Summary:
This video discusses the rapid rate at which address information changes and the importance of frequent database maintenance for mailers.
- Database Decay: If no maintenance is performed to track moves, approximately half of a database becomes outdated within four to five years.
- Types of Changes: Address data is constantly shifting due to people moving, changes to the physical address itself, or changes in address characteristics, such as a property becoming vacant.
- Comprehensive Information Change: When including all factors that influence mailing decisions and characteristics, 50% of database information can become outdated in just four to five months.
- Best Practices: To maintain accuracy, effective mailers process their entire database on a monthly basis.
- Mailing Precision: In addition to monthly updates, mailers should reprocess specific records as close to the actual mailing date as possible to ensure the highest probability of correct and efficient delivery.
Transcription:
So, I get asked on a fairly regular basis just exactly what is the frequency at which address information changes? How much are things changing? And I actually saw an interesting post the other day. I hadn’t thought about it this way where they said if you did nothing to maintain your database, just looking for when people had moved, that basically in four to five years, half your database would be out of date. Those people would no longer be at those addresses. And that is 100% accurate based on the rate of change of addresses filed with the USPS.
But I thought about it a little bit differently because it’s not just that people move. Information about the address itself is constantly changing. Okay. And some of those changes affect every mailer. Absolutely. Some of those changes only affect certain mailers. And some of those changes don’t affect the mailing address and the mail information, but it’s the characteristics about the address. The most obvious one would be, is the address now vacant and then became unvacant again? That kind of stuff. And if you look at the information—all those things as far as affecting, you know, any type of particular mailing or the characteristics that mailers use to decide what to mail and how to mail—it’s actually a little bit more interesting. If you’re doing nothing to maintain your database and your information, 50% of your information will be out of date in as little as four to five months.
That’s why best practice mailers have been able to see and justify processing their entire database on a monthly basis. So that way they’re getting everything updated that they use to decide who to mail to and how, whether they’re mailing or not. But additionally, they then also will reprocess every record going into a mailing as close to the timing of mailing as possible. So they get the very latest information to increase the probability of fast, efficient, and correct mail delivery.
Related content:
- What is address data quality? – it defines address quality as accuracy, currency, usability, and enterprise-wide data trust, which aligns with the core point about rapid database decay.
- 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.
