Friday, August 23, 2013

Address Book Software With Built In Verification System

By Celina Heath


Address book software with a built in verification system can be very important for a business that sends out bulk mailings and other important material through the mail. This software can automatically compare the address entered into the system with what the postal service has on record. This aids in finding mistakes in street names, spelling of locations, wrongfully entered states and incorrect zip codes.

A company's source of information might simply be outdated, due to changes made by the postal service. Zip codes, for instance, can change if an area experiences rapid growth and a single zip code becomes a burden to process mail for. By adding additional zip codes, the work load involved with mail delivery in the area is greatly reduced and efficiency is increased.

Wrong addresses can also end up in a database because of unreadable handwriting. Many mailing lists are compiled through information given on registration forms of information cards that were filled in by hand. Many people have difficult to read handwriting. If the person responsible for data entry encounters problems reading some of that information, the information could be misinterpreted and entered incorrectly by mistake.

Some companies actually use a program that can scan these forms, extract the information and store it. This is a sophisticated type of program, but mistakes still happen. In many situations the program will have to guess in order to compile a correctly formatted address, but that doesn't mean it is correct. The actually ore frequently then one would think when this type of program is involved in the process.

Simple human error can also result in many incorrectly entered addresses. A few wrong keystrokes or guessing about a spelling can generate a wrong entry that is not a real address. This often leads to mail being returned to a company or being misdelivered somewhere else. When this happens, the postage used on those mailings was wasted as it never reached the intended recipient.

Basically, there are a number of different ways for a wrong address to find its way into a system. By using software to verify this information through the postal service, the problem can be almost completely eliminated. The number of returned or wrongfully delivered mailings with verification is greatly reduced in comparison to the number when verification is not involved.

The increase in getting mailings to their correct destinations will translate to higher returns for the business as well. As more people in the right market are targeted, more sales are generated. Instead of wasting money on postage for mailings that will never reach their intended target, these mailings are actually making it to the correct places.

Address book software that enables a company to verify mailing list information with the postal services can be a valuable tool for marketing. Less mistakes are made, less postage is wasted and targeted consumers are reached more efficiently. Sales increase in the process and a company's mailing list becomes a useful marketing tool itself.




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