The process for continuously maintaining and updating customer address records is called address hygiene. An ongoing operational discipline necessary because address data decays constantly. People move, businesses relocate, addresses are often entered inconsistently, and secondary information is missed. A one-time cleanup is insufficient.
Address hygiene requires synchronizing address changes across all business systems and utilizes multiple postal tools:
- Standardization and Validation (CASS™): Correcting formatting, standardizing address elements, and validating delivery points.
- Pre-Mailing Move Updates (NCOALink®): Identifying move-related updates before mail is sent to intercept undeliverable pieces.
- Post-Mailing Intelligence (ACS™): Capturing electronic change-of-address and non-delivery information after a mailing to learn from what actually happened in the mailstream.
- Returns Management: Capturing, interpreting, and applying valuable information from returned mail pieces back into the correct system of record.
The goal of continuous hygiene is to prevent the same bad address from repeatedly appearing in marketing lists, billing systems, and compliance mailings. By maintaining currency and accuracy, organizations reduce wasted postage, print costs, manual handling, and improve customer communications for all business functions.
Address hygiene is the continuous operational discipline of cleaning, standardizing, validating, and updating address records over time. This process uses tools like CASS™, NCOALink®, and ACS™ to reduce undeliverable mail, synchronize changes across systems, and ensure addresses remain usable for all business functions. It is an ongoing discipline, not a one-time cleanup.
