Prepare the data · Merge/purge
When lists come from different sources, the same household or company often appears more than once, spelled a little differently each time. Merge/purge finds those duplicates, keeps the best record and removes the rest, along with anyone you have asked us to suppress.
See how it works
No paying twice to reach the same household or office.
Duplicates look careless. Removing them protects how your brand is received.
Response rates mean more when every record is counted once.
Records are compared after names and addresses are standardized, so “Robert Smith, 12 Oak St.” and “Bob Smith, 12 Oak Street” can be recognized as the same person.
When a duplicate appears in more than one file, priority rules decide which version is kept. Customer files usually win over prospect files, and a paid list may win over a free one. Source codes can stay on each record so you can track response by list.
The same process removes records you should not mail: current customers in a prospecting campaign, recent responders, internal do-not-mail requests or anyone mailed in a previous drop.
Merge/purge combines two or more files and removes duplicates, so one person, household or business receives one piece. Duplicates can be matched by address only, by household (last name and address) or by individual (full name and address), and you decide which file's record is kept when a duplicate is found.
The same process can suppress records you do not want to mail, such as current customers or an internal do-not-mail list.
Excel and delimited text files (comma, tab, pipe or colon) work well. Fixed-width text files are fine with a file layout. We deliver in the format your printer, mail house or CRM needs.
Yes. Typical cleanup includes removing duplicates, standardizing names and addresses, CASS processing, NCOA processing, deceased and Do Not Mail coding, and flagging records that are likely undeliverable. We can also combine several files into one. We return the file in the layout you need, with flags so you can see what changed.
Next step
A count request takes a couple of minutes. A member of the AVS team reviews every request personally.
Or call 714-617-4589Tell us who you want to reach.
A sentence is enough to start: who, where, and what the campaign needs to do.
We help define the target.
Recommended selections, geography and a count you can react to.
We source and prepare the data.
Licensed, cleaned, processed and formatted for how you will use it.
You receive campaign-ready data.
Delivered to you or your production partner, in the format they require.