Addressed mail
Each piece carries a name or a specific address from a list. You decide exactly who gets it.
- Strengths: precise targeting, personalization, mailing to past customers, mailing across a wide area without paying for every home in it.
- Costs: a list to buy or maintain, data processing, and higher postage than saturation.
- Best for: customer reactivation, high-value offers, B2B, anything where the right 500 homes beat the nearest 5,000.
Saturation mail
Each piece goes to every address on the carrier routes you choose, addressed to "Postal Customer" or "Residential Customer". USPS Every Door Direct Mail® is the version most small businesses use.
- Strengths: no list, the lowest postage per piece, simple setup and complete coverage of an area.
- Costs: you pay for every home on a route, including the ones that will never buy. No personalization.
- Best for: local businesses whose customers are the neighborhood: restaurants, home services, gyms, real estate.
Side by side
| Addressed | Saturation (EDDM) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets it | Addresses you choose | Every address on chosen routes |
| List needed | Yes | No |
| Personalization | Yes | No |
| Typical postage | $0.29 to $0.82 a piece | $0.255 to $0.26 a piece |
| Minimum | 200 (Marketing Mail) or 500 (First-Class presort); none with stamps | 200 for EDDM Retail |
| Effort | Data work, sorting, permits or a mail house | The USPS EDDM tool and a Post Office visit |
Using both
Many local businesses saturate the neighborhoods around them and send addressed mail to past customers further away. The postage per piece differs, but the creative can be shared.
Questions readers ask
Is EDDM cheaper than addressed mail?
Per piece, yes. EDDM Retail is $0.260 against $0.39 or more for most addressed commercial letters. But you pay for every home on a route.
Can I personalize EDDM?
No. EDDM pieces are addressed to "Postal Customer" or "Residential Customer" and must be identical.
When is addressed mail worth the extra cost?
When a small, specific group is worth more to you than a whole neighborhood, like past customers or homes with a particular need.