Mailing 101: Business Reply Cards

The easier it is for prospects to respond to your mailing, the more likely they will do it. Business Reply Cards (BRC’s) make it super easy to respond — making them an excellent choice for many businesses.

The Post Office makes it easy and painless to mail BRC’s with postcards. A regular postcard is 4.25 by 6 inches. Without increasing the postage rate at all, you can attach a BRC to it that can be sent back to you at no cost to your prospect.

When a prospect fills out a BRC and mails it back, you will have to pay the postage for the return. This cost is 30.9 cents per piece for a regular-sized postcard. While that is a little more than regular postage, keep in mind you are getting prospects that have replied to you and are showing interest in your product or service — that is a very valuable commodity.

Before you can take advantage of BRC’s, you will have to pay an annual permit fee of $185.00. This must be set up through your local post office prior to doing your first BRC mailing.

In this day and age, prospects can use the internet to easily request more info and respond to your postcard mailing, so you should keep this in mind while you weigh the costs/benefits of BRC’s. However, BRC’s are still a valuable tool in your marketing tool box, especially when trying to reach demographics that are not heavy internet users. So your situation will dictate whether or not they are right for you.

Another thing to keep in mind, when we’re dealing with BRC’s, is that you could also use Courtesy Reply Cards. These are reply cards that simply have a box that says “Place Stamp Here” in the top-right corner. They can still be attached to your postcard (with no extra postage costs), and in this case, you aren’t on the hook for the reply mail postage or the annual permit. Obviously, these are less likely to make their way back to you, so it all depends on what your needs are.

Keep mailing smarter,

Melissa