A Review of 10 Dental Postcard Marketing Services for Direct Mail Success

January 15th, 2025 by Tyson Downs 1 Comment

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This post was originally published October 12th, 2015 and extensively updated Jan 15, 2025.

A Review of 10 Dental Postcard Marketing Services for Direct Mail Success_square

Digital marketing is undeniably a priority for dental practices today. Most patients research dental providers online before they make an appointment. Digital marketing can include everything from SEO and web design to Pay Per Click and social media marketing. However, you can’t afford to ignore the importance of postcard marketing for dentists.

Direct mail marketing still has a place and in fact, it can be a very effective way of attracting new patients. It’s an inexpensive, high-ROI way to market your dental practice.

But, how do you know which dental postcard marketing services are worthwhile and which aren’t? It can be very difficult to compare when services don’t align with one another. For example, some companies do all the work for you, from designing and printing to mailing and tracking, while others offer a more DIY approach, where they print the card you designed, and you can take it from there.

At Titan Web Agency, we know you have more important things to do than to spend your time evaluating dental direct mail marketing services – so we’ve done the work for you. Keep reading to learn about the top dental postcard marketing services and how they compare.

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First things first: A note about EDDM & Dental Postcards

EDDM, or Every Door Direct Mail, is an option available to dentists who do direct mail postcard marketing. It is a program offered by the United States Postal Service where you can get a deeply discounted postage rate by opting to deliver your postcards to every address on a postal route. It’s a great way for dentists to target their mailings to the area they choose, and you don’t have to purchase a mailing list.

Key Benefits of EDDM for Dental Practices

Cost Savings: With postage rates as low as $0.20-$0.25 per piece (compared to standard first-class rates), EDDM helps dental practices reduce their marketing budget significantly.
Targeting Capabilities: Dentists can focus on specific neighborhoods or ZIP codes, making it easier to reach prospective patients close to their office. For example, a dental practice in a suburban area might target a newly developed neighborhood with families, ensuring the marketing effort reaches those most likely to need dental services.
Ease of Use: EDDM simplifies the mailing process. Dentists don't have to purchase or manage mailing lists, as postcards are sent to every household along chosen postal routes.

A few things about EDDM:

Your mail piece must be taller than 6.125" or longer than 11.5" and smaller than 12”x15"
There is a 5,000 item per day mailing limit (and a 200 item minimum)
You have to be willing to accept a delivery time of 7-14 business days

There are two ways to do EDDM:

You can hire a postcard marketing company to create postcards for you and then take them to the post office yourself.
You can hire a postcard marketing company to do everything from creating postcards to mailing them according to your schedule.

If a postcard marketing service has an “EDDM option,” this typically means they will help you choose the right routes to target, prepare the postcards in accordance to EDDM regulations, complete all the required postal paperwork, and pay the EDDM postage.

Now, let’s look at ten of the most popular dental direct mail postcard services and see how they compare to one another.

1. Smartpress

Overview:

Smartpress is an all-in-one direct mail company that also creates custom brochures, booklets, letters and many other marketing materials. Smartpress has many postcard options to choose from, including an array of sizes, digital variable printing and perforation.

You have the option of first class mail or standard mail, but they do not offer an EDDM option.

Design:

You can choose from one of their free templates and design the postcard yourself or request a custom quote for their design services.

Printing:

Yes — Choose from 6 sizes, 3 finishes, and 4 different weights of paper.

Addressing and mailing:

Yes — Choice of First Class or Standard mail.

Mailing lists for purchase:

Yes

Tracking:

Online marketing integration:

EDDM option:

Yes — Smartpress offers Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) services, allowing you to target postal routes without a mailing list.

Pricing:

$0.29 each for 2,500 standard sized postcards with a 2-day turnaround (First Class mail option). The price is the same for standard mail and EDDM. (Note: prices are significantly higher for smaller orders; for example, an order of 500 standard-sized postcards would be $0.79 each.)

