Are Shared Mailers Good or Bad?

Are shared mailers good or bad? Are they just junk mail or do people read them? Should I be advertising my business inside one of these? If you are asking these things you are in the right place. In my previous life, I owned and operated one of these franchises for about 7 years so I am intimately familiar with the good, the bad, and the ugly of shared mail marketing. Let's dive right in.

What is a Shared Mailer?

A shared mailer is any direct mail marketing format where the advertisers are sharing the cost of the postage with the other advertisers in order to get into the same homes for less cost. When you send any sort of direct mailer, the postage is always the most expensive part, so sharing this cost allows the advertiser to reach more homes.

Importantly, shared mail advertisers all go to the same mailing list. One advertiser cannot mail to homes with high incomes and another mail to homes with low income. The shared mail "system" is defined primaryily by the delivery vehicle and the list it is mailed to. These are the top two factors to consider when evaluating.

What Are Examples of Shared Mailers?

Examples of shared mailers include: Valpak, Money Mailer, Clipper, Penny Saver, RSVP postcard packages, Welcome Wagon, all those big glossy ads (FSI's) that come with your newspaper, the newspaper itself, catalogs, shared postcards, community event mailers, and just about any and every magazine are all examples of shared mail advertising options.

What Kind Of List Are Shared Mailers Sent To?

Finding out the list the shared mailer is sent to is one of the most important parts of your research. Some options are not targeted at all and will go to every mailing address in a zip code including apartments and all incomes. Others will target addresses based on demographics at the carrier route level. The most targeted options will filter at the individual address level. The total market list will often be broken up into "zones" which are then sold to advertisers. Zones are common in groups of 10,000 or 50,000 addresses. The number of "zones" available to buy will depend on the population and demographics of a given city or metro area.

Here is a sample of a Valpak Zones map found online. ------------------------------------------------ >

Main Categories For Shared Mailing Lists

Going to the masses (No filters): These options simply mail all addresses on a carrier route. The giant glossy ads you get in the mail each week fall under this category.
Slighlty targeted: Companies like Valpak with their famous blue envelope will go to all addresses on a given carrier route but not mail all routes. They may avoid some really low income carrier routes, but still mail to most.
More targeted: Companies like Money Mailer with their larger format envelope will be more selective in the carrier routes they mail, looking to reach a higher average income than Valpak. Many coupon magazines or home magazines fall in this category as well. Even at this level there may be some apartments that get the envelope becuase they are included on the carrier routes selected and to get the discounted saturation postage rate they must mail 90%+ of the route.
Address level targeting: Share mail at this level may go out to a preset list of upper income homeowners and appeal to home improvement or home services companies. In this case, no renters or apartments are mailed. This extra level of targeting will raise the cost of postage but also precent waste. Similarly, Welcome Wagon will mail out to only the new movers in the area and nobody else. These can both be great options though there are downside risks as well.

Other Names For Shared Mailers

You may not be familiar with the term "Shared Mailers". Shared mailers are also known as: group mailers, coupon mailers, coupon packages, coupon packs, coupon magazines, envelope mailers, and marriage mailers amongst other names.

So let's take and unbiased look at what makes these guys good or bad and then you can decide if it is a good fit for your business.

Advantages to Shared Mailers

Low Cost per home: by their very nature they are very cheap per home because you are sharing the cost of postage.
They Are Interesting: Group mailers have an inherent value to them because they represent so many different types of businesses. Consumers love the consolidated information. It can be like going to the mall right at your kitchen table.
Built in Frequency: Shared mailers usually have a set frequency ranging from weekly to quarterly. All legitimate group mailers are on some sort set schedule. Of course, you can setup your own frequency schedule with custom solo mailings, but I am still going to give this option credit for doing it right when it comes to frequency.
They are mailed: The very fact that shared mailers are mailed make them valuable. People love mail and respond to it.
Digital Integration: Many shared mail companies like Money Mailer and Valpak have fully integrated a digital component to their offering. Participants in the Money Mailer program have their ads posted online at www.moneymailer.com, distributed to a network of other coupon sites, and are also included in their mobile coupon app which has social media share capabilities. Valpak has a similar program.

