USPS Direct Mail Promotion Gets Boost from SpyderLynk

The U.S. Postal Service has come up with a summer promotion that aims to show the relevance of direct mail to smartphone marketing. It is called the Mobile Commerce and Personalization Promotion.

For the 2012 round, marketing technology specialist SpyderLynk stated that it will be participating by offering its Buy-it-Now Mobile Commerce codes throughout the summer within consumer direct mailers.

If you recall, SpyderLynk developed the SnapTag, which is much similar to a QR code. A SnapTag, however, is a code ring with visual data aligned in a neat pattern of bars and breaks. Inside the ring is a Facebook, Twitter, or any icon that gives the scanner an idea where SnapTag leads to.

Throughout the promotion, USPS will be offering a discount to customers who use direct letter mail through First-Class or Standard Mail, as well as for cards and flats using a QR code or any other kind of scannable print-mobile code that takes a scanner to a mobile optimized website. The website where the code leads to, however, must be relevant and must be made specifically for a recipient’s needs.

We have previously reported about USPS running another summer promotion that provides a 2% discount on Standard and First-Class Mail that carries a QR code. This year, however, USPS is implementing stricter requirements regarding the online content that the code leads to. More specifically, USPS requires that the code take recipients to meaningful content.

To further sweeten the deal, SpyderLynk is offering a 10% discount to direct mail customers who use SnapTags. The SnapTags are intended to provide a turnkey solution to increase return of investment (ROI) and to lessen acquisition costs.

We think that this promotion is good in that it recognizes the ever-growing importance of mobile marketing and mobile commerce and therefore the need for people to familiarize themselves with mobile marketing resources like quick response codes.