A 90-Day Direct Mail Calendar After a Major Hail Event

Short Answer

A 90-day direct mail calendar after a major hail event is a written, dated plan that turns one storm into a disciplined three-month mailing sequence instead of a single panicked blast. The fastest-moving competitors in a hail market send their first piece in the first 72 hours, but the homeowners who close are spread across the entire quarter — some sign in week one, many in weeks three through eight after the adrenaline fades, and a long tail signs in weeks nine through twelve once neighbors start replacing roofs and insurance deadlines loom. A calendar lets you be present at every one of those decision moments without burning your whole budget on day one.

The practical shape most roofers land on is a three- to five-touch sequence: a fast "we're in your neighborhood after the storm" postcard in days 1–5, an educational "what hail does and how to document it" piece around days 14–21, a social-proof piece showing real local work around days 35–45, and a final urgency/deadline reminder around days 70–85 that references the insurer's typical claim window. You re-mail the same homes — repetition is the point — while progressively narrowing to the addresses showing the most signal (recent inspections, neighbors who signed, roofs old enough to total).

Timing is anchored to verifiable facts, not rumor. Confirm the event with the NOAA National Weather Service and the NOAA Storm Events Database, pull the hail swath from the Storm Prediction Center, and build your mail list from owner-occupied homes inside that swath. Keep every piece compliant: direct mail itself is light on federal restrictions, but your claims must be truthful per the FTC's advertising guidance, and the moment you add phone or email follow-up you inherit the Telemarketing Sales Rule / Do Not Call and CAN-SPAM rules. For postage and format options, the USPS Every Door Direct Mail program is the cheapest way to blanket a swath, while a targeted address list costs more per piece but wastes far less.

Budget honestly. Plan the dollars for the whole 90 days up front, not per drop, so you do not run out of money in week two. A realistic per-piece cost for printed-and-mailed postcards lands in a wide band depending on size, format, and volume; lead with the count if you like ("we'll reach 4,000 homes"), but always know the real dollar total. The calendar below gives you the exact drops, the exact messaging, and the worksheets to run it.

Sources checked: June 20, 2026.

Why a Hail Event Needs a Calendar, Not a Blast

Roofers searching for a "90 day direct mail calendar after hail event roofing" plan are really asking one thing: how do I stay in front of a homeowner across the whole quarter the decision takes? Hail is the single most reliable demand event in roofing. Wind tears off shingles you can see; hail bruises and fractures shingles in ways a homeowner often cannot see from the ground, which means the demand it creates is latent — real, but not yet acted on. That latency is exactly why a one-and-done mailer underperforms. You are not trying to catch the homeowner at the one moment they decided to call a roofer. You are trying to be the name they remember across the eight-to-twelve weeks during which they slowly conclude they need one.

Think about how a homeowner actually moves after a storm. Day one, they sweep up the broken patio umbrella and check the car for dents. Day three, a neighbor mentions their insurance adjuster is coming. Day ten, they notice granules in the downspout splash block. Day twenty, three houses on the street have yard signs from a roofing company. Day forty, their agent reminds them the claim window is not open forever. Day sixty, the first roofs on the block get replaced and theirs suddenly looks tired. Each of those is a separate trigger, and each is a separate opportunity for a piece of mail to land at the right moment.

A single blast — even a great one — can only land on one of those days. A calendar lands on all of them. That is the entire argument for spreading your sends, and it is supported by how direct mail works generally: repetition builds recognition, and recognition is what converts a cold address into an inbound call. The discipline is in deciding which homes get which message on which day, and in not blowing the budget before the latent demand has had time to surface.

There is a second reason the calendar matters: competition collapses on a predictable curve. In the first week after a notable hailstorm, every roofer, storm chaser, and out-of-state crew floods the zip codes. Your day-three postcard competes with twenty others. By week four, most of the chasers have moved to the next market, the mailbox is quiet again, and your week-five piece may be the only roofing mail the homeowner receives that day. Mailing on a calendar means you are loud when it counts and present when it is quiet — both of which beat being one of twenty on day three and then disappearing.

Confirm the Storm Before You Spend a Dollar

The worst hail mailings go out to neighborhoods that did not actually get hit, or that got pea-sized hail incapable of damaging a modern architectural shingle. You waste postage, you annoy homeowners, and you train your market to ignore you. Confirm the event first.

