do you want to go directly to the answer? the best direct mail service for most people is postalmania.
Direct mail is an effective and affordable way to drive brand awareness and generate new leads. put your message in people’s hands. focus on the streets and neighborhoods that are important to your success.
This is a great opportunity for both new and established businesses to reach new consumers who might not otherwise see a business’s digital presence.
top 8 direct mail services of 2022
- postcardmania: the best for multi-channel marketing campaigns
- vistaprint: the best postcard designs
- gunderson direct – Best for hands-off marketing
- printingforless – Best for targeting specific neighborhoods
- nextdayflyers – best for fast response times
- cactus mailing – best for coordinated google ad campaigns
- saasmql — best for saas lead generation
- psprint — most options for mail type
A direct mail company will print, stamp, and deliver your flyers, postcards, or brochures. Some services go further by providing design templates and helping you create a list of viable addresses.
I’ve researched direct mail companies and narrowed them down to the top eight in the market today. Below are detailed reviews of the benefits, drawbacks, and use cases of each direct mail service on my list.
best direct mail service reviews
postcardmania: the best for multi-channel marketing campaigns
postcardmania is excellent for direct mailing of high volume postcards due to its excellent volume discounts. They’re also a great option if you want to turn direct mail into one of many marketing channels.
Let’s take a look at traditional direct mail options first. postalmania offers the following services:
- postcard printing
- postcard design
- direct mail
- bulk mail
- mailing lists
- direct mail to all doors (eddm)
While they offer stellar deals on postcard and flyer mailing campaigns, where they really stand out is their product for small businesses everywhere.
This is a multi-channel marketing effort that includes direct mail. In addition to mail, you’ll also benefit from mail tracking, targeted Facebook follow-up advertisements, Instagram ads, Google follow-ups, and call tracking.
postcardmania targets people who receive their promotions in the mail through digital advertising channels. brings together multiple campaigns for lead generation and brand awareness.
Pricing for high-volume, standard-size postcards starts at just $0.05 per piece. you probably won’t find a better wholesale rate in the industry.
For a limited time, you can get 1,000 free printed postcards with your first postcardmania order.
vistaprint – most postcard layouts
vistaprint is one of the most popular printing solutions out there. While they are best known for their business card printing service, they also offer an excellent direct mail postcard service.
They also offer over 1,000 postcard designs, so chances are they have something that’s right for you and your brand.
simply design your card, send them your address list, and vistaprint will take care of the rest. Vistaprint has standard and oversized postcards.
One other service I really like is their mailing lists. You can buy a targeted list directly through this platform as well. These lists can be targeted to audiences by demographic data, like income, hobbies, new homeowners, or even B2B-targeted industries.
vistaprint is great because they have so many other products and services. No matter what your marketing needs are, Vistaprint has you covered. Some popular categories include:
- promotional products
- labels and stickers
- bags and clothing
- signage
- trade shows
- marketing materials
- business cards
If you want your mail service from the same provider as your promotional products and printing needs, Vistaprint puts it all in one place.
start with vistaprint.
gunderson direct: best for hands-off marketing campaigns
gunderson direct is a full service direct marketing agency. That means your reps will work with you to create a fully customized direct mail campaign that’s perfect for your brand.
They give you everything you need to get the most out of your direct mail campaigns. Leverage their expertise to create email campaigns that complement and work in concert with your marketing strategy.
will start with a consultation with gunderson’s direct team. As a full-service agency, they’ll make sure every aspect of your program is optimized for success, from testing to data to messaging to offers.
From that query, you’ll gain all the knowledge you need to build a successful program.
gunderson direct can help you create direct mail collateral from your internal database and external sources. Their award-winning design team will provide you with print-ready, specific creative, and their production expertise ensures you submit high-quality material.
From start to finish, they’ll take care of most aspects of your marketing campaign for you, making sure to check in with you as needed to ensure you get the results you’re looking for.
They’ll even give you detailed reports and analytics so you can measure your success. that’s a rare deal when it comes to direct mail services.
Contact their team for a custom quote for your business’s direct mail needs.
printingforless – best for targeting specific neighborhoods
printingforless is a popular and reliable direct mail service. is a one stop shop for both printing and mailing.
offer a wide range of tools like free templates, direct mail suggestions, integration with marketing automation platforms, and web-to-print so employees have easy access to sales and marketing collateral.
where they really stand out is their direct mail service to all doors (eddm). They’ll work with you to determine a specific neighborhood or region you want to target and make sure your ads reach those homes.
