This post continues our series in getting the most from your address list. To learn about address correction results, read Understanding Address Correction Results.

After processing your list through CASS and DPV, what can you do with the addresses to get the most out of your mailing? Here are some steps you can take to increase the quality of your mailings.

Step 1: Process the list through additional services

Many mailers are familiar with NCOA^Link processing, which will update addresses for people who have moved in the past 48 months. This process can also identify records where the new address wasn’t available. We will cover NCOA^Link results in another blog post.

After NCOA^Link processing, additional services can help to get more information about the addresses in your database. These services are available outside the USPS data set, but can provide valuable data about the address, and even add more information to make the address deliverable. Services available from Satori include:

• Apartment append – this service is similar to Suite^Link, which adds a suite number to a business address. For individuals, Apartment append can look up the apartment number for incomplete addresses, making the address more deliverable. This service can reduce the number of addresses with DPV problems found during CASS processing. Having this data can also result in more valid moves found during move update processing.
• ECOA (Enhanced Change-of-Address) – this service is similar to NCOA^Link, but uses data from credit bureaus, magazine subscriptions and other sources to find people who have moved, but did not file their move with USPS. Depending on the list, this process can find up to an additional 20% of moves.
• Deceased person, correctional facility and Do-Not-Mail suppression – this service, called the Suppression Suite in Satori products, identifies contacts in your database who are unwilling or unable to reply to your mail piece. By eliminating these addresses from your database, you will ensure that your message gets to someone who can respond.

Step 2: Separate good addresses from questionable and undeliverables

After getting the data back from CASS/DPV, and any additional services, you can use this data to separate the clean addresses from those that need consideration. Here are some suggested groups:

• Deliverable addresses will consist mainly of addresses “matched” during Address Correction. In Satori Software products, these addresses have an error code of 90 or less. From this set of addresses, remove any addresses with NCOA^Link errors, DPV Vacant flags or any addresses that were found using the suppression service. In Bulk Mailer products, you can use the “All Deliverable Records” group to select these addresses. These addresses have a very high probability that they will be delivered properly.
• Questionable addresses contain addresses with DPV and other errors after Address Correction. In Satori Software products, these addresses have an error code of 91 or higher. Add any NCOA^Link errors to this group. These addresses were either not complete, or for another reason were not found in the USPS data set. These addresses need some additional information to make them deliverable.
• Undeliverable addresses include addresses with DPV Vacant status, records that have moved with no forwarding information (especially foreign moves), and any addresses noted during suppression. These addresses are unlikely to be deliverable.

Step 3: Triage questionable and undeliverable addresses

Depending on the type of mail you are sending, this triage process can take seconds or weeks. Here are some options to consider when running triage with your questionable and undeliverable addresses:

• For advertising mail, sometimes it makes sense to remove any potentially difficult addresses from your list, and mail only to the deliverable addresses. This process can be done quickly, and prevents any printing and mailing costs to addresses that are not likely to reach the target recipient.
• For invoices, bills and other personalized mail, use alternate contact information such as a phone number or email address to get updated address information. This process can take some time, but will get the best data back into your mailing list.
• Depending on the cost or content of the mailing, you may choose to mail to these addresses anyway. If you do, print “Address Service Requested” on the mail piece to get more information about the address if it is undeliverable. USPS will return these undeliverable pieces to you, with additional information about why it was not delivered. This process will likely cause an increase of returned mail and each piece returned to you will incur a charge.

Step 4: Send the mailing and update your source data

While many address problems can be corrected, the best practice is to get any changed data back into your primary database. Maintaining correct and current addresses can be handled automatically in some cases, but it is important to capture data from all sources. The least updated data comes from manually returned mail, as the address changes require manual processing to update. Once your source data is clean, it will be ready for you to use with your next mailing.

Step 5: Keep it going

Once you have a clean set of addresses, your work isn’t over. With over 17% of the United States reporting a move every year, over two million deaths, and constant re-naming and re-zoning of streets, addresses don’t stay correct for long. Create and maintain a process to keep your list updated, at least once per quarter.

Stay tuned for our next blog, where we’ll review the possible results from NCOA^Link processing, with some tips for how to handle the different return codes.

address correction · CASS · data enhancement · DPV · error handling · NCOALink

Satori Software will be at MailCom again this year, stop by booth #119 and ask our reps about our new data enhancement services. Bring your lunch to my session on Thursday at 11:30 to learn Which Electronic Documentation Type is Right For You – PM 435. See you there!

events · mailcom

Our Bulk Mailer software now features an integrated Data Services option.  Already, Walk Sequence is proving to be a popular option. But how do you know when adding Walk Sequence data to your mailing is a good investment?

The short answer is: more often than you might think.

A quick primer (postal experts can jump ahead)

Walk Sequence data lists the order of stops along an individual postal carrier’s route. Your mail pieces will qualify for a highly-discounted Saturation rate if, along a carrier’s “line of travel” (LOT), at least 75% of all stops (or 90% of all residential stops) receive sequential pieces.  Short of the Saturation threshold, if there are at least 125 pieces along the carrier’s route, they earn the High Density rate.  In order to get either Saturation or High Density rates, your mailing list must include Walk Sequence information to be properly sorted.

The no-brainer case

If you already know you have a highly concentrated mailing — say, you’ve acquired a list for specific ZIP codes — then the benefits of including Walk Sequence data in your presort are obvious.

For example, let’s assume a marketing campaign of 25,000 pieces. (Note:  since the USPS has announced the new pricing schedule effective April 2011, those prices are used in the examples below.)

In an ideal case, if 100% of the mailing qualifies for the saturation rate, that saves $2,075 over the base rate or $1,375 over the Automation sort.  In contrast, the cost of adding Walk Sequence data is only a fraction of a cent per address. So, the net savings are substantial — up to 30%!

In the mix

Of course, most mailings don’t fall completely into one rate category. Even with a concentrated mailing you may qualify for a mix of rates.  A portion could fall under Saturation rates, another group into High Density, while the remainder can only sort by ZIP code.

Even so, adding Walk Sequence data is often worthwhile. Let’s take that same 25,000-piece list and assume it has this potential split of qualifications:

Here’s how the mailing costs would compare:

As you can see, the Walk Sequence data easily pays for itself even if only half of the mailing qualifies for higher discounts.  In fact, you can probably still save money if only 15% of a list benefits from adding the sequence data.

(Incidentally, the rates above assume that the mailing isn’t being dropped at an NDC or SCF.  In those cases the total costs are lower overall, but the cost differences between rates — and the total savings — are the same.)

How do you know?

Perhaps you’re still unsure whether a given mailing is a good candidate for Walk Sequence. It’s simple enough to check.  Just run a Mail Sort on your list, and choose “Carrier Route” for your first sort level.

If a significant portion of your mailing sorts into Carrier Route, that’s a good indication that adding Walk Sequence data will result in savings!

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