2025 USPS Promotions & Incentives Deep Dive: Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive
The USPS has finally released its Guidebooks for the 2025 Promotions and Incentives, and needless to say, it’s an exciting time for mailers and those who help them. After all, with more and more mailers taking advantage of these discounts, there’s an opportunity to make a small change to get big savings.
But the rules can be confusing and the Guidebooks might not help you truly understand everything needed to get the discount.
Worry not, however, as your friends at Sepire have been hard at work analyzing the documents, sitting through explanatory webinars, and creating something actionable to help you.
And we’re kicking off this series with a deeper dive into the Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive Promotion running from February 1 to July 31, 2025.
Please note: This is by no means a replacement for the USPS Tactile Sensory, & Interactive Guidebook. Consider this a complementing piece built to provide additional context into the interesting things you can add to your mail.
Background: USPS Promotions & Incentives
Every year, the United State Postal Service announces savings opportunities alongside their Market-Dominant Price increases. Designed to encourage mailers to make use of interesting programs, embrace innovation, or to otherwise change up their mailings, these are always a hot topic in the postal world.
And as we discussed in our 2025 Promotions & Incentives preview article, next year serves as an intriguing shift. Though some programs will remain similar to prior years (like the one we’re looking at today), there are also a variety of shifts and new programs in 2025.
Related: 2025 Promotions & Incentives: Integrated Technology
The Basics: 2025 Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive Promotion
Discount: 4 Percent
Registration Period: December 15, 2024 – July 31, 2025
Active Period: February 1, 2025 – July 31, 2025
Available Classes: First-Class Mail letters, cards, and flats; USPS Marketing Mail letters and flats.
From unique inks to fun folding patterns, the Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive Promotion allows mailers an incredible amount of flexibility and even more opportunities to be creative with the mail they send—all while capturing a four percent discount.
Per the USPS,
“New developments in papers and paper stocks, substrates, finishing techniques, and inks can be incorporated into mailpieces to create a multi-sensory experience through special visual effects, sound, scent, texture, and even taste! Features like pop-ups, infinite folds, and other dimensional treatments encourage interaction and drive customer engagement.”
What’s Eligible for Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive Promotion?
From ink to paper to folding patterns, each element of a piece could count toward the four percent Tactile, Sensory, and Interactive discount. Unique ink? Discount. Paper that feels gritty, soft, or leathery? Discount. Intriguing folding pattern? Discount.
It might not be that simple—there’s a lot of nuance in what’s acceptable and ineligible—but that’s the framework for understanding and planning. And it’s broken into the three major categories: Specialty inks, sensory treatments, and interactive elements.
Specialty Inks
Rethink your ink, capture a discount. It’s (almost) as simple as that. Specialty inks offer mailers the opportunity to drive engagement by using a visibly, texturally, or otherwise intriguing ink. Per the Guidebook,
“The specialty inks must enhance the engagement and value of the mailpiece. Unique properties of specialty inks must be both visible and distinguishable on paper. Inks that are absorbed into the substrates so that the applied ink is not visible and distinguishable to the TSI Promotions Office do not qualify.”
Here are a few kinds of inks that could net you a Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive Promotion discount.
Conductive Inks: A conductive ink is a material which is printed, processed, and conducts electricity. Distinguish yourself with printed battery-powered circuits and electronic device activation.
Thermochromic, Photochromic, Piezochromic, or Hydrochromic: Ink that changes color when exposed to heat (thermo), UV light (photo), pressure (piezo), or liquid (hydro).
Metallic Inks: Metallic ink has reflective metal particles such as copper, bronze, zinc or aluminum suspended within it.
Optically Variable Ink: If you’ve held up a hundred-dollar bill, you know what this is. Initially created as an anti-counterfeiting measure, the same treatment can be applied to a mailpiece so that it changes color when viewed from different angles.
Scented Inks: Create an aspirational, seasonal, or memorable experience with scented inks. Though there are a few interesting rules as we’ll discuss below, the use of scent can do a lot to help mailers connect with recipients.
Sensory Treatments
Aptly named, a sensory treatment is meant to engage a recipient’s senses. And there are a whole lot of ways to create a unique look, feel, smell, or sound. Some are ‘easy’. A few might require some partnership and planning. But when done right, you get both higher engagement and a four percent discount.
Here are just some of the ways to approach the sensory side of the Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive Promotion:
Scent Marketing: Scent is the most powerful sense. It can trigger memories, it can drive thinking, and it can engage mail recipients. There are a ton of interesting ways to use it in a mailpiece, and a few that could help you capture the TSI promotion discount. Scent your label, add a rub to smell or peel to smell element, or coat your mailpiece with an ambient coating. If it’s on the outside, it counts.
Texture: Add a memorable touch to your mailpiece using paper surfaces that are coated, made of unique materials, or that incorporate surface treatment techniques to create a sensory experience. The treatment must create an effect to stand out in the mailbox and must be visible and distinguishable to the recipient. A few approaches could include gritty surfaces, soft touch, spot gloss, embossing, or interesting die-cuts.
Sound: It’s possible. And if your paper incorporates sound chips or speakers, it’s going to net you a four percent discount.
Sight: Create a look that makes your mailpiece unforgettable. Acceptable visual features include paper that incorporates special effects like filters, holographic stickers, and lenticulars.
