How to use Every Door Direct Mail EDDM

Staying connected is becoming a critical thing to all people in all walks of life. It has become as a form of networking. It has been seen to aid actively in advertising and marketing of goods and services or even social events. This has been made all simpler, all thanks to the Internet. In today’s world, there is virtually Internet everywhere. There are only a few exceptions whereby Internet connection is not possible.

In some cases, however, there is a need for something that is a little bit more tangible for instance a package or a letter.

Getting in touch with people in a somewhat personal manner can in some cases be a little bit difficult, especially nowadays when people are constantly on the move. S

o to solve this issue here in the United States of America, the United States Postal Service created a service known as the Every Door Direct Mail, in short E.D.D.M. E.D.D.M has become very popular among the various businesses around, for instance in the real estate sector. This service has become a very easy way in which you can get into with potential clients for your business without having to have their contact information. You can reach people without knowing their names or even their street address. How convenient is that?

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How it works.  Every Door Direct Mail is not like your usual direct mail. For the traditional direct mail, you require specific contact information for the person you are sending to. With Every Door, Direct Mail you just need to know the target region or particular neighborhood and then USPS will do the rest for you.

Using the EDDM service is easy. This is because with EDDM you so not need to have a mailing list and on top of that you do not require having a permit for you to be sending out the mail pieces. All you do in this case is to select a carrier route using the easy to understand EDDM mapping tool, and then you can be sure that your mail will go directly to the targeted area and every active homestead will receive whatever it is that you had to send out. This service is also very fast.

The main reason is that EDDM does not follow the traditional procedures that standard mail follows at the postal office. With EDDM, the mail goes straight to the mail carriers, and they are prepared for distribution. To add onto that, it is also very affordable and quite suitable for a business that is just starting up. The postage has been significantly reduced, such that it now costs less than half of the postage stamp. This is a good way in which a start-up can get the word out there about what it does in the region that has been the target in the EDDM.

EDDM categories This fantastic service is however not meant for everyone. There are various requirements that you have to meet to qualify for the EDDM service from the USPS. EDDM has therefore been divided into two main categories; the EDDM Retail Entry and EDDM Business Mail Entry Unit. There are various requirements for each of the categories. Let us look at some of the requirements for each of the categories: a) EDDM Retail.

• You must have at least 200 mail pieces that you want to distribute in a single day and a maximum of 5000 mail pieces.

• You pieces must weigh less than 3.3 ounces

• Your saturation mailing must cover an entire carrier route

• Your mail piece has to be standard mail flat.

• The mail piece must have a length of more than 10.5 inches and a height of more than 6.125 inch. The piece must also have a thickness of at least 0.25 inches.Access the size guide from USPS.

Tip: EDDM Retail? accounts can be created from https://reg.usps.com/register

Should your mail piece not fulfill some of the requirements for the retail EDDM category, you can still try going the other category, whose requirements are as follows:- b) EDDM Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU).

• Your Mail pieces must weigh less than 16 ounces

• The mail piece must be longer than 10.5 inches, and their height has to be more than 6.125 inches. Here is a courtesty PDF from USPS to check sizing.

• You must then have your mail permit number. You can get this at your central post office in your area in their permit requirements office. You can also visit their website to get yourself that number. Or for convenience, you can use the number that the mail center uses. You just have to request them if they have any.

It is important to note that, the USPS doesn’t use the term “width” to describe their measurements. Instead, they describe it as the “height”. That simply means, regardless of how the mail piece has been packaged, the longest side of any mail piece is always taken to be the “length” and the shortest side is always made to be the “height”. For whatever category that you fall under, there are a few other things that you have to take into consideration. For instance:

• For the EDDM Retail category, you must ship the mail pieces to the local post office nearest to the place where your mailings or carrier routes are to get this low rate. To determine your total expenditure for the whole process, you will need to add the shipping cost to that location and the 17.5 cents per piece cost.

• For the EDDM BMEU category, you must verify at the BMEU where the permit number is registered. And although it is no longer a necessity, USPS recommends using the city, state, five-digit zip code. You should also know that if you go for this option and have a mailing that covers multiple zip codes, you will incur additional costs in the form of ink jetting fees and, or plate change costs. A plate change is where you do a change of a plate during the press run to a different zip code to a portion of the print that is currently running.

• The recommended number of mail pieces in each bundle is 50-100. This is, however, something that your mail pieces printer or a mail house should be aware of.

