Informed Delivery is an innovative marketing initiative created by the USPS® that combines the physical mail with digital marketing. With these new services, the consumer is provided with a digital preview of their household mail shortly before it arrives. With the added element of an interactive campaign, marketers can add images that will also appear in the mail notification.
As of 2019, over 17 million people enrolled, and 10,000 more are signing up daily. This new technology is the game-changer for marketing linking direct mail to digital.
How Informed Delivery Works
Consumers who enroll in the Informed Delivery service receive scanned images of incoming letter-size mailpieces Grayscale Scans of letters, postcard, and other mail pieces are available via email notification, online dashboard, or mobile app.
How to use Informed Delivery for ROI on Direct Mailing
A full-color image representing a marketing mailer and ride along programmed into a direct mail campaign through a program available through the USPS. Then a URL is linked to both the image and a call to action. Both elements allow the consumer to respond to the call-to-action immediately.
Each mailpiece generates multiple impressions from a single piece of mail.
First, the consumer gets notified by a Full-Color image of the promotion, followed by a color representation and, finally, a banner ridealong. With the URL link, each recipient has the opportunity to get more information or enjoy an additional benefit if they click the link. Finally, one the same day or in the next day or two, the consumer receives the marketing mailing piece. This method of omnichannel marketing can create up to 4 views in one single effort expanding results with all the increased impressions.
As an added benefit, if other members of a household sign up, each of those email recipients also sees the same images and ridealong ads for every direct mailpiece arriving in the box, expanding the reach with even more impressions.
Here’s How an Informed Delivery Interactive Campaign Looks Might Like
Here what the USPS says about the consumer response:
95% are satisfied or very satisfied with Informed Delivery
95% view Informed Delivery notifications almost every day
96% would recommend Informed Delivery