USPS Reply Mail IMbA Promotion Success Guide

Business reply mail increases response rates by eliminating customer postage concerns. It also lowers costs, since postage is only charged on returned pieces. With Intelligent Mail barcode Accounting (IMbA), you can even tap into USPS Mailing Promotions to get discounts of 3% to 6%.

Here’s why you should take advantage of the USPS Reply Mail IMbA Promotion, how it works, and how to maximize discounts.

Reply Mail IMbA Reduces Costs, Increases Efficiency, and Lends Visibility

Reply Mail IMbA is ideal for any company whose customers pay by check, including:

• Major media companies
• Wireless providers
• Collections companies
• Check processing plants

Reply Mail IMbA benefits include:

• Informed visibility: Know how many reply envelopes are coming daily so you can staff based on anticipated workflow and response
• Automated invoicing: Ideal for companies with large mailing volumes
• Greater consistency: Mail availability is more consistent with Reply Mail IMbA
• Expedited processing: Receive reply mail earlier in the day
• Customer intelligence: Gain key insights into which customer demographics are responding to inform future focus and investment

There are two types of barcodes you can use on your mailers:

• Static barcodes: Provide details about where responses are coming from, such as zip codes
• Serialized barcodes: Can include various identifiers to let companies know which specific individuals are responding

Both lend valuable insights that inform where and who to concentrate marketing efforts on based on response. The USPS incentivizes the use of static and serialized barcodes with discounts.

USPS Reply Mail IMbA Promotion Discounts

• Static barcodes: 3%
• Serialized barcodes: 6%

Important Dates

• Registration period: May 15 – Dec. 31, 2025
• Promotion period: July 1, 2025 – Dec. 31, 2025

Eligibility

• Qualified Business Reply Mail (QBRM) letters and cards

How to Maximize Savings and ROI with Reply Mail IMbA

One of the best things about Reply Mail IMbA is that, in addition to its inherent benefits, the discounts can offset a significant portion of your envelope production costs. It’s easy to take advantage of the discounts, too, as static barcodes can be applied during envelope production and serialized barcodes can be placed during insertion.

That said, it’s important to make informed decisions to maximize savings and ROI. Be sure to consider the following:

• How Reply Mail IMbA impacts production costs, if at all
• How much of your production costs will be offset by discounts
• How to take advantage of Reply Mail IMbA’s features

Priority Envelope can help. As a strategic supplier, we’re well-versed in USPS rules and can partner with you to optimize your envelopes for success.