GLOSSARY
Direct mail
By Justin Winter · Updated August 28, 2026
Marketing or transactional mail sent to a chosen list of recipients, as opposed to mail an individual writes by hand.
Direct mail covers everything from a postcard campaign to a run of renewal notices. The defining feature is that the list, the creative, and the send are planned together and measured afterwards.
It overlaps with, but is not the same as, USPS Marketing Mail: that is a postage class, while direct mail is what the mailing is for.
See also
- USPS Marketing Mail — The bulk advertising class, formerly Standard Mail: cheaper per piece, but it requires a permit, a minimum volume, presorting, and it travels slower.
- Every Door Direct Mail — A USPS saturation-mailing service that delivers to every address on selected carrier routes without a mailing list of names.
- Mail merge — Generating one personalised letter per row of a data file by filling named fields in a single template.
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