Start with the authoritative public record. The NOAA National Weather Service issues warnings and post-event summaries; the Storm Prediction Center publishes daily storm reports including hail size estimates; and the NOAA Storm Events Database is the searchable archive of confirmed events with dates, locations, and magnitudes. For background on why hail size matters, the NWS thunderstorm and hail safety page is a clean primer you can also cite to homeowners.

The number that matters most for roofing is reported hail diameter. As a rough field rule of thumb, hail under three-quarters of an inch rarely damages asphalt shingles; one inch and up starts to matter; and anything golf-ball-sized (1.75") or larger almost always produces claimable damage across a wide area. Note "rough rule of thumb" — actual damage depends on shingle age, type, wind direction, and impact angle, and only a licensed roofer or adjuster on the roof can confirm damage on a given home. Your job at the mailing stage is to mail where the probability is high, not to diagnose any one roof.

A storm-confirmation checklist

HAIL EVENT CONFIRMATION — copy/paste and fill in
[ ] Event date(s): ____________________
[ ] Source confirming event: NWS / SPC report / Storm Events DB (link): ____
[ ] Largest reported hail diameter in target area: ______ inches
[ ] Swath description (which towns / zip codes / streets): ____________________
[ ] Approx. owner-occupied homes inside swath: ______
[ ] Predominant roof age in swath (if known): ______ years
[ ] Competing storm chasers already active? (Y/N): ____
[ ] Insurance carriers common in this area: ____________________
[ ] Decision: MAIL FULL SWATH / MAIL CORE ONLY / SKIP — why: ____________________

Run this once per event, file it, and attach it to the campaign. If a claim ever arises about whether you "manufactured" demand, your paper trail shows you mailed a genuinely affected area based on the public record — a good habit consistent with the spirit of the FTC's home improvement scam guidance, which homeowners are taught to watch for after storms.

Build the Mail List From the Swath

Once the event is confirmed, the swath defines your universe. You have two ways to reach it, and most strong campaigns use both at different stages.

Saturation (every door). The USPS Every Door Direct Mail program lets you mail every address on a carrier route without buying a list or even knowing the names. It is the cheapest per-piece option and the fastest to deploy, which makes it ideal for the day-1–5 speed drop when you just want to blanket the affected blocks. The trade-off: EDDM hits renters, vacant units, and homes with brand-new roofs you cannot exclude. The broader USPS business mail resources explain the format and postage tiers.

Targeted (address list). A targeted list lets you exclude renters, target owner-occupied homes, filter by roof age or home value, and suppress your existing customers. It costs more per piece but wastes far less, which is why the educational and social-proof drops later in the calendar usually shift to a targeted list. To understand who actually lives in the swath, the Census American Community Survey gives you housing-age and owner-occupancy context at the neighborhood level, and the Census building permits survey hints at how much new construction (newer roofs) is in the area.

The single highest-leverage filter is owner-occupancy. Renters do not buy roofs; landlords sometimes do but respond to different messaging and timelines. Targeting owner-occupied homes inside a confirmed swath is the cleanest way to raise response without raising spend.

The 90-Day Direct Mail Calendar (The Core Plan)

Here is the backbone. Adjust counts and dollars to your market, but keep the shape: fast and broad early, narrower and more proof-driven later, with a deadline-aware finale. Days are counted from the storm date (Day 0 = storm).

The four-touch version (drops 1–4) is the standard. Add drop 5 only in larger swaths where you still have unworked addresses and budget. Below, each drop gets its own section with messaging, the reasoning, and a copy-paste template.

Drop 1 — The Speed Drop (Days 1–5)

The job of the first piece is presence and legitimacy, not persuasion. Homeowners in the first week are flooded with out-of-state chasers and door-knockers, and they are wary. Your card should look professional, name your town, and offer a low-friction next step. Speed beats polish here: a clean postcard in the mailbox on day three outperforms a beautiful one on day fifteen for this specific drop, because you want to be in the consideration set before the homeowner has talked to anyone.

Use EDDM saturation. You are buying coverage and speed, and the per-piece savings let you blanket the whole swath. Do not over-target yet — at this stage you do not know which homes will surface as buyers.