This is great for promoting your restaurant or retail opening day, local promotions, and other location-specific announcements.
While a few other services on this list offer EDDM (such as NextDayFlyers), none of them offer it with the amount of variety of mailer types that PrintingForLess gives you.
They also have a lot of experience working with political campaigns to make sure their ads reach constituents and potential voters. If you’re in (or aspiring to be) elected, I recommend printing for free.
What I like about printforless is that they really stand behind their product. If your mailing and printing do not arrive on time, you will be fully reimbursed for the costs incurred. that removes much of the anxiety that surrounds big marketing projects.
Before we start large-scale production and mailing, pfl will give you free custom print samples. You can choose from different paper types, weights, coatings, binding options, and effects to see which one is best for your business.
nextdayflyers: best for fast response times
True to their name, nextdayflyers will give you an incredibly fast turnaround time to ensure you get your mailers out fast.
In fact, they offer a next business day printing service. Although you will pay more for this premium service, it is a great option for urgent offers and campaigns.
With NextDayFlyers, your company can send:
- postcards
- brochures
- postcards
- personalized products
nextdayflyers will stock your inventory, verify addresses, pre-sort your products, and send your mail. you can also rent mailing lists for campaigns.
Browsing this platform is easy. simply choose your brochure size, customize the cardstock, add a glossy or matte layer, and select your quantity. you can create artwork directly on your website or upload your own file.
You’ll see the cost of your direct mail campaign in real time as you continue to make changes.
cactus email: ideal for coordinated google ad campaigns
cactus mailing is a simple, direct mail service that offers great mailings and brochures, along with a unique offer focused on google ads.
the best services include:
- direct mail postcards
- direct mail brochures
- targeted mailing lists
- mail piece design
- call tracking
However, where they really shine is in their clever product marketing. They work with you to create a coordinated Google Ads campaign that complements your direct mail campaign and drives better results. doing so will increase response rates, which will boost both leads and sales.
This program includes google display ads along with landing pages to support your direct mail brochures and postcards.
this differs from postalmania’s multi-channel offering because cactus focuses solely on google ads. postalmania offers facebook and instagram ads along with tracking.
Some of the major industries that use cactus mail include dentists, restaurants, salons, spas, churches, real estate, retail, and fitness. cactus excels at creating beautiful brochures to promote your business.
Another reason to consider cactus shipping is its great deals when you combine more than one service. They post these specials regularly, so you always have a chance to save.
saasmql – best for saas lead generation
saasmql is extremely unique compared to the other direct mail services on our list. offer account-based demand generation for saas businesses.
If your organization falls into this category, saasmql should be the best option to consider.
In most cases, direct mail is not associated with saas. But saasmql has revolutionized the way you approach lead generation strategy. they use direct mail to create leads and opportunities with mid-market and enterprise-level prospects.
Using a direct mail campaign, one of their clients generated more than 50 qualified meetings in less than two months. This generated over $2 million.
This success is attributed to saasmql’s unique approach. Instead of just sending a brochure or postcard, saasmql sends packages to businesses.
this stands out against the hundreds of emails, calls and spam these recipients receive on a daily basis. no one is going to throw a package in the trash without thinking twice.
In addition to direct mail, saasmql helps you with other marketing campaigns and account-based analytics. they have everything you need for saas demand generation across multiple channels.
psprint: most options for mail type
psprint offers a wide range of products available for direct mail.
In fact, they offer 10 types of banner ads to send to potential customers. that’s much more than other services that often offer only one or two mail options.
psprint products include:
- brochures
- door hangers
- flyers
- magnets
- newsletters
- postcards
- banner cards
- sales sheets
- stickers
- gift tags
This is a wide variety of direct mailers that they will send for you. It’s also worth mentioning that they offer mailing list processing (cass certification, inkjet addressing, and postal resource), foil stamping, die cutting, and even a graphic designer to work with you to get exactly the look you want. /p>
PsPrint offers a quick turnaround as well. In just two to five days after printing is complete, your order can be mailed.
The entire process can also be managed online. simply select your product, upload your artwork, and attach your mailing list. psprint will even send you extra prints that weren’t mailed. the “overs” are free if they fit in a box.
For those of you who don’t have a mailing list, psprint will help you create one in less than 15 minutes. just answer a few questions related to your target market based on age, income, zip code, and other details.
If you want to get your hands on a finished product before you make a decision, sign up for a free psprint sample kit.
how to choose the best direct mail service for your business
Each direct mail service is unique. Finding the best one for your business is not impossible to do on your own, but it can be challenging. that’s why we’re here.
