Take Better Aim at Targeted EDDM Markets

Unless your product or service is something that every single household can use, you will want to do a little bit of research to determine which carrier routes can give you the best possible return on your EDDM mailer.

Zero In

First you must consider what type of person is best suited to your product or service. Such factors as gender, age, income, interests, vocation and other personal characteristics will help you pinpoint your target market. Identifying as many details about your target audience as possible will enhance your Carrier route selection process.

Conduct a little online research

After you’ve specified your target market and the number of mailers you’re going to send out, go to the EDDM Retail site to perform these functions––

•Get counts by Carrier route
•Use the “By Location” option in the EDDM Retail
website and select “Map” in view types
•Enter your address, select a radius and click ‘submit’
•After getting a map with a table of Carrier routes, mouse
over a carrier route in the TABLE and the route will appear
on the map. This will give you address counts and the physical location of every route.

Selecting the best route

The bottom line is, you’ve got to select a route or routes that maximize your exposure to your target audience. You have two options for picking a route––

#1––Free

If you are familiar with your market, you may have a good idea about the characteristics of a route by looking at the map and route boundaries. For example, if you have a new yogurt store that will cater primarily to school kids, you can use your knowledge of the neighborhoods around your store to pick an area with a large number of families.

#2––Paid

If you need more specific information about the routes you are considering before making a selection––such as a breakdown of income, ethnicity or home values––you can purchase a report from Maponics that provides specific demographics for each route.

This report costs around $150 and can include up to 5 zip codes, which can cover over 100 carrier routes. If you plan on targeting a specific area this is a very good investment.

Here’s the link to Maponics––
Maponics Reports

If you find that your own knowledge of particular zip codes and carrier routes is sufficient enough information to reach your target market, then you’ll probably be fine with the available facts on the EDDM website. However, if you feel that you need more information to ensure you’re getting the best ROI on your mailer, then you’ll want to look into Maponics.

Side Note: Equating census demographics to postal geography is a tough task. The U.S. Postal Service does not collect or report on demographics by carrier route or zip code. And the Census Bureau has no obligation to convert their data to postal geography. Plus, carrier routes and zip codes change frequently.