Answers
Everything below is answered the way we would answer it on the phone. Where there is a number we give the number, and where the honest answer is "it depends", we say what it depends on rather than leaving it there.Frequently asked questions
What exactly am I buying?
One advertising slot on a shared oversized postcard that is mailed to every home on a defined set of postal carrier routes. Your slot is a full color ad on a card carrying up to sixteen local businesses, and no other business in your trade appears on that card. The price covers the design of your ad and the printing. It also pays all of the postage and the postal paperwork, with your web address and phone number printed legibly. There is nothing else to buy and no setup fee.
How many homes will actually receive it?
About five thousand for a standard zone, though the exact figure depends on which carrier routes make up that zone. You are told the real number before you pay, not an approximation. Every address on those routes receives the card, because Every Door Direct Mail does not let a mailer skip houses. That is a feature rather than a limitation for a local trade: if you work in a neighborhood, essentially every house in it is a plausible customer at some point.
What does one business per category actually mean?
It means that when you take the roofing slot on a card, no other roofer can be sold onto that card under any label. Not roof replacement, not roofing contractor, not storm damage specialist. The restriction is enforced in our booking system rather than promised on a phone call, so it cannot be quietly bent when a card is one slot short at the deadline. If your category is already taken you will be told plainly and offered the next card, rather than talked into a neighboring category.
What happens if the card does not fill?
You choose. Take a full refund, in full and without forms or a conversation about it. Or you can stay with the card until it fills and mails, and take 20% off your next one for the wait. The date by which the card must fill is printed on your confirmation before you pay anything, so the promise has a deadline attached rather than being an assurance you are asked to take on trust. What does not happen is that we keep your money and mail a thin card anyway, because a card carrying six advertisers is worse for every one of them than a card that never went out.
How does the 20% credit work if I wait?
If your card misses its date and you decide to stay with it rather than take the refund, we record a credit worth 20% of what you paid. It becomes spendable when that card actually fills and mails, which is the point of it: you are being compensated for the wait, so the credit arrives when the wait ends. You then take it off your next slot in any zone, on either card size. If the card is eventually abandoned rather than mailed, the credit goes away and you are refunded in full instead. You never end up with both, and you are never worse off for having waited.
Why do you insist on the card being full?
Because printing and postage cost the same whether the card carries six advertisers or sixteen. An operator who mails a thin card is either absorbing a loss, which is unsustainable, or has quietly priced that risk into what you paid. Holding to a minimum advertiser count keeps the price honest and keeps the card useful to the household receiving it. A card with four ads on it looks like what it is.
Do I have to pay a deposit?
No. You pay the full slot price once, when you reserve, and there is no balance to settle later. Until the card locks that money is fully refundable and we treat it as a liability rather than as revenue, which is exactly what allows the refund promise to be unconditional. An operator who has already spent your deposit has a strong incentive to mail whatever they have got.
Who designs my ad?
We do. Send a logo and tell us the offer you want to run, and we lay the ad out to fit the slot, set it at press resolution with proper bleed and send you a proof. The proof shows the whole card with your ad in position next to the other advertisers, not your ad floating on its own, so you can see exactly what a neighbor will be holding. Nothing goes to print without your written approval.
Can I supply my own artwork?
Yes, if it is genuinely print ready at the correct dimensions with bleed. In practice most artwork supplied by advertisers needs adjusting, usually because it was built for a screen rather than a press. We will tell you honestly whether yours will hold up at print size rather than running it and letting you discover the problem in about five thousand mailboxes.
Do I own the finished ad?
Yes. Ask and we will send you the finished artwork for your slot as a print ready file. Use it in a newspaper, on a flyer, in a shop window, anywhere you like. We are selling you distribution, not holding your logo hostage to keep you booking.
How do I know whether it worked?
Two ways, side by side. Your ad carries its own QR code, which opens your website or page; we count the scans and show them to you day by day on your results page. A scan is a floor, though, because plenty of people read a card and simply phone. So every card also carries a line asking the reader to mention it when they call, which puts the question into the conversation your staff are already having. The stronger move is yours: run an offer or coupon that exists only on this card, so a redemption can only have come from it. That costs nothing, never expires, belongs entirely to you, and still works when somebody pulls the card off the fridge a year later. Alongside it, compare your own call volume for the three weeks after the drop against the three before. Between those numbers you will know what the card did, and you will not have to take our word for any of it.
What does the QR code on my ad do?
