The idea for the “Beyond the Perf” e-mail campaign took shape at a meeting with Bill Gicker, USA Philatelic’s editor and creative director. As we sat around a table discussing how to invite people deeper into the world of stamps, we decided to create an entirely new venue — one that utilized the flexibility of the digital.

In February 2009 we sent the inaugural edition of Beyond the Perf to just 317 e-mail addresses. Its contents were simple: advance details about an upcoming First Day of Issue ceremony and design comments on several new digital color postmarks. This was the Postal Service’s first-ever e-mail campaign aimed at stamp collectors, so no one knew quite what to expect. We took the fact that no one unsubscribed as success.

But word spread quickly.

By April, we had gained 175 new subscribers by word of mouth alone. In May, we promoted Beyond the Perf in the printed catalog. Subscriptions doubled. With each e-mail blast, we provided more interviews, slideshows and in-depth information about the stamp-creation process. And with each e-mail blast, our audience continued to grow.

From the beginning, we wanted subscriber input to influence the direction of Beyond the Perf. So we asked for feedback, conducted surveys and opened the floor for story ideas. There was one request we heard again and again: Create an online archive of Beyond the Perf editions. So, just six months after the first issue, our e-mail campaign became a website.

With the launch of BeyondthePerf.com, we had a way to measure how users interacted with our content. Analytics allowed us to “hear” what they wanted — without them having to say a word.

If a certain story attracted a high proportion of visits, we took note — shaping our editorial strategy around that interest. We offered more exclusive glimpses into the artistic process of a stamp. We incorporated more slideshows. We added valuable resources such as biographies of behind-the-scenes players and schedules for each new stamp release.

In addition to shaping what Beyond the Perf included, analytics influenced how it was presented. In March 2010, we redesigned the monthly e-mail blast in response to user behavior. Because the first-listed article consistently gained the most attention, we added a table of contents to the top of each e-mail — so that users couldn’t miss what else each edition offered.

As we worked to enhance the online experience, efforts seemed to pay off. Beyond the Perf continued to gain attention and subscribers. In fact, one of our stories was mentioned on a well-known design blog, and our e-mail campaign design was highlighted on another.

Early on, we made efforts to incorporate Beyond the Perf into USA Philatelic, knowing that a unified effort would be the strongest.

We began with an invitation to join the online community. Soon, we were placing symbols and keywords next to stamp images in the printed catalog, representing that they had corresponding articles online. Then, teasers started to accompany those symbols, giving readers a glimpse of what awaited them online. In the Holiday 2010 catalog, we printed the first full-length Beyond the Perf story.

In November 2010, we updated BeyondthePerf.com yet again in response to user analytics. We made articles easier to find and reorganized the popular resource section, to highlight the information that users sought most frequently. And the site had a new design — which intentionally mirrored the current USA Philatelic cover.

We promoted the new BeyondthePerf.com by distributing advertisements at stamp shows and inserting posters into stamp orders. We also created a print edition of favorite stories called “The Best of Beyond the Perf.”

To date, the results have been dramatic. Beyond the Perf now has 8,750 subscribers and nearly 60,000 unique visitors to the website. Though they are just numbers, we are pretty proud of them. (You have to admit, a 2,660-percent increase isn’t shabby.)

But should we be surprised? A well-told story is a force to be reckoned with.