USPS Goes Digital With Daily ‘Real Mail Notification’

Snail mail is about to pick up the pace and enter real time, says USPS Postmaster General Megan Brennan. Speaking Monday during the National Postal Forum, an industry trade show held this year in Anaheim, Calif., she told direct mailers about a soon-to-come product called "Real Mail Notification," according to EcommerceBytes.com and PostalNews.com. (The USPS site shows a product with the same name that already exists to notify box-holders of new mail via email, but Brennan was talking about a new product.) "If you see that you're receiving a mailpiece from a favorite retailer," Brennan says of RMN according to EcommerceBytes.com, "you can click on that piece for an additional offer that drives you to open that mail when you get home. Or, you might jump directly to a transaction. In either event, the physical mailpiece draws you into the interactive experience." “The convergence of mail and digital experiences is a way of adding strength to strength.” – PMG Megan Brennan #2015NPF @PostalForum — U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) May 18, 2015 Brennan says the new product will mean marketers can further marry the digital and direct mail channels in campaigns and programs because, in addition to technologies that already allow consumers to use mail to launch websites, they'll be seeing what's arriving in real time on their mobile devices, according to PostalNews.com. Nine out of 10 consumers participating in the Northern Virginia product pilot are checking daily on their mobile devices to see what's arriving in their physical mailboxes, she says. "We saw a 10-fold jump in response rate for the pieces we tested," reads the transcript of her speech (opens as a PDF). PostalNews.com reports that the New York City pilot will launch later this year. "If people are opting out of commercial messages on television and radio — and they're blocking marketing emails and mobile ads and even some social media advertising — it's going to be tougher for marketers to reach the end-consumer," reads her speech transcript. "And that's where mail has a huge advantage. Despite the fragmentation of these other marketing channels, mail will continue to be a direct, reliable pipeline to the consumer. That's why mail, in combination with digital, is such a strong long-term strategy for businesses." Will marketers use this product? Please respond in the comments section below.

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USPS Goes Digital With Daily ‘Real Mail Notification’

Heather Fletcher

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