The U.S. Postal Service has something new … something dramatically new.
The Post Office has launched an effort to modernize the direct mailing experience with Informed Delivery and EngageOne Video.
First, what’s Informed Delivery? It is where the USPS digitally images the front of your mailpieces.
Then they are emailed to the recipient to see what they are getting in the mail that day.
NOTE: Powerful teaser copy is essential!
It’s a free service. And it’s popular. More than 2 million people have signed up.
A USPS survey found that nine out of 10 people who signed up for the service checked their Informed Delivery notifications every day.
(You can sign up for Informed Delivery by clicking here).
This is where EngageOne Video comes in and hopefully will be fully operational in 2017.
It allows the Informed Delivery campaign to integrate hard-copy mail with a digital experience when it delivers a preview of what is headed for the mailbox.
It also provides interactive links with details about the content of mail they are receiving.
For example, a high school senior is waiting to hear from a college. He can see if it’s on the way with an email from USPS, along with a link to personalized content (such as a link to a college landing page, video or pictures of kids at the school).
These videos provide marketers with an opportunity to engage digitally before or after they receive their mail.
Engagement is encouraged at the end of each video with a call to action, where marketers can offer prospects the opportunity to see a landing page, video – whatever they want.
The response to Informed Delivery on EngageOne Videos shows promising numbers:

  • Initial response rate was 25%, with 79% of those viewers watching the core message (about 4 minutes of content)
  • 38% watched all the way to the end (5 ½-minute videos)

Next up for the USPS is Informed Visibility Service, which is still in the pilot stage. This will be a one-stop for all your mail visibility needs, making it convenient to track letters and flats. This is:

  • The next phase of tracking mail
  • There’s an additional charge to track
  • Logical Delivery Event (LDE) will indicate through GPS tracking that a postal carrier has delivered the mail.
  • USPS is also supposed to furnish an in-home delivery date based on their time and location of processing.

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