Besides the obvious need to stay in line with USPS mailing policies, there are many compelling business reasons to comply, even if your primary class of mail isn’t effected, yet.

The USPS goal is to reduce the amount of Undeliverable As Addressed (UAA) mail. In 2006 alone, over 9.7 billion pieces of mail were sent out with addresses that could not be delivered. This cost almost $1.9 billion to process, forward, return, or destroy.

There are several factors that lead to a mailpiece being undeliverable. The recipient may have moved. The address could have a typo and be invalid. A rural route address may have been replaced with a “911″ street and number type address. All of these can be corrected by different processes.

The USPS has already moved to make DPV (Delivery Point Validation) a requirement for all Automation Rate mailings, which includes First Class, Standard Mail and Periodicals (like magazines). Now, during the CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) process, an additional database is used to insure the address is an actual point that can be delivered. For example, Main Street may have address numbers ranging from 100 to 500. If a record has a number of 550, it would be rejected by DPV. By catching and correcting these pieces before printing and mailing, postage and processing delays can be saved.

The latest development is in the area of NCOA (National Change Of Address). Whenever you fill in a change of address card, or go to the USPS Change Of Address web page,  a record is generated in the NCOA master database. By comparing addresses against this database, a mailer can find the new address when someone has moved. Originally started as an optional service, NCOA is now required for First Class Mail. In November, NCOA will also be required for Standard Mail. Most people expect it to become a requirement for Periodicals next year. Another change occurring in November is that the mailing list must have been processed through NCOA within 95 days of the date of mailing. Previously, the standard was 185 days.

Normally, when a list is processed through NCOA, it is also run through LACS (Locatable Address Conversion System). This converts rural route addresses to street name / box number type addresses (911 addresses). This is often included with NCOA for no additional charge.

Mailers failing to comply with the Move Update rules stand to lose their automation discounts. This would apply to all the pieces in a given mailing, not just those pieces which couldn’t be delivered. Obviously any violation would also invite increased scrutiny of future mailings.

In the future, Compliance will be easier for the USPS to track. With the advent of the Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB or OneCode), every piece will include a mailer ID field. Currently, USPS facilities close to the mailer can easily determine and track back to the mailer. With IMB, they will be able to identify the mailer at any level.

The IMB isn’t all bad news when it comes to Move Update. The Address Correction Service (ACS) is cheaper and easier to implement when you implement “full service” IMB. Each piece is assigned an unique ID. When the USPS forwards or fails to deliver a piece, and electronic letter is returned, which you can use to update your mailing list.

Besides the threat of losing automation discounts on current and future mailings, there are other reasons to use the Move Update resources. If you clean your list to include current, non-duplicate, deliverable addresses, you will mail fewer pieces, qualify for automation discounts, and your items will be delivered more quickly and accurately. These reasons alone will more than repay your efforts.

Developing a mailing list by from your current client database is one of the best ways you can use direct mail. Even if you don’t already have the addresses, there are steps you can take to start capturing this information.

Sending a mailing to people that have done business with you in the past is the best way to get a high response rate. They already know who you are, hopefully had a good experience, and perhaps only need a reminder. A simple newsletter or promotional flyer can generate new interest in these old friends.

If you’re in retail, you may think you can’t develop a list. It can be more of a challenge. Most people won’t want to give out their address and other information. However, some will volunteer if you place a comment box, catalog request form, or newsletter signup sheet near your checkout. Another good technique is to use contests. We’ve all seen the boxes where you drop your paper to win a car or trip. A large percentage of folks will sign up if they have a chance to win something. You don’t have to spend a lot to do this either. We’ll talk about prize insurance and travel certificates in future articles, but a quick Google search will get you started.

The main issues you run into when creating your own mailing list are…

• Data entry
• Address format
• Address quality

If you don’t want to do the data entry yourself, there are several service bureaus that can handle the task. Hiring a professional may save you more time and money down the road with the other issues too.

The address format can mean the way you store the list. If you don’t have a list manager program Excel is good. Avoid using Word to enter the list. When entering the records, you should use the available fields in the same way. Store names as First Name, Last Name on every address, or the other way around. Just do it the same way all the time once you decide how you want it. It is very important to have separate fields for City, State and Zip. Most of the time, you can get away with one address line. If you are building a business to business (B2B) mailing list, you will probably want to have a place for company name and job title.

