How to Sign-up for USPS EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail)by Dominique Barbagallo

What is “EDDM” anyhow??Before signing-up for something–anything–

you want to make sure that you fully know and understand what it is

you’re getting into (or so we should hope). So let’s break down this

strange acronym of “EDDM”: Every Door Direct Mail. Every Door Direct

Mail is a service done by the United States Postal Service which allows

you to market or advertise to every mailing address in any given area

all without the need for names or street addresses. What also makes

life easier, especially for small businesses, is the fact that there is no

need for a postage permit as well as no annual fees. With EDDM, you

get to decide how your mail-pieces are created, what you want them to

say, and which specific postal routes and regions you’d like your

unique pieces to be mailed out to. Even if you have no idea how you’d

like your mail-pieces to look or what you’d like them to say, all you

need to do is leave it toEDDM professionals. These professionals help

you every step of the way in your process, but let you control the

content and look you’re going for.

So where do I sign-up??If you’re even the slightest bit intrigued by Every Door Direct Mail,

then it is very worth it to at least talk to someone about your ideas,

thoughts, questions, or concerns. The next step would be to get to a

desktop, laptop, tablet, or even mobile phone in order to log on to the

Internet. Once you’re online, type in the following URL:

You will then be re-directed to the main page:

Next, you should hover over where it reads “Business” on the top

navigation panel. When you do so, a drop-down menu will appear. On

this menu, click “Every Door Direct Mail“:

After you’ve clicked this button, you will be re-directed to the following

page:

Now, at this point, it is not entirely clear on what you should do next in

order to get yourself signed-up. The United States Postal Service

directs you to first choose your mailing route before the actual

“signing-up”. You can either choose a random zip code of your choice

just for the sake of getting through to the sign-up process or, you can

choose the zip code you actually intend to use. For our example, we

will choose the zip code “23456”. After typing in the zip code, click

the magnifying glass icon to the right (the search button):

You will then be taken to your zip code, which will show the region on

the map. From there, you may click “Show Table” to show a list of all

the mail routes within your zip code:

A table will drop down, and here is where it gets a little more

confusing. Before you select the specific routes you wish to mail out to,

let’s take a look at the top panel above the chart and what each

column means:

“ROUTE”:  Underneath this column, lists the exact route zip-

code/number. It differentiates one route from another.

“RESIDENTIAL”:  Underneath this column, lists the total number of

residents within the specific route. If you were to click on the

“Residential” button, you could select if you want the chart to

show “Residential” addresses only, or “Business” AND

“Residential” addresses. By default, the chart shows “Residential

Only”. You may also sort the number of residents from “highest

to lowest” or “lowest to highest” from there. (You may sort any

column this way as well)

“TOTAL”:  This column shows the total number of people within

the zip code, whether they are residential or business, or both.

“AGE 25-44″:  This column shows the percentage of those people

who are ages 25 to 44 within the specific route. This type of data

helps you determine where you’d like to mail, depending on your

target market age.

“SIZE”:  This column shows the average amount of people per

household within the specific zip code. This data also helps you

decide where to mail, based on your target market (ex.

“families”, “single”, “married”, etc.)

“INCOME”:  This column shows the average income of the

households within the specific zip code. This also comes into play

for your target market, based on what type of income you want to

focus on.

“COST”:  Underneath this column, you are shown what it would

cost you if you were to choose that specific mail route.

Next, choose a route or multiple routes. To the right of the chart will be your order

summary, which displays how many routes you’ve selected, the total number of Postal

drop-offs, the total number of delivery addresses, and the approximateprice it will all

cost you to deliver to the places you’ve selected. From there, click “Continue“:

The following will appear:

Assuming you are new to USPS, you will now need to create an account (bare with me,

you’re almost there!). Click “Sign Up Now“. Once you’ve clicked that, it will redirect you

to a page where you will create your own username andpassword:

You will then scroll down in order to fill out your name and contact information:

Then, scroll down and choose either your address, zip code, or company identifier so USPS

can find the best deliverable option for you:

For our example, I chose “zip code” and typed in my previously used code, then clicked

“Search“:

The site will then figure out the city and state from the zip code you’ve typed in, and you

will just need to verify that it is correct. If it is correct, click “Continue“:

Next, you need to enter the name of your company/business and its street address:

You will then need to verify your business. Once you’ve selected the correct business, click

“Continue“:

LAST STEP!!!!! Now is the part where you will read (or skim) the “Privacy Policy” and

click “Create Account”:

And that’s it! You’re all done! (Phew! Finally, Right?!) If this all seems like it may be too much for you, or gets too confusing, you’re not alone. Give the experts a call, and we will gladly help you out!