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Category: Direct Mail

  • How Tactile Elements Can Boost Engagement in Direct Mail Campaigns

    How Tactile Elements Can Boost Engagement in Direct Mail Campaigns

    In a digital-dominated world, direct mail stands out by offering a tangible, sensory experience that online formats can’t replicate. Incorporating tactile elements into direct mail campaigns can significantly enhance engagement and memorability, leading to better response rates and stronger brand connections.

    Here are five reasons that tactile elements in direct mail resonate with prospects, hold their attention longer, and lead to long and loyal relationships.

    1. The Power of Touch in Marketing

    If seeing is believing, then touching evokes a real and emotional association between a brand and the customer that immediately establishes trust and authenticity. Tactile marketing, and the benefits it offers, makes the use of textured paper stocks, special coatings, embossing, or raised ink in direct mail a must for marketers looking to build extraordinary engagements.

    High-quality coatings and finishes add elements of value when used on a direct mail piece so that when a homeowner sorts through the daily mail, it stands out the from the standard assortment of letters and cards. The physical interaction subconsciously stimulates the senses and creates fuller emotional cognitive processing and the customer both pays more attention to a tactile direct mail piece and spends more time absorbing the information it holds.

    Heavier card stocks add weight and authority to direct mail and special linens make pieces feel more premium and sophisticated. With a thorough understanding of their audiences, direct mail marketers can align the materials they use to impart a brand image of naturalness and sustainability or send cues about product durability and quality.

    2. Creative Designs Stand Out

    Most consumers are strongly influenced by visual cues, with more sensory receptors for eyesight than all the other senses combined. Direct mail pieces that include bold colors, sharp and clear images, and different shapes will grab attention and get noticed. Attractively designed direct mail pieces trigger quick judgements, and specific colors can be deployed to spark buying impulses, build trust, and encourage responses.

    Die-cut and unique shapes and sizes also help pieces stand out in mailboxes and distinguish mail pieces from standard sized direct mail envelopes and direct mail postcards. Shapes can be used to immediately convey brand and communicate wordlessly to boost response and open rates.

    An innovative design trend is direct mail pieces that unfold into 3-D popup models of products adding a multi-dimensional element into every communication with customers. Marketers can choose from pop-up cubes and polygon pop ups or pieces that feature movable components. Pop-up mailers can be used creatively as piggy banks, pen holders, 3D maps, or other promotional items.

    3. Textures and Materials Evoke Curiosity

    Consumers pay attention to direct mail that is novel and unique, and one way that marketers deliver one-of-a-kind experiences for their prospects and customers is with velvet touch finishes, embossing, metallic inks, and high-quality coatings. Through the sense of touch, audiences are receiving subtle, yet clear messaging about the product or service being promoted, and when the coating has a luxurious or sumptuous feel it invites exploration and examination.

    Marketers can use special textures and materials to draw attention to important messaging and calls-to-action with tactile touches that make them stand out and draw attention from the rest of the direct mail piece. Embossing or debossing, engraving, and raised ink brings elements that also catch light and attract attention and spot UV coating highlights various features of the mailing piece in interesting, fun, and creative ways.

    4. Interactive Elements Lead to Higher Engagement

    Marketers are making direct mail more fun and engaging with inventive and creative uses of pull tabs and sliders, scratch off areas, three-dimensional elements, and specially textured paper. Mailers are more memorable for audiences when recipients are invited to learn about product specifications, receive personalized discounts, and learn about special promotions with interactive features. Multi-tiered mailers can incorporate special touches like spinners to encourage participation and engagements and turn the opening of a personalized direct mail piece as exciting an experience as opening a special gift.

    Brands are also discovering the potential of direct mail as ways to engage audiences through multi-channel campaigns that integrate the printed mailings with digital and AR content using QR codes and PURLs. In this way, marketers can add interactive games into static messaging and draw customers in with prizes and special offers when audiences engage.

    5. Scented Inks Provided Powerful Sensory Appeal

    Direct mail marketers are beginning to appreciate and seize upon the impact that fragrances have when it comes to making scented pieces much more memorable, and as a result are developing strategies to influence consumers through their sense of smell. Comforting aromas can trigger good memories and feelings, and when those emotions are attached to a brand through scented direct mail, it passes trust and reassurance onto the brand.