We studied five key areas to see how each service stacked up and narrowed down our options based on the results. use these criteria to find the right service for your specific business needs.
solutions adapted to the industry
A local family restaurant will not need the same services as a multi-million dollar b2b company. that’s why they shouldn’t go to the same place for direct mail services.
Research the industries targeted by each direct mail. For example, Gunderson Direct focuses on telemedicine, b2b businesses, and financial advisors. saasmql is, as its name suggests, a great option for saas companies.
postcardmania, on the other hand, helps any business that relies on postcards and flyers as part of their marketing efforts. these include air conditioning and heating, restaurants, roofing, and real estate, to name a few.
When searching for direct mail services, be sure to also look at some of their previous clients. Do they have solutions to target your specific customers? can they effectively promote their offerings? if not, they are not the right service for you.
postal varieties
You may have specific marketing needs today, but what if they evolve in the future? you want to find a direct mail company that gives you options.
Common types of mail include:
- postcards
- flyers
- invitations
- greeting cards
- brochures
- newsletters
- catalogues
- brochures
- custom products
A postcard could be more than enough for your business to promote something simple like an upcoming event or sale. but if you want to send more detailed information about your organization, a brochure or catalog might be more appropriate.
A service like gunderson direct offers a wider variety of offers including letters, brochures and more. They’ll even work with you to help you plan the most effective direct mail campaign for your brand.
less common, companies like saasmql even send packages via direct mail for certain types of business. Finding a service with a variety of offerings can help you stick with the same service provider no matter how far your marketing efforts expand.
Of course, the opposite is also true. some services, such as postalmania, are limited in their offerings, but excel at what they do. If you just need postcards or brochures and don’t expect that need to change any time soon, choosing a service that specializes in that area is another good strategy to follow.
eye-catching designs
First impressions are crucial for direct mail campaigns. you want your final product:
- Looks clean and beautiful when it hits prospects’ mailboxes.
- Instantly attracts a potential customer with an attractive and informative design.
This can be a very difficult balance to strike, but good direct mail services achieve this while staying true to their brand.
some services offer industry-specific templates (eg postcardmania has postcard designs for real estate agents). that provides a good starting point if you don’t have a lot of graphic design experience.
Other companies allow you to choose the quality, size and finish of their products. that helps if you have a very specific vision of what your mail will look like.
When looking at or researching a direct mail service, be sure to look at any case studies they may have along with samples of their previous work. this should give you a good indication of the quality of your design and whether the service is a good fit for your brand, industry and target customer.
It’s important to note that sometimes your graphic design services are priced separately from the direct mail service. for example, postalmania offers graphic design as a stand-alone offering, while gunderson direct offers it as part of their complete package.
complementary services
When your marketing efforts are coordinated and work together, they can have an even greater impact on your bottom line. The best direct mail service companies offer additional marketing products to help support your direct mail campaigns.
for example, postalmania also provides you with a multi-channel marketing plan that includes facebook, instagram and google ads, along with call tracking, mail tracking and tracking.
An offer like that can go a long way in keeping your marketing efforts centralized and focused, not to mention more cost-effective. With all your marketing handled by one company, you’re not juggling a bunch of different companies and services at once, trying to make them all work together. you can avoid the typical headaches that this scenario usually brings.
vistaprint can create a ton of really cool branded promotional items for you, like bags, hats, or anything else you think people will wear. the point is to get your business name out there beyond just banner ads.
Even if you don’t need all the services a company offers today, it’s something to consider for your future plans.
response time
This is not necessarily the most common element that businesses look for in a direct mail service.
However, there are times when it can be important for businesses and brands to get ads out to potential customers quickly (for example, when you have a time-critical promotion). Not to mention, if customers and prospects receive an email after a promotion has expired or ended, it’s a huge waste of money and reflects badly on your business in the eyes of those recipients.
As such, response time is a consideration we took into account when researching this list.
once printing is complete, shipping turnaround time typically ranges from the next business day to ten business days.
You can usually pay more to have your ads delivered faster. but it’s best to find a direct mail service that works fast at no additional cost.
Fortunately, some direct mail campaigns are more time sensitive than others, like overnight flyers, which can deliver your mailings quickly.
summary of the best direct mail services
direct mail works very well in many situations. It’s easy to lose sight of this when you focus on email, online ads, and other digital marketing tactics.
postcardmania is the best direct mail service for most businesses. Regardless of your budget, printing needs, or direct mail strategy, you can find what you’re looking for using the reviews and recommendations in this guide.