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Sunday, September 1, 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.

As time passes, a company's on file information could just become out of date, often as a result of the postal service making changes. Components, like zip codes, can be changed if a specific area grows rapidly and one zip code is not able to efficiently deal with mail processing for the area. A few additional zip codes can be added to that area, just to reduce the work involved with processing and delivering mail to the residents there.

Incorrect addresses can also get entered into a system because of poor handwriting. Mailing lists are sometimes created by pulling names and addresses from registration forms or information cards that have been filled out by hand. Some people's handwriting can be difficult to read. If the person that entered this information into the computer had difficulty reading some of it, errors in entry could have occurred because they misread the information given by the person.

Some companies use software that can scan, interpret and then input information from these forms. This is a highly sophisticated business tool, but it is not always reliable. The program has to make a best guess in many situations just to decipher something that resembles an address and it might not always be the correct guess. This happens rather frequently when handwritten information is involved.

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.

By increasing the number of mailings that are being correctly delivered, a higher rate of return is generated. A larger number of intended marketing targets will translate to a higher volume of sales. Instead of postage prices being wasted on mailings that end up in the wrong person's hands, the mailings actually make their way to where they were intended to.

Verify information with specialized address book software can become an important, and almost vital, tool for any business. The number of mistakes being made and the amount of postage being wasted will both decrease while the number of targeted consumers being reached will increase. As a result, sales will also increase and turn the mailing list into an invaluable tool for marketing, capable of greatly increasing profits.




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