    Brands can promote products with instantly recognizable scents like the smell of morning coffee to promote coffee products. Brands can sell cars sending postcards with that unmistakable new car scent or use the smell of fresh-cut grass to sell lawn services. Seasonal campaigns can be built around holiday aromas that stir reminiscences of joyous times and fun experiences.

    Advantages of the USPS Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive Promotion for Direct Mail Marketing

    The Tactile, Sensory & Interactive USPS Promotion encourages USPS Marketing Mail® and Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail® mailers to incorporate tactile developments in paper textures and paper stocks, substrates, finishing techniques, and specialty inks to create multi-sensory experiences for households.

    These promotions reward brands and direct mail marketers who deploy high-quality stock that is textured through embossing, foil stamping, or use tactile coatings and colors that provide innovative elements of sight, sound, smell, and even taste on mailing pieces. There are three ways to incorporate scented envelopes and scented postcards into direct mail campaigns that qualify for the USPS Tactile, Sensory, and Involvement postage discount in 2025. These are pieces that provide a manual fragrance release through rubbing or scratching; a manual release of fragrance by lifting a flap; or the automatic fragrance is incorporated into the stock and requires no action from the recipient. Ask your local direct mail print shop for more information about these and other USPS mail promotions.

    Industries Adopting Tactile Direct Marketing

    Direct mail has traditionally been one of the most powerful marketing tools used by industries and is especially effective for targeted local promotional campaigns. These industries have discovered that adding tactile elements to their direct mail campaigns helps their messaging stand out with prospects and customers.

    Direct mail has traditionally been one of the most powerful marketing tools used by industries and is especially effective for targeted local promotional campaigns. These industries have discovered that adding tactile elements to their direct mail campaigns helps their messaging stand out with prospects and customers.

    • Automotive: Tactile mailings engage prospects with that new-car smell or pop-up mailings that resemble the latest car models when opened.
    • Real Estate: Soft-touch coatings, raised inks, and post cards that unfold into 3D neighborhood guides are interactive, informative, and memorable.
    • Financial Services: Banks, credit unions, and investment firms use tactile materials in welcome kits and acquisition mailers to stand out in the crowded financial services industry.
    • Healthcare: Interactive direct mail pieces that include games, puzzles, and other tactile elements help healthcare organizations provide hands-on engagements to reduce complexities around healthcare treatments.
    • Education: Tactile education direct mail lets institutions share unique pop campus map displays and send pieces that have pull tabs to reveal information about programs and campus events.
    • Retail: High-quality coatings and finishes convey sensory messages about products and brand to form emotional connections to attract customers.
    • Non-profit Organizations: Different shape and size postcards are inexpensive ways for non-profits to stand apart from the competition and work within tight budgets.

    Implementing Tactile Elements in Your Campaign

    Your local print shop can provide guidance on new and sustainable stocks and materials to add tactile elements into your direct mail campaigns. A professional print shop will also help you find the most efficient and budget friendly way to add print touches like embossing and soft touch coatings to your mailing pieces.

    Here are best practices to consider when planning your tactile direct marketing campaign.

    1. Always use high-quality materials such as textured paper, thicker stocks, and eco-friendly inks and coatings because inferior substances reflect poorly on your brand the moment your prospect pulls the piece from their mailbox.
    2. Explore special and unique coatings like soft-touch to add an immediate sensory experience that matches the feel of your piece with the message and immediately sets it apart from other mail.
    3. Integrate dimensional elements like embossing, debossing, and engraving to create a 3D look that feels professional to the touch and adds levels of sophistication to your mailers.
    4. Use special inks and print processes to apply raised ink or fragrance-enhanced inks that add a dimension to mailing pieces or entice prospects with pleasing aromas that triggers an emotional response.
    5. Create interactive direct mail that uses pop-up mailers or pieces with pull tabs that align with your brand and engage your prospects in ways that make a memorable impression and provide an experience they won’t forget.
    6. Integrate tactile elements like UV coatings and raised lettering to draw attention to important information and a clear call-to-action that stands out from traditional promotions.

    Tactile elements can transform direct mail campaigns by offering a sensory experience that digital formats can’t match. By leveraging creative designs, unique textures, and interactive features, businesses can increase engagement, enhance brand recall, and ultimately drive better results from their direct mail efforts. Contact a direct mail specialist at Marketing.com to learn how tactile direct mail can improve the impact of your direct mail.

