Data is usually downloaded from the dealer’s in-house computer system (ADP & Reynolds & Reynolds). It may also be received on disk, tape or by email.
Step 2
Convert & Standardize:
All data is CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) coded and standardized so we can accurately match duplicates and change of address records. (Example: “123 Lincoln Ave #2” and “123 Lincoln Ave Apt #2” should match.)
Step 3
Name Splitting:
Puts the Title, First Name, Last Name and Company Information in correct fields. This is critical for duplicate removal and NCOA matching. (Example: “Virginia Finance” is a company, “Virginia Finnan” is a person.)
Step 4
Make Grouping:
Data is grouped by vehicle make and treated separately. A dealership may sell GM makes and Nissans, so they would probably want to use them for different mailings. Other makes (non-franchised) are put in a final group and de-duped against all other groups.
Step 5
Customer Number Duplicates:
If a customer owns several vehicles, they are usually stored as separate records in the dealer’s system, but they have the same customer number. We reduce these records to either the newest vehicle or most recently active vehicle in the make group. We do not log these records as duplicates.
Step 6
Family Duplicates:
Duplicates where the Last Name and the address are the same are reduced to a single record, retaining the newest or most recently active vehicle within the make group.
Step 7
Change of Address:
National Change of Address (NCOA) processing matches the data with USPS records of people who have moved in the last 4 years. We also match with known changes from previous work in the area, thus matching some address changes older than 4+ years.
Step 8
Trade Address Removal:
We keep a database of over 100,000 known Auto Trade Addresses. All records at these addresses are deleted. If the names say “John Smith” but the address is that of an Auto Dealer, Body Shop or other Trade Company, the record is deleted.
Step 9
Scan for New Trade Addresses:
The list is searched for known Trade strings like “Chrysler Plymouth” and “Mufflers” to add to the Trade Addresses file. The system knows that “Ford”, “Honda”, “Suzuki” etc., are common last names. The Name Splitter separates individuals from companies so we don’t add families to the Trade file.
Step 10
Company Removal:
Most mailings are intended for individuals, in this case, we remove all record addresses to companies.
Step 11
Non-CASS coded:
Our USPS certified CASS software assigns the correct Zip Codes and Zip+4 data to each record. If the record is ambiguous or incomplete, it cannot make a match. We delete these records because they are probably undeliverable and cannot be used in pre-sorted mailing.
Step 12
Scope the List:
We can scope the list in many ways; the most common is by distance and vehicle model year. Our Zip-Distance-Year Report shows a cross-tabulation of vehicle model years by Zip Code. The Zip Codes are ordered by distance from the dealership. We show a cumulative total to make it easy to select the closest records.
