Direct mail marketing is an effective promotional strategy for your small business, especially for growing awareness within your local community. It can build your brand, generate foot traffic, and increase sales. But to succeed, you’ll want to start with a good direct mail service.
The best direct mail services offer expertise in direct mail techniques, quick turnaround times, user-friendly design tools and templates, and affordable pricing. Below, we’ve rounded up the best direct mail marketing services for small businesses plus their costs, features, and examples.
- VistaPrint: Best for direct mail design tools
- PostcardMania: Best for cost-efficient cross-channel campaigns
- PsPrint: Best for a wide range of direct mailer types
- Taradel: Best for targeted mailing lists
- Overnight Prints: Best for fast turnaround times
- PostGrid: Best for automation and analytics
- Smartpress: Best for premium direct mail
- 48HourPrint: Best for fast and affordable every door direct mail (EDDM) services
Make an impact with PostcardMania — target your most qualified prospects with a proven, results-based postcard marketing campaign |
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Best Direct Mail Services at a Glance
Starting Cost to Print and Mail 500 Postcards* | Fastest Turnaround Time | EDDM Services | Online Design Tools | |
---|---|---|---|---|
$49.99 | 3 business days | ✕ | ✓ | |
$90 | 7 business days | ✓ | ✕ | |
1 business day | ✓ | ✓ | ||
2 business days | ✓ | ✓ | ||
$70.55 | Next day | ✓ | ✓ | |
$410 | 2 business days | ✕ | ✓ | |
Two business days | ✓ | ✕ | ||
$105.61 | 4 business days | ✓ | ✓ | |
*We compared 4”×6”, full-color, two-sided postcard pricing for printing and mailing. |
Keep reading for a deeper look into the best direct mail marketing services for small businesses, as well as their costs, features, and examples:
VistaPrint: Best Direct Mail Services Overall for Design Tools
VistaPrint has long been one of the best-known all-around design and printing services, and it’s also our best direct mail marketing service overall because of its range of products and excellent design tools.
It provides a comprehensive suite of marketing materials and tools, from hundreds of modern templates for postcards, brochures, and other printed materials to a beginner-friendly design tool with a QR code generator and even printing and delivery services.
Overall, VistaPrint has the best design templates and tools out of other direct mail services, so if you don’t have a design for your print mail yet, VistaPrint is the best all-in-one platform to design and print them on. For extra help, VistaPrint offers in-house design services, or you can hire a graphic designer through 99designs, a VistaPrint company.
Then, when you’re finished with your design, you can have them printed and delivered to your door. For postcards, VistaPrint can also deliver to your mailing list.
The one drawback with VistaPrint is that it only offers mailing services for postcards. So if your campaign involves anything more (like brochures or booklets), you’ll need to mail them yourself. Also, they don’t offer EDDM services and require you to upload your own list. For an alternative that mails several mailer types and offers EDDM services, we recommend PsPrint.
However, no matter the size of your business, VistaPrint is still our best direct mailing service for postcard marketing campaigns, especially if you prioritize good design. It provides everything you need in one place, including mailing lists and design services, at an affordable price and with postage discounts.
It’s also ideal for designing and printing other materials, such as brochures, catalogs, business cards, flyers, and branded promotional assets for your small business.
PostcardMania: Best for Cost-efficient Cross-channel Campaigns
PostcardMania offers some of the cheapest printing costs overall. But what makes it stand out among other direct mailing marketing services is its Everywhere Small Business cross-channel campaigns that combine direct mail with Google and social media ads and even retarget website visitors or card abandonments in your Shopify store. This makes it a cost-efficient option for combining direct mail with cross-channel and remarketing campaigns.
For example, you can match the IP address of anonymous visitors to your website and automatically send a follow-up mailer. Likewise, PostcardMania will automatically send postcards as part of your Shopify cart abandonment strategy or to people who interact with your digital ads online. Their new-in-town (targeting recent move-ins) and EDDM campaigns are great features for local direct mail campaigns.
The process is also simple: choose a postcard template or upload your own design (or hire a PostcardMania designer), and the team will handle all the mailing for you.
Unfortunately, PostcardMania doesn’t have online design tools, so once you choose a design template, you can only customize it with your info—you can’t edit it any further, which can limit your design options.
You can also take advantage of its in-house design services. Although not the fastest production option with a turnaround of seven business days, it’s still a good choice; however, Overnight Prints is better if you need something more quickly.
Still, PostcardMania is the best choice for integrating direct mail with digital marketing channels or simply ordering in bulk. It offers some of the lowest prices per piece in the industry, so it’s one of the best direct mail services for building your brand presence across multiple channels.
PsPrint: Best for a Wide Range of Direct Mailer Types
PsPrint offers printing and mailing services for seven mailer types: postcards, brochures, greeting cards, invitations, booklets, catalogs, and newsletters—which is more than most other direct mailing services, making it a good option if your marketing plan includes several direct mail campaigns.
PsPrint also offers regular printing services for dozens of other marketing products like newsletters, stickers, and magnets. It even has EDDM services that start below $100` and a design platform, although not as intuitive as VistaPrint’s. You can upload your own designs. Be aware that it’s a bit fussy, and in one of our tests, changing the color scheme wiped out some of the text we entered.
