NCOALink® : Beyond the Basics of Move Updates

By Adam Collinson

Address Quality Series · Article 4 of 8 · [See all articles →]

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I once worked with a marketing director who was frustrated that NCOA^Link® kept “deleting” her best customers. When I asked what she meant, she explained that every time they ran NCOA^Link®, thousands of records got flagged with moves, and her mail counts dropped significantly.

“Those are your best customers telling you they’ve moved,” I explained. “NCOA^Link® isn’t deleting them. It’s giving you their new addresses so you can keep reaching them.”

Another time, at one of the first industry conferences I attended, I heard a lady saying, “So I run CASS™, and it moves the apartment information to the end of the street address, so I’ve done Move Update…”

These conversations illustrate a fundamental misunderstanding about what NCOA^Link® does and why it matters. 

Let’s clear that up.

What NCOA^Link® Actually Does

NCOA^Link®, which stands for the National Change of Address (NCOA) Link products, matches your mailing list against the USPS database of change-of-address orders filed by individuals, families, and businesses. When someone files a change of address at the post office, that information is entered into a national database. NCOA^Link® processing gives you access to that database to update your records before you mail.

This serves two purposes. First, you must qualify for USPS automation discounts for certain mail classes. Second, and more importantly, it prevents you from mailing to addresses where people no longer live.

Here’s what many people miss: NCOA^Link® isn’t trying to reduce your mail volume. Its main goal is to increase your good mail volume by improving deliverability to the right people at the right addresses the first time. But, yes, it also identifies cases where the USPS knows the person has moved and not provided the USPS with a new address. These should be considered for suppression and/or other processes to try to find a current address .

The Regulatory Requirement

For First-Class Mail and Marketing Mail seeking automation discounts, you must meet the Move Update requirement.  If you are mailing to specific individuals or businesses, this means using an approved method to update your list within a specific timeframe prior to the actual mailing. NCOA^Link® is the primary pre-mailing solution to meet the Move Update requirement.

The exact requirements vary by mail class and frequency, but the principle is consistent: you need to verify that addresses are current before the mailing to qualify for discounts. This isn’t optional. It’s not a best practice. It’s a requirement for discount eligibility.

There are also Best Practices around NCOA^Link® that exceed the Move Update requirements.

Understanding Match Levels

NCOA^Link® provides different levels of match confidence, and understanding these levels is critical for making good decisions:

• First, Business match (B) is looked for.  This indicates a business name matched to a COA. Business moves introduce unique challenges that we’ll discuss later.
• Next, an Individual match (I) is looked for.  This indicates that a specific person’s full name matched to a COA record at that address. But, it is unknown if the person filed an Individual or Family COA with the USPS.
• Finally, a Family match (F) is looked for.  In this case, only the surname and address matched to a COA on file that was filed as a Family COA – most likely by a different member of the Family.

Beyond these clear matches, NCOA^Link® also identifies potential matches and situations where it cannot provide a new address. These categories matter just as much as the confirmed matches.

Types of Address Changes

Not all changes of address are created equal. NCOA^Link® identifies several distinct types:

• COA (Change of Address) is a standard move where someone has filed paperwork providing both their old and new addresses. This is the most straightforward scenario.
• MLNA (Moved, Left No Address) indicates that a Carrier has determined that the person, family, or business has moved but didn’t provide a new address. For businesses, this could mean that they went out of business..
• BCNO (PO Box Closed, No Forwarding Order) applies to PO Box closures where no forwarding address was provided.  This only occurs when the PO BOX rental has expired.
• Temporary moves are interesting. Someone has filed a temporary change of address for a couple weeks and up to 6 months. After the temporary period ends, mail should revert to the original address. But here’s the catch: temporary COAs are often precursors to permanent moves. How you handle these depends on your business model and relationship with the customer.

NOTE: Temporary COA information is only included in Full Service NCOA^Link® data, and does not include the new, temporary address, nor when the Temporary COA will end.

The Move Effective Date

When evaluating NCOA^Link® results, the Move Effective Date (MED) can give you a level of confidence in the data.

The MED is when the person indicated they were moving. It is provided as the Month and Year. Here’s why this matters: 

• The most recent COAs have a higher rate of modification, correction, or deletion. 
• Plans change and people make mistakes. So,they file one COA and then file another to correct it. 
• Their planned move date gets pushed a couple weeks.  
• Or, a child moves out and mistakenly files the COA as a Family move instead of as an Individual move.

The USPS has processes in place to catch and correct the majority of such issues before the results are available via NCOA^Link®.  But some get through with the corrections, often coming within the next few weeks.

The older a COAs MED, the more the information can be considered reliable and stable.