It opens your website when somebody points a phone camera at it, or, if you have no website, a page with your business name and phone number. The code goes through a short postcardadvantage.com address first, which is how each scan is counted for your results: the time, and whether it came from a phone, never who scanned it. It sits in the top-right corner of your ad and it is on unless you say otherwise. If you would rather not have one, untick the box on your artwork page before the card goes to the printer and that corner goes back to your ad. The center band of every card carries a code too. That one is ours, for businesses that want a slot on the next card.
Where does the QR code go if I do not have a website?
To your free landing page with us if you have one: a simple page built from your ad, with your phone number and your offer. If you have neither, the code opens a plain page with your business name and phone number, so a scan always reaches you. If you get a website later, tell us and the same printed code starts opening it. Nothing on the card has to change.
What do you count when someone scans, and what do you not?
We count each scan once per phone per 30 minutes, so somebody tapping the code twice is one scan, while two different people on the same Wi-Fi are two. We record the time, which code, and whether it came from a phone. We do not record who scanned, we keep no raw internet address, and link previews, prefetches and search engine robots are not counted at all. Scan records are never sold or shared.
Can I switch the QR code off?
Yes. It is on by default and free, and you can untick it on your artwork page any time before the card goes to the printer. That top-right corner then goes back to your ad. Switching it off or on means we redraw your ad and send you a new proof.
Will the code on my card still work in a year?
Yes. The code opens a postcardadvantage.com address, not your website directly, so it keeps working for as long as the card sits on somebody's fridge. If your website ever stops answering, the code falls back to your landing page or a page with your name and phone number until it comes back.
How do I see how many people scanned my ad?
Your results page shows the scans day by day since the card mailed, with the share that came from a phone. The same number is on your account page and in the email we send three weeks after the card mails. Treat it as a floor: plenty of people read a card and simply phone, so keep counting mentions and redemptions of your offer too.
Which trades does this work best for?
Trades where one new customer is worth substantially more than the slot. High value jobs such as roofing, air conditioning replacement, windows or major remodeling only need a single conversion to pay for the card several times over. Recurring services such as lawn care, pool maintenance, pest control or cleaning are equally strong, because a customer who stays for years dwarfs the cost of one slot. It works less well for low value one off purchases.
What makes a good offer on a card?
One clear thing rather than a list of everything you do. A person looks at a card for a couple of seconds on the walk back from the mailbox, so the ad has to say one offer, one reason to act and one way to respond. A specific figure beats a vague percentage, and a deadline beats an open ended offer. We will tell you if we think yours is trying to do too much, because a slot that produces nothing is worse for us than an awkward conversation.
How far in advance do I need to book?
As early as you can, mainly because categories are claimed on a first come basis and popular trades go quickly in a given zone. Practically, you need to be booked before the card's art deadline with enough time to approve a proof. If you are close to a deadline, ask, and we will tell you honestly whether it can still be caught.
Can I change my ad after I have booked?
Yes, right up until the art deadline printed on your confirmation. Before that date you can change the offer or the phone number as often as you like, or replace the ad entirely. Once the card is at the printer nothing can move, which is why that date is stated up front rather than discovered later.
How often should the same zone be mailed?
Frequency generally does more for a local business than reach does, because the second and third time a household sees your name is doing more work than the first. That said, more drops cost more, and we would rather find the right rhythm with the advertisers on a card than announce a schedule and defend it. Booking several drops in the same zone in advance holds your category across all of them and is quoted lower per card.
Is there a contract, and does it renew automatically?
No and no. Each card is booked on its own and nothing bills you again without you actively saying yes. If you were on the previous card your category is held for you while you decide, and then it goes back on sale. We would rather you rebooked because the last one worked than because you forgot to cancel.
What is call tracking?
Call tracking is an optional add-on that gives your ad its own local phone number. It prints on your ad in place of your phone number and rings straight through to your phone, so every call the card brings is counted for you. Answer it and a short message says "Postcard Advantage call. Press 1 to accept." Press 1 and you are talking to the caller, so a person always hears it is a postcard call.
Why do I press 1 to accept a tracked call?
So a person always hears that it is a postcard call, and so we count calls honestly. Many phone apps and office phone systems pick up a call before your phone even rings, which means a message played the instant the line is answered can reach nobody, and a voicemail or phone menu would count as answered. So the first thing you hear on answering is "Postcard Advantage call. Press 1 to accept." Press 1 and the caller is put through; the caller hears ringing until then. If nobody presses 1 within about 20 seconds, the caller hears that nobody could take the call and is asked to try again. We count it as a missed call and email you. You can turn it off in your account, but we recommend keeping it on.
