Compu-Mail is partnering with the United States Postal Service (USPS) to find marketers that would like to leverage Informed Delivery® with dynamic banners to increase response.
For those of you that aren’t familiar with Informed Delivery®, it is a feature offered by the USPS to allow mail recipients to see grayscale scans or full color image versions of their mail, made available through a daily email feed or an online dashboard.
This enables printed marketing messages the ability to get exponentially more impressions and drive response while increasing ROI.
Nothing replaces the value of hardcopy mail, but Informed Delivery® is the USPS’s way to respond to consumers’ increasing demands to interact and communicate digitally with everything, including their mail.
And if direct mail is the vehicle that drives the rest of the omnichannel marketing experience, Informed Delivery® takes the messages from 0 to 60mph before the piece even hits the mailbox.
It is essential that you are optimizing your campaigns for this service to maximize the most of its added exposure to your printed marketing messages.
Good News
Even if this is the first time you are learning of Informed Delivery®, your campaigns are already delivering extra impressions via the grayscale scan option. It is a standard procedure for the USPS to scan and upload grayscale images of all pieces, so recipients that have opted into receiving the emails are already seeing yours this way.
Better News
You also choose to upgrade to a more compelling full color image and link to your website or landing page that allow customers to act on their direct mail marketing messages before they even hit the mailbox. Recipients can click the link and make a purchase/act on the offer right from their phone or computer, without having to wait to get home to see the physical piece. With 88% of users checking their Informed Delivery® notification every day or almost every day, that’s a great way to accelerate the “Mail Moment” without having to wait for it to hit the physical mailbox.
Even Better News
Informed Delivery® seamlessly integrates with Omni DM campaigns for a completely optimized direct mail experience.
Here’s how to optimize your campaigns for both Informed Delivery® options:
Grayscale scans:
- The USPS scans the side of the piece with the address block on it, so design this side to be compelling. Use teasers on this section that capture immediate attention and draw anticipation for the piece to be opened as soon as they arrive home.
- Be sure to reference the person’s name in any copy on this side of the piece. In general, adding a person’s name, full color and more sophisticated database information can increase the response rate by up to 500% vs not doing any of these things. Seeing their own name in print outside from the address block, even on this grayscale copy of the piece, will catch the recipient’s attention and make them wonder what is inside.
Full color images:
- Create a colorful “banner ad” version of your mail piece to replace the grayscale image.
- Make sure you include a strong, clickable CTA that takes them to a web page or landing page that allows them to act right then and there.
- Prepare that page with digital retargeting codes that allow you to tag them for later follow up. Even if they don’t make a purchase or act on your offer right away, you will be able to capture their information to send them additional messages that encourage them to come back and complete their transaction.
The Bottom Line
Informed Delivery® is an excellent resource to gain additional exposure on your direct mail messages and speed up the time it takes a user to respond to your message.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2018 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
