The Goals of USPS.com
USPS.com content is guided by 3 goals:
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Encourage Self-Service
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Educate on USPS® Products & Services
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Assist Customers with Transactions
Content Strategies
Good content is open and accessible to all. Write as plainly as possible—avoid overly long sentences, big blocks of text, and jargon. Aim to make all of your content:
- Clear. Use simple words and short sentences so users can easily digest content. Be concise and direct. If you need to use industry terms, provide definitions.
- Helpful. Know how customers will use the content. Focus on their most common questions and guidance they'll need most. Don't overwhelm customers with more information than they need to complete a task.
- Friendly. Write in a helpful and straightforward manner.
- Appropriate. Adapt your tone to your subject and audience. Show empathy while remaining an authoritative source of truth.
- Actionable. Keep your content (headlines and calls to action) action-oriented, and make sure users are clear about their next steps.
Here are additional tips for keeping your content clear, concise, and relevant:
- Make text scannable: Group related ideas together and use descriptive headers, subheaders, and lists.
- Focus your message: Create a hierarchy of information and lead with your most important content.
- Use active voice and positive language. Tell a user what they can do rather than what they cannot.
- Use short words and sentences.
- Avoid unnecessary words and modifiers.
- Use specific examples.
- Avoid vague language or internal Postal terms that won’t mean anything to the user.
- Be consistent: Follow the copy patterns and style points in this guide.
- Be conversational: Sound like a friendly person and ask natural-language questions.
- Use contractions.
- Avoid third person.
- When in doubt, read your writing out loud.