  • Leveraging Direct Mail: How Colleges are Personalizing Outreach to Boost Enrollment

    Leveraging Direct Mail: How Colleges are Personalizing Outreach to Boost Enrollment

    If you’re in charge of student enrollment for an educational institution, you know that student recruitment has become increasingly difficult. You might begin reaching out to high school students as early as their sophomore or junior years and you’re always developing strategies to attract international students, graduate students, and adults looking to gain knowledge for career advancement.

    To stand out, you know that your school must continually innovate and explore ways to stand out in the crowded marketing place. You segment prospects by geographic and demographic data, degree programs, and other factors to create campaigns that appeal to and attract a diverse and broad population of students. Direct mail lets you personalize every communication and connect with every one of your prospects as an individual by incorporating precise data into postcards, letters, and each piece of printed marketing content you send them.

    Even in a digital world, direct mail can dramatically increase the number of students enrolling in your institution and expand the ability to personalize the relationship at every step of the journey.

    Direct mail personalization is a powerful student recruitment tool for several reasons:

    The Power of Personalization Connects Immediately

    Optimizing personalization in enrollment marketing communications with prospective students is essential to begin a relationship today. Fortunately, direct mail gives educational institutions memorable ways to connect that other channels can’t. Variable data printing (VDP) lets colleges and universities customize each mailed piece with content, photos, graphics, and other material that’s shared along the relationship and adds greater relevancy to each contact with the student. VDP allows for impactful, small batch printing that elevates the data known and shared by the prospect along the journey into content that they find useful and uniquely created for them.

    Here’s one way your school’s admissions department could begin their direct mail outreach with a student. Send an oversized postcard with appealing photos and content that stands out among the household mail knowing that a prospect lives in-state and what their financial aid requirements may be. The student connects to the school website through a QR code on the card and shares information that helps the school learn that the prospect is interested in a STEM curriculum. With an introductory letter signed by the school president, your school introduces itself, touts its affordability for in-state students and its ranking as a STEM school, includes a brochure with images corresponding to STEM programs, and a link to a PURL where the relationship can continue to develop through both online and offline channels.

    Segmented Direct Mail Campaigns Leverage the Right Data

    Direct mail is useful when educational institutions segment audiences and provide more relevant information to potential students with content patterned to fit their academic interests and aspirations. Schools can inexpensively cast a wide net with segmentation based on geography, demographics, and other factors and using VDP still personalize each contact. As the relationship continues, so too does the ability to progressively fine-tune every subsequent printed piece the student receives for an even more impressive impact.

    In this case, your school could decide to segment recruitment marketing efforts between undergraduate and graduate students. Each group has specific characteristics that set them apart from the other, and, using VDP technology, images are inserted that reflect specific course content, engaged faculty and students, and first-rate facilities specific to their course of study. The department can send direct mail invitations for on-campus or virtual open houses or link direct mail pieces to user generated digital content that establishes credibility and builds community. As the relationship develops and prospects provide more data through digital and social platforms, every subsequent mailed piece moves them closer to enrollment.

    Customized Content Speaks Directly to the Prospect

    Educational institutions use direct mail to customize every interaction with a prospective student into a unique communication that only the prospect will receive. Direct mail can be used to drive students to tailored online content with QR codes and PURLs where schools can continue to receive data to support recruitment efforts, answer enrollment questions, and provide reminders of next steps. Using AI-powered analytics tools, schools analyze student data to determine next steps based on online activity like browsing or can track event signups that might result in a personalized letter from a department head.

    If your educational institution wants to increase international student enrollment, consider using geo-targeting customization to print and send materials to specific regions. VDP allows for multilingual personalization and small batch print runs with dynamic print versioning and font flexibility so that every communication is language-appropriate and still personalized to reflect academic and campus interests.

    Interactive and Engaging Print Formats Stand Out

    The tangible elements of direct mail and emerging and exciting, innovative print technologies let educational institutions create physically captivating print pieces that attract immediate attention, stand out in both the crowded digital and print worlds, and create unique, memorable experiences that digital and social media alone cannot match. Every printed communication becomes an invitation for prospects to interact with elements like scratch-off games and promotions, exploding pages that open to feature colorful, dynamic imagery, or pop up mailers that morph into fun and unique forms and shapes when received. Direct mail can also bridge the gap between physical and digital with QR codes that connect to videos and augmented reality (AR) experiences.

