By James Todman, Founder of AgentHype. Updated October 2026.
The short answer
Blanket letterbox drops rarely earn their cost anymore. Targeted, personal ones still do. Most agents get a better return by moving their bulk print budget into trackable social ads, while keeping handwritten notes to neighbours after every sale.
The problem with blanket print
Monthly flyer drops to thousands of homes can cost hundreds of dollars a month. Agents who do them consistently often tell us the same thing: it does not land, and they cannot tell whether it brought in a single listing. Most of it ends up in the recycling. Homeowners have learnt to ignore it.
The problem with not being able to measure it
The same is true of bus stop signs, newspaper ads and billboards. We spoke with an agent considering $5,000 on a bus stop sign for the year. Asked how many listings he expected from it, he guessed one or two, and admitted he would never know which. The same $5,000 in ad spend, at around $25 a lead, is roughly 200 trackable enquiries. Even at a modest conversion rate, that is several listings you can trace back to the spend.
What still works
- Handwritten notes after a sale. "I have just sold the home down the street for a great price. If you are ever thinking about selling, give me a call." It is personal, timely and genuinely useful to neighbours.
- Signboards. Signs still drive calls. The best results come when what people see in the street matches what they see in their feed.
- Community presence. Sponsorships and local involvement build trust over time, particularly in smaller towns.
Where the money goes further
That $400 a month in blanket print, moved into ad spend, can bring in around 40 more buyer enquiries and several appraisal requests, and you can see exactly where each came from. When something works, you put more behind it. When it does not, you change it. Print cannot give you that.
What about cold calling?
There is still a place for the phone. The difference is who you call. Instead of a random list, call the owners who have raised their hand: appraisal requests, early seller signals from your landing page and buyers who need to sell. Your conversion rate goes up because the people on the other end are already thinking about moving.
Older homeowners are on social too
A common worry is that the agent's best clients, often older owners and downsizers, are not on social media. Most are. Homeowners in their 60s and 70s are regularly on Facebook, and many of the strongest responses to downsizer campaigns come from exactly that group.
The bottom line
Keep the personal touches. Drop the blanket spend. Put that budget where you can see what it is doing.
Next step
Book a free growth audit and we will show you what your current print budget could do in ads.
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