The United States Postal Service added a new community feature on its Facebook page this year. Companies can share their shipping success stories and possibly gain some exposure for their business in the process.
Success Stories was launched in February and is expected to run indefinitely. The thought behind the program is to help spread the word about Priority Mail Flat Rate and Regional Rate products to small and medium sized businesses, according to Patricia Licata of the USPS. But businesses that share their shipping success stories could also gain some valuable exposure from the page if their story is featured.
Upon visiting the Success Stories page, you can select one of three product offerings to view business success stories relating to each of those product offerings:
- Every Door Direct Mail
- Regional Rate Mail
- Flat Rate Shipping
For example, ZIPS Dry Cleaners of Elkridge, MD used the USPS’s Every Door Direct Mail product to target nearby customers and send them information and coupons to persuade them to come to the store. ZIPS offers a unique customer experience because customers can actually see the dry cleaning process in the store, but actually getting customers to come in was proving to be a challenge. The store said that they saw a great return on their investment by using Every Door Direct Mail, and they continue to use it to target customers in their surrounding neighborhoods.
Another company, Sk8ology, which sells skateboard deck mounting fixtures so that skaters can display their decks at home, said that the USPS’s Flat Rate shipping option really helped the home-based business simplify its shipping process and instead spend more time focusing on the business itself.
Under each success story is a link to the business’s website and Facebook page. So while USPS has designed this feature to showcase some of its small business products, it has also created a place where those companies can get some extra exposure for their products and services.
A. Charles Scott
After experimenting with every form of marketing in our service area, we discovered the EDDM program by the USPS.
Nothing has worked so well!
We are experiencing responses three times that over any other media… For much less.
Will USPS share their failures too and how they have learned from these lessons? 😉
Charleen Larson
I used to ship close to 100 packages a day with USPS.
Now I’ve outsourced fulfillment. The fulfillment company uses whichever shipping method is cheapest for that particular destination, saving me both time and money, but mostly time.
If you’re locked in to USPS, you’re limiting your options.