Guidelines to Follow for an Affordable Postcard Marketing Campaign

To reduce the cost of your direct mailing venture for postcard marketing campaigns, you can adjust the specs of your postcards so you would not have to incur additional expenses or charges due to minor things that you may have overlooked.

By reviewing postage regulations and United States Postal Service (USPS) guidelines, you can get a better idea on how to maintain the lowest rate for your postcard campaign.  


Mail classes

First-class and Standard mails are the mail classes applicable to most postcard sizes. 

With first-class mails, you can expect fast delivery within three to five days, nationwide.  You can have as little as one postcard delivered through this mail service but to get a discounted rate, you need to send at least 500 copies. 

Standard mails or Bulk Rate mail, on the other hand, need at least 200 postcards and cannot accommodate quantities less than this.  They have very low postage rates, but the delivery time takes 10 to 14 days across the country, and your mails may not necessarily reach your recipients within this period of time.  Also, standard mails do not have the card category unlike first-class mails.  Postal shapes for standard mails begin at letter.

One of the other differences between First-class and Standard mails is that your postcards can get free forwarding and return services if the supposed recipient has moved to a new address or location. 


Postal shapes

The key is to limit your marketing tool within the smallest postal shape.  There are four postal shapes available in USPS.  In ascending order, these are card, letter, large envelope and package. 


Cost-saving tips

Through these information and several other details that they entail, you can keep your postcard marketing costs to a minimum.

1.    If you want to use first-class mail, keep the dimensions within 3.5” x 5.5” and 4.25” x 6”.  If it exceeds, it will be upgraded into letter and hence you will be charged higher. 

2.    If your postcard has measurements reaching 6.125” x 11.5”, it would be best to use Standard mailing service.  Although it would fall under letter and you will be charged more, the postage rate for Standard mail is lower.

3.    Aside from the measurements, cards and letters should be rectangular in shape.  Square shape in mails is considered a non-machinable characteristic. This means that your mail is more difficult to process through the postal equipment, and may get ruined.  You will be required to pay the non-machinable surcharge, an added expense to the actual mailing cost.

4.    There is a limit to the thickness of the paper stock for postcards. Make sure that your postcards are about 0.007 to 0.016 inches thick. If you do not meet this requirement, your postcards are also at risk of getting damaged in the mail processing equipment.  It would be best to avoid such an unfortunate occurrence so you would not have to spend for another set of postcards.
Make sure that the money you invest on postcard marketing does not get wasted or that you do not get charged extra for certain expenses that can be avoided.