How much does call tracking cost?
$49 a year per business, or $149 a year for busy call tracking (for phones that ring all day). It is not included in the slot price and it is entirely optional. One payment covers your number for a full year, however many cards you are on in that year. The AI receptionist is a separate add-on ($99 a year on top of call tracking, which it requires).
What do I get with call tracking?
One local number of your own, printed on your ad in place of your phone number; every call ringing straight through to the phone you choose, with the caller's own number showing; a count of real calls, missed calls and short or likely spam calls on your results page and in your account; and an email whenever you miss a call, with the time and the caller's area code.
Do I have to buy call tracking to advertise?
No. Call tracking is a paid option and most advertisers do fine without it. Every ad already carries a free QR code with its scans counted, and the advice to run an offer unique to the card and to ask callers where they heard about you still applies.
Does one tracking number cover all of my cards?
Yes. You get one number for your business and it prints on every card you are on while you keep it, so your calls are counted across all of them. Each call is credited to your most recent card that had mailed when the call came in.
Can I choose my area code and my number?
Yes. We fill in the area code of your own phone, and you can change it to any US area code. You then pick from up to five local numbers, and you can ask for numbers containing particular digits. Nothing is held until you have paid. If someone else takes your pick in the meantime we get you another number in the same area code and tell you which.
How do renewal and canceling work?
Call tracking renews automatically once a year at its price ($49 a year, or $149 a year for busy call tracking), and we email you 30, 14 and 3 days before each renewal. From your account you can turn automatic renewal off at any time. Changing your card or updating your billing details happens there too. Turning it off keeps your number working to the end of the year you have paid for. If you also have the AI receptionist add-on, it is a separate yearly payment you can cancel on its own; it needs call tracking, so turning call tracking off ends the receptionist on the same day too.
What happens to my tracking number if I stop?
It keeps ringing through to you for 60 days after your paid year ends, so calls from cards still in people's homes are not lost straight away. After that it is released and stops working. A number we have released is never given to another business, and you can keep it during those 60 days by renewing from your account.
Are calls recorded?
No. Calls to tracking numbers are never recorded or transcribed. For each call we keep the time, how long it lasted and whether it was answered. The caller's area code is the only thing we keep about the caller. Nothing else about the caller is stored.
What counts as a real call?
A real call is one you accepted by pressing 1 and stayed on for 20 seconds or more, counted from the moment you pressed 1. Calls you took for less than that, and calls where the caller hung up within a few seconds of it ringing, are shown separately as short or likely spam. A call nobody accepted is a missed call, and those are shown on their own too.
Can I change the phone my tracking number rings?
Yes. Sign in to your account and enter the new number. It takes effect from the next call, and your tracking number itself does not change.
Can I use my ad somewhere else with my own phone number?
Yes. The ad is yours. With call tracking on, your artwork page has a download of your ad exactly as designed for the card but with your own phone number in place of the tracking number.
What is the AI receptionist?
An optional add-on to call tracking for the calls you cannot take. When a call to your tracking number is not answered, is busy, or nobody presses 1, a virtual assistant answers instead of the caller being turned away. It takes a message (their name, number, what they need, where, how urgent and the best time to call back) and we email it to you within seconds. The messages are in your account too.
Does the assistant say it is not a person?
Yes. It greets every caller with your business name and says it is your virtual assistant, that you cannot come to the phone right now, and that it can take a message so you call them right back. If a caller asks whether they are talking to a person, it says plainly that it is a virtual assistant.
What will the AI receptionist tell callers about my business?
Only what you have told us: your business name, your trade, the services and area on your ad, your website, and anything you add in your account, such as your hours. It never quotes prices, never promises a time and never books a job. If a caller asks something it does not know, it says it will pass the question on, and the question is in your message.
Are calls to the AI receptionist recorded?
No. Calls are never recorded and no recording or transcript is kept. When the call ends, the conversation is written up as a short message for you and the conversation itself is discarded. The written message is all we keep.
What happens if a caller has an emergency?
