New-Mover Postcards
for Optometry Practices

A new resident has left their old eye doctor behind and hasn't chosen a new one yet, so there's no incumbent to displace. They also tend to have a near-term need — an expiring glasses or contact lens prescription, back-to-school exams for the kids, or new vision benefits to use — which gives a welcome postcard a concrete reason to book. Reaching the whole household at one address can also fill several chairs and start years of annual recall.

Two ways. If you have a new-mover list, export it as a CSV from whatever provider you use and import it into PostKnock; the wizard auto-maps name, address, and phone columns. If you don't have a list, run an EDDM-style saturation mailing to every home on the postal routes around your office, which automatically reaches the new residents there along with the rest of the neighborhood. PostKnock does not connect to or sync with third-party data sources directly — the flow is a one-time CSV export and import you can repeat whenever you refresh the list.

One clear offer with a reason to act now works best: a new-patient comprehensive eye-exam offer, a credit toward a complete pair of glasses, a contact lens fitting, or a "use your new vision benefits" nudge. For families moving over the summer, a back-to-school eye-exam angle meets a deadline they already have. Always check your state optometry board's advertising rules — you write the offer copy, PostKnock prints and mails it.

Recall postcards go to your existing patients who are overdue for an annual eye exam — people already in your system. New-mover postcards go to prospective patients who just moved into your area and have no relationship with you yet; the goal is to be the first eye doctor they choose. Both use the same postcard-plus-call sequence, but the audience, the messaging, and the offer are different. Many practices run both.

Results vary a lot by offer, timing, and list accuracy, so treat any figure as an estimate. Industry studies typically report direct-mail response rates in the low-to-mid single digits, often cited around 3 to 6 percent for a targeted list. New movers are an unusually open audience because they haven't picked a local eye doctor yet, and adding a phone follow-up gives non-responders a second, human touch. New-mover lists are themselves estimates of who recently moved, so coverage and accuracy vary too.

A few days after a card is delivered, PostKnock's built-in Call Queue (a Pro feature) populates with the new residents who received it. Your front desk works the queue using the playbook's pre-loaded welcome script — a friendly "welcome to the area, here's how to book your first exam" — and logs each outcome. Anyone who doesn't respond rolls forward into the next wave. The calls are made by your own staff; PostKnock organizes the queue and scripts.

Most practices run 3 to 4 waves over several weeks, mixing postcards with one or two call attempts for non-responders. PostKnock supports multi-touch wave sequences of up to 5 waves; you control the timing and which waves are postcards versus calls. New movers don't always book the first month they arrive — staying in front of them until their old prescription runs out is what wins the booking.

You pay per piece from your wallet: from $1.05 per 4×6 card on the Free plan, dropping to $0.79 on Pro, with printing and USPS First-Class postage included. Pro is $99/mo (or $799/yr) and adds the Call Queue and multi-wave sequencing. No setup fees, no minimums, no contracts — you only pay for what you send.

New-mover outreach typically targets prospective patients, not your existing records, so there's usually no PHI involved at all. PostKnock keeps PHI off the postcard by default and your list only needs name, address, and contact info. We are HIPAA-aware: we don't sign Business Associate Agreements and we don't ask you to upload PHI. Review your own obligations and your state optometry advertising rules, and see our healthcare compliance approach for details.