Interactive Elements
Interactivity refers to how dynamic a mailpiece is. From a zip strip to a pop-up or an infinitely folding mailer, there are a variety of ways to encourage recipients to play with or enjoy every element of a mailpiece. Per the USPS,
“To qualify for the discount based on interactive elements, mailpieces must engage recipients through dynamic effects using folds and other dimensional enhancements. The mailpiece must include elements that the recipient can physically manipulate (i.e., twist, spin, dial, pull, bend, etc.).”
Here are just a few examples of interactivity:
Perforated pull open strip (zip strip) opening mechanism (except for those on the top of envelopes)
Pop-ups
Peel and Reveal elements
Scratch-offs
Infinite folds
Clean-release cards
Ineligible Treatments & Elements
As the whole point of the promotion is to encourage mailers to create a unique experience for recipients, the USPS does require a modicum of effort. And as this is the most well-established promotion, the folks over at the Promotions Office will have experience with mailers trying to skirt the rules.
Per the Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive Guidebook, the following approaches will not be tolerated—at least on their own.
A Brief Caveat: The Word SOLELY
Before diving into the ineligible treatments and elements, it’s important to understand that the word “solely” matters a lot here. You can’t solely rely on gloss paper stock. But you won’t get turned away if something deemed ineligible incorporates an approved element. Want a gloss paper mailpiece with ink that changes colors when exposed to heat or light? Have at it.
Ineligible Inks
As discussed above, there are a variety of inks able to be used to capture the four percent discount for Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive mail. But… there are caveats. Not many, but they exist. According to the Guidebook, the following inks are ineligible:
Inks that are absorbed into the substrates with limited visibility
Clear inks
Inks that look like photos and are not distinguishable as ink applications
If the ink looks like a photo, isn’t distinguishable from normal ink, or doesn’t stand out in a mailbox, it’s getting rejected.
Ineligible Papers & Treatments
As with inks, there are certain requirements you need to meet to get this discount. And there are a ton of great options as we discussed above. But simple paper treatments won’t do. And according to the Guidebook, the following paper stock options don’t cut it:
Linen-embossed paper stock
Geometric-shaped die cuts
Laminated postcards
Gloss stock
Features that aren’t bound to or sewn on a mailpiece
Ineligible Folds & Interactive Elements
Folded self-mailers are pretty cool—and great at capturing attention and driving response rates. But effectiveness isn’t interactivity. To get the four percent discount promised in the Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive Promotion, you can’t simply fold a mailpiece once, twice, or three times.
And according to the Guidebook, the following are defined as “simple folds” and are subsequently ineligible for the discount:
Half-folds
Tri-folds
Gate folds
Iron cross folds
Accordion folds
If It’s inside an Envelope, It’s Probably Ineligible
Another thing to note—and something we’ve said before—a mailpiece eligible for the Tactile, Sensory, and Interactive Promotion needs to stand out in a mailbox. So, no matter how engaging it might be, if it’s in the envelope, it isn’t going to help.
And according to the USPS, sample could include coins, fabric, greeting cards, dream catchers, or the like. Even if those pieces themselves are treated in a way that would qualify.
Other Considerations
‘Crinkly’ elements won’t meet the criteria for sound. A speaker would be required.
Stickers are generally ineligible. To be eligible, a sticker must be holographic and be larger than 2” x 2”.
Snap packs, perforated stubs, and tear stubs do not count as tactile, sensory, or interactive.
If it’s scented, make it smell nice and put it on the outside. Scents can’t be defined as “unpleasant” and can’t be part of the opening mechanism.
Get Even More Savings with Add-Ons
A new program for 2025’s Promotion & Incentives program—add-ons. Providing Mail Owners with the opportunity to save even more when paired with a promotion (excluding Reply Mail IMbA), each add-on provides one extra percentage point discount.
And they might even be things you already do.
Informed Delivery Add-On/Upgrade
Discount Amount: 1 Percent
What Is the Informed Delivery Add-On/Upgrade Promotion?
Informed Delivery is one of the most beneficial yet underutilized tools for getting more from your mail. Opened by tens of millions of people every day, this email allows a person to see what’s arriving in their mailbox at the start of each day.
But there’s a marketing element to Informed Delivery as well. Mailers have the opportunity to offer ride along images that appear next to their mailpiece. And the USPS is offering a 1 percent discount on First-Class Mail and Marketing Mail mailpieces incorporating “best practices and techniques in their Informed Delivery campaigns.”
Looking to understand more about Informed Delivery? Our Director of Postal Affairs Leanne Herman is one of the people who shapes the way it works. Drop her a line.
Sustainability Add-On/Upgrade Promotion
Discount Amount: 1 Percent
What Is the Sustainability Add-On/Upgrade Promotion?
Though the USPS is still working to finalize process for approval, the basics are this: Use sustainable paper, upload proof, get discount.
This can be either by using Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) verified paper. You do not have to put the sustainability organization’s logo on the envelope but will be required to upload proof in the promotions portal.
Questions? Comments? Need Some Help? Get to Know Sepire
The 2025 Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive Promotion remains one of the most popular among Mail Owners—because it’s often a reasonably simple change to a mailpiece. And at a four percent discount (six when combined with Sustainability and Informed Delivery add-ons), it can be one of the most lucrative. And we’d love to help.
Whether you’re in the planning stages of your 2025 mail campaigns and want to see if we can handle your Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive mailpiece (we probably can) or are simply looking for a partner with the expertise to help you do whatever it takes to create meaningful connections with your audience, we can help.
Get to know more about who we are, who we help, and how we work—and when you’re ready to get started, drop us a line.