USPS’s Informed Delivery is a game-changer for businesses and consumers alike. At Postalytics, we understand the potential of this innovative service.
By offering users a preview of their incoming letter-sized mail and packages, Informed Delivery keeps them in the know and in control. Conversely, tracking the success of these previews helps businesses deliver personalized messages that make a more profound impression.
As experts in direct mail automation, we recognize the benefits to savvy marketers of seeing mail content before its arrival. Informed Delivery can be leveraged alongside Postalytics to create streamlined and data-driven strategies.
Our platform revolutionizes direct mail campaigns, providing tight integrations and advanced tracking while ensuring efficient, easy-to-manage results. Together with Informed Delivery, we enable marketers to unlock unparalleled data-driven strategies and stand out in the ever-competitive marketing landscape.
Let’s dive deeper into the workings of Informed Delivery and its setup process. Finally, we’ll share how to combine it with Postalytics for compelling marketing campaigns that resonate with audiences.
What We’ll Cover:
What is Informed Delivery?
In simplest terms, USPS’s Informed Delivery brings digital convenience to physical mail. It is a free service that shows you preview images of incoming mail and status updates about your incoming and outbound packages. It revolutionizes how we receive and interact with mail, ushering in a blend of traditional and modern practices.
Informed Delivery provides recipients with digital previews of their incoming mail. As mailpieces travel through the USPS network, they go through high-speed sorting machines, which take a picture of the front (the side with the address). Informed Delivery shows you grayscale images of your letter-sized mail items, making them viewable before they even hit your mailbox. This service extends to flat-sized pieces, ensuring you maintain a comprehensive view of your items.
The power of Informed Delivery doesn’t stop there. As a recipient, it empowers you to interact with digital content associated with your mail. It is a simple, effective way to engage with the sender, be it a brand or a personal contact.
Informed Delivery represents a practical and efficient approach to mail management. It arms you with greater control and preparedness over your daily mail flow.
A Brief History of Informed Delivery’s Origin
USPS’s Informed Delivery service represents a significant technological shift in traditional mail delivery. First introduced in 2014, it began as a feature that influenced how we interact with our mail, making everyday mail management more convenient.
Since its inception, it has expanded to most major zip codes across the US. By 2020, it had over 15 million users benefiting from its features.
Customers’ responses to this service have been very favorable, with an impressive 89% satisfaction rate and over 90% of users willing to recommend it to friends and family. This progression shows how Informed Delivery has evolved into a tool aligned with modern needs.
The postal service itself is a valuable opportunity for marketers. It opens a new channel for engaging audiences, making direct mail campaigns more effective and data-driven. These developments have made USPS’s Informed Delivery an integral part of the modern marketing mix.
Informed Delivery – Pros and Cons
Pros of Informed Delivery
Enhanced Anticipation for Direct Mail Campaigns
Informed Delivery allows marketers to generate anticipation for their campaigns, as consumers can preview their mail digitally before it arrives. Say you’re launching a limited-time offer. Customers can become more alert and excited to receive your direct mail piece by getting a sneak preview. Platforms like Postalytics can optimize your strategy, taking advantage of this anticipation.
Opportunity for Multi-channel Marketing
The digital preview facilitates a hybrid, multi-channel approach between physical and digital mail. A marketer, for instance, could reference the digital preview in an email campaign to reinforce their message. Postalytics’ Automated Direct Mailing platform integrates with your multi-channel marketing, enhancing its effectiveness.
Increased Engagement through Interactive Content
Informed Delivery can add interactive content to the digital mail preview itself. This strategy encourages active engagement ahead of the mail’s physical arrival. As a marketer, you could include a clickable call-to-action, leading the user to a landing page. Postalytics’ platform can streamline these combined efforts, ensuring cohesive, interactive content across channels.
Improved Tracking and Analytics
Informed Delivery provides engagement reports, offering insights into email open and click-through rates. These metrics can help marketers adjust strategies and improve their mail campaigns. When combined with a tool like Postalytics and its detailed campaign analytics, marketers can maximize their tracking capabilities.