Disadvantages to Shared Mailers

Cost: Whoa, hold on Steve, you said the cost was an advantage! Well, let me clarify; The disadvantage may be cost....per lead. You see, with shared mail your ad ends up in the hands of many unqualified prospects. This is called waste! if you exclude all the waste then you are left with a true cost per QUALIFIED home. The more niche your business the bigger the disadvantage this is to you.
Demographic Targeting: Similar to above. With shared mail you are on a train moving in a set direction and you have no say in where the train goes. You hop on or hop off, that's it. Targeting via custom mailing list is one of the most critical components to a successful direct mail campaign. Poor targeting will also generate a lot of activity with junk leads or poor quality customers that end up costing you money!
Geographic Targeting: Shared mailer programs usually offer to sell you spots in preset "zones". What if your target market touches 4 zones but you dont want to advertise to all of each 4 zones? You may be forced to mail all 4 which raises your cost or you may miss out on mailing much of your target market. If you want to reach homes in a radius around your shop then shared mailers may not be the best choice--- a postcard radius mailing would be the way to go!
Image: Believe it or not there is a bit of a stigma with shared mail pieces. Even the magazines that try to come off like they are not just a bunch of pages filled with ads. Everyone know that they are. Like with any advertising, you get what you pay for. Go with the cheapest shared mailer, like penny saver, and your company will get a reputation for being cheap. Don't be surprised when you don't get calls for a $50,000 kitchen remodel from a penny saver ad.
Competition: Shared mailers almost all allow in multiple advertisers from the same category. Now you have built in competition with every prospect. It then comes down to the sales people taking the call.
Attention: With so many ads to look at yours will not get nearly as much attention as it would if it were a solo piece mailed out. This is especially true with coupon magazines. You can get dizzy just turning the pages. Envelope mailers like Money Mailer do a better job of solving this problem.
Size: Every shared mailer has its limitation on the size of the ads. Limited space means limited room to showcase your company.
Open rate: It is SO important that you know the open rate for the shared mailer. If it never gets opened then your ad is never seen. Enough said.

Why Direct Mail Postcards May Be Better Than Shared Mail

After reviewing the pros and the cons let's look at some of the reasons direct mail postcards may be a better choice for your business.

You get ALL the response: No competition alongside your ad so you get ALL the calls and responses.
Your ad is guaranteed to be seen!: No package to open
Your company image is improved and credibility established: Ads delivered on quality high gloss cardstock make a lasting impression!
Better list targeting: the mailing list is one of the most important aspects of your mailing. Why waste money on unqualified prospects. Use a highly targeted mailing list to get more of your best customers! You chose where it is headed!
Showcase your business more effectively with larger cards (6x11), letter mailings, or even brochure style mailers (8.5x14) you will never run out of room to say what you need to say.
Timing: Custom postcards can be mailed out as often and whenever you like. Set your own schedule. You chose when it arrives.
Better response rates: All of the items above contribute to a better response rate on your mailings. 10-20x the response rate is not unusual.

At the end of the day, the decision on whether or not to use a shared mailer comes down primarily to who your IDEAL customer is. Secondary to that are the factors of the shared mailer demographics (list), price, frequency, timing, & quality/image of the vehicle. Generally, categories that MAY do well in a shared mailer are restaurants, automotive, beauty, home services, some health, & certain types of home improvement. Each of these should be tested against a highly targeted custom mail piece and then you can calculate the ROI and go from there. They may both work in which case you do both.

If you are consdering a local shared mail option and would like a second opinion, give me a call. I can review maps, rates, demos and the delivery vehicle itself at no charge to you. One call could save you thousands.