Marketing systems have conflicting needs in the way that name and address data is captured, stored and used.

In many marketing systems, this conflict has not been recognized, leading to a bias in one area and a less than satisfactory solution in another.

For example, the address most useful for reaching the prospect or customer and fostering a good relationship is the one the prospect or customer provides; the address most useful for achieving a cheap mailing rate is the one the Post Office provides.

Data that is parsed and scrubbed as it is captured into a system to support postal enhancement and personalization should not be relied upon for the development of a match-code for matching and online enquiry.

Incorrect parsing destroys valuable data. Original data must be retained to support high-quality matching. Even if a match-code process that relies on cleaned and formatted data is used for the marketing system, it should never be used for systems where missing a match is critical (e.g. fraud, audit and intelligence systems).