ZIP+4

Katherine Mannion

We do not use the +4 in our ZIP field.  Should we?  What are the pros and cons?  And if we decide to add them, what is the best way?  Can I update all the addresses some way (Maybe with AddressFinder?)


Thanks for the insight!


Katherine

Lisa Slawinski

Hi Katherine,


I definitely think using the +4 zip is a good way to keep your data clean.  We don't have Address Finder, but I encourage you to use it.


Lisa

Joanne Felci 2

The zip + 4 will also be updated via quarterly NCOA

roger berg

Hi Katherine -

When adding new records we add the +4. Our mailhouse seems to prefer it so that's what we do. Most of our records had the +4 appended as part of an address finder run several years ago. Address Accelerator would do it as well (I think) but we don't have that in our contract.


When entering gifts I always check the donor's record to make sure the +4 is there and if not, I add it (google the address and you should get the zip +4).


Roger

Jen Claudy

The USPS has guidelines for formatting addresses to get the fastest and most accurate delivery.  This includes the Zip+4, eliminating punctuation, all caps (this is the one most people do not use), USPS-approved abbreviations (like "Dr" instead of "Drive" and also in the City field), and putting the street address on one line (if it doesn't fit on one line, the Unit/Apt/Ste number should go above the rest of the street address...because the USPS reads addresses from the bottom/end with the zip code to the top/start with the name).  So Zip+4 may increase the delivery speed.  And if you're adding the Zip+4 data in, you may as well format your addresses per USPS guidelines...probably omitting the all caps recommendation.


I recommend calling your closest BMEU (Business Mail Entry Unit) and asking when/if they offer bulk mail classes.  The Cincinnati BMEU offers these once a month, and when I took it years ago it was great.  A lot of information about sending bulk mail, plus, if you ever process and drop your bulk mail directly (rather than a mailhouse), you can get to know some of the folks at the BMEU which is where you drop off said mail.  And you can ask any questions about anything USPS-related.  If the staff is like those at my location, they'll know the answer or they'll find out and call you back with the answer.


Related specifically to Zip+4, check out this website for a thorough and rather lengthy explanation.  Important Note: This site offers validation services...in no way am I recommending this vendor or their services, as I have never used them before.


Blackbaud offers AddressAccelerator, which will properly format your addresses (including the Zip+4).  You can do this whenever and as often as you want, either in batches (run the process on a query) or individual records.  You can also set it to automatically run as you tab out of the address fields (for all users).  If an address cannot be validated, AddressAccelerator will help you figure out what's wrong so it can be corrected.


Particularly if you use bulk mail, you must screen your list against the NCOA (National Change of Address) database kept by the Postal Service.  If you use a mailhouse, they are probably screening your list as you send mail, but if you never put those updates into your database, as the changes drop out of the USPS database you'll end up sending mail to old addresses again.  The USPS NCOA database keeps 48 months (4 years) of data.  Some mailhouses only screen back 18 or 24 months, so you want to be sure that if you screen your database your vendor uses the full 48 months (which shouldn't cost any extra).  Don't expect perfectly complete and accurate results, as the USPS database only contains data submitted by the general public, so if someone moves and does not file a Change of Address with the post office, they won't be in the database.  Plus, there are other errors which are to be expected in such a massive project.


Blackbaud's AddressFinder does the 48 month screening, on ONE address record per constituent record.  But you don't have to worry about a system for importing updates because it does it all for you.  If you use a mailhouse, you can ask for NCOA results to be returned to you and then import them to your database.  Unless your database is very, very small, I wouldn't recommend making manual updates, because it will take forever (at least the first time).  You can also ask your mailhouse to screen your entire database.  I did that at my last two organizations...I would send a file of every active (with an Address Type other than "Previous Address") address record in RE and they would return the entire list within 1-2 days...every valid address would be formatted, Zip+4 and County information included, plus the moves, no forwards, etc. and any invalid addresses will be coded to tell you what might be wrong so you can investigate and correct them.  You do have to be cautious with seasonal addresses...some folks submit a COA (change of address) every time they move, some never do.  I used Address Types to flag those in the data I submitted and then manually review them (we didn't have a ton) before importing.


Probably more information than you wanted.  The more you can do to make your mail deliverable, the more likely it will actually reach your constituents.  And, if you use bulk mail, save money on postage.

Ryan Hyde

We use +4 as well, and we use AddressAccelerator for that. Any new address that comes our way, we run it through Accelerator and assuming the address is correct, it cleans it up and addes the +4 for us. You can also run batches through AddressAccelerator by going to Data Health Center > Data Health Center (middle tab across the top) > Validate Addresses (link in middle left). You can pipe in any query you like and it'll attempt to clean up all addresses it finds. 

Lee Hodson

Hi Katherine,


We definitely recommend adding and retaining the +4 digits on the zip code field of your addresses.  You can add and maintain this address information using either of our data tools AddressFinder and AddressAccelerator.  AddressFinder is intended to match any new addresses that your constituents submit to the National Change of Address database but it will also review and correct any missing or inaccurate +4 digits of zip codes submitted with your records.  AddressAccelerator is a tool that can be enabled in your Raiser's Edge to allow you to add the +4 digits to a record's address just when reviewing it on an individual basis or you can submit a group of records at once for this process.


