Companies rely on address verification tools to ensure that their customers’ orders are correctly delivered. However, if these processes aren’t streamlined, they can slow down the entire ordering process and cause a great deal of frustration for both parties. Traditionally, these processes have involved manual checks by human employees. This can be expensive, time-consuming and error prone for companies. It also eats into product delivery times, which can be especially damaging for e-commerce businesses that rely on last mile logistics.

Fortunately, there are several different ways to automate these processes. A number of address verification solutions exist on the market, including address parsing, address standardization, and address matching. These tools cleanse and verify addresses in order to make them compatible with databases, and can improve the accuracy of these records.

Address parsing takes an address and breaks it down into its individual components, such as street name, city, state, and zip code. This is important for improving the quality of your data, as it helps you better understand what’s wrong with an entry. This can help you correct errors before they have a chance to impact customer experience.

Address standardization is a more advanced process that formally corrects formatting errors in an address to match the standardized formats set by the governing postal authority (like USPS) before it enters your database. This can include fixing spelling errors, simplifying and abbreviating words, removing duplicates, and ensuring that all parts of the address are readable and formatted properly.

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If you want to communicate with a large number of people at once, the most reliable way is to use a mailing list service. These services allow you to upload your mailing list and then send out emails using their email software. They also provide tracking and other useful tools.

You can also send bulk email using your regular email client. This can be a little riskier, however, because it exposes the email addresses of all of your recipients to spammers who may forward the email to other subscribers without permission. To minimize this risk, be sure to add all of the recipient addresses in the Bcc field instead of the To or Cc fields.

Whether you are sending an email or preparing physical mail, it is important to follow bulk mailing guidelines in order to qualify for the discounted postage rates. These guidelines include sorting the mailing by both zip code (both 3 and 5 digit) and type, filling out a postage statement either online or manually, applying barcoded labels to each bundle, and delivering to the post office where you obtained your bulk mail permit.

There are many reasons to send bulk mailings, but it is important to remember that the content of your mailings should be interesting and valuable for each individual recipient. If not, they are likely to be ignored or marked as spam. With the right strategy, however, your bulk mailing campaigns can be an effective way to increase brand awareness and encourage your audience to take action.

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The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) approved a three-cent increase in first class mail prices, but bulk mailings will save you money. You can save 38% – 55% on marketing mail (sometimes called standard class, standard A or third class), and up to 80% on non-profit mail.

USPS bulk rates depend on how your mailing is prepared. This includes presorting your mailing items, putting the proper barcodes on them, and preparing paperwork for submitting to the Post Office. Generally, it is best to have a third-party do the prep work for you. This will usually include combining different zip codes and separating out the non-standard items like business cards, flyers and letters with envelopes. It will also require arranging to have the mailing dropped off at a specific location. This is often a DNDC or DSCF, which is a distribution center facility where they sort the items for automated processing.

In order to qualify for these discounted rates, you need to have a minimum of 200 pieces and the individual mail pieces cannot exceed 16 ounces in weight. This is a great option for local businesses or organizations who want to target their customers by geographical area. We can help you set up and execute your EDDM campaign quickly, which makes this a great option for time-sensitive projects.

Summit Printing can prepare your mailing to be eligible for these discounts by including the required Intelligent Mail Barcode on your items and doing the addressing and presorting for you. This will also ensure your items are processed more quickly by the USPS, resulting in faster delivery of your mail.

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If you’re a data management professional, then you know the value of accurate addresses. You also understand that not all address data is created equal, and that it’s important to verify and standardize your data in order to achieve optimal results when conducting business communications.

But did you know that the ZIP+4 Code is a vital part of an address? Essentially, the four additional digits appended to the five-digit ZIP code helps mail carriers better sort and deliver mail. And because the extra information gives a more precise location of addresses down to the block level, it enables companies to optimize their data quality and enhance their delivery processes, leading to reduced shipping costs, fewer missed deliveries, and greater granularity in their data management.

Enhanced Postal Routing

By adding the four additional digits, mail can be routed more efficiently and quickly as each block represents a distinct segment of the delivery point. This translates into lower shipping costs for businesses and faster delivery times for consumers, which is especially helpful when time-sensitive mailings such as utility bills are involved.

Better Data Management

In addition to reducing the cost of mailings, a ZIP+4 Code can help your business acquire valuable demographic intel about customers. This data is critical for marketing and sales professionals when developing targeted campaigns, identifying market segments, and more. Using the granularity of ZIP+4 codes, marketers can identify specific neighborhoods that have similar characteristics like a high concentration of college-educated households or low unemployment rates, helping them tailor their advertising messaging to these target groups.

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