Is dirty data reducing your ROI?

Last year, the USPS handled 1.72 billion pieces of undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail. These mailpieces were forwarded, returned or thrown away at a cost of $159 million to the postal service. It is estimated that the cost to mailers is even greater.

Mailers with UAA within their database, incur additional costs. Forwarding and return service fees add up if those services are requested. Discarded mail wastes postage, printing, production and list costs. Losing touch with a customer results in lost sales. And what if your next best customer was among the UAA mail in your list?

The USPS is increasing the requirements of the Zip+4 CASS certification program. Their goal is to eliminate UAA resulting from poor quality addresses. Beginning August 1, 2007 a new CASS Certified ZIP + 4 software will be required by all mailers. It will include Delivery Point Verification (DPV) and Location Accuracy Coding System (LACS) software This software will validate the deliverability of an address before adding the ZIP + 4 Code.

DPV is a database containing 165 million delivery points serviced by USPS. It verifies the accuracy of deliverable addresses. It will provide critical clues as to why an address cannot be DPV confirmed.

LACS provides a 911 address conversion matching tool. This identifies and converts addresses that have been changed by municipalities that have implemented emergency response systems.

Those addresses that do not have a valid primary address number will not receive a ZIP + 4 Code. Initial tests have shown that on average, two percent of records will be identified as UAA. These records should not be mailed without taking further corrective action.

There are additional address quality tools that can help improve deliverability. Address Element Correction (AEC) services focuses on inaccurate addresses that did not match a Zip+4 through CASS Certification. It will add missing address elements and correct secondary number assignments for office and apartment numbers. The USPS National Customer Support Center or your letttershop vendor can provide these services.

Address quality is important for improving mail deliverability. Inkjet systems at A.M. Mailing Services, LLC print addresses that USPS automated equipment can easily scan.

Another tool called AEC II provides mailers an additional level not offered by software programs – a human element. Records that have failed CASS, DPV, LACS and AEC methods of correction are transmitted to USPS local Delivery Units. The AEC II process gives letter carriers an opportunity to identify and fix resident names or bad addresses that are on their route.

Finally, your database should be scrubbed through National Change of Address (NCOA) frequently. About 1.5% of all households will move every month. That means that 18% of the addresses in a consumer database will change within a year.

The NCOA file contains about 145 million records for individuals, families and businesses that have moved in the last 4 years. NCOA will provide a new address on records that are in the file, or identify those records that have no address available. Consider this, for every 10,000 names you mail, 1,800 records will become undeliverable each year unless a consistent address correction plan is in place.

By reducing UAA in the mailstream, you’ll reduce your costs, improve ROI and help the USPS provide better service.