How USPS Software and CASS Software Will Save Your Business

There are a few things to remember when running your own business. First and foremost, the most important people are your existing customers. I knew that yet I still did the wrong thing and took it for granted. When going through my customer base I did not check to see who may have changed their addresses, what part of their address may have been entered incorrect or any changes to the zip codes and things of that sort. I assumed for the most part it was correct and after a couple years just let it be. Well that was a big mistake. After wondering where my old customers were and why I had not heard from many of them I did some checking. I used CASS Software and some NCOA Link software to follow up on my USPS addresses and low and behold, much of the data was updated. With jobs and relocations and family changes I guess people are moving more than ever and in just a couple years time a good percentage of my existing database had moved or needed touch ups to the information I had on file.

A few of the specific things I noticed was that for my mailing lists it was far cheaper to use intelligent mail barcode programs than the software I had which basically took the information out of an excel spreadsheet and created labels. Between all the undeliverable mail and the lack of response it became evident to me that I was wasting money. If I only mailed to the most updated addresses I figured I'd have a better hit rate and at the same time save the cash for other marketing efforts. There is also email software available to check those addresses, but I think that is much less reliable because often people use fake email addresses on purpose as opposed to mailing addresses where they have to be accurate in order to receive the products they have selected previously.

In addition to getting a higher response to my most recent mailings I am using presort software to handle the responses we receive. By cataloging the codes on the catalogs and seeing what segment is the most responsive I can more accurately promote to them in the future. I will select the most active group to receive the most mailings and offer the biggest discounts. I am not sure how many catalogs I should send out before I stop mailing to that particular address, but I will be looking into this. I'd guess if I have not heard any response after two years of quarterly catalogs having gone out than that may be about the time I put that list in only the holiday segment. Perhaps it will turn out to be less frequent than that.

Whatever your circumstances I think it's best to make sure you are maximizing your current database and using USPS software to get the most out of your promotional mailings. By simply using old information you will be losing money on shipments that go to the entirely wrong people or that never get delivered at all and are an absolute loss. Spending a little money up front on software solutions will prove valuable. In this economy you have to be careful where every dollar goes.