Timing Your Direct Mail


Author: Bob Waters

If you are using Direct Mail, then you should really pay attention to the old saying, "Timing is everything!" You can do everything right, but if you send your mailer out too early (an event I don't see too often) or too late (something I see all the time) then you can miss out on a lot of sales possibilities. But timing your mailing isn't just about sending out your mailer X amount of days before an event, it is also about taking advantage of how the USPS operates.

Generally, you want your mail piece for a weekend event to hit on Tuesday or Wednesday. When timing your mailing, you need to give the Post Office at least 2 days for in-home delivery; despite a bad reputation (thank you Cliff Claven) they do a pretty good job delivering your mail in a timely fashion, but give them some leeway. If you send out your mail too soon, it will just get lost in the shuffle. If you have your mail hit the week before your event, more than likely it will be tossed into the pile of lost mail that gets thrown out every weekend. If you time your mailing to hit on Thursday, Friday or (Heaven help you) on Saturday, then plans have already been made and the mailer is too late.

The most important tool in having your mail delivered on time is to HAVE THE REQUESTED IN-HOME DATES PRINTED ON THE CARD!!! Yes, it is that important that it had to be in caps. You can have this done when the card is printed (if you have it done at printing, have them use a red ink to stand out above the address area) or when the card is addressed. The reason why this works is mail that has requested in-home dates is treated with a higher priority by the USPS. It's not a rule or anything like that, it's just that no carrier wants an earful from someone shaking a postcard in their face and demanding to know why it wasn't delivered on time. This rule even applies to your local Postmaster, because they don't want the angry phone calls directed toward them.

If you want your mail to hit on Tuesday-Wednesday then take it to your Post Office on Saturday (if the Bulk Mail Unit is open on Saturday) or Monday. Do not mail it on Friday if at all possible. If you do, then the odds are strong that your mailer will be delivered on Saturday and thus meet the fate of lost letters. I can't explain why this happens, I have just seen it happen too many times, so I highly recommend mailing on Saturday or Monday. You typically want to give the USPS 3 days to get all your mail delivered for a local mailing, but mailing on a Friday for a Tuesday-Wednesday delivery can be risky.

Avoid these traps:

1. Add time for delivery during the Christmas season. You are sending out Standard (Bulk) mail and it is not treated with the same priority as all the First Class Mail Christmas cards and packages.

2. Do NOT mail two weeks prior to an election - you are just wasting your money. Political mailings would not only cause your mailer to get lost (figuratively not literally) in the fray but they would also mess with the timing of your mailing. Political mail is treated as first class mail and carriers are very sensitive to get these out.

And did I mention, HAVE THE REQUESTED IN-HOME DATES PRINTED ON THE CARD!!! Just wanted to make sure you remembered.

This advice is aimed at local mailings, if you are mailing across your state or even the country, these tips will not apply - work with your mail professional to time that type of mailing correctly.

Please visit us at http://www.gagepress.com with any comments or questions.

About the Author

Bob has been in Printing and Mailing since 1995. He is the President of GagePress.com and works with businesses to improve their ROI in the Printing and Direct Mail fields.

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