DROP 1 — SPEED POSTCARD (front)
HAIL HIT [TOWN NAME] ON [DATE].
We're a local [Town]-based roofing company, and we're checking
roofs in your neighborhood this week.

(back)
Hail damage often isn't visible from the ground — bruised and
fractured shingles can shorten a roof's life by years without an
obvious leak. We'll take a look and tell you straight whether you
have a problem or not. No cost, no pressure.

  Call/text: [LOCAL NUMBER]   •   [WEBSITE/QR]
  Licensed & insured • [License #] • Serving [Town] since [Year]

We are a roofing contractor, not an insurance company. We don't
decide claims — we document what we find and help you take it from there.

That last line is deliberate. It sets honest expectations and keeps you clearly on the contractor side of the line that separates what you do (inspect, document, repair) from what an adjuster or carrier decides (coverage and payout).

Drop 2 — The Education Piece (Days 14–21)

By week two the chasers are thinning and the homeowner has cooled off. Now you earn trust by being useful. This piece explains what hail actually does to a roof and how a homeowner should document a potential claim — practical, specific, non-salesy. You are positioning yourself as the knowledgeable local pro, not the loudest postcard.

Switch to a targeted owner-occupied list here. You are paying more per piece, so make every piece land on someone who can actually hire you.

Reference real, citable behavior: homeowners are advised by the Insurance Information Institute to document damage promptly and by the CFPB to vet contractors carefully after a disaster. You can echo that guidance on the card — it makes you look like the trustworthy adult in the room.

DROP 2 — EDUCATION (letter or large postcard)
What hail does to a roof — and what to do about it

Three weeks ago, [Town] took [size] hail. Here's what most
homeowners don't know:

• Hail bruises shingles. The mat underneath cracks even when the
  surface looks fine from the street. Water finds those cracks later.
• Insurers usually give you a limited window to file a hail claim.
  Don't assume "no leak" means "no damage" — or "no deadline."
• Document now: photos with date stamps, note the storm date, keep
  any receipts. The Insurance Information Institute recommends
  filing promptly; your own carrier sets the exact window.

We'll do a free, honest roof check and give you a written report of
what we find — yours to keep whether or not you ever hire us.

  [NUMBER] • [WEBSITE/QR] • [License #]
  A licensed roofer — not a public adjuster. We document; your
  carrier decides coverage.

Drop 3 — The Social Proof Piece (Days 35–45)

Around five to six weeks out, the most powerful force in a hail neighborhood kicks in: neighbors are getting their roofs done. Yard signs go up. Dumpsters appear in driveways. This drop weaponizes that. Show real photos of real local jobs (with permission), name the street if you can, and let proximity do the persuading. "We just replaced three roofs on Maple Street" is worth more than any adjective.

Narrow the list further. By now you may know which sub-areas are responding, which streets have signed neighbors, and which homes are old enough to matter. Concentrate spend where the signal is.

DROP 3 — SOCIAL PROOF (photo postcard)
(front: real photo of a completed local job — before/after if you have it)
We just finished roofs right here in [Neighborhood].

(back)
[Three small real job photos, captioned]
"Replaced after the [Month] hail — [Street]."
"Insurance-approved, done in a day — [Street]."
"Honest inspection, no damage found — we told them so — [Street]."

Your neighbors are getting their roofs handled. If you haven't had
yours checked since the storm, now's the time — before the season
gets busy and the claim window closes.

  [NUMBER] • [WEBSITE/QR]
  Real local jobs. Real local crew. [License #]

A guardrail on photos: use only your own jobs, get homeowner permission, and never imply an insurance outcome you cannot guarantee. "Insurance-approved" should mean that specific job was approved by that homeowner's carrier — not a promise to the reader. The FTC advertising basics require claims to be truthful and substantiated; "real local jobs" is easy to substantiate, "we'll get your claim approved" is not.

Drop 4 — The Reminder / Urgency Piece (Days 70–85)

The final core drop trades on a real, honest deadline: most insurance policies require hail claims to be filed within a set window after the loss, and that window is closing. You are not manufacturing urgency — you are reminding the homeowner of a fact their own policy contains. Pair it with the seasonal reality (busy season, longer lead times) for a second, true reason to act.

