Postal Address Formatting (PAF)
The Royal Mail’s Postal Address File (PAF) provides a universal standard for the content and presentation of all 27 million delivery points in the UK. The file was created by the Royal Mail for the purpose of programming their automated sorting machinery, but is also used to check and maintain accurate mailing lists and databases.

suppressiononline.com™ can match your data against PAF and update incomplete addresses or reject records where the address is undeliverable (as applicable).

De-duplication
A duplicate is an individual for which more than one record exists in a mailing file. The process of identifying and removing duplicate records is undertaken by recognition software which finds identical or similar data in the title, first name, last name and address fields.

The Bereavement Register™ (TBR™)
The leading suppression file of deceased individuals within the UK. This verified information is supplied directly from bereaved family and friends of the deceased individual. TBR™ covers 96% of deaths in the UK with 20-30,000 new records added every month and with most deaths registered within 14 days.

The Gone Away Suppression File™ (GAS™)
Identifies individuals who no longer live at a given address within the UK. With a current total of over 9 million non-assumed* records, GAS™ captures 90% of all movers and is updated monthly with 150,000– 300,000 new records. It is the industry’s standard - held by 88% of DMA registered bureaux and is responsible for cleaning one third of all direct mail in the UK.

Xpression
The Direct Marketing Association’s official gone away suppression file, Xpression, holds the records of both assumed (postal returns)* and non-assumed (notifications)* UK homemovers. Currently containing 11.5 million records, Xpression combines data from four gone away suppression files including GAS™.

*Assumed and non-assumed data
With Xpression can select to match against either assumed and/or non-assumed gone away records. Assumed data is where there is a strong possibility that the individual has moved but has not been verified, for example where the post has been returned. As such, assumed records give a good indication but should not be relied on in full. Non-assumed data is where gone aways have been verified and can therefore be relied upon as accurate.

suppressiononline.com™ suggests that when cleaning current customer files you select non-assumed files only. This is in order to avoid over suppression and risk losing customers who may still live at an address. However, when cleaning prospect data you may chose to select both assumed and non-assumed data as there is no risk of you losing touch with a current customer.

Mailing Preference Service (MPS)
A free consumer service set up 20 years ago by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and funded by the direct mail industry to enable consumers to stop unsolicited sales and marketing direct mail communications. MPS is a list of individuals who have registered with the service because they would prefer not to receive unsolicited direct mail.

The use of MPS by direct marketer is not a legal requirement. However, a condition of the DMA and the Advertising Standards Authority's Code of Practice is the screening of cold or prospect data against MPS. There is no legal requirement to use MPS against your customer files.