At the 2018 National Postal Forum (NPF), we watched Postmaster General Megan Brennan open with a captivating video that described the Postal Service as the most advanced, sophisticated and powerful network in the nation. The USPS® delivers to and connects every household in America.
How? USPS infrastructure. Driven by technology and big data, it lends mailers insights on all customers, from remote rural locations to populous inner cities. Their quality 500,000-person workforce also works to ensure customer experiences are top-notch, consulting with mailers on mailpiece design and supporting them at industry events.
Informed Visibility
By now, you’ve likely heard about Informed Delivery®, a way for mail recipients to digitally preview their daily mail. This service is not to be confused with the similarly named Informed Visibility® service for business mailers, which was a hot topic at the 2018 National Postal Forum. Informed Visibility is a reporting platform for mailers that provides real-time information about campaigns through the Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb).
Gone are the days of waiting to capture customer information when an order has been placed. Informed Visibility lets marketers know when their mail has been accepted, processed, transported and delivered – usable business intelligence that can help them launch perfectly timed campaigns with online, broadcast, social and in-store components. These insights can also be transferred to other departments such as operations, who may use it to forecast inventory based on the relationships between mailpiece delivery dates, related website activity (e.g., clicks, visits and conversions) and actual sales orders.
Mailpiece Design Experts
Mailpiece Design Analysts (MDA) are specially trained postal employees who answer questions regarding mailpiece design and take the guesswork out of mail specifications. There’s even an MDA Support Center to help mailers design campaigns. MDAs also provide continuing education at industry events, such as local Postal Customer Councils (PCCs), where attendees can receive immediate feedback on their mailpiece questions.
Industry Associations
MDAs and other USPS representatives frequently present on mail and marketing best practices at industry get-togethers such as PCCs, annual NPF shows, and American Marketing Association (AMA) and local chapter events. You’ll find them ready and eager to share their insights. The USPS also helped establish the Interactive Marketing Research Conference (IMRC), an initiative to share and promote research on the value of direct mail, and collaborates with marketers in various industries to showcase how mail has helped their business, and how it can boost other marketing channels.
The USPS is backed by an infrastructure that can help business mailers thrive. Tension Sales experts are well-versed in the power of mail and can help you get started.