The Takeaway:

Smartpress is a decent general direct mail company with lots of printing options. However, the fact that they no longer offer an EDDM option is a mark against them.

2. DentalMarketing.net

Overview:

DentalMarketing.net is an all-in-one dental direct mail marketing company. Their all-inclusive price includes postage, as well as call tracking and monitoring. They also offer 100% exclusivity to your practice (in your area) and a risk-free guarantee (guaranteed ROI).

Design:

Yes — Custom design included in price.

Printing:

Yes — All cards have full color on both sides, with 2-4 day turnaround.

Addressing and mailing:

Yes — Postage is included in the price (see below) and cards have a targeted start-of-the-week delivery.

Mailing lists for purchase:

Yes — Included in price.

Tracking:

Call tracking, monitoring, reporting.

Online marketing integration:

EDDM option:

Price:

$0.516, or around $2,580 for 5,000 cards. They acknowledge their service is a little pricier than some other postcard marketing companies, but they cite the many added services they offer, including a targeted mailing list, included in the price.

The Takeaway:

This is an excellent company to use if you want a service that does everything for you and that specifically works with dentists. Some other benefits include their quick turnaround with start-of-the-week delivery, full-color on both sides of the card, call tracking and monitoring, inclusion of a mailing list, exclusivity guarantee, and a guaranteed return on your investment.

3. Vistaprint

Overview:

Vistaprint is an easy and affordable way to design your own dental postcard mailers, especially if you just want to make a small batch and mail them yourself. Vistaprint doesn’t offer too much in the way of added services, and their mailing services are kind of pricey, but they work well for a small-scale DIY approach.

Design:

Yes — Upload your own, customize a pre-made design, or have one custom-designed.

Printing:

Yes — One-side and two-side color options; multiple size options; choice of 14-pt, 16-pt, or 18-pt paper and a variety of finishing options.

Addressing and mailing:

Yes — Mailing services available for an extra charge.

Mailing lists for purchase:

Yes

Tracking:

Online marketing integration:

EDDM option:

Yes — Vistaprint offers Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) services, allowing you to reach every address in a specific area without needing a mailing list.

Price:

For 2,500 standard-sized postcards (7" x 5", glossy front and back), the cost is approximately $0.47 per card, or around $1,175 for the full order (plus the cost of mailing services). Mailing services are additional and would depend on your specific mailing needs.

The Takeaway:

VistaPrint is a good DIY option if you want to do a small batch of postcards and then mail them yourself. If you want mailing services too, Vistaprint is a little too expensive for what you get.

4. Modern Postcard

Overview:

Modern Postcard is a quality direct mail company that provides most of the services you’d expect — printing, addressing, mailing, and targeted mailing lists for purchase. They also offer integrated email marketing and some special services like Variable Data Printing (personalized postcards) and corporate level plans for large-scale, ongoing campaigns.

Design:

Yes — Customize one of their templates or use their design/layout services (for added $100/hour fee)

Printing:

Yes — Standard, deluxe, Sumo-size, premium and square options.

Addressing and mailing:

Yes

Mailing lists for purchase:

Yes

Tracking:

Yes

Online marketing integration:

Integrated email marketing (for additional fee)

EDDM option:

Yes

Price:

Modern Postcard used to have pre-set packages. Now, all quotes are custom quotes. Since the prices can vary greatly depending on how many postcards you need and which design options you choose, your best bet is to fill out their online form to get a quote. In the past, we found their package prices to be on the high side.

The Takeaway:

If you need personalized mailers or corporate-level dental direct mail, this might be a good option, particularly if you need a large number of postcards. Otherwise, they have historically been on the pricier side, especially considering that the base price doesn’t include a mailing list or other added benefits such as custom design or online marketing for dentists.

5. Cactus Mailing

Overview:

Cactus Mailing is a very affordable direct mail service that includes added services like call tracking. They have EDDM-qualifying cards experience with dental postcard marketing.

Design:

Yes — Custom designs range from $150 to $500 according to a company representative.

