Before you can publish a direct mail campaign in eduPostal, you’ll need to learn how to import or upload direct mail lists that contains the required contact information. eduPostal uses the direct mail list contact information to generate several things:
- The “To” addresses for each mailer sent to a direct mail list
- The personalization in each mailpiece that is built with our Variable Data or Variable Logic tools
- pURLs (personal URLs), or QR (Quick Response) codes that use the “Friendly URL” format
In order for a list to be used in eduPostal, you’ll need to map at least the following fields from your data file or your CRM:
- First Name and Last Name (40 alpha/numeric character limit combined) OR Company (40 alpha/numeric character limit). You can optionally have both, they will print on separate lines in the “To Address”
- Address (64 alpha numeric character limit)
- City (50 character limit)
- State (Must be 2 letter state code or valid full state name)
- Zip Code (numeric 5 character or numeric 5+4 character. 12345 or 12345-1234)
If your data doesn’t separate first and last names (for example – John and Nancy Smith), we recommend mapping the name column to the Company field.
If you’re mailing to residents/businesses in the same building, it is important that you use the Address 2 (64 alpha numeric character limit) field in eduPostal. While not required, we will use it in printing addresses and in our deduplication process.
eduPostal will mark specific contact records as “Invalid” that don’t have all required fields. You can clean up invalid addresses by editing specific contacts in eduPostal and saving the record after they’re imported.
For contacts with field lengths longer than the above limits, eduPostal will truncate (or cut off) the data at the maximum field length. This will ensure that these fields will print properly in the address area of the mailer.
Duplicate records are identified in the following way:
Identical First Name, Last Name, Address, Address 2 (if used in list, as it is optional), City, State, Zip. will be removed. A list of duplicates will be emailed to you.
Why do we require First Name and Last Name or Company? These are the minimum needed to print in the To address area on your mailpiece. You can, of course, have both.
There are many more optional fields that can be mapped, including Address 2, Title, Phone, etc. There are also up to 35 user defined fields that are labeled Var1, Var2, etc. These are called Variable Data fields.
It is important to understand that only fields that are mapped in your lists can be used as personalization variables in your creative.
Or, you can upload a CSV or Excel file to create your eduPostal direct mail list. eduPostal will use your import file to create a Contact List containing all the necessary information to run your campaigns.
eduPostal is currently available to deliver personalized, tracked postcards and letters to U.S. addresses.
Before you upload a new contact list, it’s a good idea to review our help article Contact List Tips to ensure that your list is in the correct format.