    Innovative ways to give students a tangible reminder about important dates include sending a fun, mascot-inspired or 3D campus map that pops up when opened and is timed and coordinated with email reminders. The mascot popup can also contain QR codes to link students to online forms, FAQ videos, and personalized pages.

    Direct Mail Integration Improves Digital Channel Performance

    It’s no secret that the students your educational institution wants to attract spends a lot of their time in the digital realm. However, it’s a crowded world of emails, SMS messaging, and social media ad and platform interactions that students move in these days. That’s why impactful and timely direct mail marketing and correspondence, with its tangible elements, helps cut through the digital clutter and become the gateway to videos, PURLs, and other important online content that gets noticed.

    Your educational institution can use direct mail to engage prospects with QR codes and send them to personalized websites where the student can engage with videos, faculty webinars, and meet other students. Using an automated, multichannel marketing platform, your school can monitor the prospect’s progress through the enrollment process and send print mail reminders of important dates for events and registration material completion.

    Direct Mail Automation Creates Efficient Follow-Up Strategies

    The ability for educational institutions to automate data analysis and trigger follow-up communications through multichannel marketing platforms makes direct mail an important way to get conversations started and to keep communications flowing. QR codes and PURLs on printed material can link to landing pages that allow schools to track engagement and prompt personalized responses that are relevant to the student’s stage in their enrollment journey. Direct mail can drive students to social media platforms that they trust, initiate multi-touch follow-ups that can include phone calls, voice mail, and text messages, and retarget students with relevant social media ads.

    Summer melt is a common phenomenon faced by educational institutions, a period when it becomes more difficult to engage with students. Direct mail proves especially effective for keeping lines of communication open and acting as a way to break through the many distractions a student faces after graduation. The ability to personalize the invitations you send to campus events and school tours and stay connected with follow-up email campaigns, phone calls, and texts can strengthen bonds between accepted students and schools.

    Direct Mail Personalization Collects Data for Measuring Success

    Direct mail has always been appreciated as one of the most effective marketing channels for delivering personalized print materials like postcards, brochures, catalogs, and even school swag into the homes of prospective students. When educational institutions integrate their direct mail campaigns into a multichannel approach, they can track and achieve metrics like conversion rates, click through rates (CTR), and return on investment (ROI) with a through-channel marketing platform like Marketing.com’s Dot® to quickly understand and adapt to their prospect’s behavior and measure the success of the campaign.

    With the vast amount of student data that your educational institution has available, you’re able to effectively segment targeted audiences based on program interest, geographical location, and demographic information. With strong calls-to-action, you can incorporate QR codes, PURLs, and phone numbers to determine the mailer’s effectiveness by tracking visits to unique landing pages, knowing when QR codes are scanned, and determining call duration and call volume.

    Case Studies of Personalized Direct Mail Student Recruitment Success

    Here are three real-world examples of how personalized direct mail campaigns integrated with digital and social media marketing increased prospect awareness and enrollment.

    1. A Texas university used a direct mail piece that expanded to 4 times its mailing size when opened. The piece contained a stunning assortment of photographs that captured the vitality and community of the school and a QR code that connected to a personalized website. It resulted in 26 percent more applications than the previous year.
    2. Facing a decline in new student enrollment, a small northeastern US college spearheaded efforts to increase enrollment, particularly among female students, with a direct mail campaign to increase open house visits and drive prospects to the school website. The mailers were personalized to direct prospects to video content that highlighted the school’s features. The campaign resulted in an increase of 40,000 new users visiting their website.
    3. A liberal arts college sought to increase both the quantity and quality of their prospect inquiries by highlighting the school’s small class sizes and low student-to-professor ratios. The institution set a coordinated, multichannel campaign in motion with personalized direct mail. The result was record-breaking enrollment.

    By implementing personalized direct mail outreach into your student recruitment efforts, you can see significant increases in your institution’s enrollment numbers. Contact a Marketing.com direct mail specialist today and start making your student direct mail personal.

