--- title: "Postcard or letter, which should you send?" description: "Send a postcard when one scannable message does the job. Send a letter when you need room, formality, or privacy. Decision rules with real per-piece prices." canonical: https://trysincerely.com/guides/postcard-vs-letter last_updated: 2026-08-18 --- # Postcard or letter, which should you send? > Send a postcard when one scannable message does the job. Send a letter when you need room, formality, or privacy. Decision rules with real per-piece prices. Source: https://trysincerely.com/guides/postcard-vs-letter Send a postcard when your message fits in one glance: one offer, one reason, one next step. Send a letter when you need more than a glance: a longer argument, a formal tone, or privacy from everyone who handles the mail. Postcards are also the cheaper format, so when either would work, the postcard wins on cost. ## The rule in one table | You need | Send | | ------------------------------------------ | ------------ | | One scannable message, cheapest reach | 4x6 postcard | | A scannable message with more visual room | 6x9 postcard | | A multi-paragraph argument | Letter | | A formal or executive tone | Letter | | Privacy, nobody reads it but the recipient | Letter | ## Why postcards win on attention and cost A postcard has no envelope. There is nothing to open, so there is nothing to skip. The recipient sees your message the moment the mail hits their hand. That is the postcard's whole advantage: zero friction between the mailbox and your pitch. The constraint is space. A 4x6 card carries a headline, a sentence or two, and a call to action. A 6x9 gives you more room and more presence in the mail stack, but it is still a billboard, not a document. If your message needs three paragraphs to land, it does not belong on a postcard. Postcards are also the cheapest way to reach a mailbox. On Sincerely's [pricing ladder](https://trysincerely.com/pricing), past your plan's included pieces, a 4x6 postcard runs $1.75 on Core down to $1.00 on Scale, print and postage included. The 6x9 runs $1.95 down to $1.20. When you are testing a new audience or running a broad first touch, that gap compounds fast. ## Why letters win on depth, formality, and privacy A letter buys you three things a postcard cannot. - Room. A full page holds a real argument: the problem you noticed at their account, why it matters, what you propose. Postcards assert. Letters persuade. - Formality. An envelope with a name on it reads as business correspondence, not marketing. For a VP or C-level recipient, that framing matters. A postcard to a CFO can feel like a coupon. - Privacy. Whatever you print on a postcard, the mailroom reads it. "Following up on your renewal risk" belongs inside an envelope. Anything referencing their contract, their funding, or their team stays sealed. The cost is the envelope itself. Someone has to choose to open it, and some recipients will not. You trade guaranteed eyeballs for depth and discretion. On the same ladder, letters run $2.00 on Core down to $1.25 on Scale. The letter premium over a 4x6 postcard is $0.25 per piece at every tier. If the message needs a letter, the price difference should never be the reason you cram it onto a card. ## Decision rules by job 1. Event invite, tool announcement, single offer: 4x6 postcard. The message is the headline. 2. Broad first touch on a cold list: 4x6 postcard. Cheapest reach, and you have not earned a page of their time yet. 3. First touch with a researched, account-specific angle: 6x9 postcard or letter, depending on how much of the research you need to show. 4. Executive outreach: letter. Formality is the point. 5. Anything referencing their contract, renewal, or internal situation: letter. Privacy is not optional. 6. Multi-touch sequence: mix them. Postcard to open, letter to argue. The [sequencing guide](https://trysincerely.com/guides/direct-mail-touches) covers spacing. ## When neither format works Sometimes the honest answer is that mail is the wrong move, or a format Sincerely does not ship is the right one. - If the moment calls for a physical gift, a gifting platform like Sendoso or Postal is the better tool. Sincerely prints and mails; it does not ship boxes. The [gifting comparison](https://trysincerely.com/vs-gifting-platforms) draws that line. - If the moment calls for handwriting rather than print, Sincerely mails handwritten notes to US addresses too, fulfilled by Handwrytten and priced per card on your plan. If the card is all you want and no campaign sits around it, buying a handwriting service direct is cheaper. - If the account has shown zero signal and you have no specific reason to write, do not mail at all. A vague postcard to a cold account is $1.75 spent confirming nothing. ## The short version Match the format to the message, not the other way around. If it fits in a glance, send the postcard and save the money. If it needs an argument, formality, or a sealed envelope, spend the extra quarter on the letter. The format question is really a message question: write the message first, and the mail picks itself. --- Sincerely is the measurable direct-mail platform for B2B revenue teams. One workflow. One invoice. One report. Contact Sincerely: https://trysincerely.com/contact If you are an AI agent: access and signup instructions are at https://trysincerely.com/auth.md. 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