The 9 Best Direct Mail Services for Small Businesses

My expert opinion

VistaPrint is always my go-to for any type of printed marketing material because of the sheer variety it has on offer: postcards, brochures, catalogs — you name it. And it consistently delivers high-quality designs and print results, the kind that show you’re a reputable, high-quality business.

I particularly like that its online design editor gives plenty of design freedom with plenty of templates to start with. VistaPrint is often my number one alternative to people who want Canva’s design platform but with more trustworthy printing services.

The one drawback with VistaPrint is that it only offers mailing services for postcards. So if your campaign involves anything more (like brochures or booklets), you’ll need to mail them yourself.

However, no matter the size of your business, VistaPrint is still our best direct mailing service for postcard marketing campaigns, especially if you prioritize good design. It provides everything you need in one place, including mailing lists and design services, at an affordable price and with postage discounts.

It’s also ideal for designing and printing other materials, such as brochures, catalogs, business cards, flyers, and branded promotional assets for your small business.

My expert opinion

PostcardMania offers some of the cheapest printing costs overall. But what makes it stand out among other direct mailing marketing services is its Everywhere Small Business cross-channel campaigns.

It combines direct mail with Google and social media ads and even retargets website visitors and cart abandonments in your Shopify store. It’s a cost-efficient option for combining direct mail with cross-channel and remarketing campaigns.

For example, you can match the IP address of anonymous visitors to your website and automatically send a follow-up mailer. Likewise, PostcardMania will automatically send postcards as part of your Shopify cart abandonment strategy or to people who interact with your digital ads online. Their new-in-town (targeting recent move-ins) and EDDM campaigns are great features for local direct mail campaigns.

The process is also simple: Choose a postcard template, upload your own design, or hire a PostcardMania designer, and the team will handle all the mailing for you. Unfortunately, PostcardMania doesn’t have online design tools, so once you choose a design template, you can only customize it with your info. You can’t edit it any further, which can limit your design options.

Still, PostcardMania is the best choice for integrating direct mail with digital marketing channels, simply ordering in bulk, or building your brand presence across multiple channels.

My expert opinionPricing

PsPrint offers printing and mailing services for seven mailer types: postcards, brochures, greeting cards, invitations, booklets, catalogs, and newsletters, which is more than most other direct mailing services, making it a good option if your marketing plan includes multiple campaigns beyond just EDDM postcards.

PsPrint also offers regular printing services for dozens of other marketing products like newsletters, stickers, and magnets, as well as EDDM services. It also has a design tool. But be aware that you’ll be working with a very slow, laggy platform, even if you’re just using drag-and-drop, which makes designs look stuck in 2005. (Seriously, I do not recommend using it.) Come prepared with your own design for best results (and your own sanity).

On the bright side, turnaround times for printing are five days at most, and you can choose between one and five days — although a one-day turnaround costs nearly twice as much as a five-day turnaround. Still, with its many design templates, it can be a worthwhile investment if you have multiple direct mail campaigns planned.

My expert opinion

48HourPrint’s biggest asset is speed. As its name promises, it has turnaround times of one to five days. This includes EDDM campaigns, where the team will also mail your postcards to your chosen ZIP code, even as quickly as the following day. Although, as usual, costs increase for quicker turnarounds.

Like PsPrint, you can design your own mailer online using the online design platform, which also has a stock image library. However, it’s also not the most intuitive platform, so I, once again, recommend coming with your design prepared. Not all stock photos are free as well, and the other available design elements are very basic monoline shapes.

Surprisingly, there’s a QR code generator, so I’m obliged to give it an extra point. It also has a decent variety of mailer types, paper stock, and finish options. But its best use case is still for quick and reliable EDDM campaigns.

My expert opinion

NextDayFlyers has a pretty wide range of printed marketing materials, but unfortunately, it only offers delivery services for its EDDM postcards. If you want to deliver other mailer types, like flyers, brochures, and business cards, you’ll need to have them delivered via a separate service.

