Direct mail campaigns differ in quantity, format, paper, finishing, audience data, personalization, mail class, postal preparation, and delivery plan. A single rate card would not accurately describe most campaign specifications.
Campaign cost planning
What Does Direct Mail Cost?
There is no list price for direct mail because no two campaigns buy the same thing. Every quote resolves to two costs: producing the piece and mailing it. Seven decisions move those two numbers, and they are worth understanding before the artwork is finalized, when nearly all of the savings are still available.
Have a specification? Get a quoteBefore the levers
Every quote resolves to two costs
Producing the piece. Mailing it.
A direct mail quote is not a single per-piece price. Production and postage are affected by the physical specification, the audience and data work, the chosen postal path, and the campaign schedule.
Knowing which lever is moving the quote is most of the skill. The choices made before a proof exists usually offer more meaningful savings than changes made after the artwork has been approved.
Seven decisions move those two numbers
Production and postage are affected by the physical specification, the audience and data work, the chosen postal path, and the campaign schedule.
Lever 01 of 07
Quantity
Moves in your favor.
The strongest single lever
the cost per piece falls as the quantity rises
Setup, plating, and data preparation are largely fixed costs spread across the run.
What it moves Production Postage
Setup is spread across the run, so the cost per piece falls as the quantity rises.
The strongest single lever, and it moves in your favor. Setup, plating, and data preparation are largely fixed costs spread across the run, so the cost per piece falls as the quantity rises. It also works against you at the bottom: very small mailings carry the same setup as large ones, which is why a short run rarely looks efficient per piece.
Lever 02 of 07
Format and finished size
Chosen first. Constrains everything after.
What it moves Production Postage
Pieces per press sheet on one side, the USPS size and shape category on the other.
Chosen first, and it constrains everything after it. A postcard, a self-mailer, a letter in an envelope, and a catalog are different production paths with different component counts. Size matters twice: it drives how many pieces fit on a press sheet, and it decides which USPS size and shape category the mail falls into, which is a postage decision rather than a printing one.
Size matters twice
Press sheet
Components
USPS
Flat
Letter
Card
a quarter-inch smaller
postcardwhich USPS size and shape category the mail falls into
it drives how many pieces fit on a press sheet, and it decides which USPS size and shape category the mail falls into
Lever 03 of 07
Paper and weight
Two costs from one sheet.
weight is a postal variable
cross a threshold and change what the mailing costs to send
paper is chosen against the postage plan rather than in isolation.
What it moves Production Postage
The material cost directly, the postage cost indirectly.
Stock affects the material cost directly and the postage cost indirectly because weight is a postal variable. A heavier sheet can cross a threshold and change what the mailing costs to send, so paper is chosen against the postage plan rather than in isolation.
Lever 04 of 07
Color, coating, and finishing
Most visible. Usually not the largest.
the most visible costs and usually not the largest
Passes
Format and postage decide more of the total than surface treatment does
What it moves Production
Each treatment adds a pass or an operation. None of them decide the total.
Full color, coatings, folding, scoring, tabbing, die-cutting, inserting, and any specialty effect each add a pass or an operation. These are the most visible costs and usually not the largest. Format and postage decide more of the total than surface treatment does.
Lever 05 of 07
Data and personalization
Two separate items.
What it moves Production
The audience is one item and the personalization is another; both are decided before a proof.
These are two separate items. First, the audience: a house file you already own costs less to use than a sourced prospect list, though both need standardization, deduplication, and suppression before they are mailable. Then, the personalization: static artwork prints one way for everyone, while variable-data printing composes each piece against its record. More variable fields, more versions, and more images to swap mean more composition and proofing.
Audience targeting and mailing listsPersonalized direct mail
These are two separate items
Records
a house file you already own costs less to use than a sourced prospect list
before they are mailable
personalization
composes each piece against its record
More variable fields, more versions, and more images to swap mean more composition and proofing
Lever 06 of 07
Postage, mail class, and sortation
Usually the single largest line.
What it moves Postage
The largest line, and the one with the most room in it.
This is usually the single largest line in a direct mail budget, and the one with the most room in it. Marketing Mail generally costs less per piece than First-Class but travels more slowly and is not forwarded or returned by default. First-Class buys speed and address correction. Within either class, presorting deeper, cleaning addresses so more of the file qualifies, and barcoding correctly all lower the rate you pay. Address quality is literally a discount.
the single largest line in a direct mail budget
lower the rate you payAddress quality is literally a discount.
Marketing Mail
travels more slowlynot forwarded or returned by default
First-Class
buys speed and address correction
Within either class, presorting deeper, cleaning addresses so more of the file qualifies, and barcoding correctly all lower the rate you pay
Lever 07 of 07
Entry and drop strategy
Where the mail enters the network.
Where mail physically enters the postal network
Origin
Destination
Where mail physically enters the postal network changes what it costs to movereduces the transportation the USPS has to perform
On multi-market and nationwide campaigns this is often the difference between two otherwise identical quotes
What it moves Postage
Where the mail enters the postal network changes what it costs to move.
Where mail physically enters the postal network changes what it costs to move. Preparing and entering mail closer to its destination reduces the transportation the USPS has to perform and is priced accordingly. On multi-market and nationwide campaigns this is often the difference between two otherwise identical quotes.
The savings
Where the savings actually are
Decided before a proof exists.
Most people try to save money on paper and ink. The larger savings are almost always in format, address quality, and postal entry, decisions made before a proof exists.
A piece designed a quarter-inch smaller, a file cleaned so more of it qualifies for a presorted rate, or mail entered nearer its destination will each outperform a downgrade in stock, and none of them make the campaign look cheaper.
The larger savings are almost always in format, address quality, and postal entry
before a proof exists
after the artwork has been approved
paper and ink
none of them make the campaign look cheaper.
will each outperform a downgrade in stock
The choices made before a proof exists usually offer more meaningful savings than changes made after the artwork has been approved.
The quote
What we need to quote accurately
Open items are normal.
MBI quotes each campaign against its own requirements
Developing the specification is part of the work.
rate card
does not publish rate cards
If several of these are still open, that is normal and not a blocker.
If several of these are still open, that is normal and not a blocker. Developing the specification is part of the work. MBI quotes each campaign against its own requirements and does not publish rate cards, because a rate card would be wrong for almost everyone who read it.
- The objective and the response you want
- Audience or geography and an approximate quantity
- Format, or the message if the format is undecided
- Whether the piece is personalized, and how
- Artwork status: finished, needs updating, or nothing yet
- Your target in-home date
FAQs
Questions people ask before they get a quote
The price, the levers, the size, the personalization and the postage, in the record’s own words.
No answers match your search. Try a different word or phrase.
Get started
Start the quote with what you know
The objective, the audience or geography, a rough quantity, the format if it is decided, how the piece is personalized, where the artwork stands and the in-home date. Open items are normal. A direct mail specialist replies with the specification and a quote against it.