EDDM Postcards for Home Services: Picking Between 6x9 and 6x11

Quick answer

6x9 vs. 6x11 EDDM postcards for home services — cost, presence, design, and the real-world results we see across HVAC, plumbing, roofing, and more.

Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) is the cheapest way to reach every household on a chosen USPS carrier route. No mailing list. No addresses. Just pick the routes, pick the format, drop the pieces. For home services businesses — HVAC, plumbing, roofing, pest control, landscaping, painting, electrical — EDDM is the foundation of most healthy neighborhood marketing programs.

The question we get most often: 6x9 or 6x11? Both qualify for EDDM. Both work. The honest answer depends on your market and your offer.

EDDM size requirements at a glance

EDDM has minimum and maximum dimensional rules. Both 6x9 and 6x11 qualify (in fact, EDDM minimums require pieces larger than a standard 4x6, which is why this conversation is always between the two larger sizes). The maximum allowed dimension is 12 inches on the long side, so 6x11 is comfortably inside the limit.

When 6x9 is the right call

• You’re running high-frequency drops (monthly or every six weeks) and per-piece cost discipline matters.
• Your offer is simple: one service, one price, one promotion.
• You’re saturating a small, dense set of routes (suburban subdivisions, condo complexes).
• Your competition is light and presence isn’t the differentiator.

When 6x11 jumbo is worth the upgrade

• Your competitors are also running EDDM and you need to dominate the stack.
• Your offer has multiple components (service + tune-up + warranty) that need real estate.
• You’re including a tear-off coupon or perforated reply card.
• You’re running a single quarterly drop instead of monthly drops, and the per-drop investment is higher.

For most established home services businesses, the right answer is 6x11 jumbo. The presence in the mailbox justifies the upcharge for most premium service categories. For high-frequency, lower-margin programs (low-cost lawn care, basic pest), 6x9 keeps the unit economics healthier.

What works on the design side

EDDM is read at the kitchen counter, often by a homeowner sorting mail with one hand. Design accordingly:

• One service per piece. If you offer HVAC and plumbing and electrical, run separate drops for each — don’t cram all three onto one card.
• Local proof. A photo of one of your trucks, a real technician, a local landmark in the background. Not a stock photo of a faceless person in a uniform.
• One unmistakable offer. "$89 AC tune-up" beats "Save on service" every time.
• Phone number bigger than your logo. Always.

The cost picture for a typical home services EDDM drop

A representative 5,000-piece EDDM drop in our shop at 6x11 on 14pt cover stock:

• Print and finishing: roughly $0.10–$0.13 per piece.
• EDDM bundling and prep: roughly $0.02 per piece.
• EDDM Retail postage: $0.225 per piece (current 2026 rate; verify before each drop).

All-in, you’re typically under $0.40 per delivered piece on a 6x11 EDDM drop. At a 0.5% conversion rate — modest for home services with a strong offer — your customer acquisition cost is well under most paid-search alternatives in the same market.

Frequency wins

The single most common EDDM mistake we see from new home services clients is doing one drop, watching the phones for a week, and deciding "EDDM doesn’t work." It works. It works in a cycle. Plan a minimum of four drops to the same routes across a season before you decide.

Quote a 6x11 EDDM drop for your service area →