Anchor Computer

Spring is here.  Whether you have email, telemarketing, or direct mail lists, having accurate, reliable information that’s updated regularly is the key to staying in touch with contacts year round.

Nearly every contact database accumulates inaccurate or out-of-date information and it is estimated about 25-30% of data goes bad each year.  People relocate, change jobs, change service providers, they even change names.  Plus, there may be duplicate contact records or data that was never good due to typos or bogus information.

Click here to save 25% off List Hygiene Services!

How does your data measure up?

• 1/3 of  emails are lost to list churn,  bounces, and SPAM complaints every year.
• 14% of all phone numbers go bad, as over 40 million people move annually.
•  8% of all Standard Mail^TM is undeliverable because of incorrect addresses.

You’re not alone!

Deliverability, and getting your messages in front of  target customers or prospects, remains a key challenge for marketers. In fact, a MarketingSherpa study found this as a very important challenge for over 55% of marketers last year.

So what can you do?

You can ensure your contact lists are current and accurate by enhancing, appending and/or verifying your database.  Here are 3 highly recommended services to get you started:

Email List Hygiene & ECOA - Verify and update email address lists – before you send your next campaign. Check and correct for typos, syntax errors, invalid domains, and other known bad email address. Plus, find an updated email address to reactivate customer relationships.

Postal SuperCleanse - Correct undeliverable addresses, remove deceased contacts, and update addresses of individuals who have moved. We are so confident this works we guarantee your savings will more than double the cost of this service.

Telephone Verify/Append – Increase your connect rates by making sure the numbers you have on file are up to date.  Plus, identify wireless, business, residential, and Do Not Call (Federal, State and DMA) phone numbers.

Spring cleaning your lists can help maximize your marketing opportunities, keep you in touch with contacts on your list, and increase your ROI. 

Click here to request a FREE Accuracy Test on Your File.
If you find your data needs a spring cleaning, we will give you  25% off any hygiene service above!*

Businesses that work with Anchor Computer return year after year as they recognize the ROI benefits of data cleansing and appending.  Stay in touch with more customers…improve engagement and increase sales…  It’s a win-win situation!

* First time customers only.

Offset Postage Increase with Address Hygiene

It’s official – the USPS® postage increase has gone into effect on January 22, 2012. This is the second postage increase approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission in less than a year. Most direct mailers will see an average increase of about 2.1% or between $0.004 and $0.001 per mail piece.

Despite the increased cost of mailing, marketers see the value in keeping direct mail as part of their 2012 marketing program. In fact, a study performed in 2011 reported that 50% of consumers still prefer receiving direct mail to any other channel. Finding a solution to decrease mailing costs versus reallocating marketing budgets has been a challenge.

Request a FREE DATABASE EVALUATION REPORT to see how Anchor’s SuperCleansing Platinum Bundle can help offset the postage increase and SAVE YOUR DIRECT MAIL BUDGET.

Optimize the delivery of your mailing list using a combination of Anchor’s postal processing services, all bundled together into one “budget saving” solution.  

Anchor’s SuperCleansing Platinum Bundle includes:

NCOALink^® – Process your mailing lists against the 48-month NCOA^Link® dataset of approximately 160 million change-of-address records filed with the USPS^®. Update mailing lists, including individuals, families and businesses that have moved.

DPV^® (Delivery Point Validation, confirms an address exists and is a USPS^® delivery point) – DPV^® allows you to eliminate costs by not mailing to non-existent addresses.

LACS^Link®  (Locatable Address Conversion System, 911 Address Conversion Tool) - Converts rural style addresses to city style addresses, improving deliverability.

CASS^TM (Coding Accuracy Support System) – Improves the Address Standardization, ZIP^® Correction, ZIP+4^® Appending, Carrier-Route Coding, Delivery Point Coding, Error Message Code, CASS^TM Report and NDI Report.

DSF^2®  (Identifies Deliverable Addresses and Specific Address Attributes) – Allows you to identify business versus residential delivery points, as well as, vacant and seasonal addresses.

AAE (Anchor Address Enhancements) – Improve addresses that cannot be ZIP + 4^® coded, resulting in improved deliverability. By using an individual name and special matching logic on the address to locate a similar address in large reference file databases, we can determine which address elements need to be changed to make the record ZIP+4^® codable. Verify an actual address exists down to an apartment or suite number. AAE also adds missing secondary address information.