That depends on a setting you choose. Emergency handling is meant for trades that get emergency calls, such as plumbing, heating and air, electrical, roofing and tree work. With it on, an emergency is marked URGENT and sent to you straight away, and only a caller who describes danger to life, such as a gas smell, a fire or someone hurt, is told to hang up and call 911. With it off, the assistant never mentions 911 and simply takes the message, marked URGENT if the caller says it is urgent. We suggest a setting for your trade and you can change it in your account at any time.
How much is the AI receptionist?
The AI receptionist add-on is $99 a year on top of call tracking ($49 a year), so the two together are $148 a year. It includes up to 300 messages a year; the busy receptionist is $249 a year with up to 1,000. It is its own yearly payment, renewing on the same day as your call tracking, and you can cancel it on its own or switch the assistant off in your account whenever you like.
Can I turn the AI receptionist off?
Yes. In your account you can switch the assistant off and on, turn emergency handling off and on, and change what it may tell callers. With the assistant off, a caller you miss hears that nobody could take the call and is asked to try again, and we email you the time and their area code, as with call tracking alone.
Can I get call tracking for my website, without a postcard?
Yes. Call tracking, the AI receptionist and text alerts are also for businesses that only have a website from us, with no postcard ad. They are optional and paid separately from the website: call tracking is $49 a year, and the AI receptionist add-on, which requires call tracking, is $99 a year on top. Your tracking number shows on your website in place of your phone number (the header, the call buttons, the contact page and the footer) and rings straight through to you. Add it on the website order form or later from your account.
Does a tracking number on my website change my Google listing?
No. The swap is limited to the number visitors see on your pages. Your Google Business Profile keeps your own number, and so does the business information built into the site for search engines, so your name, address and phone stay the same everywhere you are listed. When call tracking ends, your website shows your own number again by itself.
I have a postcard ad and a website from you. Do I pay for call tracking twice?
No. One business has one tracking number and one yearly payment. The same number prints on your ad and shows on your website, and its calls are counted together.
Is there a limit on calls or messages?
Each plan includes a generous yearly allowance. Call tracking ($49 a year) includes up to 1,500 forwarded minutes a year, and busy call tracking ($149 a year) 5,000. The AI receptionist add-on ($99 a year) includes up to 300 messages a year, and the busy receptionist ($249 a year) 1,000. The year starts again when your plan renews, and your account shows how much you have used.
What happens if I go over my plan?
Nothing stops. Calls keep ringing through to you and the assistant keeps answering. If your number is regularly busier than its plan, we will tell you and suggest the busy version of that part: busy call tracking for minutes, the busy receptionist for messages. Each can be switched to from your account for the difference.
What if I need more than six pages?
Our website for advertisers has six pages and one yearly price. When a business needs more than that, we can quote custom work: custom websites run from $2,500 to $100,000, depending on what you need built. Anything is possible. Call (888) 348-1992 or email hello@postcardadvantage.com to talk it over.
Can I get the AI receptionist without call tracking?
No. The AI receptionist add-on requires call tracking: it answers the calls to your tracking number that you cannot take, so it is offered only to a business with call tracking. You can add both on the same page, or add the receptionist later from your account. If call tracking ends, the receptionist ends with it on the same day, any unused part of its year is refunded, and we let you know.
More about how we work
Shared mail attracts vague selling, so most of these questions exist because somebody got a vague answer somewhere else. How many homes, and exactly which streets? What happens to my money if the card never goes out, and can a competitor buy the slot next to mine? Those are the right questions and they all have specific answers.
The short version of how this works: a card carries a fixed number of advertisers and one business per category, so there is one roofer, one plumber, one lawn service. The 9x12 goes to about five thousand homes and carries sixteen advertisers, eight to a side. A slot is $499, or $899 for the one advertiser who takes two slots together as a double. The 6x11 goes to about two thousand five hundred homes and also carries sixteen advertisers, eight to a side. A slot on it is $249. You pay once, up front, and the card does not print until every slot is filled.
That last rule is the one that shapes everything else. A half empty card is worse for the advertisers on it than a card that never went out, because the ones who did pay end up subsidising the empty space and the piece looks thin in the hand. So we hold the money rather than spend it, and your confirmation carries the date by which the card must fill. Miss that date and you choose: take a full refund, or stay with the card and take 20% off your next one for the wait.
What we do not do is quote a number that turns out to be wrong. The rate card is published on the pricing page because shared mail is usually quoted in private, and a published price is the easiest thing in the world to check against a competitor. If a question below has an answer specific to your trade or your neighborhood, the honest version of it takes about five minutes on the phone.