For example, an Individual-Level match automatically has high confidence, regardless of the MED. But, with a Family Level Match with a MED in the current or prior month, there is a risk that this should have been just an Individual COA for a different individual. So, maybe we only update the address on the mail piece and not in the database until we re-see the COA match in the future, when the MED indicates that the COA has been active multiple months. Meaning there has been plenty of time for corrections to be identified and applied.

NCOA^Link® Limitations and Workarounds

NCOA^Link® is powerful, but it has limitations that every mailer should understand.

• The NCOA database only contains COAs filed within the past 48 months (available via processing with a Full Service Provider Licensee). If someone moved five years ago, NCOA^Link® can’t help you.
• Some people never file change-of-address orders. They notify important contacts directly and let everything else lapse. NCOA^Link® can’t identify these moves.
• NCOA^Link® has restrictions on what new addresses it can provide. MLNA and BCNO situations provide confirmation that someone moved but not where they went.
• Foreign moves can be identified, but the new foreign address cannot be returned through NCOA^Link®. And, if the new address does not CASS validate or NCOA^Link® is not able to resolve the new address information to a single address, the new address is not provided. But, at least you know there is a COA and you can look to alternative means to obtain the new address.

This is where ACS™  (Address Change Service) becomes critical. ACS™ can provide information that NCOA^Link® cannot, including foreign addresses and more detailed move information. We’ll cover this in the next article, but understand that NCOA^Link® and ACS™ are complementary, not redundant.

In practice, that means: use NCOA^Link® to capture every move it can, lean on ACS™ and other tools for what it can’t return, and put explicit rules in place for how you’ll handle the “no new address” and unresolved cases.

Business Moves Present Unique Challenges

Business COAs are notoriously problematic. Why? Because businesses often go by multiple names and abbreviations. 

“Addressing Experts Incorporated”, “Addressing Experts Inc”, “Addressing Experts”, “AEI”. 

Yet, there may be only one COA record with one of the name variations.

NCOA^Link® makes business matches differently. The address is checked for the existence of a Business COA. Then the Business name associated with the COA is compared to the input COA name.  If it is determined that there is enough of a business name match, the process proceeds using the COA name on record. The business name match logic varies between NCOA^Link® products. This can be problematic, especially when the new business has a name that is very similar to the prior business’s name. When this occurs and is brought to the USPS’s attention, the COA on record may get removed to prevent the invalid forwarding and changing of the current business’s address. Detection and forwarding of mail for the prior business is shifted solely to the carrier.

NCOA^Link® Is A Vital Tool

Small businesses operating from home addresses create additional complications. The NCOA^Link® match might be on the residential surname rather than the business name.  A common example: John Smith DDS has his practice on the first floor of his home.  His business expands and he files a COA for “JOHN SMITH DDS” to his new location.  But, he still lives at the old location.  Mail and records for just “John Smith” match to the Business COA.

For businesses in certain industries that have restrictions on updating a client’s address without permission or confirmation first, NCOA^Link® is still a vital tool: 

• First, it identifies who you need to get permission or confirmation from.  
• Second, even if you cannot update the database, you can still update the address used on the mail piece.  

Not only does this mean you can still claim postage discounts, but you reduce the risks of delayed or incorrect delivery of the piece because you sent it to the old address.

Near Matches and Partial Matches

NCOA^Link® doesn’t just provide exact matches. It identifies situations where there’s a possible match but not enough confidence to make an automatic update. 

The rule is, when in doubt, do not change the address. 

Let the piece go to the old address where the Carrier may have additional information to determine if the COA should apply to this piece.

These situations require judgment. The address might match but the name is slightly different. The name might match, but the address has minor variations. There might be multiple potential matches for the same basic name at the same address.

Many First-Class mailers continue to mail to these near matches, letting the Carriers determine the matches and forward the piece where necessary (and generating an ACS™ record back to the mailer as confirmation to apply the update). Marketing mailers often play it safe and suppress or replace these records, since COA matches would result in the pieces being disposed of rather than forwarded.

In any case a best practice approach is to use ACS™ on these pieces. Mail to the old address with ACS™ endorsement. If the person has actually moved, you’ll get the new address. If they haven’t moved, the piece gets delivered. 

This approach uses the local carrier’s knowledge to break the tie.

The Processing Summary Report

After NCOA^Link® processing, you receive a Processing Summary Report. Like the CASS™ 3553 report, this has both standardized and customized information.

The standardized information shows: 

• Overall match rates, broken down by match type and match level. 
• COA, MLNA, and BCNO counts. 
• Family, Individual, and Business matches. 
• Breakdown of the age of the COA’s. If you see a lot of older COA matches, that is a red flag.

The detailed section, customized by each NCOA^Link® provider, shows additional statistics about CASS™ results, DPV^® validation, and the integration of other processes like LACS^Link® and Suite^Link®.

Pay attention to trends over time. If your match rates are increasing, that might indicate your database hygiene is slipping. If match rates are stable and low, that’s generally good news, assuming you’re maintaining your database properly.

