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Free tool · Return on a mailing

Direct mail break-even calculator: how many customers does a mailing need?

Divide the total cost of the mailing by the profit you make from one new customer. The result is the number of customers the mailing needs to pay for itself. Divide that by the number of pieces mailed to get the response rate you need. Enter your numbers below to see both, and your return at the response rate you expect.

What you keep from a customer's first job after your costs. If customers come back, use a year of profit.

Include printing, shipping, postage and design. The EDDM cost calculator adds them up for you.

The break-even formula for direct mail

  • Customers needed = total mailing cost ÷ profit per new customer, rounded up.
  • Break-even response rate = customers needed ÷ pieces mailed × 100.
  • Return on the mailing = (customers × profit per customer − mailing cost) ÷ mailing cost.

Example: 10,000 EDDM postcards with shipping and postage cost $3,000. Each new customer brings $150 profit. The mailing needs 20 customers to break even, a 0.2% response rate. Every customer after the twentieth is profit.

How to lower the break-even point

  • Lower the cost per piece. Larger quantities cost less per piece; see the price list.
  • Raise the profit per customer. Count repeat business, not only the first job.
  • Mail the right routes. Choose carrier routes by the age, income and household size of your best customers.
  • Mail more than once. A second drop to the same routes reminds people who kept the first card.

Direct mail break-even calculator: questions and answers

How do I calculate the break-even point for a direct mail campaign?

Break-even customers = total mailing cost ÷ profit per new customer. Break-even response rate = break-even customers ÷ pieces mailed. For example, a $3,000 mailing to 10,000 homes, with $150 profit per customer, needs 20 customers, a 0.2% response rate.

Should I use profit or revenue per customer?

Use profit: what is left of the sale after the cost of doing the job. Using revenue makes a mailing look better than it is. If customers come back, you can use the profit from a customer's first year instead of a single job.

What response rate should I expect from EDDM?

It depends on your offer, your market and how well the routes match your customers. The most reliable number is your own: track every call and order from a mailing, with a unique offer code or phone line, and use that response rate the next time you plan.

What costs should I include?

Printing, shipping, postage and design, plus anything else you spend only because of this mailing. The EDDM cost calculator on this site adds up printing, shipping and postage for you.

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Talk to a print specialist, not a form.

Tell us what you're mailing and to whom. We'll price it, suggest the right size and help you pick EDDM routes, free. 7am–7pm ET, 7 days a week.

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