  • Getting Localization Right: How to Tailor Direct Mail To Franchise Territories 

    Getting Localization Right: How to Tailor Direct Mail To Franchise Territories 

    Your franchises depend on you, as a franchisor, to help them attract customers and build their business. They’re counting on you for support with local direct mail and other digital and traditional marketing channels to build brand awareness and increase sales for their location within the communities they serve. Direct mail remains a powerful tool for connecting with potential customers, especially for local franchise businesses. However, it’s effectiveness as a marketing channel for a local franchise hinge on how effective your direct mail  localization strategies are.  

    Here are seven tips for developing successful local franchise direct mail campaigns.

    1. Define and Understand Local Audiences

    To create exceptional franchise direct mail campaigns, go beyond segmenting households using traditional demographics and instead add elements that local audiences will relate to. This can include using local imagery, like landmarks for instance, or everyday language or slang that is unique to your audience or region. Research the local competition in order to develop campaigns that set your franchises apart in every community. If there are unique celebrations or events held seasonally in your local market, create promotions or events around them to build stronger community recognition and brand awareness.

    2. Build A Targeted Direct Mail Address List

    Generally speaking, direct mail serves two purposes, and your objective will determine whether you create lists to hold onto existing customers or to gain new ones. In both cases, your list should be more than a collection of names and addresses. With today’s data analytic tools you can easily unearth insights into current customers and build profiles of prospects that closely mirror the behaviors of those loyal customers. You want your direct mail piece to have relevancy for its recipient, whether you’re rewarding an existing client or offering a promotion that can’t be ignored by prospects. Optimize the customer data you’ve collected from past interactions, events, and website and landing page forms to segment, refine, and personalize each message.

    Direct mail’s effectiveness for lead generation increases when decisions are based on objective data, not merely subjective, and the best fit for growing the franchise. An excellent resource to reach new customers is purchasing new mover mailing lists to get direct mail promotions into the mailboxes and households of new homeowners or renters before the competition.

    3. Integrate Localization

    Variable data printing opens opportunities for you to put the customer data you have on hand to work on your direct mail piece in new and engaging ways. If there are local phrases or terminology that resonate with your customers, include them, as well as testimonials from customers that live in the same geographic area. Customize the promotions or offers with maps and directions to increase the likelihood that the mailing will convert to sales. You can even swap out products or change prices based on individual franchise location pricing.

    QR codes printed on the direct mail piece let recipients use their smartphones to connect to websites and download coupons that can be redeemed at local franchises. The printed piece remains static while the digital component behind the QR code can be changed to stay relevant, reducing print costs while keeping the content fresh. Every customer sees the same mailing, but the digital content adapts to local audiences. Customers are willing to give you information if you can make their relationship with you feel genuine and expect every communication to add value. 

    4. Benefit from Geodata Variable Mapping Print Modules

    Variable mapping print (VMP) applies an added layer of personalization to your franchisee direct mail campaign using geo-location software to print and customize maps based on recipient address and business or event location. Including maps in your mailer reinforces the proximity of your business to the household and you can even provide estimated travel time to further reinforce the localness of the franchise. VMP works well when coordinated into ‘new neighbor’ direct mail packages. It helps customers unfamiliar to the area see in an instant how close the franchisee is and the best route to travel to reach the business.

    If you’re holding an event at a new or unfamiliar location, a map will make it easy to attract attention with a “Near To You” call out that is eye-catching and personalized. VMP can play an important part in promoting branch openings at a new location that is closer and more convenient to the household of a loyal customer. MVP works especially well for multi-location promotions when the map reflects the nearest one based on the household address. An added benefit to VMP is the ability to add a QR code beside the map that a prospect can use to activate their phone’s GPS and guide them to the franchisee once the prospect is on the go.

    5. Establish Clear Lines of Communication

    A major hurdle for maintaining brand consistency and messaging in a direct mail campaign across franchise territories is keeping every single franchise on-voice and in-the-loop.

    For your franchisee to completely buy in to your local direct mail campaigns, it’s important to create a workflow that balances your goals with their own unique levels of business and marketing acumen. Not all franchisees have marketing experience and they welcome and rely on you to give them the tools to carry out the marketing programs. Others may prefer a degree of autonomy to adapt messaging to resonate with their specific audience. Begin by creating and sharing a style branding guide to instruct franchisees on all aspects of brand usage and compliance.

