Direct mail still holds a spot in smart marketing plans for a simple reason: the mailbox is somewhere people check every day. For most businesses, the real question is how to mail, not whether to. You can reach every address in a neighborhood, or you can reach a hand-picked group of households and businesses by name. Those two methods are built for different goals.
At Edwards, we plan, print and mail both kinds of campaigns. This guide compares how each one works, what each costs and where each fits best, so you can choose the right approach for your next mailing.
What Is Every Door Direct Mail?
Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) is a United States Postal Service program that delivers your mail piece to every address on the carrier routes you choose. You don’t need a mailing list, names or addresses.
How Does EDDM Work?
You choose routes by ZIP code and neighborhood, print a piece that meets USPS size rules, and your letter carrier handles delivery. A campaign comes together in three steps:
Choose your routes. The USPS online mapping tool shows each carrier route along with basic data such as the number of residential and business addresses, average household size and median income. That makes it easy to choose the routes that look most like your customers.
Design a piece that qualifies. EDDM mailers have to meet USPS “flat” size requirements, so most are oversized postcards or folded self-mailers. The bigger format helps you, because a large piece is hard to miss in the mailbox.
Print, bundle and drop off. Pieces are bundled by route, paired with the required paperwork and delivered to the post office that serves those routes. With EDDM Retail, you can mail up to 5,000 pieces per ZIP code per day, and no postal permit is needed. If your campaign is larger than that, the Edwards team can walk you through your options.
How Much Does EDDM Cost?
An EDDM campaign has three main costs: postage, printing and preparation. Postage is the most predictable. USPS publishes a flat EDDM Retail rate per piece, and that rate is the same whether you mail a 6-by-9 postcard or an 8.5-by-11 flat. You don’t buy a list or pay a permit fee. Printing costs depend on size, paper stock, quantity and finishing, and preparation covers bundling and paperwork. With no list to buy and postage below most other mail classes, EDDM usually has the lowest cost per piece of any direct mail option.
What Is EDDM Best For?
Local awareness. If most of your customers live within a few miles of your location, EDDM reaches nearly all of them at once.
Grand openings, events and seasonal promotions. When timing matters more than targeting, every nearby household is a possible customer.
Products and services nearly everyone uses. Restaurants, home services, auto repair, dental and medical offices, salons, fitness and grocery are all good fits.
Testing a new area. Mailing a handful of routes is a practical way to see how a neighborhood responds before you expand.
The trade-off is precision. EDDM reaches renters and homeowners, young families and retirees, loyal customers and people who will never need what you offer. For a broad offer, that’s not a problem. For a narrow one, you end up paying to reach people who won’t respond.
What Are Targeted Mailing Lists?
Targeted mailing lists work the other way. Instead of covering an entire area, a mailing list identifies the specific households or businesses that match criteria you set, and each piece is addressed to a named recipient.
How Does Targeted Direct Mail Work?
Targeted direct mail goes only to households or businesses that match chosen criteria such as demographics, buying behavior or location. It comes down to three steps:
Build or choose a list. This could be your own customer or prospect list. It could be a purchased consumer list based on demographics such as age, income, homeownership or household makeup, or on buying behavior and interests. For B2B campaigns, it’s often a business list selected by industry, company size or job title. You can layer geography onto any of these.
Address and personalize. Since every piece has a name and address, you can personalize the message, from a first name on the front to offers that change by audience segment.
Mail at commercial rates. Addressed campaigns usually go out as presorted Marketing Mail or First-Class Mail, and the list is checked for address accuracy before printing. Your quantity is whatever the list supports, which is often much smaller than a saturation mailing.
What Does Targeted Direct Mail Cost?
Targeted mail costs more per piece than EDDM for two main reasons. Postage for addressed Marketing Mail is higher than the EDDM rate, and purchased lists usually carry a per-record charge on top of printing and address processing. Your total depends on the list source, quantity and mail class.
A better comparison is cost per response, not cost per piece. A targeted campaign might mail a fraction of what an EDDM campaign does and still bring in more qualified responses, because every recipient was chosen for a reason.
What Is Targeted Direct Mail Best For?
Specific audiences. New movers, homeowners in a certain age range, businesses in a single industry or customers who haven’t purchased in a year.
Higher-value offers. When one sale is worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, spending more per piece to reach the right people pays off.
Business-to-business campaigns. B2B buyers rarely sit evenly across neighborhoods, so route saturation seldom makes sense.
Customer retention and follow-up. Your own customer list is the most valuable list you have. Reactivation offers, loyalty rewards and appointment reminders all belong here.
Personalization and tracking. Named pieces allow variable messaging, and you can trace responses back to a segment, a list or an individual.
EDDM vs. Targeted Mail: Side by Side
The difference comes down to who receives the piece and what it takes to get it there.
FactorEvery Door Direct MailTargeted Mailing ListWho receives itEvery address on the carrier routes you selectSpecific households or businesses that match your criteriaMailing listNot requiredRequired (your own list or a purchased one)Postage per pieceLower (flat USPS retail rate)Higher, depending on mail class and presort levelOther costsPrinting and bundlingPrinting, list purchase or rental, and address processingAddressingGeneric (“Postal Customer”)Named and addressed, with personalization availableMinimum quantityOne full carrier route (typically a few hundred addresses)Flexible, often as few as a few hundred piecesBest forLocal awareness, grand openings, neighborhood promotionsSpecific audiences, higher-value offers, B2B and follow-upMeasuring resultsRoute-level results, coupon codes, QR codesResponse by segment, list or individual
Which Approach Fits Your Business?
Most businesses lean toward one method or the other, and the same three questions usually decide it: How broad is the offer? How far do customers travel to buy? How much is one sale worth?
Businesses That Often Choose EDDM
Restaurants, cafes and food service announcing an opening, a new menu or a seasonal special to the surrounding area.
Home services such as lawn care, cleaning, HVAC, plumbing and roofing that serve defined neighborhoods and benefit from steady name recognition.
Retail stores and local shops promoting sales, events and openings to shoppers within driving distance.
Medical, dental and veterinary practices that welcome nearly any nearby household.
Fitness studios, salons and personal services building awareness in one part of town.
Community organizations and local events that want everyone in an area to save the date.
Businesses That Often Choose Targeted Lists
B2B companies reaching decision-makers by industry, company size or title.
Financial, insurance and professional services firms whose offers depend on income, life stage or homeownership.
Real estate professionals reaching new movers, specific property types or absentee owners.
Specialty retailers and high-ticket sellers such as furniture, jewelry, home improvement and vehicles, where interest and buying power matter.
Nonprofits reaching past donors and similar prospects instead of every household.
Any business with a customer list that wants to win back past customers.
Can You Use EDDM and Targeted Mail Together?
Yes, and many businesses do. A common strategy is to use EDDM for broad awareness around each location and a targeted list for higher-value offers or follow-up. A home services company, for example, might cover nearby routes with a seasonal promotion while sending personalized maintenance reminders to past customers at the same time.
Whichever method you choose, the mail piece still has to earn attention. A clear offer, one call to action, strong design and a way to track results (a promo code, QR code or dedicated phone number) matter just as much as how the piece is delivered.
Partner with Edwards for Your Next Direct Mail Campaign
Edwards handles direct mail from start to finish: campaign planning, design, printing, list selection or EDDM route mapping, address processing, bundling and postage. With one partner managing every step, your piece, your audience and the postal requirements all line up, and your mailing arrives at the post office ready to go the first time. Not sure which approach is right for your next campaign? Contact Edwards to talk through your goals and your market, and request a free custom quote for EDDM, targeted mail or both.