Address quality begins will good data entry, but it doesn’t stop there. Once you have your list prepared, you should have it run through NCOA (National Change of Address) and LACS (Locatable Address Correction Service). Most classes of mail require you to do this within 95 days of a mailing anyway, but it’s in your interest to have the address as correct as possible. If you use First Class Mail, you should edit your list for any returned mail or address corrections you receive. The more accurate your list is, the less you’ll pay for postage, and the more likely you are to reach your target audience.

Getting started in developing your own list may seem like a lot of work. Once you get started, you’ll find the benefits far outweigh the costs. In the end, you’ll know more about your customers, be better able to reach and serve them, and you might even develop a mailing list you could sell yourself.

By way of example, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the related tourism  industries are fairly close to our location. January and February are extremely down times in their market. Here, we’ll outline some of the ways we’ve developed to help businesses use Direct Mail to combat this.

 Membership cards are particularly well suited to this market. They allow these vendors to offer a “locals discount” without having to risk the tourists getting in on the act. By mailing the cards to local customers, they control the distribution, build affinity and loyalty with their neighbors, and boost their revenue when they need it most.

Mailings of time-limited coupons to the same customer list is also useful and effective. The expiration date has the added benefit of limiting the discount to the off months.

The use of specialty mailing lists and/or highly tuned selections on standard lists can be another good way to speed up a slow sales period. Often partnerships are formed between complementary companies to co-sponsor a mailing. For example, a winery might want to do a mailing to the subscribers of Wine Connoisseur magazine. By teaming up with other wineries they can offer a “wine tour”. They also couple this with a special promotion from a nearby hotel. Now, the  cost of the mailing has been split four ways, and the reasons for the consumer to be interested  are multiplied. Add in fun passports and prizes, and you’ve created an event!

These are just a few ideas to get you started. Play around with them and see what you can  come up with. Remember the main strengths of Direct Mail…

 Targeted Audience – You mail to the exact people you want to reach
 Controlled Geography – Effort and expense isn’t wasted on people who can’t reach you.
 Measurable Results – Coupons, discount cards and offer codes tel you where they came from.
 Tangible Presence – You’re giving them something to touch, read and hang onto.

 There are three main divisions in mailing lists. There are occupant lists, which simply give you an entry for every address on a carrier’s route, perhaps with the name. Then there are basic and premium lists.

 If you’re trying to reach everyone in a given area, an occupant list can be a good option. For example, if you want to give people within a few miles of your store a discount card to encourage local business, this would be ideal. Because the USPS does less work (they place on piece in every box on a route), the postage is lower when using an occupant list. The downside is, there is a very limited ability to target your prospective customers. Occupant list are very inexpensive, usually around 1 cent per address.

A basic mailing list allows you to select the records for your mailing based on many different criteria. Usually, almost any geographic description of your sales region can be provided. For example, you might want everyone in your county, or within 3 miles of your address. There are a large number of demographic “selects” that are provided in the base cost of most lists. You can select most residential lists by household income, presence of children, home ownership status (rent, mortgage, own), and many more criteria. Business lists can have selects for type of business (by SIC, yellow pages heading, etc), number of employees, annual revenue, years in business and others. In addition, most lists have additional “value-added” selects that can help you tune in even more closely, such as total net worth. Business lists can also have the names of executives selected by title. These are available for a small increment of the base price. With proper modeling of your “ideal customer”, a basic mailing list can go a long way toward finding new ones. Basic mailing lists are a good value as well, with costs around 5-10 cents per contact.

Premium mailing lists are a whole different animal. They are best used when you are trying to reach a very specialized niche market. For example, if you sell kayaks and equipment, you might want a mailing list of the subscribers to a white water rafting magazine. Since the owners of these lists usually are selling the names and addresses of their own customers, they are not cheap. Premium lists usually start around 15 cents per address, and keep going up. It is not unusual to find lists costing over $1.00 per record. However, if you are offering a premium service or product, or need to target your clients very precisely, there are times when nothing less will do.