Direct mail is one of the best ways to boost response rates, grow brand recognition, and drive conversions. It creates a sensory experience and triggers an emotional response from your audience, regardless of how your business uses it to increase sales, drive website traffic, or advertise new locations.
Once you mail the direct mail piece, it’s just the beginning of your campaign, not the end. After mailing, tracking it is as important as the mail piece itself. Tracking your response helps in determining the effectiveness of your direct mail campaign and how it drives business growth.
It enables you to discover valuable information that you can use to build an effective marketing strategy and re-target individuals who are interested in your business. If it’s backed with real-time results, your marketing decisions become more efficient and profitable.
Direct mail was an effective communication tool for marketers for years. But with the growth of online campaigns in effectiveness and trackability, marketers found something that can connect the physical and digital, increasing the impact of each medium.
Therefore, the United States Postal Service (USPS) created the Informed delivery service that provides daily notifications with images of incoming mail, integrating with online tracking and scheduling options to create a seamless and impactful marketing experience.
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What is Informed Delivery?
Launched by USPS in 2017, Informed Delivery creates the perfect bridge between direct mail and digital marketing by giving residential consumers a sneak peek of what’s coming in the mail before it’s been physically delivered.
This tool provides daily notifications with images of incoming mail, enabling marketers to manage and track their mail and packages, and make proper decisions about their delivery.
Tips to track your direct mail with Informed Delivery
- Sign up: Marketers sign up for the service online on the USPS website, providing their mailing address, email address, and phone number.
- Daily notifications: The USPS scans the exterior of incoming mail pieces and makes the images available through the Informed Delivery system. Users receive daily notifications with images of their incoming mail pieces via email or text message.
- Package tracking: In addition to mail notifications, users can also track their packages through the Informed Delivery system.
- Managing mail and packages: Users can manage their mail and packages through the Informed Delivery dashboard, where they can view images of incoming mail, redirect mail and packages to a different location, and schedule package pickups.
With USPS Informed Delivery, users can stay informed about their incoming mail and packages and make informed decisions about their delivery. This increases their overall mail and package management experience, making it more convenient and efficient.
The average email open rate has outpaced the industry average by more than 64%, with over 6B total Daily Digest emails opened. Brands using Informed delivery have seen strong returns on campaigns, i.e., over 38B impressions, in total.
These sky-high open rates are not the only benefit of businesses that leverage the unique marketing opportunities provided by Informed Delivery. Some other perks include:
- Ability to track open and click-through rates for comprehensive insights into the effectiveness of your campaigns.
- Ability to set up a pre-campaign analysis report to see how many recipients participate in Informed Delivery.
- Engage with recipients before the mail is physically delivered since 70% of user email opens take place in the morning.
Undoubtedly, Informed Delivery is a huge boon to direct mail marketers, but as demand is growing, it’s time for you to give this unsaturated marketing channel before your competitors do.
What data does Informed Delivery provide?
The USPS Informed Delivery mail provides detailed data to individuals and businesses about their incoming mail and packages. It offers the following information:
- Images of incoming mail pieces: Users receive daily notifications with images of the exterior of their incoming mail pieces, allowing them to visually confirm what’s going to be delivered to their mailbox.
- Delivery status: Users can track their packages and receive notifications about their delivery status, including information on when their packages are en route, in transit, or delivered.
- Mail and package history: The Informed Delivery dashboard provides users with a history of their incoming mail and packages, including the date and time of delivery and the status of their packages.
- Mail redirect information: Users can redirect their mail and packages to a different location through the Informed Delivery dashboard, which allows them to receive their mail and packages at a more convenient location.
- Package pickup information: Users can schedule package pickups through the Informed Delivery dashboard, allowing them to retrieve their packages at a more convenient time.
Moreover, businesses and marketers can also use Informed Delivery to track their direct mail pieces, including delivery-progress scans, delivery area or zip code destination, and campaign name. This data allows businesses to kick off digital campaigns on other channels to amplify the impact of their direct mail pieces.
Using this data, the Informed Delivery service enhances the overall mail and package management experience by making it more efficient, convenient, and informative.
Analyse results with Informed Delivery
Once you have set up informed delivery USPS tracking, you can analyse the results of your campaigns. Here are some ways you can gain valuable insights from your campaigns:
- Tracking delivery status: Informed delivery makes it easy to track the progress of your mailers. You can view the delivery status of each mailer and get real-time updates as they are delivered from the postal system. This may help you optimize your campaigns and ensure that your mails are delivered on time.
- Analyse click-through rates: In addition to tracking delivery status, you can also use Informed delivery to analyze the click-through rates of your mailers. With this data, you can discover which prospects are more likely to open and respond to your mailers, allowing you to further refine your campaign for maximum success.
Final Thoughts
Informed delivery is a valuable tool for direct mail marketers that provides opportunities to deliver targeted messages, measure the effectiveness of campaigns, and optimise creatives. It allows businesses to track their campaigns and improve their marketing efforts. By providing detailed data and insights, it helps marketers to make more informed decisions about their direct mail campaigns.
Using this tool, direct mail marketers can reach their target audience, increase conversions, and boost response rates. Implement the right strategies and tactics and take advantage of the unique features and benefits offered by USPS mail-informed delivery, to get maximum success and the most out of your direct mail campaign marketing strategy.
