How creative retail signage, visual merchandising and coordinated store experiences help brands stand out in an increasingly digital world.

Retailers know that getting customers through the door takes more than stocking the shelves.

In a world where nearly anything can be purchased online, physical stores have an advantage that digital shopping can't fully replicate: the opportunity to create an experience. A chance to discover something unexpected. To touch, try and interact with products. To connect with a brand in a way that leaves a lasting impression.

And retailers are investing in that advantage.

According to Retail TouchPoints' 2025 Store Design & Experience Survey, 83% of respondents said investments in store design and experiences had become a bigger organizational priority. And 74% identified experimenting with more creative visual merchandising methods to tell their brand story as a priority.

The momentum continued into 2026. Retail Brew's State of Stores report found that 78% of retailers reported moderate or significant investment in physical stores, with 62% investing in the in-store experience to strengthen brand perception and affinity.

It's an encouraging trend, and one that recognizes the evolving role of physical retail. Beyond transactions, stores are becoming places for discovery, entertainment, community and meaningful brand interactions.

From immersive window displays and seasonal transformations to interactive product demonstrations and unexpected design elements, retail marketing teams are finding creative ways to make their spaces more engaging.

The opportunity is exciting. But bringing those ideas to life across a network of stores introduces another challenge entirely.

A compelling retail environment can make a strong first impression. Keeping that environment fresh gives customers something new to discover.

Seasonal campaigns, product launches, limited-time collaborations and special events offer natural opportunities to transform the in-store experience.

Sometimes that means a dramatic visual overhaul. Other times, it's something as simple as a clever window display, an unexpected prop or a creative merchandising installation that makes shoppers stop and look.

The possibilities extend well beyond traditional signage. Dimensional graphics, specialty materials, custom displays and decorative elements can work together to create environments that are memorable, interactive and worth sharing.

For retailers, the creative possibilities are nearly endless. But the operational realities of producing and distributing those materials can introduce constraints, particularly when campaigns span dozens or hundreds of locations.

That's where the right execution partner can make all the difference.

There's a considerable amount of work between an inspired retail campaign concept and a successful store rollout. The right partner can shrink or amplify that workload, and both impact timelines and cost.

A single campaign might involve window graphics, promotional signage, dimensional displays, decorative props, product samples and installation instructions. Some components are manufactured specifically for the campaign. Others need to be sourced from outside suppliers.

Every element needs to work together, arrive on schedule and be appropriate for the store receiving it.

And individual store requirements often vary.

A flagship location might feature expansive windows, dedicated display areas and custom fixtures. A smaller store may need a scaled-down version of the same campaign. Other locations might have unique building features, different fixtures or different product promotional requirements all together.  

Maintaining a consistent brand experience doesn't necessarily mean sending identical materials to every store. It means making sure each location receives what it needs to execute the campaign as intended.

The more ambitious the retail experience, the more important the execution partner.

For multi-location retailers, thoughtful kitting and fulfillment can take substantial complexity out of campaign execution.

Rather than shipping identical materials to every location and leaving store teams to sort out what they need, store-specific kits can be assembled based on individual requirements.

Consider a seasonal campaign that includes large-format window graphics, countertop signage, hanging displays and decorative props.

Some locations might receive the complete package. Others might require alternate sizes, different quantities or entirely different display configurations.

A coordinated production and fulfillment process accounts for those variations before anything ships.

It also makes it possible to bring together components from multiple sources. Custom-printed signage and graphics can be combined with externally sourced props, specialty fixture hardware and other campaign materials into complete, location-specific kits.

Everything can be assembled, packaged, labeled and distributed according to the rollout schedule, with installation instructions and supporting materials included as needed.

For store teams, that means less time sorting shipments, tracking down missing pieces or figuring out how everything fits together.

For retail marketing and operations teams, it means fewer vendors and logistical details to manage, reduced kitted shipping costs, greater visibility into the rollout and more confidence that their creative vision will be executed consistently. 

And for customers, it means a cohesive brand experience, regardless of which location they visit.

Retail marketers and visual merchandising teams are continually finding new ways to bring their brands to life. The last thing they need is for production limitations or complicated logistics to get in the way of a great idea.

An execution partner with broad capabilities can help remove those barriers.

At Thysse, we bring retail signage production, wide-format printing, specialty fabrication, sourcing coordination, kitting and distribution together under one roof.

That means we can produce the printed and dimensional elements of a retail campaign, coordinate specialty items and props sourced from other vendors, and assemble everything into store-specific shipments.

Our role isn't to tell your team what the next great retail experience should look like. It's to provide the capabilities, flexibility and dependable execution to help you bring it to life.

Whether you're coordinating a seasonal promotion, introducing a new product line or transforming the look and feel of your stores, we help manage the details that make successful execution possible.

Because a great retail experience deserves an equally great rollout.

Have an idea for an upcoming retail campaign? We'd welcome the opportunity to learn what you're planning and explore how Thysse can help with production, sourcing, kitting and distribution.

You bring the vision. We'll help bring it to life.

Choosing a commercial print vendor requires comparing five things: capabilities, quality, turnaround, service and total cost. The right vendor—or combination of vendors—will depend on which of those factors matter most to your organization and how well each supplier fits the work you actually produce.

The mistake is allowing one factor, usually unit price, to make the decision by itself.

Here are eight practical tips for evaluating commercial printing companies and choosing a partner that can deliver the best overall value.

Start by ranking capabilities, quality, turnaround, service and cost based on your organization’s needs.

This seems simple, but it’s often more nuanced than it looks once you really get into it, and there are often competing perspectives within teams. This is where so much conflict, friction and frustration can be avoided—on your end—if your criteria accurately describe what your team really needs.

If you know you’ll need rapid print turn times to capitalize on opportunities or offset internal delays you can predict, make sure your vendor can do that. Do you know you’ll need a lot of consultative communication with your vendor? Are you struggling to manage the print assets and print logistics your organization is deploying? Does color accuracy matter or do you just need a few million mailpieces printed at the lowest possible cost?

Whatever the internal dynamics you’re solving for, how a specific print provider can support and add value to the entire scope of your needs describes the real value they offer. And that’s the advice here: search for maximum value by ranking your needs and using them to select your vendor(s). Best value doesn’t always hit your print budget directly—but it’s ultimately measured in dollars and yields the best ROI when all costs and results are considered.