The specific process of adding the +4 digits to the zip code confirms that the address is a valid mailing address per USPS standards.  If AddressFinder or AddressAccelerator cannot add the +4 digits to the address' zip code then the address is not valid or the zip code is incorrect.  To provide a little more background, adding the +4 digits to the zip code is part of the process of CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) certification and this is designed to improve the accuracy of mailings by verifying addresses against an official list of all known deliverable addresses in the USPS database.  For more information on CASS certification, please take a look at our Knowledgebase article in the link below:


"What is CASS certification?"

https://kb.blackbaud.com/articles/Article/41554


Please let us know if you have any other questions about the +4 digit zip coding and CASS certification.  There really aren't any cons to maintaining this address data on your records as it should always improve the accuracy of your mailings!


Lee Hodson

Data Enrichment Services


 

Katherine Mannion

Thanks for the insight, everyone!  Looks like the +4 is the way to go.  I just ran AddressFinder last week (for the first time, before that I had only relied on the NCOA reports that I got back from the mailhouse), so next time I run it, I'll be sure to include all addresses and update them for the +4.


Katherine

Ryan Hyde

Or for efficiency, you could write a query that sais "preferred address zip code does not contain -" and just update the ones that have no +4 at all. Just a thought - may not be useful in your scenario.

Melissa S Graves

Actually - I do not recommend using AddressFinder for this purpose. Most of us use AddressFinder and choose to only import the records that have changed. We keep the old address, mark it as former then have the new address as preferred.


If you choose to import all records even if it is just to get the cass certified format (with zip +4) you then have to decide, are you overwriting the existing addresses (thereby not keeping the historical changes if there is a new address) or adding the new address and marking the old as former.


If you do the latter, for those with a simple zip+4 add, you will now have two copies of the same address on ALL your records. You will soon begin to hate seeing this and you can't easily fix it - you will need to manually delete them. I do not recommend this. I would strongly advocate for using AddressAccelerator for this purpose.

Lee Hodson

This is a great point and to clarify we never recommend submitting All Addresses for AddressFinder especially for this purpose as it will cause duplicate addresses to be returned and duplicate old addresses to be saved on the record.  In general it is best to only submit the Preferred Address for AddressFinder and you can let AddressAccelerator handle any formatting updates for secondary addresses.


If you are running in to the issue of adding duplicate previous/old addresses on to records when running AddressFinder there is an easy step to avoid this by running a two-pass process covered in the Knowledgebase link below.  This article outlines how you can just update the addresses with NCOA changes (Forwardable Moves) in a first run of the update and save the old addresses.  Then you can make a second run to update all addresses but not select to save old addresses so that each address submitted will be formatted according to CASS certification without adding a duplicate previous address to the record:


"How to prevent duplicate addresses from being created when running AddressFinder"

https://kb.blackbaud.com/articles/Article/49322

 

Melissa S Graves

I appreciate that there are workarounds but it still will not give you the full benefits that AddressAccelerator gives you such as county and other mail codes.

Jen Claudy

The decision of using AddressFinder or AddressAccelerator to format your addresses could very easily come down to whether you have both services or not.  AddressAccelerator is the better tool for this, and you can run it on one record or many records, as often as you wish.  But there is an additional cost if you don't already have this tool.


Also, to Lee's post...the last time I used AddressFinder, I believe it was only possible to submit one address per constituent record...no choice to submit all addresses.  So if you submit Preferred, and some of your constituents have their Business address marked as Preferred, you won't get any moves for their Home address.

Alan French

Melissa Graves:

If you do the latter, for those with a simple zip+4 add, you will now have two copies of the same address on ALL your records. You will soon begin to hate seeing this and you can't easily fix it - you will need to manually delete them.

To save you deleting them manually, if you can identify your duplicates in Excel then you could change their address type via Import and use the Alternate Address Deleter plug-in. Love that plug-in; we ended up with blank previous addresses on tens of thousands of records due to the way they were imported from our student record system and there was no way I could have cleaned those up without it!

Katherine Mannion

We don't have Address Accelorator, and I don't see that as something we would purchase just for this purpose.  Also, EVERY zip in my database is formatted without the +4 at the moment, which we're fine with.  The mailhouse we use adds the +4, and for the smaller mailings that we do in-house, we have very little returned mail (thankfully!)   We did have the problem of duplicate addresses (from before my time!) and I've been able to clean most of those out as I've come across them.  

 

Lee Newcomb

Katherine Mannion:

We don't have Address Accelorator, and I don't see that as something we would purchase just for this purpose.  Also, EVERY zip in my database is formatted without the +4 at the moment, which we're fine with.  The mailhouse we use adds the +4, and for the smaller mailings that we do in-house, we have very little returned mail (thankfully!)   We did have the problem of duplicate addresses (from before my time!) and I've been able to clean most of those out as I've come across them.  

 

NSKS doesn't have Addr. Accel. either.  As others mentioned, mailservices do a great job both with expanding to zip+4 AND providing address updates.  We find it is easier to import ALL address corrections the mailhouse provides with each newsletter (& check if any of the moves affects our other addr. lists like Auction-Tracker).  Once we have the zip+4 in our RE addresses, the comparison/corrections for the next newsletter updates is MUCH easier!

On addr. changes:  we make sure to keep but deactivate an old address.  Then we import the new addrs. as the primary addr.  We get about 200 addr. updates per newsletter (~1%).  By using zip+4 in RE, the update is easier.

Now if only we could resolve addresses that don't have zip+4 addrs. & sometimes get returned...