    You should also create a central library or libraries of pre-approved content that can be shared based on your comfort level and access to control by franchisees.  Don’t set it and forget, but stay involved and maintain campaign support based on the franchisee’s needs and share results to identify areas for improvement from beginning to end.

    6. Use a Direct Mail Platform

    Chances are that your franchisees don’t have the same resources to allocate staff time to optimizing direct mail marketing campaigns that you may. That makes it to incumbent that on you to you deploy a centralized direct mail platform like Marketing.com’s Dot™ to distribute your content across your franchisee network. The direct mail platform should free up franchisee staff from performing routine and repetitive tasks. It can let them focus on developing customer experiences and growing sales. You can guarantee increased and enhanced brand consistency across your network because you have all the control over what your franchisees see or have access to. Your direct mail platform should also efficiently scale up operations as business grows and more franchisees are brought on board.

    7. Test and Improve

    It’s easier than ever with direct mail automation to get a dashboard view across your entire franchise network so that you can quickly see what’s working and what isn’t. You’ll also identify which franchisees need additional support and which ones don’t. You have several key performance indicators (KPIs) that you can monitor and analyze such as leads generated, sales conversions, retention, and revenue. The information that you collect can help you create more complete, refined prospect profiles so that you understand your current customers better. Analytics let you segment your customers and messaging around the unique nature of the relationship between your franchisee and customer and tailor subsequent mailings more closely to their needs and expectations. Tracking customer and prospect response to promotions and special offers brings you a better understanding of the needs and expectations of your customers, as well as the most cost-effective way to focus your franchise marketing dollars.

    Regardless of whether you’re using your local franchise direct mail marketing to create greater brand awareness, generate leads, attract new customers, or stay connected and offer reward to existing ones, you can improve your success rate with well-strategized, tailored direct mail marketing. Marketing.com’s franchise direct mail experts can work closely with you to optimize your marketing with cost-effective direct mail marketing solutions. For more on how to structure effective direct mail campaigns checkout or comprehensive Direct Mail Guide and connect with a direct mail expert today.

  • New 2025 Postal Promos & How to Leverage Them

    New 2025 Postal Promos & How to Leverage Them

    The USPS announced this past September that postage rates will not increase in January 2025and introduced  a slate of new and updated cost-saving promotions and incentives that will provide opportunities to reduce postage costs throughout the year for advertisers.

    The 2025 USPS Promotions and Incentive Programs are intended to encourage innovations in First Class Mail®, USPS Marketing Mail®, and Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail® letters, cards, and flats and help to mitigate rising postage rates. Since 2015, with the introduction of the Emerging Technology Promotion, these programs have increased the effectiveness of direct mail, continued to enhance customer engagement, and improved response rates and return on investment (ROI) for mailers.

    “The 2025 USPS promotions represent a powerful tool for businesses looking to enhance their direct mail marketing efforts,” explains Janice Maraj, Director of Postal Affairs for Marketing.com. “By leveraging these initiatives and following best practices, businesses can unlock new levels of engagement and ultimately drive growth.”

    2025 USPS Primary and Add-On Programs

    In 2025, promotions will fall under two categories: Primary and Add-on. Primary promotions offer stand-alone discounts, while two add-on promotions provide extra discounts of up to 1 percent each when combined with primary promotions.

    One important change in the new year will be the way discounts are applied. In 2025, all per-piece discounts will be determined before calculating promotional discounts. Only one primary promotion discount for USPS Marketing Mail® can be applied even if the piece has other qualifying technologies or print treatments. Mailers may achieve additional discounts by qualifying for add-on promotions that stack on primary promotions, with the exception of the Reply Mail IMbA® Promotion. Add-ons are a new feature to USPS 2025 Mailing Promotions and give businesses opportunities to increase their discounts by up to 2 percent when paired with primary promotions.

    The 2025 USPS Primary Promotions are:

    Integrated Technology Promotion—Previously called Emerging and Advanced Technology, this promotion will have a flexible schedule and give businesses the ability to select their own start date from which USPS Marketing Mail® and Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail® campaigns must run for up to six consecutive months.

