USPS Announces Mailing Promotions for 2024

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has announced its 2024 promotions. These six USPS promotions, which were also available in 2023, are designed to incentivize marketers to use innovative technologies and strategies to enhance the value and ROI of direct mail. Continue reading below for a summary and key information about each USPS promotion available in 2024.

Tactile, Sensory and Interactive Mailpiece Engagement Promotion

Eligibility: Marketing Mail letters and flats; First-Class Mail letters, cards and flats; Nonprofit Mail

Incentive: 6% discount at the time of mailing

Registration begins: Dec. 15, 2023

Promotion period: Feb. 1, 2024 – July 31, 2024

This promotion encourages mailers to incorporate innovative techniques into mailpieces to create a multi-sensory experience. Mailers can take advantage of this promotion with new developments in paper, paper stocks, substrates, finishing techniques and inks.

The goal of incorporating sensory elements – such as visual effects, interesting textures, scents and sounds – is to drive a higher ROI and increase the engagement and response rates of direct mail campaigns. Some examples of tactile, sensory and interactive mailpieces are pop-ups, infinite folds, clean-release cards, zip strips, specialty inks (like metallic or thermal ink), trailing edge envelopes and special finishes like foil embossing and textured paper.

Please note the USPS will eliminate Gloss Stock as an option for this promotion in 2025.

Visit this page to see the specific requirements for this promotion.

Personalized Color Transpromo Promotion

Eligibility: Qualifying First-Class Mail presort and automation letters with an additional discount for Courtesy Reply Mail (CRM) or Business Reply Mail (BRM) inclusion

Incentive: 3% discount for color ink at the time of mailing or 4% with Reply Mail

Registration begins: Dec. 15, 2023

Promotion period: Feb. 1, 2024 – July 31, 2024

This promotion encourages producers of bills and statements to use color printing and variable data printing to create personalized, transpromotional mailpieces. This promotion aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of using dynamic-variable, data-driven personalization and colors to help marketers enhance the value of mailpieces and increase response rates.

Visit this page to see the specific requirements for this promotion.

Emerging & Advanced Technology Promotion

Eligibility: Marketing Mail letters and flats; First-Class Mail letters, cards and flats

Incentive: 3% discount using emerging and advanced technologies or 4% discount using enhanced emerging technologies

Registration begins: Variable, begins December 2023

Promotion period: Six months, variable

This promotion incentivizes the use of technologies such as augmented reality (AR), near-field communication (NFC) and video in direct mail campaigns. This is aimed to amplify direct mail results to deliver immersive and interactive experiences to consumers. This year, this promotion includes utilizing QR codes to drive mobile-optimized shopping websites for eCommerce transactions.

The biggest change for 2024 is that the Emerging Technology promotion will be handled as a ‘YOU PICK 6.’ That means you can pick any six-month time frame in 2024 to participate in the promotion. For example, you could choose Jan. 15 to June 15, or April 1 through Sep. 1. Registration for this promotion will begin in December 2023.

Please note you cannot combine promotions. Mailers should look at all available USPS promotions to make sure their six-month time frame from Emerging Technology does not coincide with the Tactile Promotion, which has a higher discount of 5%, or the Informed Delivery Promotion, which has a 4% discount.

3% discount includes the following:

4% discount includes the following:

It is important to note the USPS will discontinue the Mobile Shopping option as part of the Emerging Technology Promotion in 2025.

Visit this page to see the specific requirements for this promotion.

Informed Delivery Promotion

Eligibility: Qualifying automation Marketing Mail letters and flats; qualifying automation First-Class Mail letters, cards and flats

Incentive: 4% discount at the time of mailing and 0.6% discount for eDoc Submitters

Registration begins: June 15, 2024

Promotion period: Aug. 1, 2024 – Dec. 31, 2024

This promotion incentivizes mailers to leverage the USPS Informed Delivery service, which allows consumers to preview their incoming mail and receive alerts for specific mailpieces. Mailers that include interactive elements in their Informed Delivery notifications will be eligible for discounts.

Informed Delivery provides a digital extension of mailpieces, offering a second touchpoint for customers to engage with direct mail through interactive digital images.

Visit this page to see the specific requirements for this promotion.

Reply Mail IMbA Promotion

Eligibility: First-Class presort and automation letters

Incentive: 3% discount for static IMbA on the BRM and a 6% discount for serialized IMbA

Registration begins: May 15, 2024

Promotion period: July 1, 2024 – Dec. 31, 2024

This promotion encourages marketers to adopt static or serialized barcodes on reply mailing. The goal is to reduce processing time and ensure QBRM mailers receive reply mail and invoices quickly.

Visit this page to see the specific requirements for this promotion.

Retargeted Mail Promotion

Eligibility: Qualifying automation First-Class postcards

Incentive: 6% discount at the time of mailing

Registration begins: July 15, 2024

Promotion period: Sept. 1, 2024 – Nov. 30, 2024

This USPS promotion incentivizes marketers to send postcards to website or mobile app visitors who didn’t make trackable conversions. The goal of this promotion is to bridge the connection between online recipient behavior and direct mail. This creates multiple touchpoints from each mailpiece.

Visit this page to see the specific requirements for this promotion.

Take advantage of these USPS promotions to increase direct mail ROI

The USPS mail promotions for 2024 provide a great opportunity for marketers to experiment with innovative technologies and strategies to enhance the effectiveness of mailing. By following the guidelines and eligibility requirements, mailers can take advantage of the discounts to increase direct mail ROI and deliver impactful and engaging mailpieces to target audiences.

If you are interested in participating in these USPS promotions for your direct mail campaigns, visit the USPS’s Postal Pro website to view the 2024 promotions calendar and how to enroll in the promotions, or email them at mailingpromotions@usps.gov.

Or, if you’re interested in partnering with an expert printer that can help you save on mailing costs, get in touch with us today!