Campaign image requirements
Your Informed Delivery® campaign uses two images. USPS enforces exact rules on both, and a file that misses them is rejected before your mail ever drops. Everything USPS requires is on this page. Upload whatever you have and Plavidian Connect™ will check it, and adjust it for you if you ask.
1. The Representative Image
This replaces the black-and-white scan of your mailpiece in the recipient's daily email. It should be a color image of the actual mailpiece so the recipient connects the preview to what lands in the box. For flats such as catalogs and newsletters, USPS requires one, because flats are not scanned.
Max 780px wide or 500px tallJPEGRGBUnder 200 KB
2. The Ride-along Image
This is the clickable banner beneath the mailpiece. Treat it as a branded button, not a picture: your brand, one clear message, and an obvious call to action. It links to a target URL that must start with https and lead to a page related to the mailpiece.
Max 300px wide or 200px tallJPEGRGBUnder 200 KB
The sizing rule people get wrong
USPS asks you to size to at least one maximum dimension. The image must actually reach one of the two maximums and exceed neither. A 300×200 ride-along is correct. So is 260×200, because the height reaches its maximum. A 150×100 image is not correct even though it fits inside the box, and neither is 400×200. Same logic for the representative image against 780×500.
Required, every time
- Saved as a JPEG (.jpg)
- Under 200 KB
- RGB color, not CMYK
- Reaches one maximum dimension, exceeds neither
- Full color, not grayscale
- Target URL begins with https
What USPS tells you to avoid
- Plain text with no branding
- Logo only, so it does not read as clickable
- A stock photo with no call to action
- Grayscale, which loses your brand color
- Art unrelated to the mailpiece
- Ride-along and representative that do not match each other
You do not have to do this by hand
When you upload campaign images in the job builder, Plavidian Connect™ checks the format, color mode, file size, and both dimensions against these rules and tells you exactly what is wrong in plain language. Tick "Adjust my images to USPS specs" and we will resize without distortion, flatten transparency, convert CMYK to RGB, and compress under 200 KB for you. We can also build both images from the artwork you are already printing, then show you a preview of the recipient's email to approve before anything reaches USPS.
Questions about your campaign?
Send us the artwork and the landing page. We will handle the rest of the setup.