How to mail postcards for business: six steps from card size to a first test batch

How to mail postcards for business: the six steps

• Step 1, pick a size: stay inside the USPS card standards described below, or confirm with your printer or service that the size you choose is priced as a postcard.
• Step 2, choose a mail class: First Class is faster and, per Thanks.io and Postalytics, brings forwarding or returns. Marketing Mail, which Postalytics lists as Standard/Marketing Mail, costs less and moves slower.
• Step 3, prepare the list: use complete street addresses with apartment numbers and run a change-of-address check.
• Step 4, choose how it ships: a printer with EDDM or bulk entry, or a service that prints and mails for you.
• Step 5, add the return address and one response path: a phone number, a web address or a QR code.
• Step 6, send a small batch first, check how pieces arrive, then scale.

Before you start: card size, thickness and what USPS prices as a card

USPS retail standards limit a card-priced piece to 4.25 by 6 inches. Its commercial standards allow a postcard up to 6 by 9 inches and 0.016 inch thick, with anything over 4.25 by 6 inches at least 0.009 inch thick. A piece that misses the limits is priced as a letter. A 6 by 11 inch piece is longer than the 9-inch limit, so check how your printer or service prices it.

Set a single action for the reader, such as a visit, a call or a scan, before you design the front.

Setup choices: printer, EDDM or a mail service

• Printer plus EDDM Retail: USPS says EDDM Retail needs at least 200 pieces, up to 5,000 a day per ZIP Code, a USPS.com account and drop-off at a Post Office, with no mailing permit. It reaches every address on a route, not a named list.
• Printer plus Marketing Mail: the Domestic Mail Manual sets a minimum of 200 pieces or 50 pounds for a mailing, and the mailing must be sorted and marked to USPS standards.
• A mail service: tools such as Thanks.io and Postalytics print, add postage and mail from your list. Thanks.io says it has no minimum order and runs change-of-address processing on every send.
• Class and timing: Thanks.io estimates First Class at 5 to 10 business days and Standard at 10 to 20, and only First Class carries USPS tracking and returns. What is Thanks.io explains the service.

Prepare the address list so postcards arrive

The Domestic Mail Manual lists the elements of a delivery address in order: the recipient's name, the street and number with any apartment, and the city and state, with the ZIP Code required on commercial First Class and Marketing Mail pieces. Put the address only on the side that carries the postage, and leave clear space for it.

For commercial presorted First Class and Marketing Mail prices, USPS Move Update standards call for each address to be matched against change-of-address records within 95 days before the mailing, using methods such as NCOALink. Ask your printer or service whether it does this, because a recipient who has moved is one way a card ends up undeliverable. The return address belongs in the upper left corner of the address side.

Test a small batch and verify before you launch the rest

• Send a few pieces to your own team and a handful of customers, then check the address block, print quality and how a scan or call is recorded.
• Use a service's test mode if it has one. Thanks.io's API test mode submits orders without mailing anything or charging.
• Record the in-home date from your First Class and Standard pieces so you know the real timing, since vendors give only estimates.
• Fix what returns: Thanks.io's FAQ says undeliverable First Class pieces come back to the return address, so clean the list before the next send.