Companies throughout Canada are relying on conventional marketing products that generate practical, quantifiable results in a world inundated by digital. Among the most reliable and affordable of these methods is the Canada Post postcard, a humble yet effective direct mail vehicle to be sure. Strategically employed, postcards mailed out via Canada Post are capable to increase brand awareness, produce new leads and promote the loyalty of existing customers, all by ending up directly in the laps of an intended audience.
Canada Post has a variety of options tailored for businesses who want to target their marketing. Its precision-mailed services enable businesses to mail offers to specific zip codes or neighborhoods -- or even demographic segments they choose. Contribution of Canada Post These features combined, make Canada Post a very effective tool for business aiming to target a local or a regional market. Postcards in particular are still a favorite because they are cost effective to design and send and have a high open rate. And according to Canada Post studies, 74% of consumers always or occasionally notice advertising in the mail, while 85% will open and read the postcards they receive.
When you consider direct mail, it is important to know what you need to send a Canada Post postcard. According to Canada Post the minimum requirement for a postcard is 90 mm in length by 140 mm in height and 120 mm in length by 235 mm in height. It should be printed on card either 0.18 - 0.28 mm in thickness. By meeting such specifications, marketers are able to benefit from lower postage than is applied to normal letter mail. Since 2025, individual cards cost from around CAD $0.92 each for local mailings in Canada, making them a very cost-effective choice for bulk mail shots.
These advantages of postcard marketing are enhanced when paired with targeting features! For example, Canada Post’s Precision Targeter allows businesses to target routes using demographics (age, income, household size, etc). That's how we know that the postcards are being mailed to people that are more likely to respond to offer or message. For example, luxury residential renovation service can mail only to areas that have higher than average household income pennies to pennies for return on investment.
Although present in the middle of a well-executed campaign, the Canada Post postcard can also be upleveled by adding any of the following: QR Codes, promo codes, product codes, or personalized URLs. These benefits can be motivating to engage with your brand online or in person. Tracking-able elements also allow for the collection of performance data, offering insight into response rates and conversion details. So, for example, a retailer could send postcards with a unique code for a discount, and then later it can tally how many people who got the cards ended up buying something.
A second benefit of postcards is the ease and quickness you can get things out. Postcards As opposed to more complicated marketing collateral such as catalogs or multi-page brochures, postcards can be designed, printed and mailed fairly quickly. This suits them perfectly for just-in-time sales / last minute promos. As long as you have the right mailing schedule in place and can leverage Canada Post’s well-entrenched delivery system, within a few business days postcards will be delivered across most of Canada.
Another consideration is environmental sustainability for businesses who utilise direct mail. Canada Post partners with several suppliers who offer greener printing options, such as paper with FSC certification and low-emission printing processes. This enables businesses to easily incorporate their marketing activities into broader sustainability targets without sacrificing reach or impact. Plus recipients are more likely to see physical mail as being reliable and lasting than digital ads, which are transitory and easy to delete.
Design Widespread Design: Postcards are also very flexible. ‘ Standard size postcards are more affordable, but bigger postcards (up to 6” x 11”) can be used to capture attention. These larger sizes of postcards are eye-catching in the mail and provide space for larger or more creative messaging and graphics, whether you have a lot more to say or are promoting a product that needs a bit more real estate for to showcase the images.
At the end of a good marketing campaign, it’s easy to see why so many companies trust the Canada Post postcard for their advertising purposes. With the accuracy in terms of audience that it offers at an affordable cost and the punter response it commands, it is a tool every present day marketer cannot afford to do without. And in a world where companies increasingly struggle for ways to resonate with customers directly, direct mail—and by extension postcards—remains one of the most powerful channels out there. With knowledge of engagement rate and depth of engagement for Canada Post targeted mailing, companies can create marketing plans that are not only targeted but also have a realized effect.