The data-driven guide to door-to-door leaflets
Door-to-door leaflets remain one of retail’s most debated channels: essential for some, expensive for others, and often evaluated on instinct rather than evidence. With rising pressure on budgets, sustainability, and performance, retailers consistently return to four key questions:
- Does the leaflet still work?
- How do I create a good leaflet?
- How should I package my leaflet?
- Where should I distribute for maximum impact?
To bring clarity, we analysed more than 200 leaflet campaigns across grocery, fashion, DIY, beauty, electronics and other sectors. Using Accurat’s location intelligence, we compared households that received a leaflet with similar households that did not, allowing us to isolate the leaflet’s true impact on store visits and visit share.
Here’s what the data shows.
1. Does the leaflet still work?
Yes — and the impact is measurable.
Retailers who reduced or paused distribution saw a decline in Share of Visits, particularly in competitive periods. When distribution was restored, visit share recovered. Several major retailers who experimented with reductions eventually returned to print after observing losses.
Case study: the impact of reducing leaflet distribution
Across food, DIY and fashion retailers, we compared zones where distribution continued with zones where it stopped. A clear pattern emerged:
- Stopped zones lost visit share, sometimes rapidly
- Maintained zones stabilised or grew, even when overall market footfall was flat
- New zones added to distribution gained visit share, confirming that consumer behaviour responds to leaflet exposure
A strong leaflet presence protects competitive position — especially when the market intensifies.
2. What makes a good leaflet?
Our analysis of 122 creatives shows that effective leaflets tend to:
- Keep the leaflet short (fewer than 20 pages)
- Follow a clear theme, rather than a broad mix of offers
- Use targeted distribution rather than mass coverage
- Feature a clean, focused cover with either 0–2 or 6+ products
- Include visible but moderate promotions
- Offer inspiration, not only discounts
Relevance and clarity consistently outperform volume and clutter.
3. Does packaging matter?
Very much so. The way a leaflet is delivered — and specifically its position in the bundle — significantly influences its visibility and therefore its drive-to-store effect.
Case study: packaging influences performance
We compared campaigns placed inside a bundled package with those positioned on the cover. The results:
- A leading fashion retailer saw a +39% higher uplift when the leaflet appeared on the cover
- In supermarkets, cover placement generated an +11% uplift, despite already high baseline frequency
- Leaflets placed inside the bundle consistently underperformed due to lower visibility
The first item people see in the letterbox commands disproportionate attention — and results.
4. Where should you distribute?
Radius-based distribution is no longer sufficient. By scoring neighbourhoods based on household characteristics, competition, audience behaviour and historic visit trends, we can predict where leaflet distribution will be most effective.
Case study: smarter zoning for a DIY retailer
A DIY chain tested reducing leaflet coverage by up to 50%. Zones were ranked from 1 to 5 based on their expected impact. The findings:
- Low-scoring zones switched off lost visit share faster than controls
- High-scoring zones maintained or improved performance
- Some far-away zones outperformed closer ones, challenging long-standing assumptions
- Redistributing budgets improved efficiency even with fewer total households reached
Target relevance, not distance.
Conclusion
Across more than 200 evaluated campaigns, one message stands out clearly: the door-to-door leaflet continues to be an impactful and influential channel — but only when used intelligently.
What has changed is not the leaflet itself, but the ability to measure and optimise it with precision. Creative clarity, smart packaging, and data-driven distribution now play a larger role than ever. When these elements align, leaflets not only protect visit share but can actively drive growth — even in highly competitive or low-growth environments.
As retailers rethink their media mix, the question is no longer “Should we still use leaflets?” It’s “How do we make them work harder?”