What is NCOALinkTM
(National Change of Address)?
Every year approximately forty million
Americans move their place of residence and/or business, but their old
addresses often remain in the mailer's computers. As a result, mailings
continue to go to old addresses and not the new ones. United States
Postal Service® estimates that at least 8% of all standard
class mail is undeliverable because of incorrect addresses. This means
lost opportunities, lost sales, and wasted money.
There is a solution. The NCOALinkTM
system makes available current change of address information that can
help reduce your undeliverable mail. Addressing errors are identified and
corrected before mail enters the mail-stream. Mailers use NCOALinkTM to save thousands of
dollars that would have been spent on wasted materials and postage. In
addition, valuable customer names that would have been lost have been
updated to receive current and future mailings.
Why
Mail is Undeliverable
The United States Postal Service® has
identified the following reasons for undeliverable mail:
The first line of the address:
- Addressee
unknown to carrier.
- Addressee
temporarily away.
- Addressee's
name misspelled.
- Addressee's
Street Address Errors.
- Missing
address line or street name.
- No
such or incorrect street.
- No
such or incorrect number.
- Missing
house number/ P.O. Box.
- No
such or incorrect apartment, suite, etc.
- Missing
or incorrect street directional or suffix
- No
such rural route number/rural route box.
- Rural
route address change to city-type address.
The last line of the address:
- Incorrect
or missing ZIP Code.
- Incorrect
or missing city and/or state.
Other reasons for un-deliverability:
- Change
of address on file.
- Forward
order expired.
- Moved,
left no address/box closed, left no order.
- Address
vacant.
- No
label/illegible label.
- No
mail receptacle.
How NCOALinkTM Works
Data processed through NCOALinkTM
is first standardized to conform to USPS® requirements,
including the ZIP + 4® code. Once the address has been standardized
and the ZIP + 4® code applied, an attempt is made to match the
address against the NCOALinkTM File, which contains
approximately 115 million records or 48 months of permanent address
changes. Address change information is derived from the PS Form 3575,
Change-of-Address Order, filed by relocating postal customers. If an
exact match is made with the name and old address, the move information is
provided to the mailer. NCOALinkTM helps
reduce undeliverable-as-addressed mail by correcting input addresses
prior to mailing. Since 1986, NCOALinkTM and its
predecessors have saved mailers millions of dollars that otherwise would
have been wasted in materials and postage.
NCOALinkTM Match - Corrected Address
Is Provided
|
MAIL FILE
|
NCOALinkTM DATABASE
NAME/OLD ADDRESS
|
NEW ADDRESS
|
Paul Jones
123 Main Street
Anytown, CT 06084
|
Paul Jones
123 Main Street
Anytown, CT 06084
|
39 Oak Street
Anytown, MA 01245
|
William Smith
481 Elm St, Apt 4A
Anytown, CA
|
Bill Smith
481 Elm St, Apt 4A
Anytown, CA 90241
|
11 Duck Lane
Anytown, IL 61411
|
NCOALinkTM Footnotes
NCOALinkTM Footnotes allow Anchor to
assist the mailer in deciding on a set of business rules that would only
drop records for those who moved without providing a new address. Records
that are potential un-deliverables (but were not considered a NCOALinkTM match) are flagged as Footnotes. The mailer then can
decide whether or not to mail to these addresses. However the quantity of
“Footnotes” you will receive under NCOALinkTM
may be very much reduced as compared to previous NCOA processing.
The Benefits of NCOALinkTM and Footnotes
NCOALinkTM provides mailers with the
capability to receive a current address before mailings. NCOALinkTM provides additional
benefits including Address Standardization and ZIP + 4® appending, ZIP™ Correction,
Carrier Route Coding, and a CASS™ Report and DPV™.
NCOALinkTM footnotes
indicate a match was close but not good enough to meet the strict USPS®
matching guidelines. The footnotes indicate the reason a match could not
be made with the NCOALink file, and a mailer can
investigate the address record and provide necessary corrections. A
no-match to the NCOALink file does NOT return the new
address - the Return codes when provided may give an indication why.
NCOALinkTM Footnotes and $$$ Advantages
The following example will demonstrate the effect of NCOALinkTM Footnotes processing
of a 1 million mailing. If,
- NCOALinkTM Footnotes match rate of
.15% equals 1,500 mail not posted.
- At
$400/M (estimate to mail), the savings equal $600.00.
- If
the 1,500 NCOALinkTM
Footnotes names are replaced with 1,500 deliverable names and a 2%
response rate results this equals 30 additional orders.
- If
the average order is $50, Additional Sales = $1,500.
Processing a one million mailing with Footnotes
included in the NCOALinkTM
processing can result in additional savings and sales of $2,100 plus the
potential ongoing revenue stream from these new customers.
NCOALinkTM CASE STUDY
NCOALinkTM and Footnotes
Cleans Your Customer & Prospect Files of Undeliverable Names &
Addresses
Here are actual case stories...
|
|
Fundraiser
|
Publisher
|
Saves
you
Money
Every
Time
You
Mail
|
Original File
|
808,173
|
457,252
|
NCOALinkTM Corrected
|
31,600
|
55,387
|
|
3.91%
|
12.11%
|
Footnote Hits
|
1,810
|
2,733
|
|
.224%
|
.609%
|
Total
NCOALinkTM& Footnotes
|
33,410
|
58,120
|
|
4.13%
|
12.71%
|
Mailing Cost
|
$406/M
|
$515/M
|
|
|
|
$$ Saved
|
$13,564
|
$29,932
|
|
The Cost of NCOALinkTM & Footnotes Processing is
a Tiny Fraction of the $$'s You Save!!
The powerful NCOALinkTM
software will make name & address corrections, correct ZIP™ Codes,
standardize your addresses, add ZIP + 4® and Carrier Route codes to your
file.
|