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What costs are there with Direct Mail Advertising?

When budgeting for a Direct Mail Ad Campaign you should plan for the following cost categories:

  • Planning & Design Costs (labour costs, asset licences, etc. )
  • Targeting/Data Costs (databases, licences, software, labour)
  • Production Costs (printing, folding, inserting, bundling, etc)
  • Postage/Transportation Costs

Final costs can be controlled with proper planning and targeting.

More FAQ Archives

Are there discounts on Neighbourhood Mail postage?

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.

What are Canada Post transportation fees?

Canada Post adds a Neighbourhood Mail transportation fee to all campaigns not inducted into the exact depot(s) closest to your delivery neighbourhoods.

In other words, unless you are willing to drive your campaign mail pieces to a specific dropoff depot or depots for larger campaigns, you are covering the cost for Canada Post to distribute your campaign to the appropriate depots for final sorting/delivery.

This transportation fee is often why you will see a published Neighbourhood Mail rate of $0.18 / piece, but the final price is $0.192 when working with a mail house or Canada Post directly.

At PostNow we include the transportation fee in all campaigns automatically.

Are there discounts on Personalized Mail postage?

Discounts are available for contracts with Canada Post. To qualify, a customer is required to 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.

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

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

There are various tiers of discounts available. Please contact your Canada Post rep for more info.

How much does an audience cost?

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.

What is the best value postcard size to send?

While you can send a 4×6″ postcard with Neighbourhood Mail, which will be the cheapest to produce, it does not offer the best value.

Larger postcards will grab more attention and drive more campaign engagement, making them generate more ROI. We find the best size to send is a 5.5×8.5″ postcard due to its production costs being highly efficient and its impact being strong in a pile of flyers.

How much does personalized mail cost?

Pricing varies based on postage rate and quantity of pieces in your campaign. You can build a personalized mail campaign for as low as $300 CAD with a minimum of 150 pieces.

 

See Campaign Cost Calculator ⋆ PostNow.ca for accurate pricing options.

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