Mailing Lists – NCOA & PAF

What Does NCOA Mean?

When someone moves, they’re supposed to fill out a National Change of Address form with their new address. NCOA processing compares your mailing list against USPS National Change of Address data to identify address changes that have been reported to the USPS.

Only 40% of Americans update their address after moving, which may seem like a low audience to target, but there are a plethora of benefits to performing an NCOA on your list.

Benefits of NCOA

If Smartpress runs a list for NCOA, we’re telling the post office we’re doing our best to ensure that the mail is going to where they say it’s going. NCOA processing can help improve address accuracy and may also make you eligible for postage discounts.

Ensure Your List is Run for NCOA

For Smartpress’ online printing services to run your list for NCOA, all you need to do is fill out an ePAF. An ePAF authorizes Smartpress to process your mailing list for NCOA. The process goes like this:

1. You’ll get a message in your activity log requesting that you sign an ePAF. The message contains a link to the ePAF. Click on the link or copy and paste it into your browser. The message will look something like this:

2. Once you open the ePAF, click the check box in Step 1 to acknowledge that you’ve received the ePAF.
3. Verify the information we entered in Step 2 is correct. If it is correct, go to Step 3. If it is not correct, edit the information in the form fields and click the Confirm button when done.
4. Click the check box in Step 3 confirming the accuracy of the information entered into your ePAF.
5. Click the Confirm button in Step 4 to finalize your ePAF.

Please note, your ePAF will instantly be available for us to use, but we don’t get notified that you signed it. To expedite the proofing process, create a post in your activity log letting us know that you signed your ePAF.

What Happens Without NCOA?

It’s important to know that if we do not run NCOA, we are required to add “OR CURRENT RESIDENT” or “OR CURRENT OCCUPANT”. This text is added to the addressing directly below the recipient’s name.

The USPS mail carrier will then deliver the piece to that address, regardless of who currently lives there.

Please note: We do what we can to set your mailing up for success by processing your mailing list with USPS standards and requiring list processing services. However, it is inevitable that some mail will be returned to the sender. Typically you can expect 5-10% of mail to be returned. We do not guarantee the response rate of your mailing. By purchasing a mailing list, you acknowledge that you do not own this data, and the data is for one-time use only, unless noted otherwise.