDDM drops, presales for new clubs, new-mover passes and former-member win-backs, planned around California membership rules.Home RemodelingNew-owner welcomes, job-site neighbor drops, kitchen, bath, ADU and aging-in-place series for remodelers, with California's contractor ad rules.InsuranceNew homeowner and wildfire discount mail for P&C agencies, Medicare and lead-card letters, and the California and CMS rules behind them.LandscapingRoute-saturation EDDM, mail to the street after an install, and fall, fire-season and turf-conversion campaigns for landscaping companies.Pest ControlEDDM on the routes your technicians drive, neighbor postcards after each new account, termite season offers and California's ad rules for mailers.PlumbingPostcards, EDDM flats and letters for plumbing contractors, timed ahead of the first storm, the ShakeOut drill and the holiday rush.Property ManagementPostcards and letters to absentee owners wherever they live, EDDM lease-up for renters, and HOA ballots and budget reports sent First-Class.RestaurantsEDDM menu flats on the routes around the kitchen, win-back cards from ordering data, welcome offers to new movers and catering menus for offices.Senior LivingHoliday family guides, lunch and tour invitations, inquiry follow-up and referral mail, plus the California RCFE and fair housing rules behind them.VeterinaryNew-mover postcards, overdue-care reminders, win-back letters and EDDM clinic announcements, timed to the pet-care calendar.

Step 3

Where do you want to mail?

Start from the area the way you already think about it. A radius around an address, ZIP codes, a city, county or district, or a shape you draw starts in the Mailing List Builder. Whole carrier routes start in the EDDM Route Builder. Your own customer list goes to Mailing Blueprint or a quote.

A radius, ZIP codes, a city, county or district, or a drawn area

Counts households from US Census data bundled into Plavidian's system, not a live feed, and filters by homeowner or renter, income, age or children. One filter uses a published Census figure; combined filters are estimates, and the list itself is built after you order.

Open the Mailing List BuilderNo sign-in

Carrier routes

Shows USPS carrier routes with their residential and business delivery counts from the USPS EDDM route service, refreshed at least every two weeks, and the EDDM postage at origin, SCF and DDU entry side by side.

Open the EDDM Route BuilderNo sign-in

Your customer list

Mailing Blueprint reads your list and prices the presort it earns, with a free Plavidian account. Or send the list with a quote request.

About Mailing BlueprintFree accountGet a Custom Quote

Step 4

How do you want to mail?

EDDM sends the same flat piece to every address on the carrier routes you choose, with no list. Addressed mail goes to the households you pick and can carry a name and an offer for each. Choose EDDM when every home on a route is a prospect; choose a list when you need specific households, names, household targeting or a postcard.

Plavidian mails EDDM on its own permit through the business mail entry unit, with a 200-piece minimum and flat-size pieces only. The long read: how to choose between EDDM and a mailing list.

Compare EDDM and a Mailing ListNo sign-in

Step 5

What format?

Pick the piece by the job it has to do: a postcard for a short offer, a letter for a personal message, a folded self-mailer for more room, and a flat when the mailing is EDDM.

PostcardsA 4 x 6, 6 x 9 or 6 x 11 postcard, mailed at letter size.Heavier postcardsPostcards on a heavier stock.LettersA personalized letter in a window envelope, so the address prints on the letter itself.Half-fold self-mailersA folded piece with more room than a postcard, tabbed to mail.Tri-fold self-mailersA letter-fold piece with six printable panels, tabbed to mail.EDDM flatsA 6.5 x 9, 8.5 x 11 or 9 x 12 flat, the sizes Plavidian mails as EDDM.

Step 6

What will it cost, and when will it arrive?

Direct mail cost is printing, mailing services and USPS postage, plus a list when you mail addressed pieces to people you do not have on file. The date works backward from the day the mail has to be in homes: files and proof approval, printing, mailing services, USPS entry and the USPS delivery window.

Only printing can be paid by card; USPS postage is paid by check or wire, and no mail is released until the postage has cleared. USPS does not guarantee a delivery date, so leave room around a hard date. Turnaround Times has the order cutoffs.

Estimate the CostNo sign-inPlan the Mail DateNo sign-in

Step 7

Is the artwork ready?