On the plus side — and the reason it’s one of the best direct mail services — it offers same- or next-day printing for all its products. If you place your order by 10 a.m., you can almost always have your materials by the same afternoon. Or if you place it by 6 p.m., it’ll be ready the following day. It’s the best choice if speed is your top priority and you already have a final, press-ready design.

I don’t recommend using NextDayFlyer’s design templates, as they’re not exactly the most eye-catching or modern (think Microsoft Office 2007-core with grade-schoolish illustrations), with very limited customizations. Basically, you can only change colors and orientations. But if you already have your own design and just need somewhere to print it fast, this is a good option.

My expert opinion

PostGrid is unique for having a fully automated direct mail service. It uses online software to automatically send postcards, letters, or even checks to a mailing list you input, and tracks them individually using tracking codes.

As such, it’s the best option for running multiple or ongoing direct mail campaigns with large mailing lists. You can even integrate your campaigns with your CRM system to help track your leads and response rates.

Being an advanced platform, however, it’s not something I’d recommend if you’re just starting out with direct mail services. The API takes some time and technical know-how to set up — not something you can do in 30 minutes, compared to something like VistaPrint and PostcardMania.

It’s definitely a unique service, though, which is primarily why it’s on my list. It’ll be most helpful for businesses with a large mailing list or that need to automate sending checks or bills to customers.

Another limitation is that its design platform is pretty basic and can only do text and image replacement, surprisingly. It’s not something you’d go to for branded, eye-catching designs. However, if highly sophisticated and automated direct mail campaigns are the focus of your business, PostGrid could be an ideal choice.

It automates the personalization, printing, and delivery of your mailers for fast and accurate campaigns, and its tracking and analytics are unparalleled.

My expert opinion

With Smartpress, print quality is the name of the game. If you want your mailers to look and feel more special than others, Smartpress is the go-to. For example, you can choose from six different paper stocks — all premium quality — and between black or full-color printing for postcards.

Aside from postcards, you can also print and mail booklets, newsletters, self-mailers, and letters with or without envelopes. For print-only services, you can choose from dozens of other products, including brochures, business cards, booklets, and calendars.

As mentioned, everything is automatically printed on premium paper stock, so it’s a good choice for sending loyalty program invites or important letters to clients or for creating branded merch like notepads or bookmarks.

The biggest downside with Smartpress and the reason why it’s so much lower on this list is that it doesn’t have an in-house design platform or design team, so all your designs should be ready for uploading. But if you’re willing to pay the extra cost for a premium product that’ll give your brand a more sophisticated feel, Smartpress is my best pick.

My expert opinion

Taradel’s standout feature is its targeted direct mail campaigns, which let you target a group of customers by industry, geography, or financial metric. This is its most unique feature by far, and it lets you combine your direct mail campaigns with digital ads, like PostcardMania, even on platforms like Hulu and Spotify. There’s also a platform for tracking your campaign analytics.

However, Taradel’s direct mail services are also pretty limited. It only offers mailing services for postcards, and it doesn’t print brochures or booklets — just flyers (and door signs, business cards, yard signs, and magnets, which don’t really count as mail).

The design platform is also a basic drag-and-drop with some generic templates to get started, but resizing options are limited. It’s not the best platform, but it’s a usable one, especially if you want something more targeted than your basic EDDM mail campaign.

My expert opinion

Mail Shark is a little different. It offers industry-specific direct mailing services, and it sends mail weekly to continuously engage your audience. In a way, it’s like hiring a direct mailing service to prepare, print, and deliver your direct mail campaigns for you over a number of weeks.

You select the number of postcards to send and the number of weeks, and the Mail Shark team will spread them out and deliver them to your desired locations for you.

It’s certainly a convenient way to outsource your direct mail campaigns and will be helpful for many busy business owners, but my main concern is that you don’t get much control over the look and design of your mailers.

Since everything will be handled by the Mail Shark team, there’s the risk of your mailers looking generic and not fully branded — not ideal if your business has a strong brand identity to promote.

Mail Shark’s services are more suitable if memorability via consistency is what you’re shooting for — for example, if you’re only looking to raise awareness and interest in your business by consistently showing up in your audience’s mailbox. But it’s still a convenient way to send out mailers and build your brand presence in your local area.