Design of the Mail Panel

Knowing some tricks about the design and placement of the mail panel on a postcard can significantly increase the effectiveness of the card’s marketing message. Imagine that you are going through your mail, either at home or at work. Most likely you are viewing it as presented by the letter carrier – with the addressing areas all facing the same way and sorted by size of the mail-piece.

In the case of a postcard, are you looking at the well-designed, eye-catching side of the card, or are you looking at the mail panel? How much care was taken to design the side with the mail panel for maximum marketing impact?

Contrary to common usage, the mail panel on a post card does not need to take up the entire right half of one side. An addressing area of 3 ¼ inches wide by 1 ½ inches high is sufficient for affixing most labels, and 5 inches wide by 2 ¼ inches high will usually accommodate a delivery point bar code put on the mail-piece during inkjet addressing.

One of our favorite tricks is to size the mail panel at 6 x 2 ¼ inches and position it across the entire width of the postcard. This creates an unobstructed rectangular area of 6 x 1 ¾ inches above the mail panel that is very easy to design. That is plenty of room to place an eye-catching headline or suggestion to turn the card over for more information.

Remember that a poorly designed or positioned mail panel may prevent you from qualifying for the best postage rate. For that reason, we suggest that you have us look at the mail panel before you commit to a print run. Just call us at (616) 842-0730 for help.