A Review of 10 Dental Direct Mail Postcard Services

March 3rd, 2020 by Tyson Downs 1 Comment

This post was originally published October 12th, 2015 and extensively updated March 3, 2020.

Ten Dental Direct Mail Postcard Services Reviewed - square (1)

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.

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:

Pricing:

$0.13 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 $0.47 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:

$.439/card, or around $2,200 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:

Price:

The cost to print, address, and ship 2,500 cards (First Class, 5-12 business days) with Vistaprint comes out to about $0.48/card. This is expensive. However, if you only print your cards with Vistaprint, the service is quite affordable. For example, you can print 2,500 oversized postcards (7” x 5”) with a glossy front for a total cost of $167.17 ($0.06/card), and then take them to the post office yourself and ship them EDDM — usually about $0.16 per piece. It’s a little more work for you but $0.22/card is not too shabby.

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:

$2,244.50 for 5,000 4 X 6 cards, which works out to about $0.449 per mailed card (better rates available for higher-volume). This price assumes you provide the design and mailing list, and it includes postage and tracking. You can get one of their custom lists for extra.

Cactus Mailing previously offered a Best Price Guarantee, meaning they will match the price of a competitor. We can no longer find this on their website, so you will want to check with them on it.

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 $0.45/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 $300. This comes out to about $0.12/card, but for higher volume you can get a price closer to $0.05/card. Pricing for all-inclusive mailing services ranges from $0.33 to $0.594 per postcard depending upon the size, printing options, and volume of your order. 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 $0.70 to $1.60 or more per mailed card, depending on quantity, size of card, mailing option, etc. For example, they can send out 2,500 standard postcards, color one side, EDDM, for $0.76 apiece.

At about $0.31/apiece (for 2,500 standard-sized cards) the print-only option is not a great deal, either.

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 low price of $0.12/card for printing 2,500 cards, but when you add in mailing services, the cost goes up to about $0.55 apiece to mail 2,500 standard-size, color one-side cards (First Class, to your own addresses). EDDM brings the shipping cost down significantly, coming in at about $0.26 per card.

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: $0.43/per card

Standard postcard, full color, sent to your own list (or one of their lists, not including the list price): $0.44/card.

All-inclusive pricing does include design services.

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 followup 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	$$$

Conclusion

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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