• Final leaflet size (A5, A6, DL, etc.) and whether it’s single or double-sided
• Bleed and safe zone requirements — anything meant to run to the edge needs 3mm bleed, and text needs to sit clear of the trim line
• Paper/finish if they already know (gloss, matt, silk) — affects colour choice
• Whether it folds (single sheet vs. tri-fold/gate-fold) — folds change the layout grid completely

Brand assets

• Logo — vector file (AI, EPS, or SVG) if possible, not a low-res JPG pulled off their website
• Brand colours as exact hex/CMYK/Pantone codes, not “our blue”
• Fonts they use elsewhere, or permission to pick something suitable if they don’t have a house font

Content

• Final copy — headline, body text, offer/pricing, terms and conditions if there’s a promotion
• Any images they want used (own photos vs. stock) and in what resolution — screenshots or web images are usually too low-res for print
• Contact details exactly as they want them shown: phone, website, address, socials
• Any legal/compliance text (e.g. “offer ends”, registered company number) that has to appear

Purpose and audience — this is the one people skip and then aren’t happy with the result

• What’s the goal: brand awareness, a specific offer, event promotion, appointment bookings?
• Who’s receiving it — since you’re doing the distribution, you already know the area/demographic, but worth confirming what tone fits (family homes vs. business district, etc.)
• Any call to action they want front and centre (call now, visit website, scan QR code, bring this leaflet in for X% off)

Style direction

• 2-3 examples of leaflets or ads they like the look of
• Anything to avoid (a competitor’s look, a colour they hate, “too busy/too plain”)

Practical

• Deadline and print quantity, since that can affect paper stock/turnaround
• Who signs off — one contact for approval avoids five people giving conflicting feedback at proof stage

• Letterbox/leaflet drops are one of the few channels that guarantee physical reach into every household in a defined area — no algorithm or spam filter between you and the recipient
• It’s well-suited to local, high-frequency-need businesses: takeaways, tradespeople, cleaners, gyms, estate agents, etc.
• Response rates for well-targeted door drops typically run around 0.5–2%, though this varies hugely by offer, design, and targeting
• It builds local brand awareness even among people who don’t respond immediately — repeated exposure matters for trades and local shops especially

What determines whether it actually increases sales:

• Targeting — distributing to the right catchment (postcode/demographic match) beats blanket coverage
• Offer strength — a genuine incentive (discount code, free quote) outperforms generic branding
• Design and clarity — a clear call to action, contact details, and a reason to act now
• Frequency — one-off drops rarely move the needle; 2–3 repeat drops over a few months build recognition and response
• Trackability — using a unique code, QR code, or landing page URL on the leaflet lets the business actually measure uplift rather than guess

Honest caveat: it’s hard to prove causation cleanly (someone might have found the business another way around the same time), which is exactly why encouraging clients to use a trackable offer or dedicated phone number/URL on the leaflet is worth recommending — it turns “we think it worked” into an actual number.