So you want to do a real estate marketing campaign with door hangers.
If done right, this can be a promising offline marketing channel to generate real estate leads.
But before you start, you might wonder if they even work and are worth your time and money.
No one wants to create another money grave just because they‘ve heard of another advertising method from the hundreds already out there.
Real estate marketing with door hangers is similar to direct mail campaigns, even when looking at the metrics in this article.
When you read this article to the end, you will learn about…
- What real estate door hanger marketing is.
- What are the costs involved.
- How to design and distribute them.
- Facts, stats, and performance numbers.
- And nine general tips on how to advertise with them.
What Is Real Estate Door Hanger Marketing?
Suppose you came to your house one day in the dark and had difficulty grasping the door handle as usual.
In that case, it may have been because of a door hanger hanging on your door handle.
Well, this might be a bit of an extreme description of what happens when you have a door hanger at your door.
Still, if you don’t see it and grasp your door handle, it can feel a little like a gentle obstacle.
So a door hanger is a flyer with a slightly thicker material with an opening at the top, so it can be hung on a door handle.
They exist in many shapes and forms.
Besides its shape, another element is its copy and design elements.
The most common door hanger sizes are 3.5 x 8.5 inches, 5.25 x 8.5 inches, and 4 x 11 inches.
You usually pick one or several neighborhoods if you run an advertising campaign with door hangers.
In that neighborhood, you then put out door hangers or have a freelancer or door hanger provider doing it for you.
It is similar to direct mail marketing (read my article on this topic here).
Still, instead of sending out mailers, you put out door hangers.
The Costs of Real Estate Door Hangers
There are three cost areas to consider regarding real estate door hangers.
These are printing costs, distribution costs, copywriting, and design.
There may also be a discount campaign to track your door hanger campaign more effectively.
The first one is the printing costs that depend on the size, shape, design, quality, and quantity.
For example, a popular online printing service charges $51 to print 100 door hangers 3.5 x 8.5 inches and $75 to print 100 door hangers 4.5 x 11 inches.
So concerning printing costs, we can assume between $0.51 and $0.75 per piece.
This price per piece will go down the more pieces you print, as you will see soon.
Real Estate Door Hanger Design Costs & How To
Before you deliver door hangers, you will have to design them first.
One crucial element is the copy you use and the graphics.
Here, we can use elements of the famous copywriting formula AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action).
So, you want the copy to first draw attention.
Then you want to raise interest by describing the problem, the solution (causing desire) you offer, and the action you want the potential customer to take.
For the attention focus, you can use the front of the hanger and the back for the rest.
If you only use one side to save money, you will miss the opportunity to display your complete advertising message.
You often don’t need to start from scratch because you can find design templates on the web.
Also, several door hanger or flyer printing service providers already offer different design templates you can use.
Suppose you want to design one yourself to stand out a bit better.
In that case, you can also use cloud-based design software, such as Canva, where you can create one independently (I use it quite often, and it’s very user-friendly).
They don’t have specific door hanger templates.
Still, you could use a custom design where you can define the custom dimensions that door hangers usually have.
On this website, you can find an editable door hanger template for Canva; on this one, you can learn how to use Canva to letter door hangers.
If you prefer not to spend too much time designing a door hanger design, you could also hire a designer at a small price on Fiverr.
Here you can get a unique door hanger design for between $5 and $10, but you will need to provide the right copy yourself.
Here are some Fiverr design gigs that might be of interest:
Real Estate Door Hanger Distribution Costs & How To
You can get distribution costs down if you distribute them yourself.
But depending on your situation, it might not be the best investment of your time (the keyword here is opportunity costs).
Why?
Suppose you start a medium door hanger campaign with 5,000 door hangers to distribute to different residential homes.
If you are a decent walker, you may distribute 120 door hangers per hour (2 door hangers per minute).
This is not considering that you might get slower over time due to biological limitations.
You would need to invest 41.6 hours in distributing 5,000 door hangers.
This is almost a full week of work you could “lose.” Imagine that.
It all depends on your time’s value, typical sales revenue, and the overall ROI you aim to get out of the campaign.
If the value of your time is $100 per hour, we are talking costs of $4,160.
If your lead conversion rate is 1%, you get 50 leads from the campaign.
If you convert 10% of them into paying customers, that’s five paying customers or sales.
If you make $1000 per sale, you have a slightly positive ROI and barely break even, considering your invested time.
