FAQ's
Frequently Asked Questions
Planning and arranging a leaflet distribution campaign can often be a daunting task, as there are so many aspects to consider in order to gain a successful return on your investment. A scary part of the planning includes picking a trustworthy leaflet distribution company, with there being so many horror stories out there, you may worry that you will just put money into something that you will never see back. Our leaflet network gives you a trustworthy option and we can also act as a safety net, if in the event of something going wrong.
We aim to provide you with as much information to get you started with your campaign and to make it successful. Some of our frequently asked questions can be viewed below, giving a detailed description and linking to some of our helpful articles which have further and more in-depth information to your question.
If you have any further questions regarding leaflet distribution, design or print, please feel free to contact us via our contact page and we will be more than happy to assist. This is how we gain the faq's found here, and we will aim to add the missing question and answer to this page.
Leaflet distribution is a form of marketing which is performed by designing and printing a flyer or leaflet, then delivering it to houses for the residents to read and engage with. Leaflet distribution can be called many names including leaflet delivery, door to door marketing, flyer distribution etc. These all refer to the same technique of marketing.
A successful leaflet distribution campaign can result in high response rates, giving a large return of customers following completion. As with every marketing campaign you will aim to gain a large return on your investment and leaflet distribution will not disappoint as it has one of the highest response rates compared to other forms of marketing.
See article What is leaflet distribution? For more information
Leaflet distribution campaign durations can vary depending on how many leaflets you are getting delivered and which company you choose to use. If you are using a large company with many staff, then this will certainly speed up the time taken to complete your campaign. The area chosen to deliver the leaflets will also play a large part in the duration taken to complete, as the more rural areas tend to have longer gardens for the deliverers to walk to the letterbox. On the other side in more built-up areas, there are houses closer together with no gardens meaning deliverers can get out more leaflets in a quicker time.
All leaflet distribution companies will vary in the way they operate. A lot of companies will have a minimum order of leaflets per area. This can commonly be around 1,000 leaflets, to cover the cost of sending a deliverer to that area for the day.
Most leaflet distribution companies will offer a form of back checking in one form or another. We would not recommend using a company who has no way of proving distribution has been carried out. All companies who are a part of the leaflet network are required to use gps tracking on all their distribution runs, which will be readily available if it is ever needed to be proved. There can sometimes be an added administration cost, as to make this visible to customers without the required software, it takes a bit of work, depending on the tracking devices used.
It should never be necessary to back check yourself, but if fell unconfident with the service and information you have received by a leaflet distribution company, you can always go to the area where your leaflets were meant to be delivered and knock doors to ask. If choosing to do this, make sure you go to the area soon after distribution as this may not be ass affective once some time has passed.
See article Backchecking for more information
While this may seem like a simple aspect of the distribution campaign, it is one of the most important parts of your planning. Choosing the correct area can mean a large return or nothing at all. You should consider everything down to the demographics of an area to make sure your flyer meets your potential customer base.
Most leaflet distribution companies have a detailed insight into each area and can match the correct area to your original customer base. If for example, your customer base consists of majority over 65-year-olds, then the area targeted should have majority over 65-year-olds within it. This way your flyer is not landing on the door mat of a student who is most likely not going to buy your products or use your services.
See article Location research for more information
There are many marketing techniques readily available to businesses looking to advertise their products and services. You could use social media marketing or pay per click marketing which sounds like a great and successful option, including the fact that it sounds cost effective, only paying when someone engages with your advert.
The truth is that nothing can beat a physical advertisement being handed direct to a potential customer. Leaflet distribution remains one of the most effective forms of marketing for this reason. As an attractively designed flyer is picked up from the door mat of a resident, they are already engaging with it. Even if they decide it is immediately going in the bin, they will often read it as they walk to the bin and will recognise your brand in future following this engagement. The best outcome is for the resident to notice he needs that service or product and contact the business immediately. While this is not always the case, there is still an engagement rate of 100% with your flyer.
You will need to get a leaflet designed and printed to use a distribution service, although there are occasions of large businesses delivering other materials such as booklets, postcards and even taster products direct to households.
Northing can beat a physical advertisement being handed direct to a potential customer. Leaflet distribution remains one of the most effective forms of marketing for this reason. As an attractively designed flyer is picked up from the door mat of a resident, they are already engaging with it. Even if they decide it is immediately going in the bin, they will often read it as they walk to the bin and will recognise your brand in future following this engagement. The best outcome is for the resident to notice he needs that service or product and contact the business immediately. While this is not always the case, there is still an engagement rate of 100% with your flyer.
Leaflet distribution can have a response rate anywhere from 0.1% up to 10%, meaning from every 1,000 flyers delivered you should receive a minimum of 1 call back. As with every marketing technique and campaign, no one can guarantee a response, however, leaflet distribution gains the highest response of all techniques, when completed correctly.
See article Does leaflet distribution work? For more information
Leaflet distribution is the form of delivering marketing materials through letterboxes, is completely legal and requires no permission to be performed. If, however, you were planning on going to a city centre and handing leaflets out to passers-by, then in most cases you will need to receive permission from the local council to do so.