Mail your tightest segment: non-responders who are owner-occupied, in the swath, and old enough to plausibly have damage. This is your most expensive-feeling piece per useful contact, so make it count.

DROP 4 — URGENCY (letter, signed)
Don't let the [Month] hail claim window close on you

It's been about [X] weeks since the storm. Most insurance policies
give you a limited time to file a hail claim — and once it passes,
that damage becomes your out-of-pocket problem.

If you haven't had your roof checked, here's the simple next step:
we come out, look honestly, and give you a written report. If
there's no damage, we'll tell you and you've lost nothing. If there
is, you'll have documentation in hand before your window closes.

  Call/text [NUMBER] today — we're booking [Town] inspections this week.

  — [Owner name], [Company], a local licensed roofer ([License #])
  We don't file or decide claims. Check your policy for your exact
  deadline, or ask your agent.

That closing guardrail keeps you honest: you are flagging that a deadline generally exists and telling them to confirm their own — not asserting a specific date you cannot know.

Drop 5 — Optional Last Call (Days 86–90)

In a big swath with budget left, a final short letter to remaining non-responders can mop up the long tail: "We're finishing our [Town] storm work this month — if you've been meaning to get your roof checked, this is the time." Keep it brief and low-key. After day 90 the swath is cold; demand that has not surfaced by now usually shifts to your normal evergreen marketing rather than this storm campaign.

How to Budget the Whole 90 Days Up Front

The most common failure mode is spending 70% of the budget on Drop 1 because day three feels urgent, then having nothing left for the drops that actually convert. Budget the whole quarter before you mail anything.

Work backwards from what you can afford and how many homes are in the swath. Here is the math structure (use ranges; real per-piece cost depends on format, volume, and provider):

90-DAY MAIL BUDGET WORKSHEET
A. Homes in confirmed swath (owner-occupied):        ______
B. Drops planned (3, 4, or 5):                       ______
C. Narrowing factor per drop (e.g., 100% / 60% / 40% / 25%):
     Drop 1 reach: A x 100% = ______
     Drop 2 reach: A x ___% = ______
     Drop 3 reach: A x ___% = ______
     Drop 4 reach: A x ___% = ______
D. Cost per piece (printed+mailed), your quote:      $______
     (EDDM is lower; targeted is higher; get real quotes)
E. Cost per drop = reach x D:
     Drop 1: $______   Drop 2: $______
     Drop 3: $______   Drop 4: $______
F. TOTAL 90-DAY MAIL SPEND (sum of E):               $______
G. Expected responses (use a conservative response %): ______
H. Expected inspections booked (responses x book %):   ______
I. Expected jobs (inspections x close %):              ______
J. Cost per job = F / I:                              $______
   Compare J to your average job margin. If J < margin
   comfortably, the calendar pencils. If not, narrow harder.

A few honest notes on the numbers. Response rates for roofing storm mail vary widely by swath severity, list quality, and creative; do not bank on a specific percentage — run the worksheet with a conservative figure and a stretch figure and make sure the conservative case still profits. Volume helps: USPS and most print vendors discount larger runs, so a bigger swath often lowers your per-piece cost. And remember the distinction that matters for any software you use to run this: a roof report is a one-time cost per home no matter how many times you mail that home, while the mailers themselves are a real per-piece dollar cost that scales with volume and earns volume discounts. Keep those two buckets separate in your budget so you never double-count.

Tracking: Know Which Drop Earned the Job

If you cannot tell which drop produced a call, you cannot improve the calendar next storm. Build tracking in before you mail.

The two cheapest, most reliable methods are a unique phone number and a QR code to a campaign landing page, ideally a different one per drop so you can see which message pulled. When a call comes in, the very first qualifying question is "Did you get something from us in the mail?" — and your intake person records which piece if they can describe it.

INTAKE TRACKING SCRIPT (for whoever answers the phone)
1. "Thanks for calling [Company] — did a postcard or letter from
   us bring you in today?"  → log YES/NO
2. If yes: "Do you remember roughly when it arrived, or what it
   said?"  → map to Drop 1/2/3/4 by timing or message
3. "And this is about the [Month] hail, correct?"  → confirm storm
4. Capture: name, address (to confirm it's in the swath),
   roof age if known, whether they've filed/talked to insurer.
5. Book the inspection. Restate: "We'll give you an honest written
   report — no obligation."

