Impactful USPS 2022 Promotions for Direct Marketing

Each year the USPS puts out a list of new promotions for direct mailers, printers, and marketers. These promotions are marketing tactics that turn your standard mail campaign into a multichannel one. When you use these tactics, the USPS gives you a discount on postage. Many of these promotions apply to marketing strategies that you should already leverage. So, why not use these proven tactics while also benefiting from the postage discounts.

The promotions provide you with an opportunity to try new technology and techniques. These tactics lead to higher customer engagement and response rates. Darwill highlights each promotion and how they will be impactful for your postage savings and return on investment (ROI) this year.

Informed Delivery

As noted in our recent blog, we expect informed delivery to continue to grow in popularity. This service allows customers to sign up to see what mail they will be receiving before delivery. Informed delivery creates a combined digital and direct mail experience for customers. Darwill uses this service for many of our clients’ campaigns and has a seamless workflow in place. We recommend integrating this feature as it has a high open rate of 70% before noon in each time zone and it gives brands an opportunity to reach 43 million users.

The benefit of this service is that it gives the customer an omnichannel experience, it creates a bridge between digital and print. They can interact with the mail piece before it even arrives. The recipient will receive an email preview of their mail that is out for delivery. From the email, they can click on an image of the mail to see the offer or navigate to the businesses’ website. Upon physical mail delivery, they remember your brand and the first digital interaction they had through email.

The registration period for informed delivery is June 15, 2022, to December 31, 2022. The promotion period is from August 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022.

Mobile Shopping

The mobile shopping promotion encourages mailers to integrate mobile technologies with direct mail. This helps to move customers from the mail piece, straight to a mobile purchase.

QR codes create an experience that transports customers to a website, offer, or even a video. Darwill can easily integrate this feature on direct mail with QR codes as we have years of experience adding them to marketing campaigns. Customers can scan a QR code with an embedded link that takes them directly to a product page to complete a transaction. Using this innovative method provides customers with a convenient, seamless online shopping experience.

This feature attracts customers as it is easy to use. They don’t have to pull out the laptop and navigate directions to a link when they can instead simply scan a code with their phone.

The registration period for mobile shopping is July 15, 2022, to December 31, 2022. The promotion period is from September 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022.

Earned Value Reply Mail

The idea behind earned value reply mail is to build engagement and earn credit toward future mailings. In this promotion, mailers can earn $0.02 per mail piece by using Business Reply Mail (BRM), Courtesy Reply Mail (CRM), and Share Mail.

These formats give your customers the opportunity to respond to you or even make a payment. They help customer to engage easily and efficiently. The credit earned from this can be applied to future mailings using presort and automation First Class Mail® and USPS Marketing Mail

Register for the earned value reply mail promotion from February 15, 2022, to March 31, 2022. The promotion period starts April 1, 2022 and lasts until June 30, 2022.

Personalized Color Transpromo

Personalized color transpromo is all about making your mail piece stand out. With new print technologies we can deliver unique, creative, and eye-catching mail. This promotion focuses on enhancing marketing messages through use of color, dynamic variable print, and personalization.

The use of this promotion often benefits those that are sending out bills and statements. Smart use of color and other elements can lead to a better connection and response from consumers.

Registration for this promotion is between May 15, 2022, to December 31, 2022. The promotion period is July 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022.

Tactile, Sensory, and Interactive Mail Piece Engagement

Consumers are looking for engaging experiences. They want interactions that are memorable and create a full sensory experience. Excite your customers’ senses by incorporating innovative techniques in your direct mail.

Exploring new paper stocks, substrates, finishing techniques, and inks creates a multi-sensory experience. Testing the above helps to encourage interaction through engaging visuals, infinite folds, and other dimensional treatments. Leveraging this promotion in your mail may help you see a rise in customer engagement.

The registration period for tactile, sensory, and interactive mail is December 15, 2021, to July 31, 2022. The promotion period is from February 1, 2022, to July 31, 2022.

Emerging and Advanced Technology

We are seeing that augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), and voice control continue to gain momentum. The emerging and advanced technology promotion encourages marketers to incorporate these features into their mail pieces for reduced postage costs.

The ability to interact with these digital features excites customers. Customers gain interest and inquire more when provided with interaction opportunities. One example is the incorporation of asking a smart speaker for more information. By including a simple phrase or question on your mail piece, you can take the customer through a fun interactive voice command experience on their smart speaker. Integrating this technology makes for a memorable interaction. It raises brand awareness while also promoting your product/service and offers.

The registration period for emerging and advanced technology is January 15, 2022, to August 31, 2022. The promotion period is from March 1, 2022, to August 31, 2022.

USPS provides more information on the differences between the 2022 and 2021 promotions.

Enhance Your Customer Interactions with Darwill

Darwill can help you decide which promotions align best for your business goals and how to build your mail piece to meet the eligibility requirements for a discount. Click here to see the list of promotions along with the eligibility requirements.