If you have a file, run it through the Print File Check: it grades a PDF or an image A to F for size, bleed, safe zone, resolution, color and fonts, and deletes the file after the check. If you do not, design the piece in Plavidian Studio, free to try without an account; the design is saved to your order, not downloaded.

Artwork is uploaded with the order, and nothing prints until you approve the proof.

Check Your Print FileNo sign-inDesign in Plavidian StudioFree to try, no account

Step 8

Ready to order?

Standard print products at their listed quantities can be ordered online, with the printing paid by card. An EDDM mailing starts from the EDDM Route Builder once the routes are chosen. Anything else, such as a mailing list, a drop shipment or a custom quantity, gets a custom quote.

A proof is emailed before anything prints.

Order OnlineGet a Custom QuoteTalk to a Mail Specialist

Local direct mail planning

The whole plan on one page

Every step in order, each with the free tool that does it.

  1. Define the market

    Count the households in your area by radius, ZIP, city, county, district or a drawn shape, and filter by homeowner or renter, income, age or children.

    Open the Mailing List Builder

  2. Compare approaches

    Decide between EDDM, every address on the carrier routes you pick with no list, and an addressed list of the households you choose.

    Compare EDDM and a List

  3. Estimate the mailing

    Price the printing, mailing services and postage for your quantity, with the split between what can go on a card and what is paid by check or wire.

    Estimate the Cost

  4. Prepare the creative

    Design the piece in Plavidian Studio, free to try without an account, or run your own file through the Print File Check before you order.

    Design in Plavidian Studio

  5. Produce and mail

    Plavidian's plant in Vista, California runs the data processing, printing, addressing and USPS mail preparation, and work an approved vendor produces is held to the Plavidian Standard. Plavidian mails on its own USPS permits, so you need no permit of your own.

  6. Follow the mail

    Plavidian Insight is included with every Plavidian mailing at no separate charge. It follows each addressed piece by its Intelligent Mail barcode through USPS scans, which show mailstream visibility, not proof of delivery. EDDM pieces carry no barcode, so for an EDDM drop the Plavidian Assurance Report is the proof the mailing was delivered to USPS.

    See Plavidian Insight

Local guides

Mailing a region or a city?

Guides for Southern California regions and cities, starting with San Diego County, where Plavidian prints and mails.

Regions and counties

City market guides

Questions

Questions about planning direct mail

How far ahead should a direct mail campaign be planned?

Work backward from the in-home date: files and proof approval come first, then printing, mailing services and USPS delivery. The Mail Date Planner builds that schedule for your piece and quantity and names the day each step is due.

Plan the Mail Date

Do I need a mailing permit?

No. Plavidian mails on its own USPS permits, including EDDM through the business mail entry unit, so you need no permit of your own.

What is the smallest mailing?

EDDM jobs at Plavidian have a 200-piece minimum. Addressed USPS Marketing Mail needs at least 200 pieces or 50 pounds in a mailing; for a smaller mailing, ask for a quote.

Get a Custom Quote

Can Plavidian supply the mailing list?

Yes. Plavidian can supply consumer, business, new-mover and saturation lists through licensed data providers, and lists are quoted. Your own list is CASS processed, deduplicated, and run through NCOALink move update when the mailing needs it.

About Mailing Lists

Can new movers be mailed automatically every month?

Not automatically. Plavidian can supply a new-mover list through licensed data providers for each mailing, so a monthly mailing means ordering a fresh list each month.

Signed-in customers can start the next mailing with Order again, which fills in the same specifications.

How is a mailing paid for?

Printing can be paid by card. USPS postage is paid by check or wire transfer, never by card, and no mail is released to USPS until the full postage has been received in cleared funds.

Which steps need an account?

None of the planning steps do. The Mailing List Builder, EDDM Route Builder, EDDM or Addressed Mail, the cost calculator, the Mail Date Planner and the Print File Check show results with no sign-in, and Plavidian Studio is free to try without an account.

Tools that produce a file, such as Mailing Blueprint and Address List Cleanup, need a free Plavidian account.

Ready to plan it with us?

Send the area, the piece and the date. Printing, the list and postage are priced together.

Get a Custom Quote Talk to a Mail Specialist

Related

Planning a local direct mail campaign

Where the households are, how USPS sorts the mail, and the tools that open on your area.