Give prospective suppliers a realistic picture of the broadest print relationship you’re offering. There’s no reason to withhold real information that’ll enable them to evaluate the opportunity more accurately.

This matters because vendors use their assessment to determine fit, pricing and priority. A larger, well-defined program gives them more flexibility and a stronger incentive to offer favorable pricing.

That may include annual volumes, order frequency, asset types, versioning, seasonal spikes, delivery locations, mailing, inventory, kitting and fulfillment. The clearer the scope, the easier it is for a vendor to understand how well their production, workflow solutions, service model and technology are equipped to meet your needs.

In general, most print providers will tell you directly if something isn’t a good fit. And even if they don’t, that context will cause a bad fit to show up in how they price working with you.

That doesn’t mean every project needs to go to one printer. There’s a balance to be struck between vendor consolidation and optimum vendor partnerships. Carving every asset up to be produced by a specialized vendor means lots of duplicated management, logistics and administrative work for you. One vendor that’s not well equipped for meaningful portions of your print portfolio might cause price inefficiency that can’t justify lower admin costs.

Bottom line: being transparent helps you and your potential vendor(s) navigate to better outcomes more efficiently.

Commercial printing is custom manufacturing. The most efficient production method changes based on quantity, format, material, finishing, quality requirements and turnaround.

You don’t need to know which press should produce every piece. Instead, give vendors several representative projects and ask how they would manufacture and manage them.

It’s always a good idea to find out which capabilities are performed in-house and which rely on production partners. Outsourcing isn’t inherently a problem, particularly when specialty processes are involved. What matters is whether your core or highest-volume work aligns with the vendor’s strengths and who remains accountable for quality, scheduling and communication.

An equipment list can provide an experienced buyer with useful preliminary screening information, but a clear production plan tells you much more about how well the vendor understands your work.

Some of the biggest print challenges happen before and after the press run.

Producing 100,000 identical brochures is one type of job. Producing 40 versions, managing location-level approvals and shipping the correct quantities to 200 destinations is something else entirely.

Each additional version, user, approval and destination creates another opportunity for manual effort or error. The right supporting technology can absorb that complexity without passing it back to your team.

Depending on your program, that may involve an online ordering portal, permission-based asset access, variable-data automation, inventory controls, custom integrations, reporting, kitting or multi-location fulfillment. If customer or company data is involved, security and access controls should also be part of the evaluation.

The simplest way to test these capabilities is with a realistic scenario. Ask each vendor to walk you through how a representative order would move from request and approval through production, quality control and delivery. You’ll learn more from that conversation than you will from anything on their website.

If you’re using an RFP/RFQ process to screen ahead of conversational screening, make sure you’re surveying for support, technology, security and any other relevant “non-production” vendor attributes you value.

Most capable printers can show you an impressive sample. The more important question is whether they can deliver that quality consistently across an entire order—and then repeat it on the next one.

Ask how files are inspected, how proofs are produced and approved, how color is managed and how finished work is evaluated. If your print needs span many substrates or you need a mix of relatively large and small assets, that’ll require different printers or “print devices” to be used. Find out how the printer maintains consistency between them. Certifications such as G7 can provide useful evidence of process control when color consistency is important, but no credential replaces a discussion about your actual expectations.

Also ask what happens when something misses the mark. A vendor’s process for identifying, communicating and correcting a problem is part of its quality system.

For a substantial opportunity, consider assigning a representative test project. Choose something complex enough to reveal how the vendor prepares files, communicates, solves problems and controls the finished product.

Quality isn’t defined by the best piece in a run—it’s defined by hitting specs consistently.

Turnaround isn’t simply the number of days shown on an estimate. It includes quoting, file preparation, proofing, approvals, production, finishing and delivery.

Ask vendors to explain when their production clock begins, how material availability affects scheduling and what happens when files or approvals arrive late. Discuss rush work, peak periods and how potential delays are communicated.

Service is closely connected. Find out who will manage the day-to-day work, who provides coverage when that person is unavailable and how urgent issues are escalated. If response times, reporting or inventory updates are important, define those expectations instead of assuming every vendor approaches them the same way.

Pay attention to the vendor’s behavior during the evaluation. The speed and quality of its questions, follow-up and recommendations may be the best preview of the service you’ll receive later.

A low-priced vendor that requires constant supervision can quickly become expensive—in many ways.

Evaluate price after determining which vendors can meet your capability, quality, turnaround and service requirements.

First, make sure the quotes represent equivalent solutions. One vendor may include proofs, file preparation, freight, data processing or fulfillment while another lists them separately—or hasn’t accounted for them yet.

If there’s one place to stumble, it’s here. Ensure you don’t exclude the transparent vendors that are likely a better fit in favor of those that withheld admin fees and other hidden costs. There are real costs to managing inventory, shipping and handling and software solution maintenance. Expect transparency around how they’re handled and scrutinize vague or too-good-to-be-true pricing.

Finally, look at the value the vendor can create. A format change might unlock significant savings. A different way to manage production and inventory management could reduce real costs by deviating from how you’re envisioning an asset would be ordered. Combining work may improve production efficiency. Better mail preparation could reduce postage. An ordering portal might remove repetitive tasks from your team.

The goal is the lowest total burdened cost—not simply the lowest unit price. If your prospective vendors accurately understand what you’re trying to achieve, this is where the best-fit ones can create the most value.

A good partner is a competitive advantage and a strategic asset. Research and scorecards can narrow the field, but don’t make the final decision without meeting the people who would manage your work.

Treat the meeting more like an interview than a sales presentation. Pay attention to the questions the vendor asks you. Is the conversation focused primarily on equipment and pricing, or is the team trying to understand your objectives, workflow, internal workload and definition of success?

You’re evaluating more than production capabilities. You’re evaluating the people you’ll depend on when specifications change, deadlines tighten or a problem needs to be solved quickly.

If feasible, do it in person and tour the facility. Virtual meetings haven’t changed the fact that the best way to really get a sense of who you’re dealing with is to meet them and see their operations with your own eyes.

AI can play a useful role in selecting a new print vendor. From surveying your internal team about the attributes they prioritize to overlaying your print asset ecosystem on the vendors that are out there, AI can streamline the process. You can give it this article and see what it thinks—ask it to help you develop your decision matrices or prepare questions for your vendors.

