October 10, 2018
By Deborah Damore
Informed Delivery is a service offered by the United States Postal Service whereby residential consumers can view online images of physical mail that is expected to be delivered that day. Users can view greyscale images of the exterior, address side of incoming letter-sized mail pieces (not the inside contents) via email or an online dashboard.
Mailers can provide custom color images related to letters and flats. They can include URL links embedded to deliver with the mail piece image in the email. At this time, conducting an Informed Delivery interactive campaign with a ride-along image is provided at no additional cost to mailers. To date, mailers have launched over 4,000 campaigns through Informed Delivery.
At the October MTAC meeting, the USPS shared their current household enrollment as 12.8 million registered users. Their goal is to have 40 million users signed up by 2020. USPS is realizing a 65 percent email open rate.
| Area | Registered Households | Registered Users | Email-enabled Users |
| Capital Metro | 1,388,917 | 1,669,248 | 1,075,127 |
| Eastern | 1,394,802 | 1,652,052 | 1,046,594 |
| Great Lakes | 1,096,947 | 1,294,905 | 794,740 |
| Northeast | 1,133,631 | 1,353,848 | 861,469 |
| Pacific | 1,503,242 | 1,827,292 | 1,122,164 |
| Southern | 2,354,427 | 2,824,147 | 1,898,455 |
| Western | 1,892,110 | 2,240,060 | 1,377,983 |
| Grand Total | 10,764,076 | 12,861,552 | 8,176,532 |
Mailers not yet using Informed Delivery in their marketing campaigns list these drawbacks: the low number of mail recipients signed up, not knowing which addresses are enrolled in Informed Delivery, lack of representation of flats in Informed Delivery, and difficulty of setup as the main impediments.
Deborah Damore is an Account Executive at Fairrington, an LSC Communications Company, and a Mailers Technical Advisory Committee Representative for the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers. Following the MTAC marathon last week, Deb successfully finished the Chicago Marathon.