With PsPrint, you can choose between two and five production days for most products (except booklets, which can go up to 10); however, cost increases for shorter production times. Also, PsPrint will send you any overage prints at no charge, as long as they all fit in one box.
However, one thing that’s missing with PsPrint is the ability to add a QR code to your printed materials (it would have to be independently generated and uploaded as an image file). And it doesn’t offer extra marketing services like PostcardMania’s multichannel campaigns—it’s solely for printing and mailing your materials.
Still, PsPrint is one of the best direct mailing companies available because of its variety and turnaround flexibility. With its many design templates, it can be a worthwhile investment if you have multiple direct mail campaigns planned.
Taradel: Best for Targeted Mailing Lists
Taradel’s standout feature is its targeted direct mail campaigns, which it calls “personalized” (a slight misnomer), allowing you to use its list-builder tool to precisely target a group of customers by industry, geography, or financial metrics.
With Taradel, you can build or upload a consumer or business mailing list, upload your postcard design (or get expert help), and launch your campaign. Once sent, you can monitor key metrics like phone calls, clicks, and other engagements.
Another noteworthy feature of Taradel is that you can run multichannel campaigns that integrate your direct mail with ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Google, as well as entertainment platforms like Hulu and Spotify. It also has generally affordable standalone printing services. For example, pricing for 1,000 postcards will only run you $143. It also prints door hangers, business cards, flyers, magnets, and yard signs.
Taradel also has dozens of design templates across various industries, or you can hire a designer from Taradel’s team.
Taradel’s best features are its targeted direct mail and integrated campaigns, but it falls short in its mailer variety, especially compared with PsPrint. For instance, you won’t be able to print booklets or brochures. Another drawback is that its templates and design tools are simple.
Although you can upload photos and objects into your design, their placement and resizing options are limited. For more template variety and creative flexibility, opt for VistaPrint instead.
However, Taradel’s benefits still outweigh its shortcomings, and its list-building feature makes it one of the best direct mailing services for small businesses with a strong targeting strategy. Pricing is affordable, and you’ll be able to track multiple campaigns and integrate different channels to present a strong brand image online and offline.
Overnight Prints: Best Direct Mail Service for Fastest Turnaround Times
Overnight Prints lives up to its name. If you need high-quality direct mail marketing materials fast, it can print and deliver them to your door the next day. It also offers dozens of printed marketing materials, from booklets and brochures to branded cookies (macaroons, white chocolate Oreos, or vanilla sugar cookies), for a truly unique (and delicious) print marketing campaign.
It offers templates and an easy-to-use design editor, but its templates are nowhere near VistaPrint’s standards. However, it also has a QR code generator to connect your direct mail campaigns with digital landing pages like your website or social media pages. Another great feature is the 3D mock-up, which shows a mock-up of your piece rotating in virtual space to give you a more tactile sense of the complete product.
Overnight Prints’ direct mail marketing services are limited to postcards and oversized mailers, which is a shortcoming. Plus, if you choose Overnight Prints for mailing, you’ll need to provide your own mailing list as it doesn’t sell any in-house, in stark contrast to Taradel’s slick list builder.
However, Overnight Prints offers the quickest turnaround times for rush direct mail printing services—as its name guarantees. It also features some unusual and standout product offerings If speed is your number one priority for your direct mail, Overnight Prints is your best bet.
PostGrid: Best Direct Mail Service for Automations & Analytics
PostGrid is one of the best direct mail marketing companies if your campaigns require a high level of analytics and automation, as it compiles your mailing list, prints, and sends your direct mail with uniquely automated processes.
This makes it particularly appropriate for businesses running multiple or ongoing direct mail campaigns with large mailing lists. You can even integrate your campaigns with your CRM system to help track your leads and response rates.
PostGrid also has an in-house editing platform and templates, which are all modern and well-designed. However, the design tool doesn’t allow much customization beyond the basics like replacing photos and text.
While PostGrid gets high marks for its direct mail automation, one limitation is that it only prints and ships postcards, letters, and checks. Despite having a design platform, the limited template selection may require using a separate design application to create your mailers. Another disadvantage is that it only has two available plans: the Starter plan, which only allows up to 500 mailers, and the custom Enterprise plan.
However, if highly sophisticated and automated direct mail campaigns are the focus of your business, PostGrid could be an ideal choice. It automates the personalization, printing, and delivery of your mailers for fast and accurate campaigns, and its tracking and analytics are unparalleled.
Smartpress: Best for Premium Direct Mail Prints
If you want your direct mailers to look and feel more premium than others, you can opt for Smartpress, which specializes in premium printing. With Smartpress, print quality is the name of the game. For example, you can choose from six different paper stocks and between black or full-color printing for postcards.
Aside from booklets, you can also print and mail postcards, newsletters, self-mailers, and letters with or without envelopes. For print-only services, you can choose from dozens of other high-quality products, including brochures, business cards, booklets, and calendars.
One downside is that Smartpress doesn’t offer design templates or an in-house design platform, so you’ll need to create your design elsewhere before uploading it. Also, because its printing is premium quality, prices are higher than most other direct mail services.
