Direct mail response rates and statistics for real estate agents, 2027
Direct mail response is most often reported at about 2% to 5% for a prospect list and 5% to 9% for a list of people who already know you. The original ANA and DMA reports are paid, so this page shows who reports each figure, which ones we read at the source, and where our own agents' results fit.
Last reviewed
01
What is a good direct mail response rate?
A good response rate depends on the list. Reported benchmarks are about 2% to 5% for a prospect list and 5% to 9% for a house list, a list of people who already know you. For real estate, one summary of the ANA and DMA data reports a combined 3.32%.
Response rate by list type
Prospect lists respond at about half the rate of house lists, and a new farm starts as a prospect list (ANA/DMA, 2025 to 2026)
Response rate is the share of pieces mailed that produce a response: a call, a visit, a scan or a reply. A farm starts as a prospect list, because the neighbors do not know the agent yet. Over time the agent becomes a known name and the list behaves more like a house list. That is our reading, not a measured figure.
Vendors that cite the ANA and DMA reports give different figures, and some quote higher ones for the 2023 edition. We show the most common ranges and who reports each. We have not read the ANA and DMA reports themselves, which are sold or members-only.
02
How do direct mail response rates differ by list and format?
List matters, and format may matter less than vendor summaries say. House lists are reported at 5% to 9% and prospect lists at about 2% to 5%. The one randomized comparison of formats we found, a 2023 health-study mailing to 9,999 California addresses, found two letters drew 13.2% household response against 7.7% for two postcards.
Letters vs postcards
In the one randomized test, letters drew 71% more response than postcards (BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2023)
0%5%10%15%
13.2%
7.7%
Two lettersTwo postcards
Postcards vs envelopes
Vendor figures rank the formats the other way round, so treat format rankings with caution (ANA, 2023)
0%5%10%15%
5.7%
4.3%
PostcardsLetter-size envelopes
That study is not about real estate: it invited households into an antibody study (Ley, Duan and Parsonnet, BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2023), and letters drew 71% more response than postcards. Vendor summaries of the ANA's 2023 report give the opposite order, postcards 5.7% and letter-size envelopes 4.3%, so treat format rankings cautiously. A multi-page newsletter-style publication is not a format either source measures.
03
Is direct mail still effective?
In the research that measured it, yes. In the ANA's 2021 survey, letter-size direct mail sent to prospect lists was the best-performing mail format, with a 112% return on investment. The data are self-reported by marketers, and 38% of the marketers surveyed used direct mail.
Lab studies of print and digital
Physical ads left a stronger lasting impression than digital ads (USPS Office of Inspector General and Temple University, 2015, 2017, 2019)
2015The human response to mail
2017Ad sequencing
2019Advertising and age
Separately, three studies commissioned by the USPS Office of Inspector General and run by Temple University (2015, 2017 and 2019) found that physical ads left a stronger lasting impression and triggered more of the brain response linked to value than digital ads, while digital ads won on quick attention. These were laboratory studies with modest sample sizes, paid for by the postal service's own auditor, and we are not aware of an independent replication.
04
Direct mail vs email: which gets more response?
Direct mail is reported to draw far more response, but the two are measured differently. Two mail vendors citing the ANA and DMA report an average of 4.4% for direct mail and 0.12% for email.
Average response, as reported
Direct mail and email are measured differently, so this is not a like-for-like ratio (ANA/DMA, 2025)
4.4%direct mail
0.12%email
The gap is large, but one headline multiple depends on what counts as a response. An email response and an email click are different measures, and published comparisons mix them. The USPS-commissioned studies above are the better evidence on why mail can work harder: its attention is not shared with a screen of other messages. We have not found an independent study of real estate agents using both side by side.
05
What does direct mail cost per home?
Postage alone starts at 26 cents a piece for Every Door Direct Mail Retail flats up to 3.3 ounces (USPS price list effective October 4, 2026), on orders of 200 to 5,000 pieces. Printing, design and list costs are extra.
Postage per piece
Printing, design and list costs are extra (USPS, effective October 4, 2026)
26¢Every Door Direct Mail Retail, flats up to 3.3 ounces
200 to 5,000pieces per order
A 12-page publication printed and mailed together costs more per piece than a postcard, so compare cost per response, not cost per piece. The price per home of our own publication, postage included, is on our pricing page. Dale Ross, a Houston-area agent, reports paying under 50 cents a copy in 2005 against 80 cents for the newsletter he produced himself in 2004.
