Returned Mail

↩️ The Costly Detour: A Deep Dive into Returned Mail

Returned Mail, also known as Undeliverable Mail or Mail Failure, is always bad news! It occurs when the postal service or courier is unable to successfully deliver an item to the intended recipient and must send it back to the sender. This represents a significant failure in the last-mile delivery process and is a costly indicator of poor data quality.

When mail is returned, businesses face substantial financial losses and wasted resources. Beyond the cost of postage and packaging, businesses must often absorb reshipment fees, lost productivity, and, critically, customer dissatisfaction. The USPS and Canada Post may even dispose of undeliverable packages after a certain period, resulting in complete financial loss for the contents.

The Anatomy of Failure: Why Mail is Returned 🛑

Understanding the cause of Returned Mail is the first step toward prevention. Reasons for mail failure fall into two main categories: customer error and administrative changes.

1. Customer Data Errors (The Point of Capture Failure)

Research confirms that the majority of delivery failures are preventable and originate at the point of capture.

• Shopper Error: According to research we conducted, 80% of failed retail deliveries are due to errors made by shoppers who enter incorrect address data at checkout—often due to being in a hurry or making simple typos.

• Missing Sub-Premise Data: A common failure point is the omission of Sub-Premise Level Data (apartment, suite, or unit numbers). While the street address is correct, the delivery stalls at the last mile because the courier cannot access the specific dwelling within a large complex.

• Invalid Formatting: Addresses formatted incorrectly, using non-standard abbreviations, or missing essential components (like the ZIP+4 Code), making them illegible for automated sorting machines.

2. Systemic & Administrative Changes (Data Decay)

Even a correctly entered address can become obsolete, highlighting the need for continuous data maintenance:

• Relocation and NCOA: The addressee has moved without providing a forwarding address (a "Goneaway"). Failing to use the National Change of Address (NCOA) process to update these records is a major source of wasted direct mail spend and risks non-compliance for bulk mailers.

• Address Conversion: The address has been administratively changed due to LACSLink conversions (rural route reassignments to standard city addresses) or street name changes. Without an updated address, the mail fails.

An Operational Drain: Financial and Reputational Costs 📉

The consequences of Returned Mail create significant obstacles, waste resources, and undermine business goals. Let's delve into the main reasons it's something you want to dodge!

Hidden Financial Costs

We all hate getting hit in the wallet. The cost per failure for a delivery your business attempts is often much higher than the postage fee:

• Courier Surcharges: Many courier contracts include surcharges (often $\$15$ or more) for shipments that require the courier to correct the label or address in transit, compounding the initial cost of postage.

• Inventory Loss and Write-Offs: Undeliverable items may be lost or damaged during the extended return-to-sender process, forcing companies to write off the inventory value.

• Chargeback and Fraud Mitigation: Failed delivery attempts increase the risk of payment fraud and chargebacks if the customer disputes the transaction, forcing additional costs onto the retailer.

Reputation Damage and Churn

The delivery experience is the final moment of truth. Returned Mail creates a deeply frustrating User Experience (UX) that damages customer trust. Customers lose confidence in the brand's logistical capabilities, leading to reduced loyalty and a higher customer churn rate—the most costly long-term impact.

The Solution: Verification at the Point of Capture ✅

Businesses can eliminate the majority of Returned Mail by shifting from a reactive strategy (dealing with returns) to a proactive strategy (preventing errors upfront).

Address Verification (also known as address validation) is the necessary technique for cross-referencing customer input with official, authoritative datasets (like those maintained by the USPS and Canada Post) to check the accuracy of location information before a package is sent.

Loqate's Address Verification Solutions:

• Real-Time Prevention: Loqate's easy-to-integrate Address Verification API auto-completes address forms, standardizing and verifying addresses instantly to stop 80% of errors at the source.

• Data Integrity: The software automatically corrects and converts unstructured data into the exact format required by the carrier, adhering to Postal Addressing Standards.

• Proactive Hygiene: Loqate supports back-end address verification and data cleansing services (like NCOA screening) to proactively update records affected by relocation, ensuring continuous CRM hygiene and minimizing future mail failure.

By implementing Loqate's address verification software, organizations safeguard their bottom line, reduce support queries, and guarantee a reliable UX for every customer. Wave goodbye to failed deliveries and costly returns - get started with Loqate today. Best of all, you can snag a 45-day free trial so you can put us through our paces before you buy.