Still, if you want this level of print quality for your direct mail or collateral, Smartpress can do the job. While it has a steeper price, you’ll get an upscale product to help you stand out in your recipients’ mailboxes, especially if your brand is focused on creating a high-style impression. And for postcards, letters, self-mailers, and booklets, they can even do all the shipping for you.
48HourPrint: Best for Fast and Affordable EDDM Services
48HourPrint is an all-around printing service for numerous marketing materials, even specialty pieces like stickers, carbonless forms, and signage. It also offers direct mail services for postcards, brochures, and mailers at small business-friendly pricing.
You can create your mailer online using its design platform (which has an integrated stock image search and purchase) or upload your own designs. Then, specify your size and coating. You can even have them sent out within one business day.
48HourPrint’s design tool is nowhere near as sophisticated or user-friendly as VistaPrint’s (think basic shapes and fonts). Its templates are also some of the most generic. The text editor dialogue, for example, is small and dainty and doesn’t allow for on-page text editing and formatting. However, we like that 48HourPrint has affordable EDDM services. For instance, for less than $69, you can deliver 250 EDDM postcards.
Another drawback with 48HourPrint is its high minimum orders that start at 250 or even 500 mailers, so it’s not the best direct mail service if you want to start small. Conversely, this also means you get more value from your budget if you’re willing to go for it and deliver to more recipients.
In all, 48HourPrint’s pricing is comparable to VistaPrint and offers EDDM, making it one of the best direct mailing services to target every address in a city or zip code. You won’t find sophisticated templates or an intuitive design editor here. But if you can provide your designs, it’s an affordable EDDM option to build your brand awareness in your community.
How to Choose the Best Direct Mail Services for Your Business
The first step in finding the best direct mail service for your business is assessing your needs. For example, some offer one-day turnaround times but cost more than average, so they’re the best option if you value time over cost. Some providers have built-in design platforms or offer design services if you need help. Still others, focus on print quality over cost for a high-end presentation for your brand.
This is why assessing your needs is crucial before choosing your service. There are seven factors to consider when choosing the best service for your business.
- Cost: Based on my budget and desired return on investment, does this provider align with my financial goals?
- Delivery speed: How quickly can the provider get my direct mailer campaigns printed and sent?
- Audience: Does the provider offer EDDM services or the ability to buy a mailing list, or do I need to have a list ready to upload?
- Design: How easy are the platform’s editing tools, and are design templates available? If not, does it offer design services?
- Reporting: How do I know how many pieces were delivered successfully? Does the provider offer any post-campaign analytics so I can calculate the return on my investment?
- Integrations: Do I need to coordinate direct mail campaigns with campaigns on other channels like email, social media, digital advertising, ecommerce, and so on?
- Added value: Does the provider offer other printing or marketing services beyond direct mail? Do I need an all-in-one solution or ways to automate future mailings?
Once you’ve answered these questions, review the providers to see which best matches your needs. Doing this helps you choose a service that is not only reliable and effective but prioritizes your business’ specific needs.
How We Evaluated the Best Direct Mailing Services
At the basic level, the best direct mail services should print and mail postcards, brochures, and other small business marketing materials with a maximum five to seven business day turn time. They should also be affordable, have good design and delivery options, and offer a variety of products. We evaluated the best direct mailing services for small businesses based on eight criteria:
- Affordability
- Minimum order quantity
- Product offering
- Product quality
- Customization capabilities
- Printing and mailing services
- Ease of use
- Turnaround time
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Yes, the USPS can deliver your direct mail campaigns the same way they deliver regular mail. Choose your mailer format, input your mailing list, and then pay for your postage. The USPS also offers EDDM services, where you can send mail to every address in a specific city or ZIP code and even target specific demographics like recipients’ age ranges and household income.
You can do your direct mail by yourself using design tools, a printer, and a postal service. Design and print your mail, collect your mailing addresses in a list or CRM and then send your mail via your postal service. However, this can be very time- and labor-intensive, even if it is less expensive than a service. We recommend using one of the best direct mail services instead, which offers most or all print and mail services on one platform at small business-friendly pricing.
You can use direct mail to market your small business, whether your goal is to grow brand awareness, drive traffic to your website or landing page, generate leads and sales, or build brand loyalty. Direct mail remains an effective way to communicate with audiences. However, it’s most effective when integrated with other digital marketing strategies like email, social media, and advertising.
Direct mail promotion refers to any physical message you deliver to clients through a delivery service, usually the USPS, to encourage them to patronize your business or purchase a product. Each of your mailers should include something that identifies your brand, a clear call to action (CTA), and a reliable contact method.
Bottom Line
Direct mail is an easy, affordable, and effective way to advertise your business, especially within your local community. Many have user-friendly design platforms and templates to get you started or can connect you with professional designers. The best direct mailing services provide a one-stop shop by consolidating efficient design and printing, integrated digital marketing, and mailing services.
From our research, the best service overall—with all these capabilities and more—is VistaPrint. It’s affordable, user-friendly, and has all the tools you need for direct mail success.