Neighbourhood vs. Personalized Mail. What is Right for You?

What comes to mind when you hear “Neighbourhood Mail” or “Personalized Mail”?  Did you know that Neighbourhood Mail also refers to Solo Mail and Personalized Mail refers to Addressed Mail?  Let’s take a closer look at both of these terms in hopes of finding out which one is right for you!

Personalized Mail

If you are using direct mail on your next campaign and looking to encourage specific customers from a list you own or a purchased list to purchase an item, provide information on a participating loyalty program, or attend an event,  this is when you would use Personalized Mail.  This allows you to solely focus on your top recipients who are most likely to engage and increase the rates of response and ultimately your ROI.  

Postgrid states that these categories below are good fits for Personalized mail only if they fall under the Promotional category.  They are as follows:

• Financial reports or annual reports
• Loyalty and retention mailings
• Consent mailings (opt-in or opt-out)
• Loyalty card programs
• Calendars
• Mini-catalogues
• Newsletters
• Surveys
• Welcome kits
• Greeting or thank-you cards
• Renewal offers and notices

Personalized mail also adds a significant personal touch, it lets your clients or prospects know that you appreciate their commitment to your business which is why addressing them personally makes the content feel more relevant on the receiving end.  It also reinforces why an astonishing 87% of Canadians open mail addressed to them.  

With advancements in the printing industry, your personalized mail can be customized to have the recipient's name and address on an envelope, postcard, even a magazine and catalogue!  This doesn’t necessarily mean that it must only go to a home address, you can also send personalized mail to businesses (both small and large) as well as apartment complexes.  Narrowing down who and when to send mail, reduces waste when not reaching the right clientele.  

Neighbourhood Mail

Using neighbourhood mail  would be best if you are looking to mail out on a larger scale while trying to reach and gain as many potential customers as possible. This strategy is a cost-effective option compared to personalized mail, as even though it’s not addressed it can be targeted demographically and geographically. Whether you have a new store opening, seasonal promotion/reminder, limited time offers or simply increasing your brand awareness, this can all be done with neighbourhood mail based on location and/or demographics. 

Another way to decipher which option suits your needs is if your brand's campaign requires you to narrow down your focus.  An example of this would be an electrical company who may want to only target houses with families in a 15km radius.  You can also target your demographic audience based on age, building type, household income, education, occupation and much more.

Postgrid provides great examples of various types of both printed and non-printed Neighbourhood mail options.  For printed, these include options such as:

• Brochures
• Newsletters
• Postcards
• Flyers

Non-printed options would include things such as:

• Small Parcels
• Product Samples

Above all, if you are looking to reach anyone and everyone within a certain radius, neighbourhood mail would be your best option as it ensures you will be able to target all addresses within that exact area.

Now that I’ve taken you through both mail options, it’s time to decide which type of mail will actually work best for you, ask yourself these questions:

• Which format works best for you?
• Do you have a mailing list and if so, what is the size of the mailing list?
• Which demographics should be targeted?
• What is the budget and mailing motive?

If you still need assistance on answering these questions, speak to a Marketing Consultant today about neighbourhood or personalized mail for your business.