Door hanger campaigns: routes, quantities and the mailbox rule

Why door hangers still work

A door hanger lands where the customer has to touch it. It is hard to ignore on the front door handle in a way a flyer in a stack of mail is not. Lawn care, pest control, roofing after a storm, pizza delivery, political campaigns and HOA notices all use them for that reason. The cost is labor: somebody has to walk every door.

The mailbox is off limits

Do not put door hangers, flyers or anything else without postage in or on a mailbox. Federal law (18 U.S.C. 1725) prohibits placing mailable matter without postage in a letter box approved by the Postal Service, and fines can apply. Tell everyone on the crew, and tell them again. It is the most common mistake on a first door hanger drop.

Hang the piece on the door handle or knob. Do not wedge it in a storm door, tape it to glass, or leave it loose on the step where it blows into the yard and becomes litter.

Also check local rules. Some towns require a permit for door-to-door distribution or restrict commercial handbills, and some neighborhoods and properties post no-soliciting signs. Respect them. A complaint costs you more goodwill than one door earns.

Planning the route

Start with a map. Pick neighborhoods that match your customer: older homes for a roofer, big lawns for a lawn service, dense streets near your store for a restaurant. Then split the area into walkable loops, each one something a person can finish in a shift, starting and ending where they park.

Dense subdivisions with houses close together and short driveways are the most efficient to work. Rural roads with long driveways can take several times as long per door. Apartment buildings and gated communities usually need permission from management.

How many can one person hang

The honest answer is: time it. Rates vary widely with housing density, driveway length, weather, hills and how fast your crew walks. Send one person out for a test hour on a typical street, count the hangers, and plan from that number.

The arithmetic is simple once you have your number. Say the test hour comes back at 60 doors. Three people working four-hour shifts cover about 720 doors a day. A 3,000-door campaign is then about four crew-days, plus travel and breaks. Order a few more than the door count for spoilage and doors you have to revisit.

Designing the hanger

Use a unique phone number, web page or offer code on the hanger so you can count responses by neighborhood.

• Common sizes are about 3.5 x 8.5 inches and 4.25 x 11 inches, with a die-cut hole and slit at the top to fit a handle.
• Use a heavy card stock so it does not flop or tear in the wind.
• Put the offer and the headline near the top, where it shows at eye level on the handle.
• Make the phone number and web address big enough to read from the walk.
• A perforated tear-off coupon gives the customer something to keep.
• Print the back too. People flip it.

Timing and weather

Drop when people are about to need you: before mowing season, right after a hail storm, ahead of a holiday weekend for pizza. In heavy rain or high wind, wait. A wet hanger on a soggy porch or one blown across the street does nothing for you.

Door hangers or EDDM

If you do not have the crew time, Every Door Direct Mail reaches the same streets through the mailbox, legally, for postage instead of labor. Some businesses use both: EDDM to reach a whole area, then door hangers on the streets with the best response.