Whatever you choose, the discipline is the same: tag every inbound to a drop, total the jobs per drop after 90 days, and use that to reweight the next storm's calendar. If Drop 3 (social proof) out-earns Drop 1 (speed) two-to-one in your market, you shift budget toward proof next time.

Regional and Seasonal Variations

The calendar's shape is universal; the timing knobs change by geography and season.

Hail Alley (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska). Storms are frequent and severe, chasers are aggressive, and homeowners are storm-savvy — many have filed hail claims before. Compress the early calendar: your speed drop must hit in 48–72 hours or you are late, and your education piece can assume more baseline knowledge. The Storm Prediction Center outlooks are practically a marketing calendar here. Expect more competition on every drop, so social proof and a genuinely local identity matter more.

Southeast and Gulf (wind + hail mixed). Hail often rides with tropical and severe systems; messaging may need to address wind and hail together. FEMA's disaster recovery resources and, in fortified-roof markets, the IBHS FORTIFIED program give you credible angles homeowners respect.

Upper Midwest and Northeast. Hail seasons are shorter and more concentrated (late spring through summer). A single big event may be the marketing event of the year, so the 90-day calendar carries more weight — run it fully. Winter mailing is mostly evergreen, not storm-triggered.

Mountain West / Front Range. Severe, sudden hail with big diameter; roofs age fast under UV and freeze-thaw. Roof-age layering (next section) pays off especially well here.

Seasonally, a late-season storm (say, an August event in a northern market) compresses the urgency drop — you want the homeowner to act before weather closes the roofing season, which is a true, useful reason to move. An early-spring storm gives you the full 90 days plus the tailwind of "before the busy season fills up." Bake the season into the Drop 4 copy.

Layering Roof Age Onto the Swath

A confirmed swath tells you where hail fell; roof age tells you which homes the hail most likely totaled. A 4-year-old architectural shingle roof may shrug off hail that would condemn a 17-year-old roof. Layering age onto the swath is the single best way to narrow drops 3–5 without losing buyers.

Practically, you rank homes inside the swath by estimated roof age and weight your later, more expensive drops toward older roofs. The Census ACS gives neighborhood housing-age context; property-data providers give home-level estimates. The building-science backdrop is worth knowing and worth citing to homeowners: the Building America Solution Center and IBHS roof research explain how asphalt shingles age and fail, which strengthens your "older roof + hail = act now" message.

A guardrail: roof-age estimates are targeting signals, not verdicts. You are deciding who to mail, not asserting that a specific home's roof is damaged or X years old. Only a roofer on the roof confirms condition, and only the homeowner's records or a measurement confirms true age.

Common Mistakes That Sink a 90-Day Hail Calendar

Spending the whole budget on Drop 1. Covered above, but it is the number-one killer. The calendar only works if you fund all of it.

Mailing a swath you never confirmed. If you mail on rumor and the area got minor hail, you waste money and erode trust. Confirm with NWS/SPC/Storm Events first, every time.

Looking like a chaser. Out-of-state vibes, no local number, no license number, vague "STORM DAMAGE!!!" screaming — homeowners are explicitly warned about exactly this by the FTC. Lead with local identity, license number, and an honest "we'll tell you if there's nothing wrong."

Overpromising insurance outcomes. "We'll get your claim approved" is a claim you cannot substantiate and a line you should never cross. You document; the carrier decides. Keep that guardrail on every piece.

No tracking. If you cannot attribute jobs to drops, you will repeat the weak drops and cut the strong ones by guesswork. Build tracking before you mail.

Inconsistent identity across drops. If Drop 1 looks like one company and Drop 3 looks like another, you lose the recognition compounding that makes sequenced mail work. Same logo, colors, number, and tone across all four pieces.

Ignoring suppression. Mailing existing customers a "we just hit your town" cold pitch makes you look like you don't know them. Suppress past customers (and mail them a different, warmer piece if you want).

Stopping if Drop 1 is quiet. Drop 1 is supposed to be quiet on conversions — it is a presence play. Founders who panic and cancel the calendar after a slow first week throw away the drops that actually close. Trust the curve.