Deceased/Prison Suppress  – Eliminate deceased individuals and individuals with prison addresses from mailings, prior to a promotion.

Merge Purge – Identify duplicate records in your database, based upon your marketing criteria.  Our program goes beyond name and address comparison and incorporates additional data matching elements for increased accuracy, across several different files. Any data in your file such as: Social Security Number, Gender or Telephone Number may be used for your duplicate identification process. Matches can be based on unique individual or household levels.

 Pricing of these products and services is neither established, controlled, nor approved by the United States Postal Service®.  The following trademarks are owned by the United States Postal Service®:  USPS, United States Postal Service, ZIP, ZIP Code, ZIP + 4, LACS^Link, NCOA^Link, DPV, DSF² and CASS.

Delivery Sequence File Second Generation (DSF^2®) is a U.S. Postal Service® database madeup of 145 million delivery points  throughout the United States and its territories.

By processing your file through DSF², Anchor verifies each contact has an existent address and helps you eliminate sending costly direct mail campaigns to vacant or non-existent locations. Identify incomplete and undeliverable addresses, validate and standardize addresses, confirm each address has an actual delivery point and add postal carrier information for additional walk sequence and saturation mail postage discounts.

On average,  DSF² enable mailers to eliminate bad address records at a rate of 3-6%.  By eliminating non-deliverables from the mailing, you save production and postage costs and increase overall response rates, increasing bottom line profits.

DSF² also enables mailers to distinguish between:

• Deliverable and undeliverable postal addresses
• Business versus residential addresses
• Commercial mail receiving agencies (CMRA)
• Seasonal addresses
• Vacant locations
• Mail delivery method such as curb, door slot, box or central delivery.

All files processed through DSF² meet the USPS® CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) requirements.

CLICK HERE TO DISCUSS  YOUR NEXT DIRECT MAIL PROJECT NEEDS.

View a Sample DSF² Report

Read more on how Mailers are benefiting from DSF²

Clean up your data with Anchor’s  Super Suppression.

Mailers increase response rates and reduce mailing costs by minimizing mail sent to recipients who wish not to receive advertising mail or are known to be unresponsive.

Identify and eliminate undesirable and unresponsive contacts from your next mailing using Anchor’s Super Suppression. We offer one of the largest; most comprehensive data resources for suppress processing. Suppress deceased persons, nursing homes, prison related addresses, profanity, “Do Not Mail”, APO/FPO and Blank Addresses.

For the first time, all of these services are bundled together to provide you the ultimate in data accuracy at a very affordable cost.

Seven suppression solutions in one pass!

They Include:

1) Deceased

2) Nursing Home

3) DMA (Do Not Mail)

4) Prison

5) Profanity

6) APO/FPO (Military)

7) Blank Addresses

For the first time, all of these services are bundled together to provide you the ultimate in data accuracy at a very affordable cost.

Results from a recent suppression:
Input Mail Volume 250,000
Cost of Mail Piece $ 0.65 each (Cost of Mail Piece includes Postage, Mail Preparation and Material)

Net Savings on First Mailing – $4,062.50**
** Net savings based on 3% match rate and includes super suppression hygiene costs.

What will your savings be?

Each year approximately 1.7 million individuals, families and businesses move in Canada, of those about 1.2 million file a Change Of Address Notification (COAN) form with Canada Post Corporation (CPC).Canadian list

Canada’s address accuracy standard is 95%, which means that at least 95% of the addresses on a database must be valid addresses. A rate adjustment is applied to the portion of mail with inaccurate addresses.

To qualify for lower postage rates using Incentive Lettermail, Addressed Admail or Publication Mail, mailers must meet certain Canada Post “Address Accuracy” requirements.

Anchor’s Canadian National Change of Address (CDACOA) makes it possible for businesses to improve the accuracy of their Canadian address files. This translates into postage and production savings on mailed items that are undeliverable and better response rates on direct marketing campaigns.

Our CDACOA database is the most accurate and up-to-date mover information available in Canada and contains 6 years of data. Each year about 1.7 million individuals, families and businesses move in Canada.

Approximately 1.2 million of those movers file a Change of Address Notification (COAN) form with Canada Post Corporation (CPC) when they move. This information is captured electronically and made available, for those customers who have provided their consent to licensees of Canada Post’s National Change of Address Data.

