The mail order business is a big industry, and it cannot function without the use of the United States Postal Service. Sure, your company may send out its packages via specific companies like UPS or FedEx but your initial order catalogs probably end up in your consumer base’s hands via standard mail and this cannot happen unless you have their correct addresses on file. This is where presorting and postal address validation software comes into play. If you have these kinds of tools, they can help automated a good portion of your mailing tasks. Consider for a second if you had to do all the sorting by hand or worse you had to ensure all the addresses on file were up to date and the only way you could accomplish that was having people sift through databases to confirm. It would take days and days of work if you have a large number of clientele.
The All Important Zip Codes
Nothing can trip up mailers like zip codes that have been changed. Using the tools provided by validation programs can offer you a certain safety net that will make sure that these 5 or 9 digits will be accurate more often than they are not. Whether you need standard Zips or Zips+4, it will check USPS databases to make sure the addresses you have on file match the appropriate codes that go with them. Returned items are a big cost to you for two main reasons. The first is that you lose money on postage when items get returned undelivered and the second is that you fail to keep in touch with your customers. Neither is a very good situation nor is it good resource management.
NCOA Link Integration & Updating Information
NCOA is the national change of address database maintained by the United States Postal Service. Typically when people move they file with the USPS about their change and the database is updated. This means that when they do this using a NCOA Link you have access to that and your records can be updated automatically. This allows for a constant flow of information about your customers and permits you to keep in touch after they leave their old homes.
This software is currently available for Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux, and IBM Mainframe systems, but it is not for Apple based systems. If you do not own these kinds of applications and you are in a company that uses the postal system daily then you should consider picking them up as soon as possible.