    It offers 8 ways to build a new mail experience for customers by incorporating digital technologies, including Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), Virtual Reality (VR), Integration with Voice Assistant, Video in Print Technology, near-Field Communication (NFC), Mobile Shopping, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    Mailers must include corresponding technology triggers with directional copy that enhances the purpose of the mail piece. Registration begins November 20, 2024, and the promotion offers a 3 percent discount each month for six months from the start date.

    Tactile, Sensory & Interactive Promotion – This promotion encourages USPS Marketing Mail® and Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail® mailers to incorporate new developments in paper textures and paper stocks, substrates, finishing techniques, and specialty inks into their mailpieces to excite customers with multi-sensory experiences. It rewards businesses that apply sensory treatments to provide innovative elements of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch either on the mailing envelope or envelope contents.

    These include sending stock  textured through embossing, foil stamping, using tactile coatings, or adding visual effects with holographic treatments and colors that change with exposure to light and temperatures. Specialty coatings can provide unique aromas to engage through scents and three-dimensional elements created by pop-ups, intricate folds, and die-cutting engage add interactivity. This promotion offers a 4 percent discount for qualified mailers, and runs from February 1, 2025 to July 31, 2025. Businesses can begin registration on December 15, 2024.

    Continuous Contact Promotion – This USPS 2025 promotion rewards businesses for engaging customers at multiple touchpoints throughout the buyer journey using mailpieces that build upon, but not duplicate, previous mailings to the same address. Although there is no discount for the first mailing in the series, each subsequent mailer will receive a 3 percent discount. The content of the follow-up mailers must not be identical yet still related to the first piece and every piece must be sent during the Continuous Contact promotion period.  

    Businesses must claim the discount via a Component Characteristic Record (CCR) code placed on the first mailing, even though no discount applies, and printed on all mailings after that, which will receive the discount at the time of mailing. Mailing pieces must be pre-approved through the USPS Promotions Portal. Any deviations from approved mailers with not receive a discount. Businesses can register for the promotion beginning February 15, 2025, from April 1 to December 31, 2025.

    Reply Mail IMbA® Promotion – This promotion offers businesses a way to receive either a three percent or six percent discount by adopting Intelligent Mail® barcode Accounting® (IMbA®), Qualified Business Reply Mail™ (QBRM™) and High Volume QBRM™ payment and delivery efficiencies.

    Properly barcoded and designed return mail can reduce processing times. A static barcode provides a 3 percent discount and offers basic tracking capabilities, is easy to implement, and contains the same data across multiple mail pieces. A serialized bar code that offers a 6 percent discount is unique for each and contains data that enhances tracking performance and capabilities and is used for targeted campaigns requiring more exact response rate information.

    Enrollment begins May 15, 2025, and the promotion runs from July 1 to December 31, 2025. Mailers must receive pre-approval and will not receive any add-on promotions discounts, although the outbound mailing that distributes the QBRM pieces is eligible if it meets the requirements for other promotions. Discounts are claimed at the time of mailing.

    First-Class Mail® Advertising Promotion – When businesses include advertising on First-Class Mail® invoices and credit card and financial documents, or send standalone advertisements to their customers using First Class mailpieces, this USPS 2025 postal promotion provides a three percent discount. It helps them unlock opportunities to promote new products and services with mail that is delivered faster than other mailing options, is reliable, and has higher open and engagement rates than bulk or marketing mail.

    Various marketing messages, including discount offers, limited time offers, new product introductions, loyalty reward outreach, invitations to events, and personalized offers, are acceptable. Mail pieces must be pre-approved to qualify for the 3 percent discount and past acceptance/approval in a prior year does not guarantee acceptance for the 2025 First-Class Mail® Advertising Promotion. Registration opens on July 15, 2025, and the promotion runs from September 1 to December 31.

    The 2025 USPS Add-On Promotions are:

    Informed Delivery Add-On Promotion—This add-on allows businesses to create interactive campaigns that reach customers through regular mail and digital channels. It provides a 1 percent discount for each mailpiece. To further streamline USPS operational efficiency, it also gives businesses that submit postage statements and other documents using the eDoc Postage Statement Submitter an additional 0.5% discount. It will be available throughout the entire 2025 calendar year.

    Sustainability Add-On Promotion – This add-on promotion is intended to reward businesses for meeting certain sustainability certifications from recognized entities such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). These certifications confirm environmentally friendly print practices. The Sustainability add-on encourages the use of paper and stocks that are responsibly sourced and produced. Businesses must upload proof of certification to receive the 1 percent discount offered by this promotion. It will be available throughout the entire 2025 calendar year.

