#5 of 5 · In-house · 2 / 21
In-house sending
Your team buys the items, writes the notes, packs and ships them from the office or from reps' homes, and keeps track in a spreadsheet or the CRM by hand.
Last reviewed
Verdict: Fine for a pilot of a few sends; it stops working as soon as the program has to scale or prove pipeline.
Best for
Small teams testing direct mail with a handful of sends before committing to a provider.
Cost
Items, packaging and postage at retail rates, plus your team's time. There is no vendor price to check.
Where to check this
- Your own carrier's rates and a log of the hours spent per send
Strengths
- No platform fee and no contract.
- Full control over the item and the note.
- Fast to start for a few sends.
Limits
- Every send costs team time: buying, packing, shipping, tracking.
- Addresses come from the CRM, and many are stale or point to empty offices.
- Collecting home addresses by hand raises privacy questions.
- No send-level data in the CRM unless someone enters it.
- International sends mean customs paperwork for each one.
Scores on each criterion
| Criterion | Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Deliverability | Hand-packed and shipped, with whatever tracking the carrier gives. | |
| Address accuracy | Whatever is in the CRM, unless someone asks each recipient. | |
| Personalization | As personal as your team's time allows; doesn't hold at volume. | |
| CRM integration | Logged by hand, if at all. | |
| Measurement | No send-level data beyond what your team writes down. | |
| Scalability | Each extra send is extra team time. | |
| Cost structure | Cheapest for a few sends; team time, retail postage and failed sends are hidden costs. |
Choose it if
- You want to test whether direct mail works for your buyers before buying anything.
- You will send only a few items a month.
Look elsewhere if
- More than one team or rep will send.
- You need to report on pipeline.
Plays it suits
- Account-based marketing (ABM) play: for a pilot of a few accounts before you commit to a platform.