Anyone can design a leaflet, whether it is a written document using software such as Microsoft Word or designed using Microsoft Publisher. There are other options with websites who offer a generator that can be edited into a personalised flyer, but these often come with hidden costs.
To get the most from a leaflet distribution campaign, it is recommended to plan the design of your flyer carefully and aim to gain an emotional response from the reader, encouraging them to engage with the call to action. An experienced designer who has designed flyers purely for the purpose of leaflet distribution can help with this and should improve your response rate.
See article Designing a leaflet for more information
As it is completely legal for anyone to perform leaflet distribution, the answer is yes. If you choose to deliver your own leaflets, we recommend using a map and colouring in exactly where was delivered to. This will help you to know where you can deliver next, or in the case of retargeting, you can return to the same part in a few weeks.
Be aware when delivering leaflets that it is extremely difficult and time consuming. Plan the area you are going to and work out how many leaflets you will need. There are many health and safety aspects that should be considered when going out, such as wearing a high visibility vest so that cars can see you clearly and be sure to keep an eye out for dogs roaming free in gardens.
We recommend using an experienced leaflet distribution company to complete this for you, as they have all necessary equipment to carry this out safely and effectively. They can also save time and money as they will be able to add your leaflet to others in a shared distribution run, to bring down the cost of the delivery.
This would depend on your marketing budget entirely. As with any marketing technique, the more you put in, the more you should receive out of it. Regular leaflet distribution will result in more response and should be planned in large spanned out campaigns, aiming to retarget each area up to three times.
See article How many leaflets should you deliver? for more information
This would depend on many factors including the area being delivered to, the size of the leaflet and any timescales that need to be met. Leaflet distribution comes in two different forms, shared or solus. A shared distribution run means that your flyer will be added with others and delivered, meaning the cost is shared among three other businesses. This can be anywhere between £40 and £80 per thousand leaflets. Solus is where your flyer is delivered on its own, but costs more as it needs to cover the wage of the deliverers as well as travel and business expenses. This can cost anywhere between £80 and £150 per thousand leaflets.
You should print the same number of leaflets that you plan on delivering, unless needed for other uses or just to stock up in the office for the future. The price of printing decreases per unit, the more you decide to print, so planning ahead can really save you a lot of money. If you plan on retargeting the same areas three times as it is suggested, then print three times the amount for the other two times. This will save costs in the long run.
See article Printing a leaflet for more information
There are many companies online who offer leaflet printing which can be delivered direct to you or the company you have arranged to deliver your leaflets. It is important to consider many aspects about the print of your leaflet including the size of the flyer, the thickness of the flyer and the finish on the flyer. All these can result in a better response from your distribution.
See article Printing a leaflet for more information
Being a leaflet deliverer can be a demanding job role and will need you to be physically fit to be able to carry out. You can walk over 20 miles in one day on the job on some occasions, and this will include going up and down stairs and driveways. The job will entail going out to deliver in all weathers, whether that is torrential rain or blaring sunshine, both can be extremely difficult.
The job does come with some benefits that other jobs can not offer. Working outside in nice weather can result in feeling great. The job also comes with great flexibility, as most distribution runs have a minimum of a week to be delivered and you would get c=to choose on what day and at what time. If you prefer working early or late, it is up to you.
The pay can also be extremely rewarding and can earn you more than £100 a day, when you have multiple flyers on a run to a built-up area. The high paying runs and areas are often distributed evenly between staff members and may not come around as often. But even on a normal day, the pay will often be more than your average job.
See article The life of a leaflet deliverer for more information
This depends on the amount of information you need to present. It is not recommended to go any larger than A4 unless it is designed to be folded. Even at the size of A4, it will need to be folded by the deliverers to be posted, which can result, in a loss of quality at the fold.
Most used for leaflet distribution are A5 flyers, as these do not need to be folded to push through a letterbox, most of the time. The thickness chosen is often 135gsm as this is thick enough to create leverage to push through most letterboxes.
These days both are used to describe the same thing. Leaflets and flyers are printed advertisements used to promote products and services.
A leaflet designed for leaflet distribution should be designed with the aim to gain engagement from a resident when picking it up off their door mat. It should be designed to be attractive, using images, fonts and colours that promote and represent your brand. The information within the leaflet should not be too extensive but should be relevant to the promotion. There should always be a clear call to action, where a customer looking to engage knows exactly how to respond to the advert. When planning your distribution campaign, we would also recommend adding some way of monitoring your response, which could mean adding a discount code.
See article Designing a leaflet for more information
Most printing companies can get the leaflets printed and deliver to within 5 working days, depending on the quantity. They will also offer an express delivery which will your leaflets delivered within 2 working days.
As with any form of marketing a response can never be guaranteed. Leaflet distribution boasts one of the highest returns on your investment, however. When it is planned correctly leaflet distribution can offer a response rate between 0.1% and 10% to get you the sales needed to cover the cost of the campaign and more.