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.
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.
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?”