If permitted, let it digest RFP responses and meeting transcripts across vendors to identify unanswered questions, pose new ones and look for mismatched assumptions. You can also give the complete analysis to a second AI model and ask it to audit the work for overlooked costs, unsupported conclusions and inconsistent comparisons.

For best results, use AI as an analyst and advisor, not the final decision-maker.

There is no single best commercial printer for every organization.

The right choice depends on what you produce, how complex the work is, how much support your team needs and what creates value for your organization. The best partner may not have the lowest quote or the longest equipment list. It will have the right combination of production capabilities, supporting technology, reliable quality and people who make the work easier to manage.

Define your priorities, evaluate vendors against your real scope and compare the complete value of each solution. That’s how you find a print partner that can protect your brand, reduce headaches and deliver when it matters. That sort of vendor partnership is a strategic advantage, and it’s worth the legwork to establish.

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If you’re looking for a commercial print partner and Thysse’s broad capabilities match what you’re looking for, reach out. Our team is happy to offer insights and deeper capability discussion centered on your unique needs. Our goal is always to develop solutions and relationships that endure because of the value they create. We’re transparent about what we can and can’t do, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

The challenge is not accessing every possible data point. It is choosing the signals that support your campaign, workflow and goals.

That may begin with daily mailpiece tracking. Over time, you might add campaign dashboards, personalized QR codes, Informed Delivery or a connection to your CRM (customer relationship management) platform.

Build what you need. Add layers as you grow.

A direct mail signal stack is the collection of data sources and reporting tools used to understand what happens before, during and after a mailpiece reaches its destination.

Each layer provides a different view of campaign activity:

• Live mail signals show the live movement and estimated delivery of individual mailpieces
• Campaign dashboards summarize performance across an entire drop
• Personalized QR data shows when and which recipients scan
• Informed Delivery adds insight into digital preview engagement
• CRM connections bring those signals into the systems your teams already use

These layers can work independently. They become more powerful when they are connected.

Mailpiece scan data provides visibility into where individual pieces are within the mail stream and when they are expected to reach their destination.

That information can help teams:

• Monitor mail activity
• Track engagement by recipient
• Prioritize outreach
• Send timely follow-up

Instead of scheduling follow-up from the original mail date, your team can use live USPS scan data to communicate when the piece is in the recipient’s hands.

How Does the Data Reach Your CRM?

There are two common ways to bring mail signals into your workflow.

A manual upload can be an effective starting point for teams that want access to the data without a more involved integration. An API connection creates a more automated flow when the volume or workflow calls for it.

Get CRM-ready reporting on your direct mail campaigns

Individual mailpiece signals are useful for recipient-level activity. Campaign dashboards provide a broader view.

Dashboards turn mail tracking data into a visual overview that can help your team monitor:

• Mailpieces scanned

• Pieces tracked to delivery

• Delivery completion

• Average delivery time

• Scan activity over time

• Geographic activity

• Performance across recent drops

This bird’s-eye view makes it easier to identify patterns without sorting through individual reports.

A dashboard can also help teams compare campaign timing, monitor geographic differences and communicate results internally.

Personalized QR codes extend measurement beyond delivery.

Because each code can be connected to an individual recipient, teams can see:

• Total QR scans

• Scans by recipient

• Scan timing

While this does not necessarily indicate that someone completed a purchase, form or other conversion, it does show that the recipient interacted with the mailpiece and can help identify where engagement occurred.

That data supports campaign analysis, getting ahead of conversions and enables tailored and informed follow-up. When testing or versioning, this data can give live insights into which is performing better, allowing you to quickly adjust sales to the changing weather.

Qualifying campaigns may also receive a 5% USPS postage discount through the Integrated Technology promotion.

Haven’t Used Personalized QR Codes?

Thysse can help add personalized QR codes to your campaign and connect the resulting scan activity to your reporting strategy.

Informed Delivery gives enrolled recipients a digital preview of incoming mail before they interact with the physical piece. As of 2026, USPS Informed Delivery has surpassed 74 million enrolled customers, with over 60 million active registered users. 

Campaign reporting can include:

• Emails sent

• Opens

• Clicks

That creates an additional engagement layer before the mailpiece reaches the mailbox. The average open rate for the daily digest emails hovers between 59% and 62%, which significantly outpaces standard marketing email benchmarks.

Informed Delivery data is available for up to 90 days, giving teams time to review digital activity alongside physical delivery and campaign response.

Qualifying campaigns can also receive an additional 1% USPS discount when Informed Delivery is included.

Direct mail data becomes more useful when teams can access it where they already work.

Depending on your signal stack, that connected view may include:

Actionable mail data
Daily mailpiece activity that supports timely follow-up.

Bird’s-eye dashboards
Campaign-level delivery trends and performance.

Personalized QR engagement
Recipient-level scan activity.

Pre-mailbox views
Digital engagement through Informed Delivery.

Your CRM
One connected view that Sales and Marketing can use.

Bringing these signals together can help teams understand what was sent, when it was likely delivered, how recipients engaged and what should happen next.

You do not need every layer on day one.

A team may begin with daily mail tracking reports, then add a dashboard as campaign volume grows. Personalized QR codes or Informed Delivery enable a deep dive on recipient-level engagement. CRM automation can follow when manual uploads are no longer efficient—for many of our customers, this CRM integrated piece becomes critical quickly.

The right direct mail signal stack is not necessarily the most complex one. It is the one that gives your team the visibility needed to make better decisions.

Trusted data from the source. Better attribution. Stronger results.

USPS promotions may not be the most exciting part of planning a campaign—but saving on postage certainly helps.

For 2027, USPS has five promotions, two stackable add-ons and three incentives. These programs are designed to reduce postage costs when mailers use specialty finishes, connect print to digital experiences, choose qualifying sustainable paper, grow mail volume or test direct mail for the first time.

A quick note before we dive in: USPS has released final 2027 guidance for First-Class Mail Advertising, Tactile, Sensory & Interactive, Integrated Technology, Impact Messaging and both add-ons. Guidance for Direct Mail Discovery is still being finalized, and additional 2027 Mail Growth details are expected. We’ll keep updating this guide as USPS releases new information.

