EDDM for home service businesses: routes, timing and what to mail
Why EDDM suits home service work
Home service companies sell to houses, and EDDM delivers to every house on a carrier route without a mailing list. That matches how a service business already thinks about territory: the streets its trucks drive and the neighborhoods where it already has customers.
Each route is a fixed set of addresses. You can mail the routes inside your service radius, or just the ones around a job you finished last week, and nothing outside them.
Choosing routes that are mostly houses
The EDDM Online Tool lists each route with its residential and business counts, plus average age, income and household size from Census data. Select residential deliveries only, so the shops on a mixed route do not get a card.
The tool does not say whether a route is houses or apartments. Look at the streets on any online map before you add a route, because renters in a large complex tend to call the landlord, not you.
Start with the routes closest to your shop or your busiest service area. Our guide to planning your first EDDM mailing covers the route screen step by step.
Timing the drop to the season
Most home services have a calendar built in. HVAC companies get busy with the first hot week and the first cold one, lawn care with spring growth, pest control as warm weather drives insects indoors, and gutter cleaning in the fall.
Drop a week or two ahead of the demand, not in the middle of it. When the first heat wave arrives, the card already stuck to the fridge is the one that gets the call.
Plan two or three drops a year to the same routes rather than one large one. Repeat cards keep your name familiar between the times a homeowner needs you.
Mail around the job you just finished
A truck parked in a driveway all day is advertising the neighbors have already seen. Mailing the route around that address the following week turns the sighting into a reminder with a phone number on it.
Because EDDM works by route, the drop covers the whole street plus the surrounding blocks on that route. EDDM Retail requires at least 200 pieces per mailing, so add a neighboring route if one is not enough.
Keep a stack of cards printed for this. A run of 2,500 of the 4.25″ × 11″ card is $349 on 16pt stock with UV coating, which covers several routes after several jobs.
What a service postcard needs to say
Lead with the problem you fix, not with the company name. Drain backed up? Same-day service, tells a homeowner more than a logo and a slogan.
Then give the points a homeowner checks before letting someone in: licensed and insured, years in the area, and a photo of your truck or your team in uniform. Finish with the phone number in the largest type on the card.
Skip the full list of every service you offer. Two or three services, with a starting price if you publish prices, beat a list of twelve.
Which size to mail
For one offer and a phone number, the 4.25″ × 11″ card is the least expensive EDDM size, at $519 for 5,000. Add before-and-after photos and the 6.5″ × 9″ card, at $579 for 5,000, gives them room.
Companies that want to list several services, or include a seasonal maintenance checklist, get four panels from the folded Gold package at $499 for 5,000. All five packages are side by side in our EDDM packages guide.
When door hangers beat the mailbox
For a handful of streets around a job, a door hanger left by your crew skips postage entirely. The 4.25″ × 11″ door hanger is $409 for 2,500.
EDDM wins when you want whole routes covered without anyone walking them. Our door hangers vs EDDM comparison sets the two side by side, and the pages for pest control and house cleaning show the products for those trades.
Plan the year in one call
Call 512-573-1977, 7am to 7pm Eastern, with the ZIP codes you serve and the months you are busiest. We will suggest a size and a quantity that covers two or three drops and price it on the phone.
Every order gets a proof before printing, so you see the card exactly as it will land. You can order on the call or online afterward.
Quick answers
How many homes should a home service company mail?
Enough routes to cover the area your trucks serve on a normal day, then repeat. Starting with 2,500 to 5,000 homes lets you see what comes back before mailing more.
Is EDDM better than a mailing list for home services?
For reaching every house in a service area, yes, because there is no list to buy and every home on the route gets a card. A list makes sense when you need specific named households, such as past customers.
What should a home service EDDM postcard include?
The problem you fix, one offer, proof that you are licensed and insured, and the phone number in large type.