Cons of Informed Delivery
Limited Availability in Certain Areas
Informed Delivery is currently unavailable for many residential addresses or businesses, limiting its reach for marketers. While most addresses are uniquely coded, not all are, especially in high-density areas (e.g., apartment buildings or condos). Without a uniquely coded, you will not be able to sign up for Informed Delivery. Yet, using an Automated Direct Mailing platform like Postalytics can mitigate this. The collaboration enables marketers to reach audiences regardless of USPS restrictions.
Potential for Technical Glitches Affecting User Experience
Technical issues could disrupt the delivery of email notifications, adversely affecting user experience. These challenges are often beyond a marketer’s control. However, a reliable direct mail automation tool like Postalytics can provide a consistent and effective direct mailing experience.
Privacy Concerns Associated with Mail Content Visibility
Scanning the exterior of mail items can raise privacy concerns among recipients. Marketers must ensure transparency in their practices. This is where Postalytics can come to the rescue, using the power of personalization while respecting privacy boundaries.
Can’t filter out Junk Mail
A downside is that Informed Delivery doesn’t filter out junk mail, which can lead to cluttered dashboards. Marketers may find it challenging to stand out. An automated mailing platform like Postalytics can help, offering segmentation and personalization tools to help your direct mail piece shine among the rest.
How Do You Set Up Informed Delivery?
Step 1: Visit the USPS Informed Delivery website
The initial step in utilizing Informed Delivery is visiting the dedicated Informed Delivery page on the USPS website.
This interface is your portal into modernized mail management. Find the “Sign Up for Free” button at the center of the screen. This button invites you to begin the journey of transforming your mail delivery experience. Click on it to open up the world of digital mail management at your fingertips.
Step 2: Verify your identity and address
Security is a high priority for the USPS. Therefore, once you’ve expressed interest in signing up by clicking the button, you’ll embark on an unquestionably critical stage – the verification phase.
At this point, you’ll be prompted to provide your physical address. This step isn’t a bureaucratic hurdle meant to dissuade you – far from it! Confirming your location is within the regions where Informed Delivery serves is necessary.
Upon positive confirmation, you’ll answer a few security questions to verify your identity.
Step 3: Create an Informed Delivery account
With your address eligible and your identity verified, it’s time to make it official.
Now, you get to create your account – the primary interface through which you’ll tap into the practical potential of USPS Informed Delivery.
This stage entails setting up a unique username and a strong password. Remember, the combination should stand the test of brute-force attempts, reflecting your commitment to securing your mail.
Moreover, an integral part of this process involves linking an email address to your newly-forming account. This email plays a fundamental role in the service, and that’s where you’ll receive the Informed Delivery notifications.
Step 4: Opt-in to receive email notifications
Your journey isn’t complete without enabling the direct benefits of Informed Delivery – mail notifications. Upon logging in, you’ll see your dashboard. This neatly designed control panel gives you command over your mail.
Next, locate and click on the “Settings” tab, usually positioned at the upper right of the interface. The ensuing steps are straightforward.
You’ll navigate to the “Informed Delivery” section in the settings. You’ll find a checkbox for “Informed Delivery Daily Digest,” which you should ensure is checked.
This action sends you daily emails containing digital previews of the day’s incoming mail.
Maximize Informed Delivery as a Marketer
Informed Delivery offers a suite of benefits that marketers can tap into.
It paves the way for more strategic, data-driven approaches to engage audiences, combining the appeal of physical mail with the efficiency of digital tools.
Offering a sneak peek of incoming mail builds anticipation while giving marketers clearer visibility over their campaigns.
Moreover, its integration with tracking analytics allows marketers to measure engagement and adapt strategies as needed. With Informed Delivery, there’s now a seamless blend of convenience, data, and versatility. It’s a convenience that’s hard to overlook.
But don’t let the learning stop here. Expand your knowledge further. Feel free to read more about marketing automation and direct mail strategies on our Postalytics blog page for a comprehensive understanding.
For those ready to dive in and experience the synergy of automation and USPS’ Informed Delivery, signing up for a Postalytics account is seamless and free. Visit our registration page and revolutionize your direct mail marketing today.