Vol. 7 No. 1

Undeliverable As Addressed reduces ROI

The US Postal Service has spent the last decade stressing the importance of address quality. Statistics show, over than 23% of all mail is Undeliverable As Addressed (UAA). That means that 40 billion pieces a year must be forwarded, returned or simply thrown away.

The postal service contends that if UAA mail were eliminated from the mail stream, their current postage rates could be maintained for years to come. From a direct mail marketer’s standpoint, if UAA mail were eliminated, their response rates would increase and so would return on investment (ROI). Let’s face it, no one can respond to a mailpiece that is thrown away because it is undeliverable.

Fortunately, there are new tools for mailers that can help improve deliverability. Utilizing two or more of these tools can increase the odds that a mailpiece is delivered, on time to the intended recipient. Here are some suggestions to help keep your mail effective and affordable.

CASS Certification – The Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) is a “must do” process for cleaning a mail list prior to preparing all bulk mailings. This software verifies deliverable addresses and attaches the correct Zip+4 to each record. Any address that is not assigned a Zip+4 is UAA – they might get delivered, but at a higher postage rate. Many marketers drop these records from their mailing.

• Address Element Correction (AEC) – This fee-based service is offered by the USPS. It is a highly effective process for correcting addresses that were unmatchable through other processes.
• National Change of Address (NCOA) – Over 40 million Americans move every year. If they inform the USPS of their new address they are included in the NCOA database. Processing a list through NCOA is the most thorough and proactive method of updating change of address information.
• Locatable Address Conversion System (LACS) – Local governments have been changing addresses to improve 911 services. Rural Route addresses are fast becoming history. The USPS maintains a database of converted addresses in LACS. It converts old style rural routes to 911-friendly addresses.

Eliminating UAA can save you money. How much would you save on postage, printing and production costs if the UAA were eliminated from your next mailing? Better yet, what would that do to your response rates and ROI?