How Does A PCOA+ Work?

Even the cleanest data can get stale over time. Over 60 million people and businesses in the United States move each year. With that in mind, it's no wonder that the address data in your database will need to be refreshed regularly to avoid sending mail to your supporters at the wrong address.

The easiest way to keep your addresses fresh is by running a data append on addresses of your supporters. Running a Proprietary Change of Address, or PCOA+, tackles multiple data hygiene issues frequently found when running mailing lists and expands on the sources used in typical NCOAs.

Table of Contents

1. What Is A PCOA+?
2. What is the Difference between an NCOA, C-NCOA and PCOA+?
3. How Can A PCOA+ Help My Organization?
4. What Are The Steps To Process A PCOA+?
5. Will I Get Results for Every Record I Submit?
6. How Long Does It Take?
7. Can I Append International Data?
8. How Are We Billed?
9. What Is The Zip File Sent To Me After The PCOA+ Runs?

What Is A PCOA+?

PCOA+, which stands for Proprietary Change of Address, is a data append service that uses sources outside of the National Change of Address (NCOA) database to locate additional address change information but also includes deceased information and name change verification. A PCOA+ also searches from a larger time frame of data than NCOAs to provide updated information.

What is the Difference between an NCOA, C-NCOA and PCOA+?

While the PCOA+ append service searches for address information of your supporters like NCOAs and C-NCOAs, there are small differences between the three data appends.

• National Change of Address (NCOA): The NCOA looks at 4 years of change of address data and standardizes addresses for US Households. We recommend running an NCOA at least one time per year.
• Canadian National Change of Address (C-NCOA): The CNCOA looks at 4 years of change of address data and standardizes addresses for Canadian Households. We recommend running a CNCOA at least one time per year. PCOA+ appends are not available for Canadian households. Click here to learn more about C-NCOAs.
• Proprietary Change of Address (PCOA+): The PCOA+ looks at 35 years of change of address data, standardizes addresses, appends deceased information, and possible change of name information for US Households. The data the PCOA+ provides is older and therefore may be less accurate than an NCOA. If your organization has never run an NCOA before, we recommend running an NCOA and PCOA+ together. 

If you are not sure which data append service is best for your organization, the Virtuous Professional Services team can help create a custom plan to support the hygiene of your database. The plan will vary based on your needs and may include running both an NCOA to the most relevant address updates and also a PCOA+ for additional addresses that were not picked up from the NCOA. To get started with a custom data append plan, open a support ticket with the Virtuous Support Team.  Click here to learn more about submitting support tickets. 

How Can A PCOA+ Help My Organization?

A PCOA+ has one of the highest return on investments for organizations because they help you get more mail delivered and, in return, more Gifts received. This means appeals, Receipts, and event invites actually reach the right mailbox instead of getting returned or tossed out. Running a PCOA+ also lowers your costs by letting you suppress bad addresses, supports accurate householding of your donors, and reduces duplicates during Imports and merges. 

What Are The Steps To Process A PCOA+?

The entire process to append phone numbers includes:

1. Create a “Bad Address” Tag. This Tag will be associated with Contacts included in the PCOA+ run, so each Contact indicated as a bad address is flagged. Click here to learn more about creating Tags.
2. Create a Contact Query in CRM+ and name it Data Append: PCOA+ Append. Filter for:
   1. Contact Type > is> Household (as household data typically yields better results)
   2. Any other groups you wish to exclude
3. Open a support ticket with the Virtuous Support Team that includes:
   1.  The type of data append you want (for example, a PCOA+) 
   2. The exact name of your Contact Query and your “Bad Address” Tag
   3. A new address label: When a new address is available, it will be added to the Contact as the Primary Address (the previous address will remain on the record, but will no longer be flagged as Primary and will require an updated label). All addresses in Virtuous CRM+ must be identified with a label (i.e., "Home," "Work"). Enter a value to be used as the label for all new addresses created as part of the PCOA+ update (for example, "PCOA+ Update mm/yyyy"). 