Download our Canadian COA/Address Accuracy Product Information Sheet.

According to the Postal Service® 23.6% of all mail contains addressing errors. Typically 5% of mail is undeliverable due to missing or incomplete address elements that CASS™ address standardization software may not be able to ZIP + 4® code.

Anchor’s Address Enhancement (AAE) proprietary address correction methodology compares the first name, last name, incomplete address and ZIP Code™ to our 2 Billion Megabase Name/Address File which attempts through fuzzy logic, to correct the address provided. For example if the correct address is 61 Upper Main St and your records show this address as 61 UMS,  CASS™ address standardization software may not be able to ZIP + 4® code the record.

Primary Address Corrections: Includes correcting incomplete addresses, incorrect street names or house numbers, directionals and street name changes.

Secondary Address Corrections: Corrects apartment/suite numbers in multi-unit dwellings. AAE processing typically a third of the records missing apartment/suite numbers.

Using AAE we were able to increase the number of records we ZIP + 4® coded for a client by an additional 1.4% resulting in improved mail deliverability. Based on a 1,000,000 piece mailing at $0.50 per piece mailed 4 times a year, that’s $28,000 in savings the first year!  At a cost of $0.15¢ each correction that’s better than a 3 to 1 payoff on just the first mailing alone!

In addition to improving mail deliverability, correctly coded ZIP + 4® addresses are needed in order to match to the NCOALink® change-of-address file which also uses strict criteria for a match. AAE improves NCOALink® match rates, reduces undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail and optimizes postal discounts.

Ask about our additional Address Hygiene services designed to maximize your Address Correction ROI (return-on-investment).

Read more about Anchor’s Address Enhancement (AAE) services.

Processing with email list hygiene, telephone verify/append, and postal supercleanse services can help take the guesswork out of your marketing program.  Increase deliverability and maximize sales opportunities by confirming that your contact lists are current, accurate and deliverable.

Email List Hygiene – Verify and update email address lists – before you send your next campaign.  Check and correct for typos, syntax errors, invalid domains, and other known bad email address. Validate an inbox exists at domain

Telephone Verify/Append – Increase connect rates by making sure the numbers you have on file are up to date. Plus, identify wireless, business, residential, and Do Not Call (Federal, State and DMA) phone numbers

Postal SuperCleanse - Correct undeliverable addresses, remove deceased contacts and update addresses of individuals who have moved. We are so confident this works, we guarantee your return on investment will more than double the cost of this service or we will refund you the difference.

Contact us today and save 25% on any of our List Hygiene Services above!

Every year approximately forty-four 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. USPS® estimates that at least 8% of all Standard Mail™ is undeliverable because of incorrect addresses. This means lost opportunities, lost sales, and wasted money.

There is a solution. The NCOA 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 NCOA 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.

Use of the USPS® NCOALinkTM program reduces costs of labor, postage and materials. Unfortunately, this is news to some companies and senior managers who have yet to realize the ROI benefits of this worthy program. Presented herein are two reference tools you can share with clients and prospects: a Return On Investment Guide and a Case History.

ROI Guide

The USPS® has stated that the average NCOA match rate is approximately 4.1%. That translates to 41,000 move changes for a 1,000,000 record file. The match rate not only includes recognized address changes but also closed PO Boxes, foreign moves and moves with no forwarding address. When associated postage and material costs related to these factors are recognized as well as non ZIP + 4® coded addresses, one begins to conceptualize the value of this service.

Rule of Thumb

Following are average percentages of key NCOALink elements:

Case Study

This study is presented as an example of the savings potential to small file owners that use Standard Mail™ A class mail, in this case an owner with 82,153 records.

Mailers using NCOA will save thousands of dollars that would have been spent on wasted materials and postage that results from undelivered as addressed mail. The NCOA System makes available current change of address information that will reduce undeliverable mail. Addressing errors are identified and corrected before the mail enters the USPS®. Mailers will also receive a quicker response to an offer since it will go directly to the new address in the case of a move. Cash flow will also improve as a direct result of reaching a customer who has moved. In addition valuable customer names that would have been lost will be updated so that communication can continue.

For more information about the NCOALinkTM process, please click here.

Anchor Computer is a non-exclusive licensee of the United States Postal Service® for NCOALink™, DSF2™, DPV™, & LACSLink™.