Making Smart Decisions with NCOA^Link® Data

NCOA^Link® data should drive specific actions, and those actions depend on your business model and relationship with the customer.

• For confirmed matches with new addresses, the decision seems simple: update the address and mail to the new location. But consider the Move Effective Date. If someone just moved, there is a higher (but still very low) chance that a modification to the COA may be coming.  But, if you mail to the old address, there are two concerns:  
  1. Delays. The piece will take longer to get delivered.  
  2. Not all COAs are detected, resulting in some pieces getting delivered to the old address. 

You need to determine the implications of each of these risks for your specific mailing.

• For MLNA and BCNO situations, you need a different strategy. Consider contacting the person through alternative channels (email, phone) to obtain updated information.  And, re-run the records against NCOA^Link® in the future weeks and months. Some COA’s will get filed. Don’t just delete them from your database.
• For temporary moves, evaluate the business context. If you’re a seasonal business, a temporary COA during your off-season might not matter. If you’re sending time-sensitive operational mail, you probably want to follow the temporary address.
• For near matches and partial matches, consider using ACS™ to gather more information before making a final decision.

NOTE: Do not forget what we discussed in the CASS™ section about certain types of addresses that are not allowed to be used in certain situations in certain industries. You need to evaluate the type and nature of the new address before you apply the updates to location with such restrictions and requirements.

The Timing Question

When should you run NCOA^Link®? The answer depends on your mailing frequency and business needs.

For databases, consider running monthly or at least quarterly. The questions factoring into this are:

1. Are you also running NCOA^Link® just-in-time on mailings? 
2. Do you have control over all mailings generated from the data from these databases to ensure just-in-time processing as well?  
3. Is there a specific value to your business in identifying movers ASAP, so you can use that information to maintain a business relationship?

For regular ongoing campaigns, run NCOA^Link® as close to the mailing date as possible to get all the latest moves. Changes of address are filed daily. The longer the gap between processing and mailing, the more likely that additional COAs have been filed that you’re missing.

For extended campaigns, consider running NCOA^Link® multiple times. Run it early in your planning cycle to clean your database and create an optimal list. Run it again just before mailing to catch the most recent changes.

Remember that timing affects more than just accuracy. It affects your Move Update compliance measurement. The USPS measures the age of the COA’s detected on the pieces you mailed. This provides a good indication of when NCOA^Link® (or other Move Update compliance methods) were performed prior to a particular mailing. Process too early, besides not getting full value from NCOA^Link®, you might fall outside compliance windows. 

Beyond Compliance

Like CASS™, NCOA^Link®‘s value extends far beyond regulatory compliance and postage discounts:

• NCOA^Link® data helps identify customer attrition risks. If significant customers are moving without updating their information with you directly, that might signal relationship issues.
• NCOA^Link® matches provide opportunities for proactive customer service. Reach out to customers who are moving to ensure a smooth transition and demonstrate that you care about maintaining the relationship.
• NCOA^Link® results combined with CASS™ and ACS™ data enable sophisticated segmentation and targeting strategies. Different address situations warrant different messaging and offers.

Working with Providers

Most organizations don’t run NCOA^Link® software directly. They work with Full Service Providers (FSPs) or Limited Service Providers (LSPs) who are licensed by the USPS to offer NCOA^Link® processing.

When selecting a provider, look beyond price and turnaround time. Ask about:

• Reporting capabilities. 
• How they handle near matches and partial matches. 
• Integration with CASS™ and ACS™ data.

At GrayHair Software, we treat NCOA^Link® as part of a comprehensive address quality strategy, not as a standalone compliance checkbox. We help clients understand the nuances of match types, make informed decisions about marginal cases, and integrate NCOA^Link® data with other information sources for optimal results.

The Bottom Line

NCOA^Link® isn’t trying to reduce your mail volume or delete your customers. It’s trying to help you reach the right people at the right addresses at the right time. Understanding the difference is critical.

Every match type tells a story. Every date provides context. Every near match represents a decision point. The mailers who achieve the best results are those who go beyond basic compliance and use NCOA^Link® data strategically.

In the next article, we’ll explore ACS™ (Address Change Service), which provides the missing pieces that NCOA^Link® cannot. Because NCOA^Link® tells you what changes have been filed, but ACSTM tells you what actually happened when you tried to deliver. Both are essential for a complete picture of address quality.

Until then, remember: those customers NCOA^Link® is “deleting” from your list haven’t disappeared. They’ve moved. And they’re waiting for you to follow them to their new addresses.

Next in this series

• ACS™ Data: The Missing Link in Your Address Quality Strategy
• Making Smarter Decisions: How to Connect CASS™, NCOA^Link®, and ACS™
• Address Quality Best Practices: From Entry to Delivery

Want to go deeper on address quality? Visit our Address Quality hub for tools, strategies, and real-world best practices.