Now Is the Time to Try Informed Delivery!

Exciting news! The United States Postal Service (USPS) has a promotion set to go live this fall for any mailing that runs alongside an Informed Delivery campaign. We strongly recommend that our clients take advantage of this promotion! If you haven’t yet tested this innovative, free offering from the USPS, now is the time to get started. Depending on which method of mailing you are using, participating in this mailing promotion could yield savings of up to 2% off of the cost of postage. Since postage tends to be a significant line item on your direct mail campaign budget, why not chip away at that expense and enjoy the additional multi-channel benefits you’ll realize when complimenting your physical direct mail piece with an Informed Delivery campaign?

Here are the important dates:

REGISTRATION PERIOD: July 15th – November 30th
PROMOTION: September 1st – November 30th

REQUIREMENTS

All campaigns registered for the promotion need to be approved by the USPS. This means that you will need to submit your “Ride Along” and the optional “Representative” image to the USPS well in advance of your mailing. The PS Resource team is happy to assist in registering your campaigns through the USPS Business Customer Gateway to save you time!

RIDE ALONG IMAGE

• Your Ride Along image must have a STRONG Call-to-Action, meaning that the wording must clearly direct a recipient to do something. For example:
  • “Donate Now”
  • “Click Here to Learn More”
  • “I want to Save the Forest”
• The Call-to-Action must take up at least 20% of the Ride Along image AND must have good color contrast (white text on a dark background, for example)
• The Call-to-Action CANNOT encourage the elimination of mail (e.g. “Pay Online” or “Go Paperless”)

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE (optional for letters, required for flats)

• Must closely resemble the Outer Envelope (front OR back)
• CANNOT encourage the elimination of mail (e.g. “Pay Online” or “Go Paperless”)

BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLES

Mail Piece:

Representative Image:

Ride Along Image:

IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS

We have found that one of the biggest hurdles to registering for this and other USPS promotions is gaining access to the USPS Business Customer Gateway that corresponds to the CRID and Permit# used on your mailings. If you have run a promotion in previous years you are likely already set up appropriately; if not, then reach out to your PS Account Manager so we can help guide you through the process.

Also, with the approval process taking up to four days, we are requesting all artwork be submitted to Production Solutions two weeks prior to the mail date. This will allow time for a second approval process, if the first is not approved, as well as time to make sure all is set up correctly in the USPS Business Customer Gateway prior to mailing. The campaign must be approved to go live 48 hours before the mail date.

Should you have any questions, we are happy to connect with you to talk more about this exciting promotion! Don’t miss out…reach out to your Account Manager, or drop us a line anytime!