How to choose an offline marketing platform: 7 questions before you sign

Most retailers still buy flyer distribution blind. They order the print run, hire a distribution company and, a few weeks later, get two photos and an invoice. Nobody knows which buildings were covered, how many mailboxes received the flyer or which streets responded.

That way of buying made sense when there was no alternative. There is one now, and the gap between a traditional distributor and a measurable platform shows up in the first campaign. These are the seven questions I would ask before signing with anyone, ours included.

1. Who delivers, and who do they work for?

Start with the question almost nobody asks. The flyer you paid for is carried by a person, and that person decides whether it reaches a mailbox or a bin. Ask whether the people delivering are employed, trained and supervised, or whether the provider farms the work out to a gig marketplace where every drop is handled by a different stranger.

At CARTO the people delivering are Brand Missionaries: employed, trained and supervised by us. They are not an anonymous profile on a micro-task app. They know what they represent and they answer to a supervisor through the whole shift. That changes how your material is handled, and how your customer is treated when the distribution is hand to hand.

A platform that cannot tell you who will deliver your flyer will not be able to tell you afterwards what happened to it.

2. How is coverage proven?

Two photos are not proof, they are an anecdote. Coverage is proven with data you can check without asking permission: the GPS route of every distributor, geotagged photos of the buildings, and live access to the dashboard while the campaign is still on the street.

Ask the provider whether you will see the routes themselves, not a summary of them. Ask whether the photos carry coordinates and a timestamp. And ask whether the dashboard is yours from day one, or whether you will be waiting for a PDF once everything is over.

At CARTO the client logs into the dashboard with their own access and watches the campaign move in real time: every route, every photo, every zone completed. If something looks wrong, you see it while there is still time to fix it.

3. Is response measured by zone, or are flyers just counted?

Being told how many flyers went out tells you nothing about whether they worked. The number that matters is response, and response has a geography: some streets respond a lot, others not at all, and you only find out if the platform measures it by zone.

Ask for a response map. Not a table of flyers delivered, but a heat map where each zone shows how many people responded to the flyer from that spot. CARTO tracks the response of every zone and paints it onto the campaign map, so you see where the offer worked and where it did not, and the next campaign is planned on that evidence instead of on instinct.

4. What about the response that comes late?

A flyer does not behave like a digital ad that vanishes when the tab closes. It sits in the kitchen, stuck to the fridge or in a drawer, and people respond when it suits them. A flyer keeps working for weeks after the drop.

If the provider measures the campaign only during the days it is on the street, part of the response is being left out. Ask how long they keep tracking after the last drop, and whether that late response shows up in the same dashboard, attributed to the same zone. At CARTO it does: the dashboard keeps tracking the response weeks after the last route is finished.

5. Does it integrate with your app, your coupons and your CRM?

Distribution is not an island. For the response to be worth anything it has to flow into the systems you already use: your app, your coupons, your promo codes and your CRM data. If the platform only hands you a number in a report, that number dies there.

Ask whether the flyer can carry a code or coupon your own system recognises, whether the response can open your app instead of a generic page, and whether the data can be matched against your CRM so you know which customers came through the mailbox. CARTO integrates with the client's app, their coupons and codes and their CRM data, so the drop shows up in the same tools you use for the rest of your marketing.

6. What results does it publish, and what does it promise?

Be wary of anyone who promises you sales. Nobody who delivers flyers controls the offer, the price or the shop, so nobody can promise you what happens after the flyer lands in the mailbox. What can be promised is delivery, proven with full transparency.

CARTO never promises sales. It promises delivery, that the flyer reaches where it was agreed, and that you can check it with full transparency. And we publish what we observe. As of October 2026, across 8 completed campaigns, measured response has ranged from 3.3% to 5%, with an average of 4.2%. What separates the top of that range from the bottom is the offer printed on the flyer, not the delivery.

If a provider publishes no results, ask yourself why. If they publish results without explaining how they measure them, ask yourself the same.

7. Does it know the territory?

A drop is planned on a map, and the quality of that map decides the quality of the campaign. Ask what data the plan is built on: a rough estimate of mailboxes per street, or the real cadastre, building by building. Ask whether it can target by barrio with demographic data rather than by postcode alone. And ask whether it knows the city you want to cover.

CARTO works in Catalunya and in any Spanish city, plans on real Catastro data and targets at barrio level with demographic criteria. If you want a feel for it before talking to anyone, the simulator shows you coverage and mailboxes by barrio on your own.

Before you sign

Seven questions, one idea: do not buy blind. The people delivering should have a name and a supervisor, coverage should be proven with GPS and photos you can see for yourself, response should be measured by zone and over weeks, the data should land in your own systems, results should be published honestly, and planning should rest on real data about the territory. If a provider answers all seven well, sign. If not, you already know what you will get: two photos and an invoice. If you have an opening coming up, the next piece explains how to launch a store opening with measurable door-to-door distribution, and the blog has the rest of what we have learned on the street.

Frequently asked questions

Who delivers the flyers on an offline marketing platform?

It depends on the provider: some farm the work out to gig marketplaces, others run their own team. At CARTO the flyers are delivered by Brand Missionaries, people employed, trained and supervised by us.

How do you prove a door-to-door drop actually happened?

With the GPS route of every distributor, geotagged photos of the buildings and live access to the campaign dashboard. Two photos and an invoice do not prove coverage.

How is the response to a flyer campaign measured?

By zone, not by counting flyers. CARTO tracks the response of every zone and shows it on a response map, so you see which streets worked and which did not.

How long do people keep responding after a drop?

A flyer keeps working for weeks after the drop, because it stays in the home and people respond when it suits them. That is why the dashboard keeps tracking the response long after the last route.

Can door-to-door distribution integrate with my app or CRM?

Yes. CARTO integrates with the client's app, their coupons and codes and their CRM data, so the response from the flyer shows up in the same tools as the rest of your marketing.

What response rate does a door-to-door campaign get?

As of October 2026, across 8 completed campaigns, measured response has ranged from 3.3% to 5%, with an average of 4.2%. The offer printed on the flyer is what makes the difference within that range.

Which cities can I run a campaign in with CARTO?

Catalunya and any Spanish city, planned on real Catastro data and targeted at barrio level with demographic criteria. Door-to-door campaigns start at 25,000 units.