Forging Beyond the Post: Performance Marketing Multichannel Innovations in partnership with the National Postal Forum (In Person Only)

WELCOME & OPENING REMARKS

Tina Jordan

Vice President, Data Excellence & Privacy ANA

OPENING USPS KEYNOTE PANEL

Join Chris Karpenko, Senior Director of Product Management and industry experts for an informative discussion on recent direct mail advancements shaping the next chapter of mail.

You’ll hear how new direct mail capabilities are expanding how campaigns are created, bought, and measured with options designed for self-service marketers, agency-supported teams, and enterprise marketers. We'll cover how modern direct mail tools can speed production and delivery, enable smarter targeting and personalization using CRM (customer relationship management) data, and improved measurement through privacy-safe approaches to better coordinate timing and reach.

The session will also explore how advertisers are evolving their commercial models that strengthen mail's role in integrated, cross-channel marketing, improving performance for brands and partners across the mail ecosystem.

Industry experts will share what’s next for digital and physical mail, and how direct mail fits into omnichannel marketing to drive real results.

Host & Moderator: Chris Karpenko

Senior Director of Product Management USPS

THE MAIL-TO-DIGITAL CONVERGENCE: HOLISTIC CONSUMER JOURNEY MEASUREMENT & OPTIMIZATION

In an era of signal loss and fragmented consumer journeys, Wayfair has redefined the role of physical mail by treating it as a high-precision performance engine rather than a legacy channel. This session offers an inside look at how Wayfair holistically measures postal and print impact, accounting for both immediate conversions and long-term carryover effects across online and offline touchpoints. We will dive into the technical "connective tissue" of our strategy: a unified measurement system that synchronizes Media Mix Modeling (MMM) and Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) with rigorous experimental evidence to ensure budget recommendations are grounded in true incrementality. Finally, we will explore the frontier of performance marketing, showcasing how Wayfair leverages Generative AI and Machine Learning to jointly optimize audience segmentation and frequency across a multichannel ecosystem. Attendees will leave with a transparent look at our current challenges, practical mitigations, and an outlook on the future of research innovations in the mail-to-digital convergence space.

Jerry Chen

Head of Marketing and Measurement Science Wayfair

BEYOND CLICKS: MEASURING HOW DIRECT MAIL AND DIGITAL WORK TOGETHER IN INSURANCE

As State Farm modernizes direct mail within a unified customer experience, a persistent measurement challenge remains: proving what is truly incremental across channels, especially when identity linkage between mail and digital is imperfect and digital is often “always on.” This session outlines a practical incrementality framework for performance marketing that treats experimentation as the gold standard for grounding planning and attribution. We’ll center on a simple full-factorial test design (Mail + Digital, Mail-only, Digital-only, and Control) to estimate the incremental contribution of each channel and the interaction (synergy) created when they run together. We’ll discuss pragmatic deployment options and success metrics that matter in insurance, such as quote starts and bundle adoption. We’ll also surface common real-world obstacles such as match-rate and identity constraints, organizational silos, postal delivery variability and governance practices that keep cross-functional teams aligned. Finally, we’ll show how to translate results into clear guidance: budget and channel strategy, improved attribution assumptions, and a repeatable cadence of mail experimentation that continuously refines audience, timing, and offer strategy while digital programs continue to run.

Betsy Sparrow

Marketing Science Analyst State Farm

MINIMALLY VIABLE MTA FOR DIRECT MAIL

This is for the Direct Mail channel leaders who have the MTA budget equivalent of a shoestring and an apple (and maybe you already ate half the apple while working on another project). 

Data models for Direct Mail have evolved to produce incredibly valuable insights. MTA is being used to drive MMM models and expand visibility across multiple channels. Custom audience segmentation is informing best practices. And all that is fantastic! But if you only recently transitioned off using Excel as a database or you’re running with a ghostly lean data team, perhaps you’d like an entry level crash course on how to get some of those MTA benefits setup fast?

Learn about how to work with your data team to transform your data and reporting. Build a minimally viable MTA product. Get your share of those valuable insights! Then expand your MTA into a full-scale fancy project later.

Lily Herron

Marketing Analytics Manager, Performance Analytics Team ADT

PREDICTING BEHAVIORAL NEXT-GEN AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION THAT DRIVES LIFELONG ENGAGEMENT

In mission-driven organizations, the goal isn’t just conversion — it’s commitment. Yet traditional segmentation models built for transactions often fail when the desired behavior is voluntary, recurring, and deeply personal.

In this session, Suzanne Joiner, VP of Marketing at Vitalant, shares how her team modernizes audience targeting to motivate action,, balancing empathy, urgency, and data science. Attendees will learn how advanced segmentation, behavioral signals, and lifecycle intelligence can transform one-time responders into long-term advocates — even in moments of crisis demand.

You’ll walk away with a practical framework for:

• Moving beyond demographics to motivation-based segmentation
• Identifying readiness-to-act signals using behavioral and contextual data
• Designing messaging that adapts to urgency without eroding trust
• Building retention strategies that outperform acquisition
• Applying nonprofit engagement lessons to commercial customer loyalty

Whether you market products, services, or causes, this session demonstrates how smarter targeting doesn’t just improve performance — it strengthens relationships and sustains growth.

Suzanne M. Joiner

Vice President, Marketing Vitalant

INSIGHTS THAT DRIVE RESULTS: REINVENTING DIRECT CHANNELS IN A DATA-FIRST MARKETING WORLD

In today’s increasingly competitive landscape, top marketers are expected to harness data not just to target audiences, but to create seamless, measurable engagement journeys across channels. In this session, Cathy Liebrock — a seasoned leader in direct mail operations and data-driven communications — peels back the layers on how pioneering marketers are rethinking traditional outreach to meet modern consumer expectations.

Learn how to:

• Translate first- and zero-party data into meaningful segmentation that fuels both direct and digital channels
• Build integrated campaign strategies that align direct mail, email, and other engagement touchpoints with real business metrics
• Measure the impact of cross-channel initiatives with a focus on attribution, lifetime value, and incremental lift
• Align creative and analytics teams around shared performance goals

Attendees will walk away with practical frameworks and real-world examples that prove traditional channels like direct mail still thrive when energized by strong data strategy and analytics.

Cathy Leibrock

Director, Direct Mail Operations AAA Life Insurance Company

MAIL INNOVATION SESSION

This year’s Mail Innovation Session showcases how USPS is modernizing mail to meet shifting customer needs. Attendees will see how USPS is reimagining mail through new programs, product enhancements, and industry collaboration featuring innovations in technologies, tools, capabilities, and integrations. The session is designed to be interactive, where attendees will be invited to ideate on what the future of mail should look like. Together, we will translate inputs into actionable next steps to define mail’s lasting value.

Tyler Jett

Manager Product Integration & New Products USPS

CLOSING REMARKS