Printing:

Yes — All postcards are full color both sides, printed on environmentally friendly materials. Jumbo sizes available. 5/6-day turnaround time.

Addressing and mailing:

Yes

Mailing lists for purchase:

Yes

Tracking:

Call tracking

Online marketing integration:

Yes, they added digital marketing integration in 2019.

EDDM option:

Yes, includes the option for full service.

Pricing:

Cactus Mailing does not list specific pricing on its website. Due to the various factors that influence pricing—such as postcard size, quantity, type of mailing list, postage rates, and mailing frequency—they provide custom quotes tailored to your specific needs. To get an accurate quote, it’s best to contact them directly, and they will work with you to create options that fit your budget.

The Takeaway:

With price-matching, dental experience, and call tracking, this is a very solid direct mail service for dentists. Their turnaround time is on the longer side, but otherwise, Cactus Mailing is a good all-in-one direct mail company.

6. HMFusion

Overview:

HMFusion is a dental industry-specific direct mail company. The all-inclusive service includes just about everything in one affordable package — design, printing, mailing list, call tracking, and more. HMFusion also provides a guaranteed 200% return on your investment and great prices for large jobs.

Design:

Yes — Custom design included in price.

Printing:

Yes — Yes, all cards are oversized (6” x 12”) and printed on heavy 16 pt. card stock.

Addressing and mailing:

Yes — Mailing services and postage included in price; 48-hour delivery.

Mailing lists for purchase:

Yes — Targeted mailing list included in price.

Tracking:

Call tracking

Online marketing integration:

EDDM option:

Pricing:

Smallest package is 5,000 6” x 12” dental postcards for $0.48/piece. (Call for custom pricing; more info here.)

The Takeaway:

HMFusion offers a great price for all-in-one dental postcard marketing — even the mailing list is included, as is tracking. They offer industry expertise and an ROI guarantee. There are fewer postcard options than some other services, but some dentists might actually prefer this since all the major choices are made for you.

7. Postcard Mania

Overview:

Postcard Mania is an all-in-one direct mail provider, offering affordable postcard marketing for dentists with integrated online marketing features. Postcard Mania will design your postcard, address it, mail it, and then follow up with automated emails and online followup ads. They also offer targeted mailing lists for purchase and EDDM services.

Design:

Yes — You can purchase an original design for $99 or $199, or you can also choose from pre-made designs that you can customize with your logo.

Printing:

Yes — Standard, Jumbo, Colossal, and custom size options available, with option for color on one side or both sides.

Addressing and mailing:

Yes — The cost of addressing/mailing service is $0.05 per piece, plus $0.275 - $0.284/card for postage on standard-size (4.26” x 6”) postcards.

Mailing lists for purchase:

Yes

Tracking:

Yes — Mail tracking (to notify you when postcards are received), online tracking, call tracking.

Online marketing integration:

Yes — Recipients receive followup emails and online ads.

EDDM option:

Yes

Price:

Cheapest option for 2,500 standard full-color (one-side) postcards is $450. This comes out to about $0.18/card, but for higher volume, you can get a price closer to $0.05/card. Because they are a bulk mailer, Postcard Mania receives significant postage discounts, which are passed on to you.

Whether you want to mail 2,500 postcards or as many as 800,000, they offer competitive, industry-leading pricing based on cost per piece and cost per 1,000 postcards. All-inclusive mailing services, including addressing, mailing, and postage, are available at a price that reflects these bulk discounts. You can find more information or request a custom quote here.

The Takeaway:

This affordable service offers lots of options and straightforward prices. They have specific expertise with dental practices and are one of the few dental postcard marketing services that offers online tracking and followup online ads, as well as call tracking.

8. Express Copy

Overview:

Automated campaigns, personalized mailings, and dental marketing campaigns are a few of the useful options offered by Express Copy. Express Copy also provides an unbeatable same-day turnaround. They offer custom design services via their customer support team. They are the most expensive option on this list.

Design:

Yes — Use one of their customizable templates or upload your own design, or email or call customer service and work with them for a custom design.