06
What is the ROI of direct mail for real estate agents?
The only first-hand benchmark we could verify is the ANA's 2021 survey: 112% return on letter-size mail to prospect lists, self-reported by marketers across industries. For real estate, Dave Friedman of Charleston, SC, tracks his actual sales and reports 400% to 500% return by the sixth edition of his publication.
Return on investment
One agent’s tracked result next to a self-reported industry survey (Dave Friedman case study; ANA, 2021)
400 to 500%Dave Friedman, by the sixth edition
112%letter-size mail, all industries
ROI is net revenue minus cost, divided by cost. Net revenue is the agent's take-home commission minus related expenses. Mr. Friedman's figure is his own tracking from sales, reported in his case study, not an industry average. One agent's result is a case, not a benchmark.
07
How long does farming take to work, and how often should an agent mail?
Plan in years. Sellers rarely shop around: in the NAR 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 66% of recent sellers used an agent who was referred to them or one they had used before, and 81% contacted only one agent. A farm works by becoming the known name over repeated mailings. That is our reading of the NAR data.
Recent home sellers
Most sellers do not shop around (NAR Profile, 2024)
66%
used a referred or previous agent
81%
contacted only one agent
Clients printing with us today have mailed a median of about two years, per our records. For frequency, Dave Friedman mails every 60 days and Jim Chikato, Northern LA County, has mailed quarterly since 2016 alongside other touches.
08
How many homes should an agent farm?
Editions in our records, November 2025 to October 2026, have a median of 3,571 homes, and the middle 80% run from 1,222 to 11,483. Jim Chikato farms 5,600 homes; Dave Friedman mails more than 12,000.
Homes per printed edition
Eight in ten editions mail between 1,222 and 11,483 homes (our records, 2025 to 2026)
010,00020,000
1,222
3,571
11,483
23,277
Low endMedianHigh endLargest
The right size depends on the agent's budget, the market and how many homes the agent can follow up. Jim Chikato started with 3,300 homes in 2016 and grew to 5,000 in 2018 and 5,600 in 2024. These are editions in our records, which may not include every client.
09
Newsletter or postcard for farming?
We are not aware of an independent study comparing a newsletter-style publication with a postcard for farming, so the evidence is the agents' own accounts. Dale Ross used postcards for 15 years, then moved to a 12-page publication in 2005. His case study reports much better engagement than from his newsletters or postcards.
Cost per copy
Dale Ross paid less for a 12-page publication than for his own newsletter (Dale Ross case study)
0¢50¢100¢
80¢
under 50¢
Newsletter, 2004Publication, 2005
On postcards against letters, the one randomized comparison we found favored letters (13.2% against 7.7%, 2023, a health study). Vendor summaries of the ANA's 2023 report give postcards 5.7%. The evidence on format is mixed.
10
How do you measure direct mail results?
There are three working methods: compare sales in the farm with the prior-year no-mail baseline, ask every lead where they heard of you, and track responses with QR codes, a web address only the mailer uses, or a dedicated phone number.
Three ways to measure results
Use one of them, or combine them (our guidance)
1Compare farm sales with last year
2Ask every lead where they heard of you
3Track responses with codes
Geographic baseline: count all sides of transactions in the farm area against the prior year, adjust for market activity and multiply by average earnings; the change is the mail's share. Ask every lead: split credit when several touches were involved. Tracked codes show which mail-sourced prospect converted, down to the piece. Whatever the method, divide net revenue minus cost by the cost to get ROI.
11
Direct mail statistics, 2027
These are the figures we could trace to a named source and year. Those we read at the source are marked.
Read at the source
91% of home sellers sold with the assistance of a real estate agent. NAR Profile, 2025.
66% of recent sellers used a referred agent or one they had used before. NAR Profile, 2024.
USPS Office of Inspector General, Enhancing the Value of Mail: The Human Response (2015); Tuned In: The Brain's Response to Ad Sequencing (2017); Advertising Effectiveness and Age (2019) (uspsoig.gov)
Ley C, Duan H, Parsonnet J. Recruitment into antibody prevalence studies: a randomized trial of postcards vs. letters as invitations. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2023;23:170 (doi.org/10.1186/s12874-023-01992-8)
directmail.io, Direct Mail Response Rate Benchmarks (citing ANA/DMA 2025 and ANA 2023)
4over4, Direct Mail Response Rate Benchmarks (updated June 5, 2026)
