Affordable Direct Mail – 10 Cost-Saving Tips

July 29, 2021

With so many options available for designing and producing eye-catching direct mail pieces out there, picking the ones that best suit your business’s or organization’s needs can be difficult. Due to so much variety where basically the sky’s the limit, some campaigns can be significantly more costly. What highlights direct mail as an exceptional multi-level tool for your marketing strategy comes from the understanding that you don’t have to go big or go home. When pairing with a direct mail service provider like ProList , you’ll get the focus and dedication of an experienced team to figure out what format – and budget – will best meet your needs.  There are a variety of affordable direct mail options available that can still help craft and deliver an impactful, engaging message on a quality printed mailpiece delivered right to the door of your target audience. 

Without a doubt, a more robust budget can help your organization create bigger, fancier mail campaigns with more features such as premiums, take-away or uniquely personalized elements.  There are also integrated components to consider adding, like QR codes, Informed Delivery, pURLs, and triggered emails. These may cost a little more, but that shouldn’t stop anyone on a smaller budget from employing direct mail campaigns or finding cost-effective ways to incorporate these enhanced features. In this article, we’ve put together 10 cost-saving tips to assist your business or organization in getting an effective mail campaign up and running.

Affordable Direct Mail – Tips for Smaller Budgets

Direct mail pieces can come in all different shapes and sizes, designs, and formats, and can even include interactive elements like stickers or premium items to drive engagement. Size, color, design, and even unique cut-outs and paper stock can all have a different impact on the audience receiving them. However,  that doesn’t mean that smaller, simpler mailers like postcards aren’t worth the ROI potential. They very much can be, when delivering a targeted and appropriate key message.  Below are 10 cost-saving tips to help your business or organization conceptualize the most affordable direct mail campaigns that will still drive conversions while getting your brand out in front of potential customers or donors.

1. If you don’t need a lot of space for graphics or copy, or your business wants to convey a relatively simple message, go with a postcard or self-mailer.
2. Use standard stocking items. There are many, many types of paper stocks from text papers to cover stocks and colored papers that production may commonly use, therefore having them on hand. Ask your direct mail provider what they have on the floor; this can save both time and money.
3. This same tip goes for envelope sizes, too. Go with standard sizes and standard windows. Windows are the clear portion of your envelope that displays addresses or customized messaging.
4. Consider using a letter/reply combo. The concept is to use a single piece that’s personalized in multiple areas but processed as one component in manufacturing. A combo piece like this can have a perf-off or tear-off reply, or it can actually slit off to become a separate piece that nests into the fold of the letter (the latter is called a drop-cut reply).  Utilizing this concept is especially useful if you’re personalizing multiple components, and can reduce a package – and its price – from that of a 3-way match campaign (personalized letter, reply and outer envelope)  to a 2-way match of just the letter or reply and the outer envelope. Or use a window envelope and have two personalized components – the letter and the reply – with no match at all!.
5. Keep weight in mind when it comes to postage rates too. Your mail pieces should weigh under an ounce for 1st class. Under 3.5 oz for standard/marketing mail.
   

   Smaller sizes, standard paper stocks, postcards, self-mailers, digital color printing, and designing your own mailers are great ways to save on direct mail campaigns.

6. If you’re considering premiums, go with flat items that can be easily inserted with no special packaging. Bookmarks, magnets, decals, note cards, membership cards, coupon cards and other flat extras won’t bulk up your mail pieces.
7. If your supplier is digitally printing, use color to your advantage. It doesn’t cost any extra and can bump up attention and design. You want your direct mail piece to stand out, so no need to stick to black and white.
8. If you’re able to, write your own copy and do your own design. Providing print-ready PDF files can save both time and money!
9. Consider EDDM® mailings for geographically targeted campaigns. EDDM® makes mailing to a specific mail route or multiple routes available without having to purchase a mailing list. This saves money in list rental, production costs, and postage.
10. Avoid mailing flats if you can. These are those larger-than-letter-size pieces. The postage is much more expensive and the delivery is slower, especially at peak times of the year.

These are just a few of the great ways you can save while creating your direct mail campaigns. Better yet,  the best way to really work on a great campaign while sticking to a small budget is by speaking to your direct mail service provider and hashing out the details one-on-one. At ProList, our experienced and professional team will walk you through your options, provide feedback and advice on features and sizes that will help fit within your budget, and help you every step of the way to produce and mail the most impactful campaign possible. Give us a call at 1-888-PROLIST, or head to our contact page on our website here. We can’t wait to work with you!