Short answer: About 0.5% for an unaddressed leaflet drop, 0.9% for cold addressed direct mail, and 7.2% for mail to people who already know you. Those are JICMAIL's benchmark figures from 3,800 UK campaigns. A well-targeted local drop with a real offer can beat the average; a generic flyer to the wrong postcode will fall well short of it.
The benchmark numbers
JICMAIL is the UK's joint industry currency for advertising mail, funded by Royal Mail, the DMA and the major mailing houses. Its Response Rate Tracker pulls campaign data from 15 organisations and 3,800 campaigns. The 2025 figures:
| Channel | Average response rate | Return on investment |
|---|---|---|
| Door drop (unaddressed leaflet) | 0.5% | £2.90 per £1 |
| Cold direct mail (addressed, no prior relationship) | 0.9% | £3.20 per £1 |
| Warm direct mail (existing customers) | 7.2% | £9.00 per £1 |
Both cold mail and door drop response rates rose in 2024, cold mail by 24% and door drops by 41% on ROI. Print has been quietly getting more effective as inboxes and feeds get noisier.
Response isn't the only number that matters
A 0.5% response rate sounds like 99.5% wasted. It isn't. JICMAIL's panel tracking shows what happens to the other 995 leaflets:
- 74% are read or looked at. Around a minute of attention on average.
- 13.9% prompt a commercial action: a website visit, a search for the business, a visit to the shop, or a conversation in the house.
- 9.3% start a discussion between people in the household.
- 9.7% of mail prompted a website visit in Q4 2025, a five-year high.
So for every 100 leaflets, roughly 74 get looked at, 14 make someone do something, and one turns into a direct enquiry. The 13 in the middle are the ones who Google you three weeks later when the boiler packs in.
What moves the number up or down
Up: - A specific offer with a deadline. "Gutter clean £45 until 31 October" beats "Gutter cleaning available". - Heavier stock. Card gets kept; paper gets binned. Something that survives a week on the fridge has a week of chances. - The right area. A conservatory company in a postcode of terraces is wasting money whatever the response rate. - Repetition. The third drop to the same homes does far better than the first. - Local identity. A recognisable Carlisle business beats a national-looking flyer. - One business per trade on the piece. If three plumbers are on the same mailer, they split the response.
Down: - Thin A5 flyers in a stack of six others. - No phone number visible without turning it over. - Generic stock imagery. - No way to track it, so you assume it didn't work.
Working it back to a budget
The useful way to use these figures is backwards. Decide what a customer is worth, then work out how many doors you need.
Say a customer is worth £150 and you convert half your enquiries. At 0.5% response you need about 400 homes per customer. A 5,000-home drop gives you around 12 customers, or £1,800 in revenue.
Whether that's worth it depends entirely on what the 5,000 doors cost you. At £700 for a solo leaflet drop, you've made £1,100. At £299.99 on a shared card to the same 5,000 Carlisle homes, you've made £1,500. Same response, less at stake. See the full cost comparison.
Measuring your own rate
Don't rely on the benchmark. Track it:
- A QR code with a unique URL per campaign. The Cumbrian Card puts one on every advertiser's slot.
- A "mention the card" line on the offer.
- A separate phone number if you can, or just ask every caller where they saw you.
After two drops you'll have your own number, and it'll be worth more than any industry average.
FAQ
What is the average direct mail response rate in 2026?
JICMAIL's latest tracker puts cold direct mail at 0.9%, warm mail at 7.2% and unaddressed door drops at 0.5%.
What's a good response rate for a leaflet drop?
Anything over 1% is good for a cold drop. Local service businesses with a clear offer can get there; national-style branding flyers rarely do.
Why is direct mail more effective than a leaflet?
It has a name on it, so it's opened as post rather than glanced at as junk. It also costs several times more per home, which is why leaflets still win on return for most local businesses.
Do people actually keep leaflets?
Heavier card is kept far longer than paper. That's why The Cumbrian Card is printed on 300gsm stock rather than 130gsm flyer paper.
Figures from the JICMAIL Response Rate Tracker 2025, JICMAIL Q4 2025 quarterly results and the DMA/JICMAIL Door Drop Report 2025.