Door drops: Get started with five easy steps

Step 1 - Define your marketing objective

The first and most important step in a door drop campaign is to clearly define your objective. What do you want your campaign to achieve?

• Do you want to grow brand awareness or acquire new customers?
• Are you aiming to drive people online or to a physical store?
• Are you looking to boost sales or promote an event in the
local area?
• Or perhaps you simply want to let the public know some information.

Door drops aren’t just for advertising. They can also be helpful to share useful and essential communication with large groups of people.

Whatever your objective, being sure of what you want to achieve before you start is vital for door drop simplicity and success.

Top tip:

Keep your objective single-minded to ensure you have a clear measure of success.

Step 2 - Define your target audience

Now that you've identified your key objectives, it's time to define your targeting requirements and understand what data you need.

This data is key – how much data do you have on your existing customers and what do you know about them?

Door drops are a perfect way to reach new audiences who fit the profile of your existing customers. Some data companies will even carry out a free profile of postcode data, helping you understand the behaviours of audience by location.

You can also target people locally or nationally with door drops through geodemographic targeting by postal sectors.

Effective profiling and targeting will allow you to tailor the perfect message to your hottest prospects for your door drop campaign.

You can find out more about this in our geotargeting blog. 

Top tip:

Having enough data is vital. To gain reliable insights you need a sample size of at least 2,000 people. If you don’t have enough data, you can work with data insight specialists to produce a pen portrait of your target customer. 

Step 3 - Create and design your door drop

You’re all set with objectives and targeting. Now you are ready to get creative with your design and messaging.

Door drops can offer an amazing blank canvas where creativity can have free rein. This is your chance to put your brand directly and physically in the hand of a potential customer, so think about how that will look to them. It’s not just about the design and messaging, but also about how you can use disruptive formats creatively to stimulate attention and drive cut-through, bringing the channel to life.

Getting your message across clearly and with impact is key to a successful door drop. Start by defining your key message: the most important takeaway that leads your audience to act. The message could be for example, that a new store is opening, to highlight an offer or to promote brand awareness.

Finally, make sure your call to action is clear so that your audience knows exactly what to do, and how to do it.

Find out more about using effective formats in our Specsavers case study.

Top tip:

To create maximum cut-through on the doormat, consider the design – colour, shape, size and format – of your door drop. Remember to use design to clearly communicate your key call to action. Some insight and data companies offer free
eye-tracking tools to gauge the effectiveness of a design. 

Step 4 - Deliver your door drop campaign

You are almost there – now it’s time to bring your door drop to life through print and delivery.

• Remember: good quality print leaves a lasting impression.
• Speak to a few printers to get the best print quote for your campaign.
• Ask for examples of previous campaigns and look at different formats, paper stock and finishes (such as distinctive shapes or matte finishes).
• Include sustainability as part of print production – use FSC-sourced paper, sustainable inks and encourage recycling.
• The cost of print will be calculated based on the size and weight of
the item.
• Remember that even if a small format seems cheaper initially,
it may not be the most effective in terms of return or cut-through
in the long run.
• To find out about distribution and delivery options for your door drop campaign, just speak to your printer or marketing agency.

Top tip:

Do you want to boost your business? Royal Mail’s convenient Drop a Leaflet tool can help you create and deliver your door
drop campaign.

Step 5 - Measure your campaign results

You have completed your campaign – now you need to see how well it has done by measuring the results.

Data analysis is crucial to seeing how successful your door drop campaign has been, so be sure to assess how well it has performed.

You can do this using a number of direct and indirect methods, including:

• QR codes to measure response
• Vanity URLs to track performance of different creatives
• Website analytics to track traffic spikes or local engagement
• Customer feedback or redemption data to gauge effectiveness
• A/B testing to measuring performance of different messaging and creatives

Analyse what worked best, looking carefully at all variables, including timing, creative and targeting. Use these insights to refine future campaigns.

Top tip: 

Look beyond direct responses. Study whether there's been an increase in store and web visits, purchases or enquiries when the door drop was delivered. Sometimes spikes
in sales generated by door drops cannot be directly attributed to them – but it doesn’t mean they’re not there.

These five steps will launch your powerful door drop marketing campaign: defining your objective, assessing your targeting needs, creating your leaflet, getting it printed and evaluating the results.