Compliance: What's Legal to Mail and Say

Direct mail is one of the least-regulated outreach channels at the federal level — there is no federal "do not mail" list the way there is a Do Not Call registry. But three things bind you:

1. Truthful advertising. Every claim must be truthful and substantiated under the FTC's advertising and marketing rules. "Free inspection" must actually be free. "Licensed and insured" must be true. Photos must be your real jobs.

2. The moment you add phone or email. If your follow-up includes calling homeowners, you are subject to the Telemarketing Sales Rule and Do Not Call; if it includes email, you are subject to CAN-SPAM. Scrub call lists against Do Not Call, honor opt-outs, and include required identifiers and unsubscribe options in email.

3. State and local contractor rules. Many states regulate post-storm solicitation specifically — disclosure requirements, cancellation rights, prohibitions on advancing insurance deductibles, and registration to do storm-restoration work. These vary widely; confirm your state's rules before you mail. The general consumer-protection backdrop is the FTC home improvement scam guidance, which describes the behaviors regulators watch for.

A clean compliance habit: keep a one-page record per campaign noting the confirmed event, the swath rationale, the offer ("free inspection — actually free"), and the suppression/Do-Not-Call steps you took. If anyone ever questions the campaign, you have your answer ready.

PER-CAMPAIGN COMPLIANCE RECORD
Campaign: [Town] [Month] hail • Storm date: ______
[ ] Event confirmed via: __________ (NWS/SPC/Storm Events link)
[ ] Offer is literally true (free = free): ______
[ ] License # printed on every piece: ______
[ ] Photos are our own jobs, with permission: ______
[ ] No insurance-outcome guarantees in copy: ______
[ ] Past customers suppressed: ______
[ ] If calling: scrubbed against Do Not Call: ______
[ ] If emailing: CAN-SPAM identifiers + unsubscribe: ______
[ ] State storm-solicitation rules reviewed: ______
Reviewed by: ____________  Date: ______

A Decision Framework: When to Run the Full 90 Days vs. a Short Burst

Not every hail event deserves a full quarter-long calendar. Use this to decide.

The governing logic: the full calendar earns its keep when there is enough latent demand spread over time to justify staying present for a quarter. A severe storm over thousands of owner-occupied homes is exactly that. A few damaged streets is better served by boots-on-the-ground canvassing plus one mailer. Match the tool to the size of the demand.

Putting It Together: A Worked Example

Imagine a contractor — call them a mid-size local roofer — whose town takes confirmed 1.75" hail across about 4,000 owner-occupied homes (verified on the Storm Events Database). Here is how the quarter might run, illustratively:

• Day 2: EDDM speed postcard to the full swath (~4,000 pieces). Goal: presence. A handful of calls come in immediately from homeowners who already saw damage.
• Day 18: Education piece to a targeted owner-occupied list, dropping renters and vacants (~2,600 pieces). Calls tick up as homeowners start noticing granules and neighbors' adjusters.
• Day 40: Social-proof photo postcard, narrowed to sub-areas already responding and to roofs 12+ years old (~1,700 pieces). This is where the volume of inbound typically peaks, as yard signs and dumpsters do half the selling.
• Day 78: Urgency letter to non-responders with older roofs (~900 pieces), referencing the closing claim window and the filling busy season.
• Day 88 (optional): Short last-call letter to remaining non-responders (~500 pieces).

Across the quarter the contractor mails roughly 9,700 pieces total to a 4,000-home swath — an average of about 2.4 touches per home, weighted toward the homes most likely to buy. They track every inbound to a drop, total jobs per drop at day 90, and discover (illustratively) that Drops 2 and 3 produced more booked inspections than Drop 1 — exactly the pattern that justifies funding the whole calendar instead of blasting once. Next storm, they shift a little budget from Drop 1 to Drop 3.

Treat every number here as illustrative. Your swath size, response rate, and per-piece cost will differ. The structure — confirm, blanket fast, narrow with proof, close on a real deadline, track everything — is what travels.