One rule worth knowing: Mailpieces that actively encourage recipients to go paperless or opt out of receiving mail aren't eligible for USPS promotion or add-on discounts. You can still promote digital experiences — just not by discouraging mail.

Jump to a Section

Catalog Insights Ended

Following the end of the Catalog Insights Promotion, USPS introduced a new Catalog Incentive effective July 12, 2026. It offers $0.001 in savings per qualifying piece — a very different savings structure from the former promotion.

Continuous Contact Ended

The Continuous Contact Promotion is not included in the 2027 lineup.

Mailers that previously used it may want to explore other opportunities based on their campaign, including Integrated Technology, Informed Delivery or the Mail Growth Incentive.

PROMOTIONS

At a Glance

Savings: 5% postage discount

Runs: May 1–September 30, 2027

Registration: March 15–September 30, 2027

Eligible Mail:

• First-Class Mail Letters, Postcards and Flats
• Commercial and nonprofit Marketing Mail Letters and Flats

New for 2027

Impact Messaging is an entirely new promotion.

The qualifying message must encourage mail creation, promote USPS offerings or highlight the value of mail. A strong headline or call to action alone is not enough.

Impact Messaging Examples

Business-to-business: A commercial printer sends a letter explaining how personalized mail can help a company reach prospects and support a larger campaign.

Business-to-consumer: A marketing services provider sends educational mail to local business owners about using direct mail for customer acquisition and retention.

Nonprofit: A professional association shares direct-mail fundraising tips with nonprofit communicators or development professionals.

Keep in Mind

The piece may promote your services, but it should also teach the recipient something meaningful about using mail.

At a Glance

Savings: 40% postage discount

Register: February 15–September 30, 2027

Proposed Run: April 1–September 30, 2027

2027 details reflect current proposed USPS program terms and may change when final guidance is released.

Eligible Mail:

• Commercial and nonprofit Marketing Mail Letters
• The mailing must be from a business or organization that has either never mailed before or has not mailed in at least two years.

Program Limits:

Up to 5,000 pieces per mailing

Up to 100,000 discounted pieces during the promotion period

New for 2027

Direct Mail Discovery is an entirely new promotion for businesses and organizations entering or returning to the mail channel.

Direct Mail Discovery Examples

Business-to-business: A SaaS company sends a letter package with onboarding materials and branded collateral to welcome a newly signed business customer and support a strong start to the relationship.

Business-to-consumer: A home services company introduces itself to households in its service area with a seasonal offer.

Nonprofit: A nonprofit organization sends a letter from its executive director to support a donor acquisition or membership campaign and re-engage its audience through direct mail.

Keep in Mind

A new campaign does not make an existing mailer “new.” The organization itself must meet the USPS new-mailer definition.

At a Glance

Savings: 5% postage discount

Runs: April 1–December 31, 2027

Registration: February 15–December 31, 2027

Eligible Mail:

• First-Class Mail Letters, Postcards and Flats

What’s New for 2027?

First-Class Mail advertising has more room to work. Standalone First-Class advertising pieces can qualify, as can marketing messages incorporated into another First-Class piece. New for 2027, supplemental enclosures such as buck slips, blow-in cards and sticky notes may also qualify when they carry an eligible marketing message.

First-Class Mail Advertising Examples

Business-to-business: A financial services company includes an insert promoting treasury management with a business account communication.

Business-to-consumer: A healthcare organization promotes a seasonal flu-shot clinic and directs recipients to schedule an appointment.

Nonprofit: A membership organization includes information about an event, renewal opportunity or giving campaign with an annual report.

At a Glance

Savings: 3% for Basic treatments or 5% for Advanced treatments

Runs: January 1–June 30, 2027

Registration: October 15, 2026–June 30, 2027

Eligible Mail:

• First-Class Mail Letters, Postcards and Flats
• Commercial and nonprofit Marketing Mail Letters and Flats

What’s New for 2027?

The program now has two discount levels:

3% for Basic Techniques
Things like conductive inks, thermochromics, metallic/optically variable inks, pressure-sensitive ink, non-UV gloss treatments, perforated cards and holographic stickers are considered Basic.

5% for Advanced Techniques
Soft touch, distinguishable embossing, unique textures, scent, holographic/lenticular treatments, UV gloss, 3-D mailers, pop-ups, peel-and-reveal/scratch-offs and pull-open zip strips fall into Advanced.

Tactile, Sensory and Interactive Examples

Business-to-business: A manufacturer uses embossing or a textured coating to reinforce the quality of its materials.

Business-to-consumer: A home furnishings brand uses soft touch to evoke the feel of its products.

Nonprofit: A fundraising appeal uses a peel-and-reveal, pop-up or pull-open zip strip to reveal a donor story or campaign result.

Keep in Mind

Not every unusual fold or coating qualifies. USPS is looking for treatments that are visible, distinguishable and meaningfully add to the mail experience.

At a Glance

Savings: 5% postage discount

Runs: Your choice of six consecutive months in 2027

Registration: November 15, 2026–December 31, 2027

Eligible Mail:

• First-Class Mail Letters, Postcards and Flats
• Commercial and nonprofit Marketing Mail Letters and Flats 

Qualifying Technologies

Qualifying technologies include augmented reality, mixed reality, virtual reality, video in print, near-field communication, mobile shopping, voice integrations and artificial intelligence.

AI is officially part of the promotion for 2027.

Qualifying uses can include AI-generated copy, imagery or mailpiece design, as well as mail that connects recipients to an AI-powered chatbot. USPS requires documentation showing how the technology contributed to the final piece, so this one benefits from planning early.

Integrated Technology Examples

Business-to-business: A manufacturer lets prospects explore equipment features through augmented reality.

Business-to-consumer: A retailer connects a mailpiece to an interactive product or mobile shopping experience.

Nonprofit: An organization links recipients to an immersive donor story or virtual facility tour.

Keep in Mind

A QR code can be the trigger, but the QR code itself isn't the promotion. It needs to lead to a qualifying digital experience and include clear directional copy.

