Summary:
This video discusses the importance of using Address Change Service (ACS) for marketing mail to manage Undeliverable-as-Addressed (UAA) mail pieces.
- Default Handling: Adam notes that the United States Postal Service (USPS) typically discards undeliverable marketing mail, meaning mailers receive no feedback on delivery failures unless they use ACS.
- Purchased Lists: Even if a mailer does not own a list, ACS provides data to evaluate the quality of different list sources, allowing for better negotiation with vendors or identification of better sources.
- Alternative Addressing: While “current resident” or “current business owner” mailings do not generate change-of-address records, ACS still provides critical data on other reasons for undeliverability.
- Pattern Recognition: Mailers can use ACS data to identify address characteristics linked to high undeliverability rates, which in one example reached over 40%, to optimize future campaigns and focus on records with high deliverability.
Transcription
So I was doing a presentation on UAA flows through the USPS, how they handle UAA mail, how it varies based on the class, the shape, where and how it was detected, what was the reason, etc. But on one of the slides, I brought up what mailers can really do to help their UAA situations. And one of the things that I always bring up and I really emphasize this is to use ACS on all your mail. Not just first-class mail, also on marketing mail. And that generated a question. Person asked, well, how do you get over some of the arguments that you hear why people sending marketing mail are not using ACS? And there are some valid arguments, but there’s definitely reasons for using it as well.
The number one reason is the default handling for marketing mail is the USPS throws it away. So literally no information goes back to the mailer that a piece was undeliverable or what rate. So you’re kind of mailing blind, if you will, in the future. So now you get into—have to get into more specifics about the particular mailer and their issues. So you have the argument of well, I’m buying in a mailing list. It’s not my list. So, why do I want the information back? I can’t use it on future mailings. Well, actually, you can. There’s multiple things you can utilize that information for. First off, if you’re buying in a list, how are you knowing if they’re giving you a good list or not? If you got, you know, we have a client where they’re getting lists from literally half a dozen different sources, merging it in mailing. It’s like, okay, well, by putting on ACS, we’re able to see how each list is performing. Which ones have a really low undeliverable rate? Which ones have a high undeliverable rate? The ones that are high, you go, okay, why are they not better? Should I be asking for a discount? Should I be working with them, making them give me better lists, look for a different source for that particular category of addresses that I want to market to?
But I know, you know, by having ACS I know what it is and I can also be looking at what’s the reason, what’s the nature of the problems. But also, if you’re constantly buying in lists, you are going to get some of the same names over time. So so long as you have a process to use the results from prior mailings to impact future ones, you’re gaining value even though you do not necessarily own those records. You can still get value out of it.
Now, the other biggest one that I hear about is, well, yes, I’m doing a marketing mailing, but I’m not mailing to individual people. It’s going to current resident or current business owner. So, I’ve been told there’s no reason to use ACS because I’m not going to get any changes of address. That is absolutely true. You will not get any change of address records. Those have to match to actual names. But there’s still all the other reasons why a mail piece is undeliverable. Okay? And in fact, there is with a—there’s one category of addresses that when you’re using this alternative addressing, current business owner. In this case, it was mailing to small and medium businesses that when you’re doing that and using that type of name, a certain type of address with certain characteristics has a massively higher undeliverability rate. For this one entire mailing, they had a mix of things. And the overall undeliverable rate was fairly average, around 3% for marketing mail. It’s actually a little below industry average, which is good. But in this one category, the undeliverable rate was over 40%.
By having the right information back, you can look for patterns, look for characteristics to identify, okay, these are the types of addresses that I know don’t get delivered well. So let me not include those. But there’s also the flip side. You can identify the characteristics of addresses that have a much higher deliverability rate. So you go, okay, wait a minute. I want to, in future requests for addresses and buying of records, I want to focus on records with these positive characteristics so it can help my program going forward. So there is definitely value in getting specific UAA information on your marketing mail and marketing campaigns.
Related content:
- ACS™ Data: The Missing Link in Your Address Quality Strategy – it expands on the core point: ACS™ helps marketing mailers stop “mailing blind” by revealing why UAA mail failed, measuring list quality, spotting high-risk address patterns, and using those insights to improve future campaigns.
- Understanding Address Quality Management Hub – the content reflects real‑world thinking, based on decades of working with USPS standards, address data, and production mailing environments.
- For a broader look at the principles behind these examples, see GrayHair’s Address Quality Series, which covers fundamentals and advanced concepts of address data quality.