Where RoofPredict Fits

You can run this entire 90-day calendar by hand for one storm: pull the NOAA reports, draw the swath on a paper map, build a list, get print quotes, schedule four drops, and tally calls in a spreadsheet. It works. It is also a lot of manual work to repeat for every storm, across a whole territory, under time pressure when speed matters most.

RoofPredict is the operational layer that makes the calendar repeatable. It scores the homes in your service area by how likely they are to need roof work — combining property age and characteristics, storm/hail/wind exposure history, and roof-imagery signals — so when a hail event hits, your swath is already ranked and your list is already segmented by the signals this calendar relies on (owner-occupied, roof age, exposure). From there it builds the targeted mail campaigns for each drop and generates a professional roof report per home that your reps can carry into the appointment, plus tools to document storm damage (photos, dates, roof-area notes) and organize the records behind each job.

On cost, here is the honest model so you can budget it against the worksheet above: the subscription/credits cover the roof reports — one report per home, no matter how many times that home gets mailed across your four drops, so re-mailing the same address does not burn extra report credits. The mailers themselves are billed in real dollars per piece, with volume discounts as your send size grows (the bigger your swath, the lower your per-piece cost). You can lead with the count internally ("we'll reach 4,000 homes"), but you always see the real dollar total, and nothing is charged for a send until you approve the proof and the mailers go to print.

Guardrail: RoofPredict's score is a prioritization and targeting signal — it tells you which roofs are most likely to need work so you spend your mail budget wisely. It does not inspect or climb a roof, does not prove a roof's age or that hail caused damage, and does not decide, approve, or guarantee any insurance claim. Those determinations belong to a licensed roofer on the roof, the homeowner's records, and the insurance carrier or adjuster. The software organizes and predicts; the people with licenses and policies decide.

Key Takeaways

• A hail event creates latent demand spread over ~90 days, not a single buying moment — so mail on a calendar, not in one blast.
• The core sequence is four drops: speed (days 1–5), education (14–21), social proof (35–45), urgency (70–85), with an optional last call at 86–90.
• Confirm the event with NWS, SPC, and the NOAA Storm Events Database before spending a dollar; mail only genuinely affected, owner-occupied homes.
• Use cheap EDDM saturation for the fast first drop, then shift to targeted owner-occupied lists for the follow-ups, narrowing toward older roofs.
• Budget the entire 90 days up front so you don't burn the money on Drop 1; the later drops often out-convert the first.
• Track every inbound to a specific drop with unique numbers or QR codes so you can improve the calendar next storm.
• Stay honest: claims must be truthful (FTC), phone/email follow-up triggers Do-Not-Call and CAN-SPAM rules, and you never guarantee an insurance outcome.
• Roof age layered onto the swath is the best signal for narrowing your most expensive drops without losing buyers.

FAQ

How soon after a hail storm should I send the first mailer?

Aim for the first 72 hours, and no later than day five, for the speed drop. In aggressive hail markets like the southern plains you may need to hit within 48 hours to beat the flood of out-of-state crews. Use EDDM saturation for this first piece because it is the fastest and cheapest way to blanket the confirmed swath — speed matters more than precision on day one.

How many times should I mail the same home after a hail event?

Most strong campaigns send three to five touches over 90 days to the same affected homes, narrowing the list with each drop. Repetition is the point: homeowners decide at different moments across the quarter, and a single mailing only catches one of them. Two to three touches per home, weighted toward the most likely buyers, is a sensible average for a 90-day window.

What's the ideal cadence between drops?

The standard rhythm is roughly: Drop 1 at days 1–5, Drop 2 at days 14–21, Drop 3 at days 35–45, and Drop 4 at days 70–85. The early gap is short (presence, then education while attention is high), and the later gaps stretch out to align with neighbors getting work done and insurance deadlines approaching. Adjust by a week or two for your market, but keep the front-loaded-then-spaced shape.

How do I confirm a hail event actually happened before mailing?

Check the NOAA National Weather Service warnings and post-event summaries, the Storm Prediction Center's daily storm reports for hail-size estimates, and the NOAA Storm Events Database for the confirmed archived record. Note the largest reported hail diameter — under three-quarters of an inch rarely damages modern shingles, while golf-ball-sized (1.75") and up usually produces widespread claimable damage. Mail only where the public record confirms meaningful hail.

Should I use EDDM or a targeted list for storm mail?