ADD-ONS

At a Glance

Savings: 1% additional postage discount

Runs: January 1–December 31, 2027

Registration: October 15, 2026–December 31, 2027

Eligible Mail:

• First-Class Mail Automation Letters, Postcards and Flats
• Commercial and nonprofit Marketing Mail Automation Letters and Flats
• Qualifying DDU-entered Carrier Route Saturation Flats

How Informed Delivery Supports Direct Mail

A branded digital image and linked call to action can create an additional impression before or around the time the physical piece arrives.

Informed Delivery Examples

Business-to-business: Reinforce a prospecting letter with a campaign-specific landing page.

Business-to-consumer: Pair a mailed offer with a direct link to shop, register or book an appointment.

Nonprofit: Complement a fundraising appeal with a campaign image and donation link.

Keep in Mind

Informed Delivery is not a standalone promotion. It must be paired with an eligible base promotion.

At a Glance

Savings: 1% additional postage discount

Runs: January 1–December 31, 2027

Registration: October 15, 2026–December 31, 2027

Eligible Mail:

• First-Class Mail Letters, Postcards and Flats
• Commercial and nonprofit Marketing Mail Letters and Flats

Certification Requirements

Qualifying certifications include FSC, SFI, PEFC and several other USPS-recognized certification programs. Other certifications may also be submitted to USPS for review.

Sustainability Examples

Business-to-business: A company supports its environmental commitments with qualifying certified paper.

Business-to-consumer: A brand reinforces a responsible product or sourcing message.

Nonprofit: An organization aligns its fundraising materials with its environmental values.

Keep in Mind

Confirm the paper certification and documentation requirements before production. This is an add-on and must be paired with an eligible base promotion.

Informed Delivery and Sustainability are add-ons, not standalone promotions. A mailing must first qualify for an eligible base promotion before either add-on can be applied.

When all requirements are met, both add-ons may be used on the same qualifying mailing.

INCENTIVES

At a Glance

Savings: 20% discount

Effective: July 12, 2026

Eligible Mail:

• USPS Marketing Mail High Density Plus and Saturation Letters and Flats, including EDDM-Commercial, under 2 ounces

Key Requirements:

At least four different advertisers per mailpiece

At least 10 qualifying mailings during each 12-month cycle, tracked by Mail Owner CRID

How Marriage Mail Works

Marriage Mail is the classic “shared coupon packet” model. Multiple advertisers appear in one mailpiece, and that piece is mailed broadly across a route or neighborhood. Instead of targeting a narrow list of individual customers, Saturation and High Density Plus mailings are built to reach most or nearly all addresses in a defined delivery area.

Marriage Mail Examples

Business-to-business: Local business service providers participate in a shared piece targeting small-business owners.

Business-to-consumer: Restaurants, retailers and home services companies combine offers in one household mailpiece.

Nonprofit: A community organization participates alongside local businesses to promote an event or service.

Keep in Mind

The individual advertiser generally does not qualify independently. The combined mailpiece and mailing program must meet all requirements.

At a Glance

Credit: 30% on qualifying incremental volume

Proposed baseline: January–December 2026

Proposed performance period: January–December 2027

Proposed registration: March–May 2027

2027 details reflect current proposed USPS program terms and may change when final guidance is released.

Eligible Mail May Include:

• First-Class Mail Presort and Automation Letters, Cards and Flats
• Commercial and nonprofit Marketing Mail Letters and Flats
• Marketing Mail Carrier Route categories
• High Density, High Density Plus and Saturation Mail
• Qualifying Parcels

How the Postage Credit Works

The credit applies only to qualifying volume above the applicable USPS-established baseline or threshold.

Mail Growth Incentive Examples

Business-to-business: Expand a successful prospecting or account-development program.

Business-to-consumer: Increase acquisition, loyalty or seasonal campaign volume.

Nonprofit: Grow donor-acquisition, renewal, membership or fundraising mail.

Keep in Mind

Registration, minimum-volume and credit-use rules will apply. Review expected volume before the registration window closes.

At a Glance

Incentive: $0.001 per qualifying piece

Effective: July 12, 2026

Catalog Requirements

• Contain at least 12 pages
• Be bound along one edge
• Present an organized listing of products or services for sale
• Include images and descriptions
• Include pricing or a way to determine pricing
• Provide information needed to place an order

Catalog Incentive Examples

Business-to-business: A manufacturer mails a product catalog to customers, dealers or purchasing teams.

Business-to-consumer: A retailer mails a seasonal or annual product catalog.

Nonprofit: A museum, school or association presents merchandise, programs or paid offerings in a qualifying catalog format.

Keep in Mind

This is not the former 10% Catalog Insights Promotion.

Not every mail class, piece format or base promotion will qualify for every combination. Confirm eligibility before building stacked savings into the campaign budget.

The strongest promotion strategy starts with the audience and campaign goal—not the discount.

Before selecting a promotion or incentive, consider:

• Who are you trying to reach?
• What should recipients do next?
• Which mail format supports the message?
• Could a tactile feature or digital experience improve the campaign?
• Does the added production cost make sense after the postage savings?
• What approvals, certifications or documentation will be required?
• How much lead time will creative development and USPS approval require?

Planning early gives your team more time to choose the right format, develop qualifying creative and complete any required approvals.

Thysse can help you evaluate promotion opportunities, prepare mailing data and manage creative, production and postal execution.

Interested in using a 2027 promotion or incentive? Talk with Thysse before finalizing your campaign. We can help review the current requirements and identify the right opportunity for your mailing.

USPS has released final guidance for most 2027 promotions and add-ons. Details for Direct Mail Discovery and the 2027 Mail Growth Incentive remain subject to final USPS guidance and regulatory approval. Dates, discounts, eligible mail categories and technical requirements may change where final program rules have not yet been published.

“What will my exact postage cost be?”

It’s one of the most common questions we get—and a completely fair one.

But here’s the reality: we can’t give you an exact postage cost until we process your mailing list.

That’s not a delay tactic. It’s just how postage actually works.

Postage cost isn’t just based on your mail piece—size, weight, and format only tell part of the story.

What really determines your postage cost is your mailing list—and how it performs once it’s prepared for the mailstream.

The biggest factor in your postage cost is something most people never think about: density.

In simple terms, density is how concentrated your recipients are within specific ZIP codes.

For example:

• 1,000 recipients in one ZIP code

• 5 recipients in another

Those groups won’t have the same postage cost.

