USPS is giving businesses that have stayed out of direct mail a strong reason to test it in 2027.
The new Direct Mail Discovery Promotion offers qualified companies a 40% postage discount on eligible USPS Marketing Mail letters. The promotion runs from April 1 through September 30, 2027, with registration opening February 15. To qualify as a new mailer, a company must not have used the mail during the previous two years.
The discount applies to as many as 5,000 pieces per mailing. A qualifying company can receive the discount on up to 100,000 total pieces over the course of the promotion. That is enough volume to test multiple audiences, offers or geographic markets without committing to a full national campaign.
The lower postage cost removes one obstacle, but it does not remove the production work required to prepare a successful mailing.
A mailing list must be checked before it reaches the press. USPS requires mailings claiming automation prices to use address information processed through CASS-certified address-matching methods. CASS helps standardize delivery addresses and supply the correct ZIP+4 and delivery-point information. Mailers claiming USPS Marketing Mail prices must also meet the Move Update standard by updating their address records within 95 days of the mailing date.
These steps reduce the number of pieces sent to old, incomplete or undeliverable addresses. They also provide the routing information needed to generate the Intelligent Mail barcode.
For automation USPS Marketing Mail, each piece must carry an accurate Intelligent Mail barcode that agrees with the printed delivery address. The barcode contains routing information used by USPS sorting equipment, along with data that can identify and track the mailpiece. An address can be perfectly readable to a person while the barcode points somewhere else, so the printed address and encoded routing data must be created from the same approved record.
Once the data is prepared, a variable-data inkjet system prints the recipient address and Intelligent Mail barcode on each piece as it moves through production. This can be done on envelopes, self-mailers and other eligible letter-size formats, provided the mailpiece meets the applicable USPS design and automation requirements.
Print quality matters at this stage. Missing bars, ink spread, poor contrast or incorrect placement can interfere with automated processing. A production workflow should confirm that the correct record was printed on every piece and that the barcode remains readable at operating speed.
The Direct Mail Discovery Promotion gives companies room to test the channel at a much lower postage cost. Mailers can use that opportunity to compare lists, offers and response rates across several campaigns. The companies that prepare their address data and production process before the first run will be in a better position to learn from the test instead of spending the discount on mail that never reaches its intended audience.