Final Rules Released for Informed Delivery Promotion
June 27, 2019   Dave Lewis

We read 25 pages so you don’t have to… “Psst!  Hey, buddy!  You want 2% off you postage this fall?  Here’s what you gotta do…” With little fanfare, the Postal Service released its rules for the 2019 Informed Delivery Promotion.  There are certainly some gray areas, but overall the requirements are not too odious.  Timing may be the most important element.  Important enough that the Requirements document includes 9 pages of timeline illustrations.  Lesson:  Never give a mailing nerd a calendar. Here is our distillation of the essential rules:
  • You need to submit your ID campaign at LEAST a day before you mail. Realistically, a lot earlier than that, because all campaigns need to be approved by the Informed Delivery Promotions Office before submission. They need to have a PDF, and will “typically” respond in 4 business days.  Since they have never done this, “typically” in not guaranteed.  And, if you have any issues, we presume it will be another typical 4 days.  We urge you to have your campaigns ready to go one to two weeks ahead of your planned mail date.
  • For all ID campaigns, you will need a ride-along image. The ride along image must include a “strong call-to-action.”  The call to action should include a verb.  Here are some of the CTA’s the Postal Service was kind enough to suggest:
    • Manage Account
    • View Account
    • Click Here to Donate
    • Get 25% Off
    • Apply Now
I will refrain from writing all 14 suggestions as you may get overstimulated.
  • Here are some NOT acceptable examples they provided:
    • Go Paperless
    • Pay Online
    • Donate Online
    • Save a Tree, Go Electronic
    • Last Minute Offer
    • Additional Deals
    • A Retailer Name or Logo with no CTA
These either encourage elimination of mail (Heaven forfend!) or were not CTA-ish enough.
  • Once you have chosen that perfect assertive, but not too environmental, Call-to-action, it must cover at least 20% of the Ride-Along image area, and have “enough color contrast to stand out in the Ride-along Image.”
  • Optional for letter-size mail, but required for flat-size mail is the Representative Image. The Representative Image will replace the grayscale image provided for letters in the ID notification, or create the image for flats.  The Representative Image must “closely resemble” an outside panel of the mail piece.  The back of the mail piece is A-OK.
  • You will need to register for this program in the Business Customer Gateway (shudder!), SnailWorks can and will help with this. You will be eternally grateful.
  • When submitting the mail, you must claim the discount, and fill in the appropriate codes in the mail.dat in your eDocs. (Shhh, the Secret Code is “PI”.  It goes in the CCR file.)
  • You will need to submit a hard copy mail piece with the mailing.
  • After the mailing you will need to complete a USPS survey telling them how swell your ID experience was. They would like you to share results, but this is not required.
Here’s the checklist provided by USPS:  Complete each step below to claim the 2019 Informed Delivery Promotion discount:  ? Review resources on the Informed Delivery for Business Mailers website (usps.com/informeddeliverycampaigns). ? Complete the 2019 Informed Delivery Promotion registration on the BCG. ? Submit a JPEG or PDF of the following information to the Promotion Office email (Promotion-InformedDelivery@usps.gov) and reference the campaign brand display name(s) in the email subject line: ? Campaign Ride-along Image with a clear Call-to-Action  If using a Representative Image, in addition to the Ride-along image, you must also provide: ? Image of the Informed Delivery mailpiece outside panels (address and non-address side) clearly identified. ? The Representative Image, which must closely resemble the outer envelope or exposed panel portion of the physical mailpiece. ? Receive approval from the Promotion office prior to mailing ? Verify that the Mail date is within the Informed Delivery Interactive Campaign Start/End date and the campaign is in a Submitted status at the time of the mailing/ ”Ready to Pay” submission (review Section 5 for detailed instructions) ? Create the Postage Statement which includes the following information for the Informed Delivery mailpieces:
  1. Informed Delivery Promotion Component Characteristics Record (CCR) file “PI” (Mail.dat/Mail.XML)
  2. MIDs and IMb Serial Number Ranges
 ? Provide hard copy mailpiece(s) to BMEU personnel at the time of the mailing Obviously there is a lot of detail we have not included here.  You can click on 2019 Informed Delivery Promotion_v20190614 to see the entire document. We will have another webinar coming up on this, and we are here to help you through the process.  Registration opens July 15.  The promotion runs September 1 through November 30, 2019.  Ready?  Let’s go!

Home