“The denser your list is within a ZIP code, the better your postage rate will be for that area,” Ehrke explains.

The postal system rewards efficiency. When more pieces are going to the same area, they move through the mailstream more efficiently—which qualifies them for lower postage rates.

Here’s the key idea: every address in your mailing list is evaluated and grouped based on how efficiently it can be delivered.

That process—often referred to as list processing—includes a few critical steps:

• Address standardization (CASS)

• National Change of Address (NCOA) updates

• Deduplication and cleanup

• Presorting for postal discounts

This process identifies invalid addresses, updates moves, removes duplicates, and organizes your list in a way that maximizes postal efficiency.

Only after this work is complete can we determine your true postage cost.

So while we can estimate postage cost with reasonable accuracy, we can’t quote it exactly until your list is processed.

Density and list quality are major drivers, but your final postage cost can also vary based on:

• Mail class (Marketing Mail, First-Class, Nonprofit)

• USPS promotions and discounts

• How the mail is prepared and entered into the mailstream

Each of these factors plays a role—but only after your list is properly processed.

So what happens if someone does give you an exact postage cost upfront?

That’s worth a closer look.

In some cases, a mail service provider (MSP) may structure pricing in ways that make postage appear fixed or predictable—but that doesn’t always reflect the true underlying postage cost.

Postage may be blended into print, design and other marketing or service costs to present a simplified or flat rate.

In most cases, those costs are still being accounted for—just not always transparently tied to the actual postage.

Commingling combines your mail with other mailings to increase density and qualify for better rates.

This can produce pricing that’s very close to a quote. However, without proper list hygiene upfront, you may be paying based on your original list size—even if not every record ultimately qualifies to be mailed.

In either scenario, the number you receive may function like a “quote”—but it’s not always directly tied to how your specific list performs once processed.

Exact USPS postage cost isn’t something that can be quoted upfront—it’s calculated after your list is properly processed.

And that’s a good thing—because accurate postage cost doesn’t come from assumptions.

It comes from doing the work upfront.

Brand control used to be relatively centralized, even without concerted management effort.

Marketing owned the message. Creative teams owned execution. And while there were always exceptions, most outward-facing brand messaging passed through a defined set of hands before it reached the market. That structure didn’t guarantee perfection, but it did create a level of consistency that brands could rely on.

That’s no longer the case.

Today, AI is enabling branded content to be created by teams that traditionally didn’t. Sales and leadership teams are producing their own materials. Non-designers are producing visual assets with tools that are faster and more capable than ever. And AI is accelerating all of it—turning rough ideas into polished outputs in seconds.

This is where print introduces a unique dimension to that management equation.

Not because it is inherently risky, but because it is less forgiving.

Once something is physical—once it’s printed, shipped, or installed—it becomes a fixed representation of the brand at a specific moment in time. That representation can persist for months or even years, which raises the stakes significantly.

Print doesn’t create brand risk, but it can reveal it.

That shift is powerful. It’s also introducing a new kind of risk.

Because while more people can now create content that looks “finished,” creators trained to evaluate whether it’s actually on-brand aren’t always involved—at all. Tone, hierarchy, color, messaging nuance—mistakes in these details don’t always register unless you’ve been trained on the brand, know the rules, and can see where it breaks. And when those details slip, so does the brand.

And it is a slip, not a sudden break.

It’s a subtle and quiet drift—innocuous enough to make intervention feel uncomfortable. Imposing an approval process on teams reveling in their newfound creative capabilities can feel like killing their mic, but brand communication isn’t karaoke. 

But in this new operating reality, content velocity is up and brands may be drifting more than internal teams realize. Like anosmia, or “smell blindness,” it’s often hardest to perceive these changes from within the organization that’s drifting.

At the same time, buying behavior is evolving. Audiences aren’t simply accepting content overload—they’re developing more efficient filters to deal with it. They’re looking for quick signals to determine what’s credible, what’s relevant, and what can be ignored.

In a crowded environment, consistency is one of those signals.

It reflects how disciplined the organization is, how aligned its teams are, and how much attention it pays to detail.

Those details are more consequential than they may seem because they offer a glimpse behind the curtain. People notice—and they trust those signals more than anything a brand says about itself.

Valuing this is why iconic brands go to such lengths to ensure there’s no seam in the curtain for customers to see behind—and ideally, nothing behind the curtain period.

At its core, brand management encompasses everything—service, product, digital experiences, physical environments, and print. Every touchpoint connects to brand equity, either reinforcing or eroding it.

Solving this doesn’t require slowing down content creation, but it does require a structured approach to manage it.

The organizations that get this right don’t necessarily limit who can create. They build systems that are broad enough to manage it and fast enough to keep up. The latter is key.

Digital content has increased nearly 90-fold since 2010 (Statista/Semrush Report), but the systems used to govern brand have not scaled at the same rate. Marketing budgets have remained relatively flat as a percentage of revenue, even as the number of channels, formats, and contributors has expanded dramatically (Gartner CMO Spend Survey). At the same time, the marketing technology landscape has grown from roughly 150 tools in 2011 to more than 11,000 today (Chiefmartec Marketing Technology Landscape), increasing the number of systems and stakeholders involved in producing branded content.

The result is a widening gap between how fast brands can create content and how effectively they can manage it. Most organizations are now operating in an environment where content creation is effectively unconstrained, while brand oversight remains finite.

That imbalance is starting to show. Studies consistently find that a majority of organizations struggle with maintaining brand consistency across channels, despite recognizing its impact on revenue and trust (Marq Brand Consistency Report).

For marketing leaders, this creates a new operational reality: brand is no longer constrained by how much your organization can produce—but by how much it can control.

Print is often treated as a separate discipline, and in reality, it is one of the most unforgiving expressions of brand.

It forces decisions. It removes ambiguity. And once executed, it leaves little room for correction.

Managing print effectively requires two things:

1. Partners that can execute to brand standards consistently

This includes not just visual alignment, but production precision—color accuracy, material quality, and process control. Standards like G7 are critical here, ensuring that what is designed is what is produced, every time.

2. Systems that control how brand assets are used

Brand portals and similar print asset management systems allow organizations to scale access without sacrificing control. Teams can order what they need, when they need it, but within a structured environment where templates, permissions, and approvals ensure that brand standards are maintained down to the substrates specified and the devices running the work.

