Home Services / Essential Home Systems
Plumbing marketing planned by housing age, season and the unanswered quote
Plumbing marketing from MBI is customer acquisition for plumbing operators: postcards and flyers into nearby and high-value ZIP codes carrying an incentive such as a first-service discount, water-heater lifecycle and replacement campaigns launched by housing age and season, sewer and drain education offered before weather-driven demand spikes, paid social, and opted-in text follow-up after a quote goes unaccepted.
Not sure where to start? Talk with our teamDirect mail
Which homes does plumbing direct mail go to?
The short answer
A plumbing mailer goes to nearby and high-value ZIP codes, the households close enough to serve, as postcards or flyers carrying an incentive such as a first-service discount. New homeowners are an audience of their own: the campaign to run at them is a whole-home plumbing inspection with a membership offer.
The documented mailers. Documented plumbing mailers include postcards or flyers to nearby/high-value ZIP codes, with incentives such as a first-service discount and automated triggers after an unaccepted quote.
An audience of their own. New homeowners are targeted with a whole-home plumbing inspection and membership offer.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.5 provides that each address, except for mail bearing an alternative address format, in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices or USPS Marketing Mail prices is subject to the Move Update standard, and that each address and associated addressee used on the mailpieces in a mailing must be updated within 95 days before the mailing date with one of the USPS-approved methods, which include Address Change Service and the National Change of Address Linkage System (NCOALink).
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.5
direct mail marketing services targeted direct mail direct mail mailing lists
Which homes
Postcard · Direct Mail
Folder · Printing
Printing
What is printed on plumber postcards?
The short answer
Postcards and flyers are the printed formats a plumbing campaign uses, and the postcard carries the neighborhood first-service discount into the ZIP codes chosen for it. At commercial card prices a postcard must be no more than 6 inches high, no more than 9 inches long and no thicker than 0.016 inch.
The formats. Postcards, flyers.
In house. Printing at MBI is commercial and variable-data printing produced in house.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201.1.2.1 sets the dimensional standards for a card claimed at a card price at not less than 3-1/2 inches high, 5 inches long and 0.007 inch thick, with cards more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long, or both, required to be a minimum of 0.009 inch thick; not more than 4-1/4 inches high, 6 inches long or 0.016 inch thick for each stamped card or each half of a double-stamped card or double postcard; and not more than 6 inches high, 9 inches long or 0.016 inch thick for each postcard. 201.3.7 requires an aspect ratio (length divided by height) of 1.3 to 2.5, inclusive.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201
printing services postcard mailing services direct mail cost
Postcard · Direct Mail
Timing
When does water heater replacement marketing go out?
The short answer
Water-heater lifecycle and replacement campaigns are launched by housing age and season, so the age of the housing stock and the time of year set the date rather than a fixed month on the calendar. An annual water-heater check reminder is one of the text topics a plumbing company sends, and it goes only to opted-in contacts.
What sets the date. Water-heater lifecycle and replacement campaigns are launched by housing age and season.
Before the demand arrives. Sewer, drain, sump-pump, and water-line education is offered before weather-driven demand spikes.
One team. MBI is one company that plans, produces, and delivers direct mail, print and digital campaigns from a single team in DeLand, Florida, and data, print, and delivery have been in-house since 1989.
direct mail marketing services direct mail and digital marketing
Guide · Printing
Infographic · Printing
Checklist · Printing
SMS
When may plumbing text message marketing reach a homeowner?
The short answer
Not until the homeowner has opted in. CTIA's messaging principles say messages should be sent only after the consumer has opted in, and list entering a telephone number through a website and signing up at a point-of-sale among the ways consent is shown. The texts then carry the seasonal special, the service reminder and the quote follow-up.
The documented topics. Documented SMS topics include a spring drain-clean special, annual water-heater check reminder, quote follow-up, service reminders, reactivation, and seasonal specials.
CTIA's Messaging Principles and Best Practices state that message senders should support opt-in mechanisms and that messages should be sent only after the consumer has opted in to receive them, and list entering a telephone number through a website, clicking a button on a mobile webpage, initiating the text message exchange, signing up at a point-of-sale or other message sender on-site location, and opting in over the phone using interactive voice response technology among the mechanisms by which a consumer might demonstrate opt-in consent; senders should also document opt-in consent by retaining, where applicable, several kinds of data, among them the timestamp of consent acquisition and the consent acquisition medium.
CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, May 2023, §5.1.2
CTIA's Messaging Principles and Best Practices state that message senders should ensure consumers have the ability to opt out of receiving messages at any time, should support multiple mechanisms of opt-out including phone call, email or text, and should acknowledge and honor all consumer opt-out requests by sending one final opt-out confirmation message per campaign, with no further messages sent following that confirmation; they also state that message senders should not use opt-in lists that have been rented, sold, or shared, and should create and vet their own opt-in lists.
CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, May 2023, §§5.1.3–5.1.4
digital advertising services direct mail and digital marketing
SMS
SMS
Opted in first
The unanswered quote
What happens to a plumbing quote nobody accepted?
The short answer
An unaccepted quote is a campaign of its own. Plumbing mailers can be sent by automated triggers after a quote goes unaccepted, and a quote-follow-up text campaign goes to the household that asked for a price and then went quiet. Only opted-in contacts are texted, so the follow-up runs on consent the customer already gave.
After the emergency call. Emergency-response leads are used for immediate booking, and non-bookers are then nurtured into scheduled preventive service.
The shape of the business. The buyer to go after is regional plumbing operators and home-service groups with dispatch capacity, membership plans, and sewer/water-heater replacement capability.
personalized direct mail direct mail marketing services home services marketing
The quote that went quiet
Facebook and Instagram
Where do plumbing Facebook ads sit in the campaign?
The short answer
Paid social is one of the channels a plumbing campaign uses, and no particular plumbing ad offer is established for it, so what the ad may say is the part to settle first. Urgent-service claims stay factual, service areas and availability are published accurately, and nothing implies a diagnosis before an inspection.
What the research carries. Paid social is included among the documented plumbing marketing channels, but the reviewed sources did not substantiate a more specific Meta offer type.
This trade's execution limits are that urgent-service claims are kept factual, service areas and availability are published accurately, a diagnosis is never implied before inspection, only opted-in contacts are texted, and opt-out handling is preserved.
The trade’s execution limits, briefs/home-services/plumbing_development.md §9
Meta's advertising standards state that advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations, and that ads must not promote products, services, schemes or offers using identified deceptive or misleading practices.
Meta, Advertising Standards
digital advertising services direct mail and digital marketing home services marketing
Meta ad · Facebook
Reel · Instagram
Questions
Questions a plumbing company asks before it mails
Searched for plumber marketing, plumbing marketing agency or marketing for plumbers? Same work, same answers.
Which campaigns does a plumbing company actually run?
Three: a neighborhood first-service discount postcard or flyer, a seasonal text special or annual water-heater check reminder, and a quote-follow-up text campaign. MBI builds the address file, prints the piece, mails it and runs the texts, so one team answers for the whole campaign rather than three vendors.
What should a plumbing company mail before the weather turns?
Education. Sewer, drain, sump-pump and water-line education is offered before weather-driven demand spikes, so it reaches the household before the demand arrives rather than during it. Postcards and flyers are the printed formats this trade mails, and plumbing mail goes to nearby and high-value ZIP codes.
Where does an emergency lead go if the customer does not book?
Into preventive service. Emergency-response leads are used for immediate booking, and the non-bookers are then nurtured into scheduled preventive service, so a household that called once is followed into planned work rather than written off.
Why can nobody quote a plumbing mailer from a price list?
A plumbing postcard has no list price: every quote resolves to two costs, producing the piece and mailing it, and seven decisions move those two numbers, among them quantity, format and finished size, paper and weight, data and personalization, and postage, mail class and sortation. Each of the seven is set out at /capabilities/direct-mail/direct-mail-cost.
Does a plumbing mailing have to be re-checked against the postal file before it drops?
Yes. Before a plumbing postcard drops, USPS applies its Move Update standard to each address in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices or USPS Marketing Mail prices: the address must be updated within 95 days before the mailing date by an approved method such as NCOALink. The standard excepts mail bearing an alternative address format.
How does a plumbing text campaign handle someone who wants out?
By stopping. CTIA's messaging principles say consumers should be able to opt out at any time through multiple mechanisms, among them phone call, email or text, and that senders should acknowledge and honor every opt-out with one final confirmation message per campaign, with nothing sent after it.
What may a plumbing ad say about emergency availability?
Only what is accurate. Urgent-service claims are kept factual, service areas and availability are published accurately, and nothing implies a diagnosis before inspection. Meta adds that advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations, and that ads must not promote products, services, schemes or offers using identified deceptive or misleading practices.
What kind of plumbing company do these campaigns assume?
Regional plumbing operators and home-service groups with dispatch capacity, membership plans, and sewer or water-heater replacement capability. The campaigns are planned around that shape of business: crews that can schedule preventive work, a membership plan to sell, and replacement jobs worth mailing for.
Get started
Start a plumbing campaign.
Say which campaign it is — the neighborhood postcard, the water-heater or education mailing, or the quote follow-up — and the service area it runs in. It goes to a real member of the MBI team, not a queue.