• For EDDM in the BMEU categories, you also have to know that the magazines need to be placed on the carrier route with facing slip indicated with the number of pieces in the bundle.

• You will need a Customer Registration Identification number to mail through the EDDM Retail category option. You are not charged for the registration, and you can even do it on their website.

OTHERS HAVE READ: USING PINTEREST FOR PROFITS How Much does EDDM Cost?Once you have settled on the right fit for you, now comes another important part, the payment. To figure out how much the mailing is going to cost you, you just need to check the USPS website and click on the “flat” option. Under that, you will see the “standard mail” option instructions on how to proceed after-wards. The price of the mailing will be dependent on the weight and the location of the carrier route that you chose. So now you might be asking what the advantages and possibly the disadvantages of using this service from USPS are. The pros first

• Increased foot traffic. Using EDDM is a very effective way in which a business can expand its customer base. And which an increased customer base comes increased sales. It has proved to be a very effective way to do low-cost local marketing. Reports have been published indicating that majority of people spend a size-able fraction of their income on products and services that are available near their homes. For instance, According to a report conducted by Biz-Report in 2010, up to 85% of a store’s customers come from a 5-mile radius.

• Cheap. Using EDDM services is a competitive venture. This is because one does not require postal permits to post their mail pieces. The postage is also cheaper compared to the traditional direct mailing.

• No filters to prevent your mail from reaching the people. We are all aware of the filter option in our e-mail accounts whereby we choose the emails that we received. The feature is aimed at preventing us from receiving those annoying and possibly malicious spam emails. Due to this feature, however, online email marketing has been a little bit disadvantaged because many of those emails get deleted. When you use EDDM, you are sure your mail will be seen by the people in the carrier route that you chose.

• Easy coupon and specials distribution. The EDDM service also provides you with an excellent way to make the people aware of the various offers that you have to your clients. You also get to distribute coupons for your business without incurring extra costs. This will make your business to prosper even more because you will satisfy your clients greatly.

• Set up is easy. To set your company for the EDDM service is a very easy thing to do. You do not require any special expertise to set up this service. In cases where you are possibly too busy to do it, you can use a printer do prepare the mailing for you. A majority of the Printers are well aware of all the requirements required for the two categories, so you can be assured that the mail pieces will get distributed well according to your instructions.

–>> 101 STEPS TO GENERATE BUSINESS ONLINE  

Despite the many pros of the EDDM, there are a few cons at the same time. Some of them include:

• No personalization. The things that can be perceived as an advantage of using the EDDM service can also play to their disadvantage. With EDDM, you do not require a mail listing. The mail pieces just get distributed in a general carrier route. With this kind of non-personalized distribution runs the risk of appearing like an advertisement than a personal direct mail. It creates some distance. A personalized letter makes the recipient feel thought of. This increases the chances of them visiting the location of the business.

• Prints are on large pieces of paper. One of the requirements for the mail pieces that are distributed through the EDDM is that the pieces have to be of certain measurements. This makes the pieces large. The cost of printing on these pieces is more that it would require printing on regular sized mail.

• Can waste time when delivering to the post office. Once one has prepared their articles for distribution they usually have to take them to the post office. This can waste a few hours, especially if one runs a busy business. It is also important to remember that the preparation itself also takes time because of the very specific requirements. One has to make sure they follow them strictly.

The disadvantages are however not so dire that they will make you shy aware from using this EDDM service from U.S.PS. So if you feel EDDM is the thing that you need to give your business that extra edge, here is how you go about setting yourself up for the service. You just have to follow the following easy steps:

• Step 1. Plan your mailing. You can do this using the help of our mapping tool. This helps you figure out which routes you will choose to reach your intended target area.

• Step 2. Create your mail piece. This is where you design how your mail piece is going to look like. You have to be keen on what you put on the mail piece to make it appealing to your intended recipients. If you cannot do it, you can hire a printer or even a mail service provider to do it for you. They are aware of the EDDM measurement specifications.

• Step 3. Make your payment. Once everything is set, you just need to proceed and make the payment for the distribution of the mail pieces. You can pay online or even at the post office.

• Step 4. Leave the rest to USPS. Once you have done the first three steps, you just have to deliver the mail pieces to the post office, and they will do the rest for you.

All that is left for you to do is to sit back and enjoy the effects of the EDDM service. This is an innovative service that the U.S.PS has come up with. Go on and give it a try.

Original Article by Lori Ballen: https://loriballen.com/how-to-work-with-every-door-direct-mail-eddm/