What is Postal Code Targeting?

Neighbourhood Mail (often abbreviated to NM) is a direct mail delivery channel of Canada Post. This is unaddressed mail that is delivered to all households* in a Neighbourhood Walk.

Formerly known as Unaddressed Ad Mail, Canada Post renamed Neighbourhood Mail when they introduced their updated suite of direct mail solutions for Canadian businesses under the Smartmail Marketing banner.

For more information on Neighbourhood Mail and how to use it effectively, you can check out our Neighbourhood Mail resources.

Prices for a Direct Mail audience start at “free” and increase based on the dataset being accessed. Standard options for each mail type are listed below. More advanced data sets can be accessed from 3rd party providers like Environics.

Neighbourhood Mail Audience Options:

• Canada Post Precision Targeter – free to use. Includes neighbourhood targeting based on combinations of up-to 3 demographic filters.

Personalized Mail Audience Options:

• Use your own data – free. This includes PostNow doing basic cleaning of your data and running it through the National Change of Address (NCOA) to identify any bad records.
• Canada Post Postal Code Name/Addresses – from $0.15/record. Use 6-digit postal codes to target all households within. Includes names and address data that can be printed by an Expert Partner. Not available for any other use.

Postal Code Targeting Audience Options:

• Canada Post Postal Code Data. Included in postage. Use 6-digital postal codes to target all households within. A suppression list can be provided to remove existing customers from the final data.  Data includes address only, no names.

Yes, you can measure the effectiveness of Personalized Mail. Metrics such as response rates, conversion rates, and customer engagement can be tracked to evaluate the success of your campaign. For detailed insights, integrating personalized mail with digital tracking tools can provide comprehensive data on campaign performance.

For more details, please visit Email Marketing vs Direct Mail: What’s the Difference and Which is Better for Your Business?

Why Personalized Mail?

Personalized Mail campaigns are great for customer retention and building loyal relationships with existing customers through one-one-one interactions.

Did you know? 86% of Canadians open the direct mail they receive and more than half make a purchase as a result. The open rate and purchase rate increases when personalized mail is used, which makes PM one of the most effective ways to incite action among an ideal target audience.

Here are a few guidelines if you’re considering using Personalized Mail:

• There must be intent behind your campaign to promote a product, service, program, or event
• Mail piece requires a 2″x4″ area for addressing and indicia purposes
• The indicia can be customized but must be placed above and to the right of addressing
• Minimum quantity of pieces: 150

Discounts are available. To qualify, a customer must commit to a minimum spend of $10,000 annually per service. Canada Post will look at your marketing plan and budget to see if you’re likely to achieve the minimum spend before awarding you a postage discount. There are various tiers of discounts available. Please contact us if you would like an introduction to a Canada Post sales rep.

An example of $10,000 would spend would be:

• 100,000 NM (approximately)
• 20,000 PM (approximately)

Discounts start at about 20% and increase based on total volume. The commitments are in the millions of dollars spent/year for the largest available Canada Post discounts.