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Where data address quality is suspect we recommend Matchcode for enhancing addresses and adding Postcodes and other marketing datasets*.

Matchcode is available in both interactive and batch versions and options also exist to add ordnance survey co-ordinates for mapping. Matchcode is ideal for mail order companies, direct marketing organisations, mailing houses, data preparation bureaux, financial institutions or anybody that undertakes volume mailings or needs to merge disparate files where address quality is the key to guarantee accurate de-duplication matching.  There is also a UK 'Business' name and address file, so anyone in the Business to Business sector can improve their addresses alongside consumer names! Take a look at SortCode, the best software to achieve Mailsort postal discounts!

INTERACTIVE Matchcode SCREEN

Matchcode BATCH STATISTICS SCREEN

With Matchcode and optional datasets, you can validate your name and address files against the Electoral Role, flag gone-aways or changes, improve address quality on-line or as a batch process, and add or improve Postcode quality. You can also enhance your data with useful marketing and mapping information.

*Datasets include :- Electoral role Names, household delivery point suffix, Ordnance Survey grid references, geo-demographic codes (ACORN, Mosaic, Define, etc.), retail data, Mailsort codes, NHS district codes, local authority ward and district codes, UK/EEC parliamentary constituencies, BARB/ISBA TV regions, local radio, local newspapers, STD codes, SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) codes etc.

The facts...

Match better

Wrongly or incompletely addressed mail creates three problems - it may arrive late (or not at all), it gives your customers a very poor impression and it costs you money. So it makes sense to ensure that all your address information is correct and up to date. The key to achieving this lies not only with fast and accurate coding of new information, but also with checking and updating your existing records on a regular basis.

Matchcode 5 will check through your database, using powerful and sophisticated searching tools, adding Postcodes and missing address elements. By comparing your records with the 26 million addresses stored in Royal Mail’s own Postcode Address File (PAF), Matchcode ensures that the information is as up to date and accurate as it possibly can be. Even baffling abbreviations, mis-spellings and incomplete addresses can be identified by Matchcode thanks to our unique "fuzzy matching" process.

On a typical database Matchcode can successfully verify and correct 85% of addresses on its first run in batch processing mode. The remainder can then be analysed using Matchcode’s interactive postcoding tools, bringing the total to over 95% of records correctly addressed.

Enhance your data

Having checked, verified and amended your records, Matchcode also allows you to enhance them further with additional information - Ordnance Survey Grid References, to help you locate your customers precisely; NHS codes and Local Authority Ward Codes for billing or service planning and, of course Royal Mail’s extended Postcode (PAF Plus), that gives access to Mailsort discount (with barcoding).

Add address accuracy

Postcodes, street names and house number change occasionally and keeping up with these can be a nightmare. Which is why Royal Mail have introduced the Address Key - an eight digit identifier for each of the 24 million addresses in the UK. Since it never changes it is a superb means of indexing and de-duplicating your files. Matchcode can add the Address Key to your datafile, helping you to keep up with changes while reducing the work required to do this.

Commitment to service

In common with all our products, Matchcode is backed by Capscan’s firm commitment to support and help our customers. So you get comprehensive documentation, a telephone helpline and quarterly updates of the very latest PAF address information. Your addresses are always as accurate as possible, and your staff can get the help they require.

Flexible and powerful

Matchcode is completely adaptable to your requirements, handling a wide range of input and output file formats to fit in with your existing applications. Through its API (Application Programmers Interface) it can be integrated with your systems, making the address verification process transparent to your operators - so no unnecessary staff training. You can also use it for rapid addressing, where operators enter only a Postcode (or any address element they may have) and Matchcode completes the remaining details, including organisation and building names where appropriate.

What do you need to run Matchcode

Matchcode will run on DOS or Windows based PCs with a 386 or later processor, 8MB of RAM and a CD-ROM drive (or 500MB of free hard-disk space). It is also available for UNIX systems, VMS, IBM mainframes and OS/2.

The Challenge

We believe that Matchcode is the best performing, most comprehensive address management tool available. And to prove it, here is our challenge: if you are currently using or are considering using a system that exceeds Matchcode’s performance on any agreed criteria then we’ll give you our software, completely free, for one year.

We’ve never had to give a copy of Matchcode away yet!

Matchcode Names

Matchcode Names is a new product, which uses the latest electronically available Electoral Roll Register and manipulates a name just as if it were another address element. This means that people's names can now be entered in an additional box with an address to perform both Cross-Matching and Browsing as an aid to check and verify names and addresses. The latest Matchcode can provide the Names information Interactively as well as in a Batch form. The names comparison routines use a combination of standardisation, formatting, soundex, phoenetics, orthographic, common spelling corrections and nicknames.

Validate names and addresses

This new product can:

• Validate files of names and addresses.

• Provide a source of data for mailshots.

• Produce up-to-date information on the members of the household who are registered at any particular address within the UK.

• Save you time by gathering extra information quickly.

The Names Batch program can improve the quality of computer-readable records by producing names as well as addresses to increase the matching success rate of mass mailings.

Exact and fuzzy matching

Matchcode Names allows for nicknames, transposed names (e.g. "John Smith Mr." or "Mr. Smith John") and misspelt names with partial addresses in Cross-Matching. Alternatively, one may Browse on a person's name, with surname first followed by a forename with exact spellings. In this case, the name is treated in the same way as the rest of the PAF elements, including wildcards. With the above searches two separate databases are being used: the PAF database and Names database.

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