Printing:

Yes — Multiple size and paper options; print-only option (with no mailing services). Same-day turnaround.

Addressing and mailing:

Yes — Print-only, print-and-address, and print-address-and-post options.

Mailing lists for purchase:

Yes — $0.10 per lead

Tracking:

Online marketing integration:

EDDM option:

Yes

Pricing:

Prices range from about $1.25 to $3.11 or more per mailed card, depending on quantity, size of card, mailing option, etc. For orders over 1,000 cards, contact support for the industry's best pricing.

The Takeaway:

Express Copy is not the cheapest by any means but offers lots of options. The service has dental expertise with options for ongoing campaigns. Depending on your printing and mailing needs, you may find Express Copy too expensive.

9. PrintingforLess

Overview:

PrintingforLess is a reputable direct mail company providing multiple postcard printing options and decent prices for print-only or EDDM — and their online EDDM route selector tool is quite handy. Their First Class mail options are rather high-priced, however.

Design:

Yes — Design your own from a free template or pay extra for their graphic design services.

Printing:

Yes — 4-day turnaround.

Addressing and mailing:

Yes

Mailing lists for purchase:

Yes

Tracking:

Online marketing integration:

EDDM option:

Yes — Use EDDM route selector when you place you order.

Pricing:

You can print your cards for a low price of $0.14/card when printing 2,500 standard-size, color one-side cards (First Class, to your own addresses), with a shipping and handling fee of $60.45 added to the total cost. This is for a 3-day production process.

The Takeaway:

PrintingforLess does numerous kinds of print jobs, including different types postcard mailers and EDDM. They are geared mostly toward large-scale enterprises, but they make it quick and easy to place an order online. For dentists, they can provide a very good deal if you want to do print-only.

10. Print Label and Mail

Overview:

This company is unique in that they offer label and mailing services separately, which allows you to print out your postcards somewhere else. They also print cards, but it’s nice to have the option to do things piecemeal if needed. Direct mail services include design, printing, mailing, including postage. You can use your own list, buy one of their lists, or use their EDDM option.

Design:

Yes — Custom postcard design included in “bulk mailing” packages.

Printing:

Yes — Standard, large, and jumbo sizes, 2-color or 4-color; they do print-only jobs through their 3000 Door Hangers website.

Addressing and mailing:

Yes — Order label and mail only, or order this service as part of a bulk mailing package.

Mailing lists for purchase:

Yes

Tracking:

Online marketing integration:

EDDM option:

Yes

Prices:

Standard postcard, full color, EDDM: $0. 30/per card.

Standard postcard, full color, sent to your own list (or one of their lists, not including the list price): $0. 72/card.

The Takeaway:

Print, Label, and Mail is an easy-to-use direct mail service with print-only, mail-only, and all-in-one direct mail services. However, the price is rather high compared to some of the others on this list, they do not include tracking or online integration, and a mailing list will cost you extra.

Compare At-a-Glance

In this chart, you can see all of these ten dental direct mail companies compared at a glance. You can see how affordable they are, whether they offer postcard tracking (online tracking or call tracking), whether they offer integrated online marketing (such as follow-up emails or ads), and whether they offer a print-only option (allowing you to mail the postcards yourself or with another service).

	Price	Tracking	Online Integration	Print-only Option
Smartpress	$
DentalMarketing.net	$$
Vistaprint	$$
Modern Postcard	$$$
Cactus Mailing	$
HMFusion	$$
Postcard Mania	$$
Express Copy	$$$$
PrintingforLess	$$$
Print, Label and Mail	$$$

Final Thoughts on Dental Postcard Marketing for Your Practice

As a dentist preparing a postcard direct mail marketing campaign, your choice of direct mail service will depend on factors such as your marketing goals, your budget, and how much of the work you want to do yourself, if any. We believe this overview will provide you with the main pieces of information you need to pick the best service to create and mail your dental marketing postcards.

For more information on direct mail and postcard marketing for dentists, check out our blog posts Why Dentists Should Use Direct Mail.

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