Diamond Marketing Solutions

Frequently Asked Questions

NCOA/FASTforward is a USPS requirement for all
Presort and First Class Automated mailings.

1) What are the benefits of using NCOA/FASTforward on my mailing list?

Ensures that all of your mail is delivered to the updated addresses.
Helps improve response rate.
Ensures more accurate merge/purge results.
Provides an opportunity to clean-up your mailing list.
In the long run, it maximizes your direct mail dollar.

We recommend that you NCOA/FASTforward your files for all classes of mail!

2) What do we do if someone on the database has moved and there is no forwarding address?

Example: The Post Office knows that a person is no longer at an address, but does not have information on their new address. If mailed, the piece will be returned with 'no forwarding address' stamped on it.

Our standard procedure is exclude these records from the mailing and create a 'NO FORWARDING' database in I.S. A report of these is available by request, data file (for electronic file) or report printout charges apply.

3) If someone's new address is out of the 'typical mailing area,' do we still mail to them?

Example: A person recently moved from the Chicago area to New York. With NCOA their address will be updated to the New York address and your mail piece will be sent there.

Standard procedure is to mail to all changed addresses regardless of location. If you want to exclude some of the newly assigned NCOA addresses, we'll need to know the criteria. Simple criteria is done at the Select Codes charge. Complex criteria involving identification of zip codes or regions can be done as a custom service and additional charges will apply.

4) Do you want the address changes returned to you?

If you want changes returned to update your house file, you can receive the data on hard copy or electronic file.

Electronic file: Customer should assign a unique id code PRIOR to sending us the original file. This will allow you to match back to the updated records. If you have advanced programming available in house you may be able to do a match on the name.

Hard copy: Customer can assign a unique code PRIOR to sending us the original file. This will make record lookups easier for you, however, a unique ID is not as critical as it is for the data file.