The key is balance.

The goal is not to create bottlenecks that slow teams down. It’s to remove the ability to unintentionally go off-brand while preserving the speed modern organizations require.

In an environment where content creation is accelerating and decentralizing, brand management can’t efficiently rely on oversight alone. The right partners and a durable, systematic approach to brand governance can mitigate brand risk and meet the creation moment AI has ushered in. Because the brands that win won’t be the ones that create the most content.

They’ll be the ones that stay recognizable while doing it.

In direct mail, speed matters. Accuracy matters. And the less friction between a finished mailing and the USPS mail stream, the better.

That’s why we’re excited to share that Thysse is now a Seamless Acceptance mail provider.

There are two primary levels of USPS commercial mail participation—Basic and Full-Service Intelligent Mail. Within Full-Service, providers can achieve Seamless Acceptance status, which reflects top-tier performance in mail accuracy, documentation, and process control.

Thysse made the move to operate in “Seamless Parallel” for the past year, which enabled the USPS to monitor and score our performance. Based on those results, Thysse is approved to make this transition.

This is a tremendous team achievement—one that reflects the consistency and discipline of our mailing operation. Special recognition is due to Kristina Peer, Certified Mail Design Professional and Mail Center Manager, who led this effort and the performance required to reach this level.

For our clients, nothing about how you work with us needs to change. But behind the scenes, this marks a meaningful operational advancement—one that allows us to move qualifying mail into the postal system faster and with greater efficiency.

Seamless Acceptance is a USPS program that shifts mail verification away from manual, local post office inspections and toward electronic verification through USPS mail processing equipment and Intelligent Mail barcode scans. In practical terms, that means qualifying mailings move through acceptance with fewer manual touchpoints—and fewer opportunities for delay.

Your team won’t need to learn a new process or interact with us differently. The benefits of Seamless Acceptance happen behind the scenes—in how mail is verified, entered, and released into the USPS network.

This is less about changing the client experience and more about strengthening the system behind it.

The most meaningful client-facing advantage is speed—specifically, how quickly mail moves from production into the USPS mail stream.

Under traditional workflows, mailings often require manual verification at the local post office before they can move on. With Seamless Acceptance, that verification happens electronically, removing a common bottleneck and reducing handling time.

Seamless Acceptance also improves how mail flows through the system.

With fewer manual checkpoints and more direct entry into USPS workflows, we’re able to reduce unnecessary handling and better manage how mail moves from our facility to its destination.

One of the most important things to understand about this transition is what it represents.

Many of the requirements behind Seamless Acceptance already existed—but the thresholds are tighter. The tolerances are smaller. The expectations for clean data, accurate documentation, and disciplined execution are higher.

That’s why becoming a Seamless Acceptance provider matters.

It reflects the level of precision our team operates with every day—and validates the systems we’ve built to support it.

For clients, that should be reassuring. The mail partner you rely on operates at the highest levels of control and consistency.

At Thysse, direct mail isn’t about producing printed pieces—it’s about helping clients execute the important mail initiatives that support their missions. Seamless Acceptance enhances Thysse’s ability to do exactly that.

There’s a particular kind of fiscal responsibility that ultimately ends up costing more money. It looks like prudence. It involves phrases like “we’ll revisit this next cycle” and “let’s see how enrollment numbers shake out.” It is, in practice, a decision to pay more for the same outcome later.

This isn't an argument for reckless spending. The math on waiting has gotten genuinely worse with increased costs of construction and deferred maintenance on top of enrollment competition. In addition there's the counterintuitive pressure that in a world growing more digital and more saturated with AI-generated content, physical space isn't losing value. It's gaining it.

At the exact moment higher education is under the most budget pressure it has faced in decades, the experience of the built environment has become more valuable as a differentiator—not less.

Consider what’s happening to digital channels. McKinsey reports that 78% of organizations now use AI in at least one business function, and the volume of AI-generated content online has grown accordingly. Deloitte’s research documents a measurable rise in screen fatigue, with users growing more skeptical of digital-first experiences precisely because there are so many of them. Meanwhile, return-to-office rates in the corporate sector climbed from 35% to 68% between 2023 and 2024—a signal that people, when given the choice, are increasingly drawn back to spaces that facilitate personal interaction.

When every inbox is full of AI-generated email and every social feed is algorithmically optimized, a physical space that feels considered, welcoming, and distinctly itself carries a kind of weight that a banner ad simply cannot.

The stakes are clearest in recruitment. The well-documented demographic cliff—a projected decline in traditional college-age students through the late 2020s—means institutions are competing more intensely for a smaller pool. Prospective students and their families tour campuses and make consequential decisions, at least partly, on the basis of how a place feels.

Research consistently links environmental clarity such as intuitive wayfinding, coherent signage, and a legible sense of institutional identity, to belonging and retention outcomes. And belonging, it turns out, is among the most reliable predictors of student persistence. Surveys of incoming students have found that a significant share experience real navigation difficulties on campus during their first weeks. 

Prospective students tour a lot of campuses. The ones that feel invested in, legible, and proud of themselves stay in memory differently than the ones that don’t. The irony is that facility branding investments like wayfinding systems, building entry sequences, and exterior campus identity are among the highest-visibility, lowest-cost-per-impression investments an institution can make. They’re also among the most frequently deferred.

The practical case for acting now, even in a constrained budget environment, comes down to three compounding pressures.

+18.5% increase in the Producer Price Index for nonresidential construction inputs at peak (2022)—and costs have not returned to pre-pandemic norms.  — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

3.6% Higher Education Price Index increase in FY2025—nearly double the 2.2% historical average. The cost of doing anything on a university campus is rising faster than general inflation.  — HEPI / Commonfund

>32% deferred maintenance shortfall at many institutions, with backlogs exceeding $140 per gross square foot—and growing each year renewal work is deferred.  — Gordian Facilities Condition Assessment

That third number is worth exploring more deeply. Deferred maintenance functions like compound interest, except it works against you. Every year the backlog grows. The eventual project becomes larger, more disruptive, and ultimately more expensive. Experiential graphic design work done in parallel with needed maintenance is dramatically more cost-efficient than scheduling separate mobilizations. The coordination savings are real, and they disappear when projects are separated by years.