 Click here to learn more about submitting support tickets.  

4. The Virtuous team member will confirm your request and billing, if relevant.
5. Complete PAF. Once your ticket is open, you will receive an email with a Processing Acknowledgement Form (PAF) to complete. This is a USPS-required form that verifies your organization as a business. To complete the PAF, select the link in your email. This brings you to OnlinePAF.com. Here complete the following:
   1.  Select the I am the list owner button.
   2. Enter Business Name and Address for your organization.
   3. Enter the NAICS number. If you are unsure, use the search feature to lookup the NAICS code for direct mail (e.g. 541860)
   4. Enter your Name (first and last)
   5. Agree to the terms and Submit. 
6. Data is appended. Once the PAF is submitted, the Virtuous team member will use your Query to export the Contact information to search public and private data sources for appending the addresses, deceased information, and name updates. 
7. Once records are matched, the update will be made to your CRM. Our team will follow up with your results, noting the number of Contacts submitted and the records that were successfully matched with new addresses or any deceased data. You'll be sent a zip file of the raw data containing line by line information on what was submitted, what was updated, and how it was updated.

Will I Get Results for Every Record I Submit?

Yes. If an address update is available, it will be returned. Otherwise, the existing address will be standardized and validated.

How Long Does It Take?

Data appends typically take between 2-3 business days to process after the Support Ticket has been opened. Timing may vary based on weekends and holidays, if any questions arise, or if there is a delay in completing the PAF. 

Can I Append International Data?

No, this append only considers US data sources

How Are We Billed?

PCOA+ validates all the data you submit and starts at $320 for up to 15,000 records, with pricing scaling up for larger requests. Click here to learn more about all the pricing for the Virtuous Data Services.

If your Virtuous subscription already includes a set number of data appends per year, you will not be billed. If you'd like to add data appends to your contract in the future, contact your CSM or reach out to customersuccess@virtuous.org.

What Is The Zip File Sent To Me After The PCOA+ Runs?

After the PCOA+ is processed and the updates are made to your CRM, you will be sent a zip file of the raw data containing line by line information on what was submitted, what was updated, and how it was updated. The file will also include any name change data that was located from the PCOA+, but, as mentioned previously, the name change data is not added to your CRM. 

This zip file does not require any action, however, it may be helpful to use these files to spot check the updates the Virtuous team made to ensure all records have been updated correctly. Some organizations keep these files for a few months as a backup of their original data. The file include the following reports:

• Address Quality Report: Summarizes how well your addresses matched USPS databases and highlights issues like invalid ZIP Codes or unconfirmed delivery points. It provides an overview of address cleanliness before address updates were applied.
• CASS Report: The USPS-required certification showing your list was processed using CASS-certified software, which standardizes and validates addresses for postal discounts. It documents processing dates, software versions, and coding results for compliance purposes.This is often required by mailhouses and bulk mail processors. 
• Data Quality Summary: A high-level snapshot showing how many records were ZIP+4 coded, DPV confirmed, flagged as vacant, or matched through NCOA. It gives a quick overall scorecard of the hygiene of your address list.
• Layout Report: Explains the structure of the output NCOA file. It includes each field, its length, and what data it contains. It aligns directly with the CSV so the results can be correctly interpreted. It serves as a data dictionary for all standardized, DPV, and COA fields returned after processing.
• NCOALink Report: Provides details on all Change-of-Address (COA) matches, including how many moves were identified, what types (individual, family, business), and whether forwarding addresses were provided. It also includes return codes explaining why records did or did not match, and shows which addresses are deliverable versus recommended "do not mail."
• CSV File: This is the processed data that was updated in your database. 

Need More Help?

Need hands-on help cleaning up your data? Virtuous Professional Services offers solutions to optimize your CRM data and improve data hygiene through deduplication, Pledge & Recurring Gift clean up, and data appends. These services are geared to improve your donor segmentation, streamline your marketing Campaigns, and ensure accurate reporting. Click here to learn more about our Professional Services offerings, or contact your Customer Success Manager to get started!