An Informed Deep Dive on Informed Delivery 

Do you have what it takes to create an Informed Delivery campaign? It’s an incredibly easy concept to understand, but as with many offerings from the USPS, the devil is in the details. As a refresher, Informed Delivery is the program created by the USPS that allows mail recipients to see their mailpieces online prior to them arriving in their mailbox. Most subscribers receive these scanned images in their email every morning. I (rudely, I know) check mine every day at the breakfast table, but my family allows it because they want to know what is coming in too!

Beyond the basic functions of Informed Delivery, there are several requirements on images, landing pages, and the messaging contained within both. On top of that, there are even stricter limitations in place if you wish to run your campaign with the Postal Promotion (2% discount on postage for all mailings with an associated Informed Delivery campaign!) taking place starting in September.

REPRESENATATIVE IMAGE

What it is: This is the full-color image that takes the place of the Grayscale scan of the physical mailpiece.

Where it is required: FLATS mailings only. On Letter Rate mailings, you may let the Grayscale scan go through instead. In fact, some mailers are recommending this in place of a color image.

Content: Must “closely resemble” the physical carrier at least, if not an exact color representation of the carrier. Also cannot “promote the elimination of mail” (e.g. “Donate Online”, “Go Paperless”, etc. are frowned upon)

Specs:

• File cannot exceed 200kb in size.
• Must be in .JPEG format.
• Image must be 780 Pixels wide by 500 Pixels high (Landscape) or 350 x 500 (Portrait)

RIDE ALONG IMAGE

What it is: This is the smaller image that will be linked to your landing page by the USPS portal.

Where it is required: ALL Informed Delivery campaigns need a Ride Along.

Content: Must have a “Clear Call to Action that takes up about 20% of the image” (“Click Here” and “Donate Now” are popular). Also cannot “promote the elimination of mail” (e.g. “Donate Online”, “Go Paperless”, etc. are frowned upon)

Specs:

• File cannot exceed 200kb in size.
• Must be in .JPEG format.
• Image must be 300 Pixels wide by 200 Pixels high

LANDING PAGE

What it is: This is the URL you provide that links to a landing page

Where it is required: ALL Informed Delivery campaigns need a Landing Page.

Content: Cannot have a locked Pop-Up that disallows entry to the landing page without interaction, other than to close it. Also, you guessed it, cannot “promote the elimination of mail” (e.g. “Donate Online”, “Go Paperless”, etc. are frowned upon)

Those are the three main components of an Informed Delivery campaign and the nitty-gritty for what is required for each. When it comes to the autumnal postal promotion however, there are some additional requirements and caveats. All of the above are still requirements, although you may find that some of these are a bit more relaxed for NON-promotional mailings. For example, the USPS has no way of actually confirming the content of your images or landing page – that is, UNTIL the promotion, when all Informed Delivery components need to be submitted to the USPS for approval! And as I’m sure you’ve already noted from the above language, the content-specific requirements are very subjective and will likely depend on the USPS reviewer to decide whether you are approved or not.

Good luck! You now have all the details you need to successfully create an Informed Delivery campaign. All you need to do is log onto the Business Customer Gateway and enter all the needed information (Mailing info & dates, MID, IMB Serial Number ranges, etc.) and hit SUBMIT to go live! Or just reach out to your friends at Production Solutions and we would be happy to take this off your hands!