What's your address?

Our guest blogger is back with a topic that many people may not think twice about.

What is in an address?  What is an address?

Addresses can be identified two broad categories: Physical and Mailing.  A physical address can be defined as the actual location of a structure (house or building), part of a structure (apartment or suite), or an empty lot.  It also may be where one receives service from a utility, cable provider, or telephone company (service address).  A mailing address is just that – where one designates where their mail is sent.  This type of address may be a physical structure or part of a physical structure as described above, or it may be a Post Office Box located at a Post Office location.  Sometimes, a mailing address for one physical structure may be the physical address of a completely different structure. 

Why is this important?  Why should we care? 

Simply put, the point is to ensure that you are directing your correspondence to the correct person at the correct address.  It is not good enough to know that your best targets live at particular addresses, but that you are also sending mail to their preferred addresses.  Conversely, it is not enough to know that potential targets receive mail at a Post Office Box – you also need to know what physical address is attached to that Post Office Box if you want to learn anything about the demographics of who you are mailing to.

About 80%-90% of the time, the mailing address and the physical address are the same, so we do not have to worry about the consequences of the differences.  But for that 10%-20%, the differences outlined about are very important for us to consider when we construct a direct marketing campaign.

--B