NCOA (National Change of Address)

What is NCOA?

Americans are on the move. More than 40 million Americans move every year, changing their addresses in the process. 

Companies and organizations of every kind understand this reality.

• If customer address databases are not updated, mail becomes undeliverable.
• Businesses can lose touch with their most loyal supporters.
• Costs go up; it is expensive to process and resend returned mail.
• Resources are used to re-establish contact with those who have moved.

Fortunately, there is a way to keep in touch even with those customers and clients who fail to directly update their contact information in your records. Verification with the National Change of Address (NCOA) database ensures that you do not lose track of your customers when they move to a new location.

The NCOA database is a set of data that includes the permanent change-of-address records maintained by the U.S. Postal Service. Here is how it works:  

• Every time people living in the U.S. move and submit a change-of-address form to their local post office, their new addresses are recorded in the NCOA database.
• The Post Office automatically checks addressed mail against this database for a predetermined period so that mail is appropriately forwarded to its recipient.
• The USPS keeps change-of-address records on file for 48 months, which means that it can track address changes from the past four years and send mail to the correct address once the individual has moved.

However, the NCOA database is not a tool that is available only to the USPS. Through special agreements with businesses and organizations all across the country, the postal service grants access to the NCOA database so that companies and nonprofits can automatically update their records with the address changes their customers have submitted to the post office.

Why is NCOA important for businesses?

Accurate addresses can decrease costs and increase productivity, helping to improve the bottom line of the company or organization. With updated addresses for customers, businesses don’t waste money on sending undeliverable mail. Mail arrives at its destination quicker, which increases customer satisfaction. When used with other programs, such as the Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) certification, mail delivery is more efficient and economical.

Some of the benefits of using an NCOA validation tool include:

• Improved mail deliverability rates
• Bulk shipping discounts that are impossible without NCOA verification
• Automatic NCOA address updating
• Better contact data quality with address verification
• Customer retention

Additional FAQ:

How does NCOA work?

When someone moves and submits a change of address form, that information goes into the NCOA database, which is kept on file for 48 months. Companies that have access to NCOA can update their records with the most recent information about their customers’ addresses.

How long does it take for your address to be updated?

When a customer submits a change of address form, the post office advises that it takes one to two weeks for mail to be forwarded. During that time, the address is updated in NCOA.

How accurate is the NCOA?

The NCOA database is only as accurate as the information provided by people when they move. If they fail to inform the USPS of their move or register at their new location, their new address won’t be on file.

Is the NCOA required by USPS and other carriers?

Filling out a change of address form is voluntary for people who are moving to a new location. They aren’t obligated to submit the form to the USPS.

How often is the NCOA updated?

Updates to the NCOA are ongoing as change-of-address forms are received and the information is entered into the database.

Ideal steps for maximizing the NCOA^Link process:

• Customer address data is cleansed and formatted to USPS standards including ZIP + 4.
• Data is matched against the NCOA data from the USPS.
• Each time an exact match is made, the new address information can be used to update the customer record.

Because the process only provides new data when an exact match is found, cleaning a database before it is processed is an essential step in getting the best results from the service. If a business has inaccurate addresses in its database, the company still pays to process those incorrect addresses even though they cannot be updated.

Address cleansing software changes addresses to the USPS format, fixes incorrect ZIP codes, resolves typos in street names, and uses fuzzy matching to find the most accurate address possible.

Learn more about NCOA validation

Our NCOA mailing address validation tools are among the most highly sought-after data management resources available in the industry today. We want to help you keep your addresses up to date. Contact Experian™ today for more information on our NCOA validation software and other tools for international address validation.

Related links:

Learn more about our NCOA processing service. 
Find out more about data matching software.