# Address Validation

Common reasons an address may be labeled invalid include:

* The address has been flagged as vacant or inactive by USPS
* The address has an invalid primary number
* The address has missing or invalid secondary information (*ie: apt. or suite #*)
* The city/state/postal code combination is invalid
* The address belongs to a commercial mail receiving agency

## Address Strictness

Address Strictness can be set on an account-wide level from your Account Settings and a campaign level when creating a new campaign. **This setting controls the level of address validation required to mail**. To assure the highest likelihood of deliverability to we recommend the **Normal** setting. When mailing to commercial addresses, you may want to try adjusting to **Relaxed** depending on the confidence in your data.

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="160.02734375"></th><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Normal</strong></td><td>Checks the existence of an address but ignore other data such as the USPS "in-service" flag.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Relaxed</strong></td><td>Skips most address validation checks and should only be used for thoroughly vetted data or transactional mailings, where there is a high degree of confidence in the dataset.</td></tr></tbody></table>

After uploading your Audience File, Poplar performs a set of validations to ensure complete and deliverable addresses. The platform will assess the Total Records which is the number of correctly formatting fields in the file.&#x20;

<figure><img src="https://714650678-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FweKl52r7fuUrhTjt6jLd%2Fuploads%2FjATZtbMXhnGskg3DdxjF%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=2f3fa476-8530-4ee5-b476-1a27ba02037b" alt="" width="539"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Any problematic addresses related to validation and delivery will show an alert you can mouse over to see the reason for the alert.

When launching to your Audience via [One Time Send](https://docs.heypoplar.com/platform-basics/one-time-sends), you'll be shown the total mailable number based on your selected strictness:

<figure><img src="https://714650678-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FweKl52r7fuUrhTjt6jLd%2Fuploads%2Fttehvz9ka17Pg36Hn9e9%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=38e3d74d-8bc6-4236-91e3-7c2652b21571" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## National Change of Address (NCOA) Forwarding

NCOA is a dataset of change-of-addresses filed by individuals and/or businesses with the USPS. The database is maintained by the USPS and we are required by the USPS run a check for every mail piece we send. [Learn more](https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing-and-shipping-services/NCOALink)

<figure><img src="https://714650678-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FweKl52r7fuUrhTjt6jLd%2Fuploads%2FuIwnEczPhnq08I53TJdh%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=0569d58b-530c-4769-8379-9e21e424d4a9" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**How is NCOA accounted for when using Geolocations, Geofences, and Zip & State suppressions?**

Our location and area-based checks are performed on the *original* address that you provide. These checks are run **prior** to NCOA, meaning if your recipient has moved, we do not account for the move in our checks.

However, if you are concerned about potentially mailing someone who has moved outside your delivery area(s), you can append the phrase " **or Current Resident"** to your recipient name field. This allows you to skip NCOA, meaning your mailer ultimately lands at the original address.