glossary of
direct marketing terms
Mailer
1) Direct mail advertiser who promotes products or services, 2) Folded carton, wrapper, or tube used
to protect materials in the mail, 3) Printed direct mail advertising piece.
Mailhouse
Together with lettershop services, mailhouses undertake the sorting and consolidation of mail.
Mailing Machine / Inserter
Machine that attaches labels, addresses envelopes, and inserts printed pieces into any style of
envelope and axes postage to the mail pieces.
Mixed AADC
A presort level in which all pieces in the bundle or container are addressed for delivery within the
service areas of more than one automated area distribution center (AADC), meaning that the USPS
needs to do additional sorting.
MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)
MMS is a way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones.
Multichannel Marketer
A business that oers customers more than one way, media, or response channel, to buy or learn
about their products and / or services.
Multichannel Marketing
Reaching customers or a target audience through more than one channel. For example, using print,
email, and text messaging as part of the same marketing campaign.
Merge-Purge
To merge one or more le with another to produce a le with no duplicated names, etc.
N
National Change of Address (NCOA)
A service oered by Midwest Direct and the US Postal Service whereby a direct mail advertiser can
have its list “cleaned” against USPS les of people or households that have changed addresses.
Network Distribution Center (NDC)
“Network Distribution Center,” a type of USPS processing facility that serves as centralized mail
processing and transfer point for designated geographic areas, including Area Distribution Centers
(ADCs), Sectional Center Facilities (SCFs), and auxiliary service facilities (ASFs).
Near Field Communication (NFC)
Very-short-range wireless connectivity that enables secure two-way interactions among electronic
devices. Mobile marketing with NFC involves tapping, touching, or waving an NFC-compatible device in
front of an NFC hot spot, such as a printed mail piece or poster with an NFC tag.
Nine-Digit ZIP Code
The rst ve digits are identical to the present ve-digit ZIP Code. Of the four additional digits, the rst
two denote a sector and the last two denote a segment within a sector.
Nixie
Letter or package returned to the sender because it cannot or will not be delivered, usually due to an
incorrect, illegible, or incomplete delivery address.