Best Package Insert Programs and How to Choose One in 2026

Digital ads keep getting more expensive, and the inbox is crowded. Meanwhile, there's a channel where your offer arrives at a moment people actually look forward to: the unboxing.

Package insert programs let you place your marketing materials inside someone else's ecommerce shipments, reaching customers when they're already happy to receive something. This guide compares the main package insert providers, explains how they differ, and lists what to ask before you book a campaign.

What are the best package insert programs?

The main package insert programs for ecommerce brands are Oppizi, Red Crane Media, Incremental Media, UnDigital, and retailer-direct programs. Each works differently: some give you access to many retail partners, one personalizes inserts in your own shipments, and retailer-direct deals let you negotiate with a single retailer.

Our pick for acquiring new customers: Oppizi. It's the only option here that publishes per-insert pricing, offers dedicated placement, and measures inserts in its own attribution dashboard, next to direct mail and flyering on one platform. Yes, we're biased, so every criterion we used is laid out below for you to check. If you'd rather hand the whole buy to an agency, Red Crane Media and Incremental Media are strong options. If you want to personalize inserts in your own shipments, look at UnDigital.

Package insert programs place printed marketing, like discount cards or flyers, inside ecommerce shipments from partner retailers. Your offer lands in someone else's package at the unboxing moment. For how the channel works and what it costs, see our complete guide to package insert marketing. This article focuses on picking the right program.

How do package insert programs compare?

Here's a side-by-side view of the main package insert advertising programs:

Which package insert companies should ecommerce brands consider?

1. Oppizi

Oppizi is an agentic offline marketing platform that runs package inserts alongside direct mail and flyering in one dashboard. Instead of managing separate vendors for each offline channel, you plan, launch, and measure everything in one place.

• Best for: acquiring new customers through partner retailers, with inserts measured alongside the rest of your offline mix
• Targeting: a network of partner retailers, selected by audience profile, category, or geographic reach
• Pricing: published up front, $0.05 to $0.15 per dedicated insert
• Measurement: promo codes, unique URLs, and a dashboard showing inserts next to your other offline campaigns
• Trade-off: dedicated placements only, so your piece travels alone in the parcel rather than in a cheaper shared or co-op pack

The difference from a standalone insert network is that inserts, direct mail, and street distribution work together. Oppizi OS ties them together with per-campaign attribution, so you can see which channel is driving conversions. Learn more about package inserts on Oppizi.

2. Red Crane Media

Red Crane Media is an agency that specializes in package inserts. It places brands' inserts in other companies' shipments through a large network of retailer programs, and it also helps sellers start their own insert programs.

• Best for: brands that want an agency to manage access to established retailer programs
• Targeting: program selection by audience and category across its network
• Pricing: not published, quote-based
• Measurement: not published, so ask how results are tracked and reported
• Watch out for: confirm which retailers in its network fit your category before committing

3. Incremental Media

Incremental Media is an offline and alternative media agency. Insert media is one of its channels, alongside others, and it handles media buying, creative, campaign management, and reporting.

• Best for: brands that want an agency to manage a multi-channel offline media buy
• Targeting: programs matched to your audience from its internal database
• Pricing: not published, quote-based
• Measurement: ROI reporting that pairs sales performance with cost data
• Watch out for: it is selective about the brands it takes on, so expect a fit conversation first

4. UnDigital

UnDigital is different. It isn't a cross-promotion network: it personalizes the inserts in your own shipments. You reach customers who already bought from you, not new customers through partner retailers.

• Best for: brands personalizing inserts in their own orders to drive repeat purchases or upsells
• Targeting: your own customer segments
• Pricing: not published, demo-based
• Measurement: engagement analytics and creative split testing
• Watch out for: no access to other retailers' parcels, so it's a retention play, not an acquisition channel

If your goal is customer acquisition through someone else's packages, UnDigital isn't the right fit. If you want to personalize what goes into your own boxes, it's worth a look.

5. Retailer-direct package insert programs

Some retailers and subscription box companies run their own insert programs. You negotiate placement with the retailer directly rather than through a network or agency.

• Best for: brands with a tight product and audience match to one retailer
• Targeting: that retailer's customers only
• Pricing: varies widely by retailer
• Measurement: retailer-provided reporting, which ranges from detailed to minimal
• Watch out for: several retailer relationships mean fragmented reporting and more vendor overhead

How do you choose a package insert program?

Score each option against five criteria:

Audience fit and targeting

The best programs match your product to retailers whose customers are likely buyers. A fitness supplement brand fits athleisure or workout gear shipments; a pet food brand belongs in pet supply orders. Ask each provider for category-level data on its retail partners, and whether you can exclude competitors' parcels. Tighter targeting tends to mean better response and a lower acquisition cost.

Placement type and minimum spend

In a dedicated placement, your piece goes into the parcel on its own. Shared placements bundle your offer with other advertisers, usually at a lower cost but with more competition for attention. Oppizi publishes its dedicated placement pricing at $0.05 to $0.15 per insert, so you can budget a test before the first call; the other programs here quote per campaign based on retailer, volume, and exclusivity. For the full cost picture, see the cost section of our package insert marketing guide.

Attribution and measurement

You can't optimize what you can't measure, and offline marketing is no longer unmeasurable. The common methods for package inserts:

• Promo codes: simple, and they work for any product
• Unique URLs: track visits and conversions on a dedicated landing page
• One dashboard: see inserts next to direct mail and flyering instead of piecing together vendor reports

Creative specs and lead time

Before finalizing artwork, ask for a spec sheet. What insert sizes are accepted? What paper stock? How far ahead is creative due? These details shape your production timeline and budget, and they vary between programs.

What should you ask a package insert provider before booking?

Bring these questions to every vendor call:

1. Which retailers are in your network, and can I see category breakdowns?
2. Is placement dedicated or shared with other advertisers?
3. What's the minimum campaign spend or volume commitment?
4. How do you handle attribution and reporting?
5. What are your creative specs and lead times?
6. Can I exclude specific retailers or competitor categories?
7. How do you verify that inserts were actually placed?

The answers tell you a lot about transparency, targeting, and fit. They work for any provider, including Oppizi.

Start your next package insert campaign with Oppizi

Package inserts reach customers at a moment of real attention: the unboxing. Pair that with the right retailers, clear attribution, and a platform that ties inserts into the rest of your offline mix, and you have a channel you can measure and scale.

Oppizi brings package inserts, direct mail, and flyering into one platform, with per-campaign attribution, a network of partner retailers, and campaigns in over 12 countries. Get started with Oppizi today.