Use both at different stages. EDDM saturation is cheapest and fastest, so it's ideal for the day-1–5 speed drop where you just want to blanket the swath. Shift to a targeted owner-occupied list for the follow-up drops, where excluding renters, vacants, and brand-new roofs raises response without raising total spend. Layering roof age onto the targeted list tightens your most expensive late drops further.

How much should I budget for a 90-day hail mail campaign?

Budget the entire quarter up front rather than per drop, so you don't spend it all on day one. Total spend depends on swath size, the number of drops, and your per-piece print-and-mail cost, which varies widely by format and volume (larger runs earn discounts). Run the cost-per-job worksheet with a conservative response rate and confirm the conservative case still beats your average job margin before you commit.

Why not only send one great postcard right after the storm?

Because a single mailer can only land on one of the many days a homeowner might decide to act, and most don't decide in week one. Demand surfaces across the whole quarter — as granules appear, neighbors sign, and insurance deadlines loom — so a one-and-done piece misses the majority of buyers. A calendar keeps you present at every decision moment, which is what actually converts cold addresses into calls.

What should the first post-storm postcard say?

Keep it simple and local: name the town and storm date, identify yourself as a local licensed roofer checking roofs in the neighborhood, and offer a free, no-pressure roof check. Avoid screaming "STORM DAMAGE!!!" and out-of-state-chaser energy, which homeowners are warned to distrust. Include a local phone number, your license number, and an honest line that you document findings rather than decide insurance claims.

How do I track which mailer drove a roofing call?

Use a unique phone number and/or a QR code or personalized URL per drop, and ask at intake "Did a postcard from us bring you in, and roughly when did it arrive?" to map the call to a specific drop. Record the answer for every inbound, confirm the address is inside your swath, and total jobs per drop at day 90. That attribution lets you fund the drops that convert and cut the ones that don't next storm.

Is it legal to send direct mail to storm-damaged homes?

Yes — there's no federal do-not-mail list, but three rules bind you. Advertising claims must be truthful and substantiated under FTC rules (a free inspection must be free; photos must be your real jobs). The moment you add phone follow-up you're subject to Do-Not-Call rules, and email follow-up triggers CAN-SPAM. Many states also regulate post-storm solicitation specifically, so confirm your state's contractor and disclosure rules before mailing.

Can I tell homeowners their roof has hail damage in the mail?

No — you can't diagnose a specific roof from a mailer, and you shouldn't claim to. Speak in probabilities and education: explain that hail often causes hidden damage and offer an honest inspection that will tell them straight whether they have a problem. Only a licensed roofer on the roof can confirm damage, and only the homeowner's carrier decides coverage, so keep your copy on the "let's check and document" side of that line.

How does roof age change who I should mail after a storm?

Roof age tells you which homes the hail most likely totaled. A 4-year-old roof often shrugs off hail that would condemn a 17-year-old roof, so you weight your later, more expensive drops toward roofs roughly 12 years and older while still blanketing broadly on the first drop. Treat age as a targeting signal, not a verdict — you're deciding who to mail, not asserting any specific roof's condition or exact age.

What if my first drop gets very few calls — should I stop?

No. The speed drop is a presence play, and it's supposed to be quiet on conversions; most homeowners haven't decided yet. The drops that actually book inspections often come later, as neighbors get work done and claim deadlines approach. Canceling the calendar after a slow week one throws away the very touches that close — trust the curve and fund all the drops.

When is a hail event too small to bother mailing?

Skip a full calendar when the event is unconfirmed, the hail was under about one inch, or the affected area is just a handful of streets. Tiny swaths are usually better served by door-knocking plus a single follow-up letter, and unconfirmed or minor events waste postage and erode trust. Reserve the full 90-day calendar for confirmed, sizable swaths over many owner-occupied homes, where latent demand is large enough to justify staying present for a quarter.

Should the urgency drop mention the insurance claim deadline?

Yes, but honestly. Most policies do impose a filing window for hail claims, and reminding homeowners of that real fact is fair game and genuinely useful. Tell them a deadline generally exists and to confirm their own with their policy or agent — don't assert a specific date you can't know, and never promise their claim will be approved. You document and inspect; the carrier decides coverage.