Taken together, these three pressures mean that a project deferred one budget cycle is rarely the same project when it comes back around. It’s a bigger project, at a higher unit cost, and is competing for funding against a larger backlog.

None of this requires a wholesale renovation strategy. When the budget is uncertain, the problem isn't necessarily the budget. The problem is the order of operations.

High-visibility, low-regret investments share three characteristics: they would need to be done regardless of timing, they have outsized impact on first impressions and day-to-day experience, and they hold their value across a range of future institutional scenarios. Building entry sequences, exterior wayfinding, campus identity signage at key arrival points, and student-facing environmental graphics in high-traffic spaces fit all three of these characteristics.

Facility enhancements that are intentionally designed to perform fit neatly into the category of investments that look right in every outcome, not speculative or temporary expenditures just for show. When recruitment increases, it’s a smart brand investment. If budget pressure intensifies further, it’s already done. If a larger renovation follows, it acts as a standards guide that shapes everything that comes after.

It’s “spend now on the things you’ll have to spend on anyway before the same work costs more, and before the competitive window narrows further.”

Phased investment also offers something underappreciated in higher ed capital planning: momentum. A visible, well-executed entry sequence or wayfinding system signals institutional care to every student, faculty member, and prospective family who walks through campus. That signal compounds in ways that a deferred project never can.

Facilities professionals are accustomed to the question “can we afford to do this?” It’s the right question most of the time. But in the current environment, there’s a companion question worth asking alongside it: can we afford to keep not doing this?

The costs of inaction aren’t invisible. They show up in construction estimates that are higher every year, in deferred maintenance that grows quietly in the background, in prospective students who toured three other campuses before they got to yours, and in the cumulative impression that a place hasn’t been cared for.

Phased facility investment, focused on the highest-visibility moments in the campus experience, is not a luxury argument. In 2026, it’s increasingly a fiscal argument with directly measurable outcomes.

The math doesn’t favor waiting.

Sources & References

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Producer Price Index: Net Inputs to Nonresidential Construction, Goods (WPUIP2312001). bls.gov

Commonfund Institute. Higher Education Price Index (HEPI), FY2025. commonfund.org

Gordian. Facilities Condition Assessment Benchmarks and Deferred Maintenance Data, 2024. gordian.com

McKinsey & Company. “The State of AI,” 2024. mckinsey.com

Deloitte. Digital Consumer Trends Survey, 2024. deloitte.com

CBRE / JLL. Return-to-Office Trends, 2023–2024.

SCUP / APPA. Campus Planning and Facilities Research. scup.org / appa.org

Before retiring in 2024, Dean Bott, Thysse’s President, took one last walk through our Oregon, Wisconsin headquarters—a space he helped shape during his nine-year tenure with the company and more than fifty years in the printing industry.

Dean was known for giving the best tours in the building. For guests who truly loved the craft of printing, those tours could stretch for hours—filled with stories, insights, and small details that revealed just how much he cared about this work and the people behind it.

When Dean announced his retirement, we couldn’t let him leave without capturing one of those tours in video form. This series preserves his knowledge and perspective—a lasting look at the people, processes, and principles that make Thysse: Where You Go With Your Brand®—from the perspective of a true print expert.

Every brand relies on consistent, high-quality messaging to drive awareness, build equity, and drive growth. Commercial printing is about reproducing those messages, colors and overall brand experience in physical form. There’s a lot more to it than putting ink on paper, at Thysse.

Commercial printing is often described as “custom manufacturing”. Unlike most types of manufacturing where industrial equipment, teams and workflows are aligned to produce the same thing at scale, commercial print is a different animal. Variable substrates, graphics, exact colors, page counts, trims, folds and bindings change and feed into a truly dynamic manufacturing environment. 

In this clip, Dean walks through Thysse’s digital toner, high-speed inkjet, and offset printing. These complement Thysse’s wide format technologies, which extend the same color control to signage, display graphics, and environmental branding. Together, these platforms allow Thysse to reproduce color accurately across every substrate, device and asset type produced here.

Dean often emphasized that technology should support creativity—not the other way around. Thysse’s digital toner presses enable short-run printing and variable-data personalization with remarkable efficiency and quality.

Speed and personalization are key to today’s most effective marketing programs. In this video, Dean showcases Thysse’s HP PageWide A2200 roll-fed inkjet press, a powerhouse for high-speed, variable-data printing and direct mail.

Offset printing remains the benchmark for long-run quality and brand consistency. Dean takes us inside Thysse’s Heidelberg six-color press, where automation, LED-UV curing, and G7 color management work together to deliver exceptional results for high-end collateral and packaging.

Printing is only half the story—what happens next transforms it into something memorable. Inside Thysse’s bindery and finishing department, Dean explains how flat press sheets become beautifully finished materials through cutting, folding, die cutting, gluing, and stitching.

Once printed, every mail piece must be assembled and verified with absolute accuracy. Here, Dean demonstrates Thysse’s camera-based inserting systems and USPS mailing services, ensuring each envelope and insert set is perfectly matched and ready for delivery.

In Thysse’s wide format printing division, ideas scale up and come to life. From retail signage and event graphics to architectural and environmental branding, Dean showcases how Thysse produces large-scale visuals with exceptional detail and color accuracy.

Not every printed piece ships the day it’s produced. Many move through Thysse’s print fulfillment center, where logistics, technology, and inventory management converge. Dean highlights how custom-built Brand Portals give clients real-time control over their printed assets, promotional items, and signage kits—all stored and shipped directly from Dane County to locations nationwide.

The tour concludes with Thysse’s commitment to sustainability. For Dean, sustainability isn’t a buzzword—it’s built into how Thysse operates. From solar-powered printing to renewable paper sourcing and right-sized packaging, sustainability shapes every stage of production.

As Dean steps into retirement, his legacy remains visible in every part of Thysse—from the technology and processes he helped refine to the culture of craftsmanship he championed.

Dean’s tour wasn’t just a farewell—it was a way to preserve the knowledge and spirit that shaped Thysse’s culture.

His legacy lives on in the team that carries that spirit forward—continuing to innovate, explore new technologies, and push the edge of what’s possible. Every day, Thysse looks for new ways to create value, elevate brands, and deliver outcomes that move our clients—and our craft—forward.