Valley Forge Mailboxes Blog, Valley Forge PA

Stay Current: Just Because They Move Away Doesn’t Mean You Lost Them

Look – the list is a big deal.  When you get a customer’s name and address, that is gold.  That is all you need to get them on it.  Then you can market to them over and over and over…..  Until they move.  How awful is that?  Once they change their address, is that it?  Then you need to start the whole acquisition cycle all over again.

Just stay focused for a minute there, peanut.  A change of address with the USPS is not an endgame for your customer. What is most important to remember is that even though a former customer may have moved away, that does not mean that you can not or SHOULD NOT continue to advertise to them.  Please remember this is not 1910.  There are ways to hang on to customers even when their place of residence changes.

For starters, very six to twelve months, you should ask your mailing service to perform an NCOA on your mailing list.  NCOA stands for National Change of Address.  The US Postal System keeps a ‘master file’ of every residents address.  When you move, do you remember going to the post office and filling out the ‘change of address’ card (also known as the Address Change form)?  Well that is the way the post office keeps tabs on you and makes sure you get every stitch of mail you have coming to you.  They are simply updating your record with your new address.

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Now it will depend on who you are using for mailing but you should be sure to ask them about NCOA service.  Some companies charge you additional for it.  Others just include it in their processing costs.  Either way, you should always ask, just to make certain you are ensuring your campaign is getting sent to the intended target and not needlessly ending up in some post office recycle bin.  As long as the recipient has updated their file, you will generally be alright.  However, the post office will not forward your mail forever and you need to be sure that your list is up to date.  If you don’t run NCOA, eventually the post office will stop forwarding mail from a recipient’s old address.  That translates to lost marketing dollars for you.  And for any of you who read my articles with any regularity, you know that I am not a fan of wasting money.

I should point out that there is a bit of a lag between when a person sends in their change of address card and when the postal service actually updates the list.  I have seen it happen as quickly as four days.  Conversely, I have also seen it take as long as six weeks!  Now remember, the is the postal service so don’t bother trying to complain to anyone.  And whatever you do, do not blame your mailer if some mail comes back “Undeliverable” before you verify that the post office has the most current address.

I make a special point to mention this because I have been on the receiving end of some very abrasive commentary from clients who’s mail was returned, all be it a tiny amount (.002%), when there issue rested with processing time at the post office.  My advise is to ask your mailer to through the NCOA service in to your processing charges.  They will be more inclined to do so if you are running mailing programs through their facility consistently (at least once a month).