Direct Mail Analysis

Welcome to Deluxe Direct Mail Analysis Tool. This tool will help you determine the response rate you'll need to recover the cost of a direct mail program. It will also generate a summary profit/loss statement to aid you in assessing the impact of your proposed direct mail campaign on your "bottom line".

Please complete the following questions.

Contacts:

Each mail piece sent to a customer or prospect is a contact with that customer or prospect. If you plan to mail more than once to the same customer or prospect, you should count each mailing as a separate contact.

Cost per piece:

This is the cost of each piece of mail you will be sending. It should include, materials, printing, postage, addressing, list rental and any other costs that are variable and determined by the volume of mail to be sent.

Post Card:

(5x7" two-sided postcard printed on both sides)
The price estimates below assume 2 colour printing and bulk mail postage rates. You should adjust your costs if you will be mailing first class or printing in more than 2 colour.

Typical Costs	500	1000	5000	10,000	25,000	50,000
Post Card	$2.50	$1.44	$.59	$.45	$.39	$.36

Letter:

(8 1/2x11" letter printed on both sides in a standard number 10 envelope)
Useful to promote a service or announce the opening of a new store. Ideal for short simple messages. The price estimates below assume 2 colour printing and bulk mail postage rates. You should adjust your costs if you will be mailing first class or printing in more than 2 colours.

Typical Costs	500	1000	5000	10,000	25,000	50,000
Letter	$3.58	$2.00	$.68	$.50	$.41	$.38

Letter with brochure & order form:

(8 1/2x11" letter printed on both sides, fold out brochure, order form and reply envelope)
Appropriate for product mailings or for services that require significant information. Price estimates below assume 2 colour printing and bulk mail postage rates. You should adjust your costs if you will be mailing first class or printing in more than 2 colours.

Typical Costs	500	1000	5000	10,000	25,000	50,000
Letter with brochure & order form:	$6.64	$3.58	$1.05	$.74	$.53	$.46

Newsletter:

(11 x 17" page folded to 5 1/2 x 8 1/2")
Estimates below assume 2 colour printing and bulk mail postage rates. You should adjust your costs if you will be mailing first class or printing in more than 2 colours.

Typical Costs	500	1000	5000	10,000	25,000	50,000
Newsletter	$3.08	$1.78	$.71	$.54	$.45	$.41

Co-op Buck Slip:

In most markets there are companies that combine and mail simple marketing pieces for 10 to 30 companies. Typically, these are simple 3 x 8" slips printed on both sides. These are a very low cost means of delivering a message. However, you are sharing the readers attention with other participants' messages. Special offer coupons work best. The price estimates below assume 2 colour printing.

Typical Costs	500	1000	5000	10,000	25,000	50,000
Co-op buck slip mailing	$.98	$.53	$.12	$.055	$.027	$.019

Creative:

This is the cost of designing and writing the mail piece. If you are doing it yourself you can assume no cost. However, unless you are an experienced direct mail writer, you will probably get a better response if you have a professional create your mailing. Shop around - you may be surprised by how little good creative can cost.

Other Fixed Costs:

This includes any other costs associated with your mailing. For example, if you added a phone line to take the orders on and had to pay an installation fee, you should add that in.

Profit Per Sale:

Calculate this by deducting the cost of producing a product or service from the selling price of your product or service. You should account for material, assembly, shipping, etc.

Response Rate:

Generally, this is the percentage of the contacts you make that will actually buy your product or service. Direct mail response rates vary, but typically, are around 1% when mailing to prospects and somewhat higher when mailing to existing customers.

Average Sales Value:

The price of the service or product (plus any shipping and handling you will charge).