USPS Continuous Contact Promotion Success Guide

It’s no secret in the marketing world that the more customer touchpoints you have, the better your marketing results. The USPS knows this and offers incentives through its Mailing Promotions program that provide discounts of up to 5% for maintaining continuous contact through direct mail.

Here’s why you should take advantage of the Continuous Contact Promotion, how it works, and how to maximize discounts and ROI.

Continuous Contact Mailers Lower Costs and Drive ROI

Multiple customer touchpoints are proven to increase response rates.

• The Rule of 7 dictates that customers must encounter your brand seven times before making a purchasing decision (University of Maryland)
• Direct mail satisfies best practices underlying the most effective campaigns (University of Maryland)
  • Multichannel marketing: Integrated technology and mailers that align with other marketing channels
  • Message variation: Sending multiple mailers with unique messages
  • Timing and consistency: Regularly communicating with customers
  • Feedback and adaptation: Measuring response and refining your strategy
  • Engagement opportunities: Making mailers interactive

Continuous Contact mailers help brands achieve the consistent exposure they need to influence customer response.

USPS Continuous Contact Promotion Discounts

Continuous Contact mailers qualify for a 3% discount, but you can get an additional 2% – for a total of 5% – with add-ons.

• Continuous Contact Mailers: 3% discount
• Informed Delivery (track and preview incoming mail): 1% discount
• Sustainability (use sustainable paper in your mailers): 1% discount

Continuous Contact Mailers (3%) + Informed Delivery (1%) + Sustainability (1%) = 5% Total Discount

Note that discounts do not apply to the first mailer in the series. They begin applying with the second mailer.

Important Dates

• Registration period: Feb. 15, 2025 – Dec. 31, 2025
• Promotion period: April 1, 2025 – Dec. 31, 2025

Eligibility

• USPS Marketing Mail letters and flats
• Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail letters and flats

What Qualifies as Continuous Contact Mailers?

The following criteria must be met for mailers to qualify for the USPS Continuous Contact Promotion:

• Multi-mailer campaigns (an initial mailer with a series of follow-ups)
• Each mailer must deliver targeted information to the same address
• Mailers must have a goal to promote purchases or conversions

In addition, mailers cannot be duplicates of one another. The USPS states they must be “iterative or complementary.”

How to Maximize ROI with the USPS Continuous Contact Promotion

One of the best features about USPS Mailing Promotion discounts is that they can offset much of your envelope production costs, but it’s important to make strategic decisions to optimize savings and maximize ROI. Considerations include:

• How continuous contact impacts your overall marketing spend
• How much of that spend is offset by discounts
• How to use add-ons (like sustainable envelopes) to get full discounts
• How to estimate open and response rates for Continuous Contact mailers

Priority Envelope is here to help. As a strategic supplier, we’re well-versed in USPS rules and can partner with you to plan ongoing campaigns designed to reduce costs and maximize ROI.