A lot of businesses have been unfortunately sold leaflet distribution by unethical companies and have literally paid the price. There are many ways in which leaflet distribution companies scam businesses into using their services and telling them everything has been completed.
You should always research the company you choose to use for your leaflet distribution and if they have any testimonials, maybe chase them up and ask them about their service and response rates.
Some leaflet distribution companies will have no intention of ever delivering your leaflets once they have them and take a business’s money, regardless. As with most services you will need to pay for the distribution before it commences, but once these unethical distribution companies have your money, they do not proceed with the work. They can get away with this, because by law you would have to prove that they have not delivered your leaflets, which is extremely difficult to do, but certainly not impossible. If you are scammed by a company who does this, you could go around the houses getting signatures of residents who confirm they never received one. This would need to be done as soon as possible, as these can become unreliable the longer you leave it. Backchecks only seem to be accurate within three days of distribution.
These sorts of companies often come with terms and conditions, that you would need to sign, that are completely one sided. Read these carefully and consider the fact that if you had no leaflets delivered, would their terms and conditions stop you from complaining. Terms and conditions are not uncommon among leaflet distribution companies, as on the other side of the fence, they sometimes get customers saying they have friends in the area who have not received flyers. These customers will then demand money back or not pay at all. Terms and conditions should cover the distribution company in these circumstances but also cover the business using them.
If you are choosing a leaflet distribution company to distribute your leaflets, then you should always ask them how they can prove that a team has delivered to the area requested. Most companies use back checks to ensure the team has done a correct job. These can come in many different forms.
We would always recommend using a distribution company who has invested in having GPS trackers on their staff. This can be quite expensive for the company and reflect in their rate per thousand. However, when viewing the tracking data, you would be able to see the deliverer walking up and down driveways, giving you confidence that this has been done correctly. GPS tracking data is the most trustworthy way of proving distribution.
When choosing a leaflet distribution company, there are many ways you can guess that they are not being entirely genuine with you. You should always question the price per thousand, that you are quoted, if it seems cheap. There are many companies that will charge businesses as little at £20 per thousand, which when you work it out, is not possible. It would take an experienced deliverer around a full day to deliver 1,000 flyers. We highly doubt that deliverer is getting paid £20 for the day, let alone what the distribution company takes for arranging this. A fair distribution company would charge a fair price, and you should question anything seeming very cheap.
Another way of telling an unethical distribution company is if they are promising to deliver large quantities in unrealistic timescales. Most distribution companies being small enterprises would not be able to deliver large quantities at a time. If a distribution company is promising to deliver 10,000 leaflets in one day, then you should assume that they have at least 10 deliverers who will all be allocated that work on that one day.
When some leaflet distribution companies suggest that they can target specific areas, you should often ask where they are getting their information. A lot of credible companies would have invested in demographic software to get this targeted information, but some companies may suggest they are delivering based on your target audience, however, do not have the information to be able to do this effectively. They plan on just delivering to an area and possibly even charging you a further premium for targeted leaflet drops.
If you are choosing to have your leaflets delivered solus, which means with no other flyers, then make sure that this is the case. Some leaflet distribution companies may tell you that you are receiving these services, but rather adding the leaflet to a shared distribution run. Unfortunately, when this happens, you are paying a higher price and not getting what you have been promised. This can then influence your response rates.
A final point to look out for when arranging your leaflet distribution, is the quantities that a company is giving you for each area. Some unethical leaflet distribution companies may choose to increase the quantity of households per area, so that when you cover an entire area, you have paid for more than what is necessary. No data that any company holds regarding households and even demographics is entirely accurate, as new houses are being built all the time and people are moving around regularly. But if a company’s quantities seem much higher than what you expected, this may be a chance to ask where this data was collected.
Being vigilant about the distribution company you choose and the way they operate can save you a lot of money and even time. You should never choose a leaflet distribution company just because they are the cheapest.
Using the leaflet network, ensures that you are using the best and most trustworthy team in your selected area at that time. Our teams change every so often, due to feedback we receive from clients who have targeted those areas and backchecks conducted by our in-house staff. This gives you the peace of mind that you are using a trusted service and getting what you have paid for.