A USPS-licensed service that updates mailing addresses against the official change-of-address database.
Definition
NCOA validation is the process of running a mailing list through the USPS National Change of Address database. The NCOA database contains roughly 160 million change-of-address records filed in the last 48 months. Running your list through NCOA updates moved customers to their new addresses and flags those whose new address can't be confirmed.
Why it matters
About 14% of Americans move every year. Without NCOA validation, that's a 14% list-decay rate annually — postcards mailed to old addresses, money wasted, and customers thinking you forgot about them. NCOA processing typically costs $5–$25 per thousand records and pays for itself many times over in deliverability.
Example
A pest-control company runs its 8,000-customer house list through NCOA before a major reactivation campaign. The service flags 920 records (11.5%): 640 are updated to new addresses (still mailable), and 280 are removed as undeliverable. The campaign saves about $221 in wasted postage and reaches 640 customers it would have missed.
Related terms
- Address Standardization — The process of correcting and formatting mailing addresses to USPS-approved specificati...
- House List — A mailing list of your existing or past customers, built and owned by your business.
- USPS First-Class Mail — The USPS's premium mail class — fastest delivery, address forwarding, and free return o...
- Direct Mail — Promotional or transactional mail sent through the postal service to a targeted list of...
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