Yesterday we focused on the ways new technologies are transforming mailing services and making mailing operations more efficient. Today we will share some new products and promotions that you will want to be aware of.

New Products and Promotions

The USPS marketing team told NPF attendees that their goal is to publish a 2013 calendar of anticipated promotions and incentives by October. This should give mailers more time to plan and participate in the promotions. We applaud the Postal Service for listening and responding to industry concerns that many of its recent promotions did not offer enough lead time to accommodate the usual direct mail planning and production timeline.

The Postal Service has submitted a request to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to introduce a new product that will increase branding opportunities for direct mail. It’s called “Picture Permit,” and it allows mailers to add logos, trademarks, or other images to the permit imprint indicia on the mailpiece. If you’re interested in this new option, be aware there is a testing process to ensure the image doesn’t interfere with any postal scanning. This testing may take up to four to six weeks, so planning will be required to use this product. Picture permits will be allowed on First-Class and Standard Mail letters and cards, with use on other shapes of mail expected to rollout later. The Postal Service expects PRC approval for this product and its introduction to the marketplace by the end of June.

However, the mailing industry expressed strong disappointment that the Postal Service proposal calls for a charge for adding this graphic element to a mailpiece. The proposed charge is 1¢ per piece for First-Class Mail and 2¢ per piece for Standard Mail. Our concern is that the increased cost may discourage mailers from using a product that could make mail more interesting and relevant.

Mobile Barcode

There was also a great deal of discussion regarding the upcoming mobile barcode promotion. Mailers were pleased that the Postal Service is continuing to offer incentives designed to highlight innovative ways to use mail and link it to mobile commerce. One concern expressed by large financial and insurance mailers was the requirement for a mobile barcode to lead to a site that would allow the recipient to complete a financial transaction and how it wouldn’t work for their complex transactions, which often require a multi-step sales process. There is a second way to qualify for this promotion – using the mobile barcode to drive to a personalized site – but this option may not work for all of these mailers.

While we totally support the Postal Service’s desire to have mailers make smarter use of mobile barcodes – linking to mobile enabled sites that are relevant to the mailpiece – we are concerned that the current rules are too strict to allow many mailers to participate.

Overall, this was an upbeat NPF that was focused on the future of mail. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe summarized the mood in his keynote address, “[The Postal Service has] left nothing off of the table in terms of rethinking how we perform our core function of delivering. The best way forward is to embrace the potential of change. As an industry, and as individual businesses, we need to think about the rewards of a more dynamic future.”

-Kurt Ruppel
Marketing Services Manager

Speaking Direct is a blog about building customer acquisition, customer loyalty and customer engagement using direct mail and digital marketing programs. We also discuss postal rates, regulations and how to reduce postage costs.

This year’s National Postal Forum was one of the busiest in years, with more than 3,500 mailing industry professionals in attendance. In fact, so much information was shared that we’re breaking our recap into two parts, so be sure to come back tomorrow for the rest of our report.

As we move forward, mailers will see participation in Full-Service Intelligent Mail becoming the “table stakes” to participate in more and more USPS programs and initiatives, such as this summer’s Mobile Barcode promotion. If you aren’t already participating in Full-Service be sure to ask your IWCO Direct sales executive or account manager how to upgrade your next program.

Mail Tracking and Visibility

The Postal Service is phasing out Confirm tracking of Planet coded mailpieces and replacing it with “IMb Tracing” – available for all mailpieces carrying an Intelligent Mail barcode, both Full-Service and Basic. In addition, mailers have now been given visibility to tray and pallet scans for Full-Service mail as it moves through the postal network. The Postal Service is using this new scan data internally to monitor mail in its processing plants. This will enhance operational performance by proactively alerting plant managers to mail in their facilities that’s in danger of missing service commitments.

The Postal Service also demonstrated additional visibility technologies that could further enhance mail’s value in the multi-channel media mix when capturing some of the GPS and geo-fencing capabilities with new scanners currently being tested by letter carriers. This technology could supply near real time delivery information that could become available to mailers within a few years.

Enhancing the Mailing Process

The new data that is available with Full-Service mail is also being used to simplify and enhance the mailing process. The Postal Service is currently piloting a process called eInduction that will remove the paper-based verification requirements from the drop-ship process and manage the verification through barcode scanning and database look-ups.

eInduction is one small piece of a larger initiative called Streamlined (Seamless) Acceptance that will add efficiency and speed to the mail acceptance process. Rather than having mail physically verified in the manufacturing plant by a USPS clerk, mailers will submit electronic documentation for the mailing. Then the mailing’s conformance to the documentation and postal regulations will be confirmed through passive scanning as the mail moves through the USPS processing network. IWCO Direct’s Hamburg, Pa. facility is currently participating in a proof-of-concept pilot for this new program.

Simplifying Postage Payment

The enhanced information provided by Full-Service IMb is also driving new postage payment options. Called “Mail Anywhere – Pay Anywhere,” this program will allow Full-Service mailers to use a single permit to mail anywhere in the country. Mailers will no longer need to worry about the indicia calling out a permit number in “City A” when the mail needs to be dropped in “City B.” Mailers with CAPS accounts will use their existing CAPS account number as their national account in the electronic documentation for the mailing. A unique account number will be assigned for mailers without CAPS accounts. The pilot program for this concept launched in April, but the Postal Service hopes to fast-track its introduction to all mailers by early summer.

This is the first step toward a larger initiative by the Postal Service called “Enterprise Payment” that will be like CAPS accounts on steroids. Under Enterprise Payment, mailers will have one national account from which they can manage all their payments. Currently CAPS accounts can only be used for paying permit postage and fees. An enterprise account could also be used for stamp and meter postage, Express Mail and other USPS-related payments. Planning is just beginning for Enterprise Payment and development won’t begin until sometime in 2013.

That’s quite a bit to digest for one blog article, so we’ll take a break for today and come back tomorrow with more details that will shape the business of direct mail in the coming months and years.

-Kurt Ruppel
Marketing Services Manager

Speaking Direct is a blog about building customer acquisition, customer loyalty and customer engagement using direct mail and digital marketing programs. We also discuss postal rates, regulations and how to reduce postage costs.