Postalytics is a groundbreaking technology that tracks and traces direct mail delivery and response in new ways. The account level, campaign level and granular details of the charts, graphs and report listings provide insights into exactly what has happened after mail is sent. Marketers are able to structure messaging cadence and timing around the delivery and the behaviors that are surfaced through the direct mail dashboard terms and definitions discussed below.

Postalytics Direct Mail Dashboard Terms And Definitions* 

*Note: some Terms and Definitions are different or do not apply to Canadian Campaign Dashboards and are noted within each section below.

The Postalytics Direct Mail Dashboards contain several terms and definitions that are derived from:

  1. Your Smart Send Campaign, Triggered Drip Campaign, or Automated File Campaign 
  2. USPS First Class Mail Barcode Scans (and some Standard Class Scans)
  3. Postalytics pURL online tracking
  4. Calculations that use 1, 2 & 3 as the basis for deeper insights

Campaign Mailing Terms for U.S. Campaign Dashboards

Created – confirmation that a printer in the print network has received your data and has started the creation of the mailpiece (which involves several steps). 

Addressed – some campaigns will indicate when the addressing of the mailpiece is completed. 

** Often there will be a few contacts in your list that remain in the Addressed status. This is because those records were found to be "Invalid" during the CASS and NCOA address verification process. The cost for these records is returned to you in the form of Direct Mail Credits.

Printed – some campaigns will indicate when the campaign has finished the printing process

USPS Received – confirmation that the USPS has taken custody of the mailpiece. This scan is received by Postalytics several hours (for first class mail) or 1 or 2 days (for standard class mail) after the printing process has been completed and the mail has been handed off to the USPS.

Recipients or Audience – the actual number of people mailed to for a particular campaign or in the case of the Home Dashboard, for your account.

The Recipients total may vary from the total numbers in your list(s). Postalytics contains 2 levels of address validation that are designed to prevent you from mailing to improperly formatted addresses. On import (either from a file or via a Postalytics integration) Postalytics will check to see if each address has at least the minimum fields necessary to mail:

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Address
  • City
  • State
  • Zip

When a list is used in a campaign, there’s another level of validation that checks to determine if the data is correctly formatted. All records that do not meet the validation requirements are labeled as “Invalid” in the Postalytics List being used for the campaign. Invalid contacts are not mailed to and are not considered Recipients.

Campaign Mailing Terms for Canadian Campaign Dashboards

Created – confirmation that a printer in the print network has received your data and has started the creation of the mailpiece (which involves several steps). Often there will be a few contacts in your list that do not get a Mailpiece Created status (you are not charged for these). This is because the final check of the address determined that an address could not be mailed to.

Addressed – some campaigns will indicate when the addressing of the mailpiece is completed 

Printed – some campaigns will indicate when the campaign has finished the printing process

Canada Post Received – confirmation that Canada Post has taken custody of the mailpiece. This scan is received by Postalytics within 1 or 2 days after the printing process has been completed and the mail has been handed off to Canada Post.

Recipients or Audience – the actual number of people mailed to for a particular campaign or in the case of the Home Dashboard, for your account.

The Recipients total may vary from the total numbers in your list(s). Postalytics contains a level of address validation designed to prevent you from mailing to improperly formatted addresses. On import (either from a file or via a Postalytics integration) Postalytics will check to see if each address has at least the minimum fields necessary to mail:

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Address
  • City
  • Province
  • Postal Code

USPS Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB) Scan Terms*

*Note: This does not apply to Canadian Campaign Dashboards

The USPS has barcode scanning systems that are used by Postalytics to trace your mail through the mail delivery process. These scans provide detailed data about the status of your campaigns, and you can glean important information regarding how you follow up on your mail by understanding the codes.

The USPS does not guarantee that every mailpiece is scanned. First Class Mail generally receives a higher percentage of scans and more accurate scan data than Standard Class mail.

  • In Transit – the mailpiece is being processed at the entry/origin facility.
  • In Local Area – the mailpiece is being processed at the destination facility.
  • Processed for Delivery – the mailpiece has been greenlit for delivery at the recipient’s nearest postal facility. The mailpiece should reach the mailbox within 1 to 2 business days of this scan event.
  • Re-routed – the mailpiece is re-routed due to recipient change of address, address errors, or USPS relabeling of barcode/ID tag area.
  • Returned to Sender – the mailpiece is being returned to sender due to barcode, ID tag area, or address errors.

Calculated Terms and Analytics*

*These do not apply to Canadian Campaign Dashboards

Several other terms are used by Postalytics that are calculated for you.

Delivered or Delivered Mail is important to understand. The USPS currently does not have a scan for the exact delivery date and time. Processed for Delivery is the final scan from the USPS for a piece of mail. Postalytics has observed, across thousands of examples, that more than 97% of mail that is scanned as “Processed for Delivery” is received in the mailbox within 2 business days of the final scan. The vast majority is received the next business day.

Incomplete USPS Scan Data is also important to understand. Due to a number of factors, the USPS does not provide a full set of scans for every mailpiece. While it is likely some of the pieces in this category have been delivered, it is not definitive.

Undeliverable means that an address passed the Postalytics import validation tests, but was determined to be undeliverable by the checks that are done via the CASS and NCOA processes. It is important to note that these addresses are rejected prior to the send and marked as invalid in the contact list and contact health dashboard panel. You will not be charged for undeliverable addresses.

Other calculated terms and analytics include:

  • Delivered mail to online visit rate – percentage determined by unique visitors divided by total mail deliveries
  • Delivered mail to online conversion rate – percentage determined by unique conversions divided by total mail deliveries
  • Average days between direct mail send and online opens – average per person across the campaign of the time between campaign start date and date of first online activity
  • Average days between direct mail send and online conversions – average per person across the campaign of the time between campaign start date and conversion dates

Postalytics pURL Online Tracking Terms for U.S. and Canadian Campaign Dashboards 

Postalytics uses unique tracking URLs, or pURLs (Personalized URLs), to track the online response of each mailer you send through Postalytics. We use a patent-pending way of tracking the journey your recipients take across one or more web pages that you designate in your campaign and/or have configured with the Postalytics Tracking Code.

  • Pageviews – the number of times a web page that contains the Tracking Code has been viewed.
  • Unique Pageviews – the number of unique page view/visitor combinations.
  • Unique Visitors – the number of distinct individuals requesting pages from the website during a given period, regardless of how often they visit.
  • Conversions – the number of distinct individuals who have reach your desired goal URL.
  • Opens – the aggregate number of page views since the online activity began in the Postalytics campaign.
  • Unique Page Opens – the number of distinct individuals requesting pages since the online activity began in the Postalytics campaign.
  • Opened – recipients that have visited their pURL and/or additional pages with the Postalytics Tracking Code
  • Not Opened – recipients that have not visited their pURL
  • Converted – recipients that have reached their Goal URL as defined in the Postalytics Campaign