If you don’t think high impact printing on direct mail is worth the cost and effort, consider that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has been providing incentives for marketing campaigns that make use of it.
Why would the post office care? Because successful direct mail campaigns lead to increased postal volume for USPS. In short, it’s just good for business… every business.
The recently ended
Tactile, Sensory & Interactive (TSI) promotion offered USPS commercial customers a 2% postage discount for eligible mailings. It was built around the success of a similar 2015 program. Both programs encouraged businesses to leverage the latest technologies
in the print industry to enhance the sensory engagement of targeted audiences through direct mail to increase levels of engagement.
Cutting Through Direct Mail Clutter
Specifically, TSI required that all mailing collateral be submitted for approval before it would qualify for the discounted pricing. Participants had to incorporate specialty inks, papers and even scents into their mailer designs so that all the special treatments were “visible and distinguishable on the mailpiece.”
The types of ink treatments that were encouraged included:
- Conductive inks that can activate devices like lights or sounds
- Leuco dyes and thermochromics that change color in response to heat
- Photochromic inks that change color with UV light exposure
- Optically variable inks that change appearance when viewed from different angles
- Metallic treatments that reflect light
- Piezochromic inks that respond to pressure
- Hydrochromic inks that change appearance when exposed to liquids
- Clear ink that create artistic effects like patterns or watermarks when used as a fifth color
Specialty paper was also encouraged to create tactile appeal since studies have found the more senses a printed piece can activate, the more likely a recipient is to engage with the material, even when it is unsolicited. That high engagement level can then lead to higher response rates.
Generating High Levels of Engagement
Though the 2016 promotion has ended (stay tuned for 2017), the need to cut through the clutter to generate high levels of engagement has
not. To learn more about how special effects screen printing in your direct mail campaigns can lead to higher engagement and ultimately boost
response rates, get in touch with us to be Anything but Ordinary.
