Case study: EDDM vs. Border Saturation Mailings

Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) began as a solution that enabled organizations with mail quantities less than 5,000 pieces to handle their mailing. It was introduced as a small-project alternative to working with a mailing house like Holland Litho.

Since then, EDDM has morphed into an offering that supports both "do it yourselfers" and mail houses, meaning you can now use EDDM for larger mail quantities if you work with a mail house.

At Holland Litho, we will always recommend the best, lowest-cost mail solution to meet your delivery requirements. We recently priced out a project that required us to mail to every address in Allegan County. In doing the analysis, here's what we found.

All options include print, address, postage and mail services.
Note that all prices are for illustration purposes only.

	HLPS Unit		HLPS Total	Per Unit	Total Cost:	Total with	Per Unit	Total	Total
	Price	Quantity	Print & Mail	Mail List	Mail List	Mail List	Postage	Postage	Project
Flat size postcard: EDDM majority in border	0.12	52,708	$6,324.96	0	0	6324.96	0.189	$9,961.81	$16,286.77
Flat size postcard: EDDM partial in border	0.12	68,728	$8,247.36	0	0	8247.36	0.189	$12,989.59	$21,236.95
Flat size postcard: by defined border	0.12	47,823	$5,738.76	0.01	478.23	6216.99	0.189	$9,038.55	$15,255.54
Letter size postcard: by defined border	0.12	47,823	$5,738.76	0.01	478.23	6216.99	0.172	$8,225.56	$14,442.55

Newsletter: EDDM majority in border	0.25	52,708	$13,177.00	0	0	13177	0.189	$9,961.81	$23,138.81
Newsletter: EDDM partial in border	0.25	68,728	$17,182.00	0	0	17182	0.189	$12,989.59	$30,171.59
Newsletter: by defined border	0.25	47,823	$11,955.75	0.01	478.23	12433.98	0.188	$8,990.72	$21,424.70

allegan
Allegan border quantity: 47,823; EDDM routes that have a majority in Allegan is 52,708; EDDM routes that have at least a partial in Allegan is 68,728

Take-aways

Many who start the process end up turning it over to us because of how complicated it is working with the USPS.
If it makes sense for you to mail to entire carrier routes, EDDM can be less expensive.
EDDM has the potential of being the lowest cost if complete carrier routes are appropriate for your mailing.
If you need a more defined area such as a county, a township or a school district, you are going to have a lot of carrier routes spilling into other areas that you are not targeting resulting in the need for a higher quantity and a higher total project cost.
Non-EDDM / also known as Saturation by Border or Boundary can be used to target defined areas like a county, a township or a school district.
The "border" options require a list purchase but allow for smaller quantities.
Border/Boundary does have an additional list cost but as you can see illustrated above, your count is lower because it is better targeted. This may result in overall lower cost.
Saturation mailings can have names printed where available for a slightly higher cost which is an advantage over EDDM
Also, you can use a "Letter" size postcard like a 6x9 and reduce your postage even more.
Every project is different: let us put our expertise to work for you!

See this article for more about the differences: Direct mail: EDDM, saturation and targeted list mailings