2018 National Postal Forum Shines Importance on Informed Customers

Last week our postal specialists, Carolyn Angelini and Alex Newell, attended the National Postal Forum in San Antonio, Texas. Experts from all corners of the industry gathered to share their knowledge and detail the ever-evolving future of the mailing industry and the United States Postal Service.

Participants discussed how direct mail remains the cornerstone of the omnichannel marketing world and why new tools available to mailers make mailing smarter easier than ever. There was a lot of excitement in the air as the Postal Service highlighted this year’s theme of Informed Customers through offerings such as Informed Delivery, Informed Visibility, and Mailer Scorecards.

Let’s look at a few highlights:

Leveraging Customer Experience with Data Analytics

We heard about best practices around Customer Experience (CX) and how the most effective companies are able to break down silos, combine strategy and technology, merge physical mail with digital marketing channels and have a solid action plan to build on success. We learned more about Informed Visibility, the replacement to IMB Tracking and the industry’s new source for mail tracking, and spoke with mail shops and mailers about how they are beginning to navigate through the myriad of data points to improve efficiencies in supplier operations, meet regulatory compliance requirements and get closer to the mail recipients in-home experience. Attendees were interested to hear industry standards around Mailer Scorecards – what’s available to mailers and mail service providers both now and in the near future and how this reporting will be an integral part of quality control processes going forward.

Vision Planning for 2020 and beyond

There was significant focus on how future-thinking emerging technologies can help drive tomorrow’s direct mail success. There was much to say about Informed Delivery with a tally just shy of 10 MILLION active users and an additional 20,000 users signing up daily. Mailers across the country shared how they’ve been gaining traction with linking this free service which provides a digital aspect to a physical mail piece. The statistics shared were pretty impressive – mailers are experiencing email open rates above 72% when linking an Informed Delivery campaign to their mail campaign.

Several sessions were set up around the most effective ways to incorporate into this new marketing channel and they even made it really fun by inviting attendees to vote on this year’s Next Generation Campaign Award, where four finalists showcased mail pieces they created utilizing the Informed Delivery service. More information on the winner can be found here.

Keys to Building Great Workplaces

It wasn’t all postal talk! There were opportunities to share how organizations such as PS employ business strategies around the employee experience to both inspire and support team members to achieve their fullest potential. An entire session was devoted to putting greater passion into your career to become more engaging, increase buy-in on your concepts, and influence team members at all levels within your organization. And there were several other sessions around mentorship and tips to building inspiring workplaces to maximize employee engagement.

With its dynamic content and opportunities to engage with some of the best in the industry, the National Postal Forum did not disappoint. We look forward to attending in 2019 and are excited to help our clients and partners keep their donors and customers informed.