Direct-mail glossary

NCOA (National Change of Address)

National Change of Address, NCOALink

NCOA (formally NCOALink) is a USPS-licensed dataset containing the forwarding addresses of people who have filed an official change-of-address form with the post office, used to update mailing lists before a mail drop.

Why it matters

The USPS estimates that roughly 35–40 million Americans move each year. If your dental practice hasn't mailed to patients in 18 months, a meaningful share of your list has moved. Running your list against NCOA before a drop updates addresses for individuals who filed a move within the past 48 months, reducing undeliverable pieces and wasted spend. Not every mover files a USPS change-of-address form, so NCOA won't catch everyone — but it's the most reliable, lowest-cost tool for movers who did report their new address. Combining CASS validation (which standardizes existing addresses) with NCOA (which updates moved addresses) is the baseline address hygiene every serious direct-mail campaign should run.

CardCadence

How CardCadence handles it

CardCadence does not run NCOA move-updates on your list. It does mail every postcard First-Class, and USPS forwards First-Class mail free for 12 months after someone files a change of address — so recent movers still get your card without an NCOA pass. Past that window, a card to a moved customer is simply lost. If your list is several years stale, an NCOA pass through a list vendor before you import is worth the small fee.

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