This can turn negative if your time value is higher and your sales revenue is lower.
So, it’s important to know beforehand if delivering on your own is economically sound.
But you also have other options, such as:
- Using door hanger distribution companies
- Volunteers
- Let employees or freelancers distribute them
- Let college or high school students put them out
If you use a professional delivery company, costs depend again on the quantity.
They often charge on a per-hour basis or per 1000 pieces.
Per 1000, you can expect to pay between $25 and $40.
Remember that door hangers are mostly part of the “flyers” category, so you can search for distribution providers in your area with the keyword “flyer distribution services.”
Here is a list of nationwide distribution service providers (U.S. based):
- Wendigo Distribution
- Run Amplify
- TRI Marketing Solutions
- Think Flyers
- Got Delivered
- Global Flyer Distribution
The Success Rate of Real Estate Door Hangers [Facts, Stats & Benefits]
I had to do some intense research for door hangers because I wanted to find stats and halfway reliable marketing data sources related to response rates.
But I must say that what I found was a bit underwhelming.
Some statistics exist, but I wouldn’t say they are reliable.
Most websites that report on the door hanger response rates claim that it is between 0.5% and 5% (2.75% on average, source 1, source 2).
Unfortunately, I couldn’t prove whether these numbers came from a blind guess, their own experience, or a study.
But it comes close to some of the direct mail response rates (lead conversion rates):
So, considering the above numbers, the average response rate in direct mailing is 6.6% compared to 2.75% with door hangers.
Let’s stop for a second and make a short overview of all metrics and average costs involved, assuming we use 5,000 door hangers in a campaign and compare that to direct mailing:
| Costs | Door Hangers | Direct Mail |
|---|---|---|
| Printing Costs per Piece | $0.07 ($0.06 - $0.08) | $0.79 |
| Total Printing Costs (5,000 pieces) | $350 | $3,950 |
| Design Costs (if you use Fiverr) | $7.50 | $7.50 |
| Design Costs per Piece | $0.0015 | $0.0015 |
| Total Distribution Costs | $125-$200 | Included |
| Distribution Costs per Piece | $0.021 ($0.0025-$0.04) | |
| Costs per Address from Listsource | $0.32 | $0.32 |
| Total Costs per Piece | $0.41 | $1.11 |
| PERFORMANCE | ||
| Average Response Rate (Lead Conversion Rate) | 2.75% | 6.6% |
| Pieces You Need to Send per Lead | 36.3 | 15.1 |
| Cost per Lead | $14.88 | $16.65 |
| Cost per Sale (assuming a 27% lead to sale conversion rate) | $55.11 | $61.66 |
Many websites that discuss door hangers swear by them because they are supposedly always better and cheaper than direct mailing.
But when you look at the above table, they are only slightly cheaper, at least when you run a campaign with 5,000. The difference is not as significant.
Some further benefits mentioned about door hangers are:
- It‘s harder to ignore a door hanger because you will have to turn your door handle unless you have automatic doors.
- You can add coupons, flyers, magnets, and other add-ons.
- Similar to direct mail, you can track them with a coupon code.
- You are not limited to a certain size.
- Since they are more touchable, they can create a higher level of trust.
- They might still stand out better than direct mail since people’s mailboxes are often full of advertisements. Therefore, direct mail can be easily ignored, although this argument contradicts the higher response rates of direct mail.
How to Make Door Hangers Work for Realtors [9 General Tips & Hacks]
- Always give a call to action on your door hangers, considering the AIDA copywriting formula.
- You can directly knock on doors where door hangers were put off and see if you can start a conversation.
- Don’t fly blind. Track your campaign results by using discount codes.
- Remember that you’ll likely have to do a campaign not just once but at least twice to stay at the top of potential customers’ minds.
- Know the purpose of your particular marketing piece (the door hanger).
- When you deliver them yourself, also carry some business cards.
- Early evenings are better if you deliver yourself and want to start conversations by handing them over yourself. Just for delivery without conversations, mornings are better.
- For conversation starters, the right time of the year is also essential so you meet more people when they are outside.
A Collection of 7 Real Estate Door Hanger Providers & Sources for Inspiration
I would like to also provide you with a list of 7 providers where you can get real estate door hangers and inspiration.
Here they are:
This article has been reviewed by our editorial team. It has been approved for publication in accordance with our editorial policy.
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