    Layering Strategies to Maximize 2025 USPS Postal Promotions

    According to various marketing reports, using USPS promotions for direct mail can lead to a positive response rate ranging from 2.7% to 4.4% on average. Many marketers report response rates above 3% for mailing campaigns that take advantage of the promotions, signifying a significant potential for positive engagement with targeted mailings. 

    As a result of the scheduling of 2025 USPS postal promotions throughout the calendar year, businesses have opportunities to increase engagement and realize savings with a strategy that stacks and layers the promotions to provide the highest discounts available each month. Remember that it’s only possible to receive a discount from one USPS Marketing Mail® and Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail® primary promotion at a time. The Informed Delivery and Sustainability add-on promotions can be added to every primary promotion, except the Reply Mail IMbA® Promotion, to give businesses 2 percent postal discounts all year long (plus receive a 0.5 percent discount for Informed Delivery eDoc submitters). Companies can receive discounts from both the First-Class Mail Advertising Promotion and Continuous Contact Promotion simultaneously in 2025.

    Businesses should be aware of the registration periods to ensure that mailpieces comply with the USPS requirements for the primary promotions. Close collaboration with mailing partners and mail fulfillment centers can help plan, design, and incorporate emerging technologies and personalized content into mailing campaigns. Professional print centers have the ability to deliver discounts and create envelopes and mailers that enhance the customer engagement experience.

    While there may not be a one-strategy-fits-all solution for every business to get the biggest discounts throughout the year, here’s one way a business could adopt USPS postal promotions to take advantage of the savings they offer all year long.

    • Register for the Integrated Technology Promotion as early as November 20, 2024 to start 2025 with this promotion that offers a 3 percent discount. Layer it with both the Informed Delivery and Sustainability add-on promotions to receive an additional 2 percent discount for 6 consecutive months. Total monthly discount is 5 percent (plus 0.5 percent for eDoc submitters).
    • Continue with Integrated Technology Promotion for up to 6 months, or on February 1, 2025 begin claiming discounts using the Tactile, Sensory & Interactive promotion (registration begins December 15, 2024). Until July 31, 2025 businesses can receive the promotion’s 4 percent discount as well as another 2 percent for layered add-ons. Total monthly discount with add-ons through end of promotion 6 percent.
    • On April 1, 2025 (registration begins February 15, 2025), businesses have the option of continuing the Integrated Technology promotion until 6 months have elapsed, running the Tactile, Sensory & Interactive promotion until the end of July, or switching the primary promotion to Continuous Contact for Marketing Mail that can run until the end of the year. This promotion offers businesses a 3 percent discount (plus 2 percent using both add-ons) for 9 months.
    • On July 1, 2025, business that incorporate reply mail in their mailings can switch to the Reply Mail IMbA® postal promotion (registration begins May 15, 2025) to receive either the 3 percent discount for static barcodes or 6 percent when deploying a serialized bar code. This promotion cannot be combined with add-on promotions, so unless the business is using serialized bar codes, it offers the lowest discount of all of the 2025 USPS postal promotions. It runs until the end of the year.
    • Beginning September 1, 2025 (registration begins July 15, 2025), businesses can begin receiving discounts with the First-Class Mail® Advertising Promotion for all First-Class letters, cards, and flats containing approved advertising content. Businesses receive a 3 percent discount, plus add-on discounts if used. It can run concurrently with the Continuous Contact promotions on USPS Marketing Mail® and Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail® until the end of the year.

    Each 2025 USPS postal promotion requires enrollment and has its own pre-approval process, design elements, and messaging constraints that must be met to prevent mailers from being deemed ineligible. Businesses should also continuously monitor the USPS promotions because as these promotions evolve, the USPS reserves the right to adjust the sample process.

    Working with an experienced direct mail and marketing mail fulfillment partner helps businesses take advantage of the financial incentives offered by the 2025 USPS Postal Promotions. Marketing.com helps businesses adopt the latest print technologies that enhance customer engagement and streamline strategies to get maximum savings out of every mailer. Contact us today with your questions, and get ready to cut your mailing costs in 2025.