Consider this: 30 million people change addresses every year. That means as much as 25 percent of your mailing list addresses can potentially be outdated. Having mail returned costs your business money. If as much as 25 percent of your mail can be returned or never received due to the wrong information, that means as much of 25 percent of your spending has literally gone down the drain. That makes being on top of your customer’s information very important. Another waste of money is doubling up on mailings. This can also affect the mailing lists you buy. Merge purge software can help keep your mailing lists clean and effective.
How Merge Purge Software Works
Merge purge software is designed to identify duplicates, incomplete addresses and other missing information that can cost you money down the line. You can use merge purge software when you receive an updated list or when you have access to a new list you want to add to your existing one. When you combine the two lists the merge purge software will do just that. First it will merge the lists into one and then it will purge any duplicates or discrepancies in the list.
Common Matches
You will usually have a choice of what you want the merge purge software to match or search. The most common categories include:
* Address, first and last name
* Address and last name
* Address and business name
* Address only
You can then drill down and identify what you want the priority to be in the search using defaults and other settings to get the best results for your needs.
Names and Addresses
Many businesses are not as concerned with the names as they are with addresses. For example, if you are simply trying to reach people it is not uncommon to adjust by having the name/occupant in order to reach someone through the mailing. This can be effective for many companies, especially when distributing catalogues.
Doubling Addresses
Merge purge software can help you avoid doubling up on customer mailings. This can save a lot of money as these items will not even be returned to sender so you can adjust your mailing list. Purging doubles will keep your mailing list neat, tidy and cost effective.
