Understanding Experian NCOA Results: Moved, Inactive and Deceased Records

Rathod, Vaidehi

Experian’s NCOA process helps organisations identify customer address records that may need to be updated, suppressed or handled sensitively. The process compares the customer name and address details supplied by the client against Australia Post National Change of Address information.

The results are returned in three main buckets:

1. Moved M{1}
2. Inactive INA{1}
3. Deceased DSD{1}

Each bucket has a different meaning and requires a different business action.

1. Moved Records

A Moved record means the customer’s name and address matched to a person who has moved and consented for their new address to be released.

For these records, Experian can return the customer’s new address details, along with available mail redirection dates.

Result	Meaning	New address provided?	Recommended action
Moved	The customer has moved and consented for their new address to be released.	Yes	Update the customer address where your business rules allow.

What this means for the client

Moved records are the strongest update opportunity. They indicate that the current address in the client’s database may be outdated and that a new address is available for use.

Recommended best practice:

Best practice	Why it matters
Update the address in the relevant system of record.	Helps reduce returned mail and improves customer reachability.
Retain the previous address and match result for audit purposes.	Supports data lineage and operational review.
Apply internal approval rules before bulk updates.	Reduces the risk of updating the wrong record or overwriting manually verified data.
Review high volumes of moved records by segment or source system.	May highlight stale customer data or poor address maintenance processes.

2. Inactive Records

An Inactive record means the customer’s name and address matched to a person who has moved, but the customer has not consented for their new address to be released.

For these records, no new address is provided. Experian may return redirection start and expiry dates, plus an indicator showing that the record is inactive.

Result	Meaning	New address provided?	Recommended action
Inactive	The customer appears to have moved, but did not consent for the new address to be released.	No	Suppress or pause postal mail to the old address.

What this means for the client

Inactive records should not be treated as address update records. They are better understood as suppression or review records.

The result indicates that the current address is likely no longer suitable for postal contact, but the replacement address cannot be supplied.

Recommended best practice:

Best practice	Why it matters
Do not update the customer record with a new address from the NCOA result.	No new address has been released.
Suppress postal communications to the old address where appropriate.	Reduces wasted mail and potential privacy or customer experience issues.
Use approved alternate channels to ask the customer to confirm their address.	Allows the client to refresh the record directly with the customer.
Keep the inactive indicator separate from confirmed address updates.	Prevents suppression records being mistaken for valid new address records.

3. Deceased Records

A Deceased record means the customer’s name and address matched to a deceased estate mail redirection record.

For these records, no new address is released. The result may include the name, mail redirection dates and an indicator showing that the record matched a deceased estate application. The attached NCOA description notes that this data is not cross-referenced with the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registry.

Result	Meaning	New address provided?	Recommended action
Deceased	The record matched a deceased estate redirection application.	No	Suppress marketing and route to a sensitive handling process.

What this means for the client

Deceased records require careful handling. They should not be used as standard address update records, and they should not trigger routine marketing, sales or service communications.

Recommended best practice:

Best practice	Why it matters
Suppress marketing communications immediately.	Reduces reputational and customer harm.
Route the record to a controlled deceased-customer process.	Ensures sensitive and consistent handling.
Avoid automated customer outreach unless approved by policy.	Prevents distressing communications to family members or representatives.
Treat the result as an NCOA deceased estate match, not a formal death registry confirmation.	The result is based on mail redirection information, not Births, Deaths and Marriages validation.
Retain evidence of the match result and action taken.	Supports audit, complaints handling and operational governance.

Simple interpretation guide

Bucket	What Experian is telling you	What you should do
Moved M{1}	The customer has moved and a new address can be released.	Update or use the new address, subject to business rules.
Inactive INA{1}	The customer has moved, but the new address cannot be released.	Suppress postal mail to the old address and seek customer confirmation through approved channels.
Deceased DSD{1}	The record matched a deceased estate redirection.	Suppress marketing and apply sensitive handling.

How Experian provides the results back to the client

Experian provides the NCOA outcomes back to the client as result files or output fields, depending on the agreed service design. The returned results identify which records fall into the Moved, Inactive or Deceased buckets.

Experian output	What the client receives	How to use it
Moved output	Matched records where a new address is available.	Update customer addresses where permitted.
Inactive output	Matched records where the old address is likely inactive, but no new address is released.	Suppress postal contact and request customer confirmation if needed.
Deceased output	Matched records linked to deceased estate redirection information.	Suppress marketing and apply the client’s deceased-customer process.

Recommended client controls

Before applying NCOA results, clients should confirm the following:

Control	Recommendation
System of record	Confirm which platform owns the final address update or suppression decision.
Update rules	Define when Moved records can be automatically updated versus reviewed manually.
Suppression rules	Define how Inactive and Deceased records should be excluded from future postal campaigns.
Privacy review	Confirm that NCOA outputs are being used in line with the client’s privacy obligations and customer notices.
Audit trail	Retain the original address, returned result bucket, processing date and action taken.
Exception process	Assign ownership for records that cannot be confidently updated or suppressed.

Key message for clients

Experian NCOA results should be interpreted by bucket, not as a single generic address update file.

Moved records can support address updates because a new address is available.

Inactive records should usually support suppression or customer reconfirmation because the customer has moved but no new address is released.

Deceased records require sensitive handling and should be routed through the client’s deceased-customer process.