How to Reduce Direct Mail Costs and Boost ROI with Tactile, Sensory & Interactive Mailers
USPS Mailing Promotions offer discounts and incentives to encourage innovation and increase direct mail response. Businesses and marketing agencies would be wise to take advantage of these incentives, as they can slash postage costs by 5% or more. They can also increase ROI, not just by reducing costs, but also by boosting open and response rates through creative mailers.
In fact, the USPS Tactile, Sensory & interactive Promotion can save up to 6%. Here’s why you should consider it, how it works, and how to use the promotion to maximize discounts and ROI.
USPS Tactile, Sensory & Interactive Promotion Reduces Costs and Boosts ROI
Neuroscientists have found that sensory marketing influences brand perception, recall, and consumer purchasing behavior.
- Touch, scent, and sound have subtle yet powerful influences on human perception. However, companies don’t recognize them as marketing tactics, so they don’t automatically resist them (Harvard Business Review)
- 81% of customers prefer products they can touch and smell, not just see (USPS)
- 65% of consumers have long-lasting scent-linked memories (USPS)
Tactile, sensory, and interactive features like touch, scent, and sound help mailers stand out, get opened, and earn response. The USPS knows this and incentivizes mailers that incorporate these features with discounts.
USPS Tactile, Sensory & Interactive Promotion Discounts
TSI mailers qualify for a 4% discount, but you can get an additional 2% discount – for a total of 6% – with add-ons.
- TSI Mailers: 4% discount
- Informed Delivery (track and preview incoming mail): 1% discount
- Sustainability (use sustainable paper in your mailers): 1% discount
TSI Promotion (4%) + Informed Delivery (1%) + Sustainability (1%) = 6% Total Discount
Important Dates
- Registration period: Dec. 15, 2024 – July 31, 2025
- Promotion period: Feb. 1, 2025 – July 31, 2025
Eligibility
- USPS Marketing Mail letters and flats
- Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail letters and flats
- First-Class Mail letters, cards, and flats
What Qualifies as Tactile, Sensory & Interactive Mailers?
Examples of qualifying TSI elements include:
| Specialty Inks | Sensory Treatments | Interactive Elements |
| Conductive ink | Texture (such as soft touch paper stocks) | 3D designs |
| Reactive ink (light, temperature, pressure, hydro) | Embossing & Debossing (vertical grooves, bubbles, etc.) | Pop-ups |
| Optically variable ink | Non-geometric shape die-cuts | Zip strips |
| Metallic ink | Taste | Clean release cards |
| Scented ink | Visual effects (holographic paper, lenticular, etc.) | Peel & reveal |
| Scratch-offs | ||
| Training edge die-cuts | ||
| Infinite fold |
How to Optimize Savings and Maximize ROI with the USPS Tactile, Sensory & Interactive Promotion
One of the best features about USPS Mailing Promotions is that the discounts can offset much of your envelope production costs. That said, it’s crucial to make informed decisions about your direct mailers to optimize savings and maximize ROI. Considerations include:
- How adding TSI elements impacts production costs
- How much of those costs are offset by discounts
- How to take advantage of add-ons (like sustainable envelopes) to get full discounts
- How to estimate open and response rates increases – in addition to brand reception and recall – when you send TSI mailers versus standard mailers
Priority Envelope is here to help. As a strategic partner, we’re well-versed in USPS rules and the nuances of optimizing direct-mail envelopes for success.
