There are many options to dedupe or remove duplicates from a list.  Before removing depulicates and cleaning your list list you will need to define what a duplicate is for the particular mailing you are deduping the list for.  A duplicate could be defined as records with the same address, records with the same name, records with the same last name and address, or any other criteria that you would like to exclude if records contain the same information.  You can also instruct your mail house as to how strict you would like your duplicate identification to be.  You can only exclude exact matches or dedupe based on close matches.  For instance if you had the following two addresses and you were deduping by address: 101 Main St., San Diego, CA 92129 and 101 Main Street, San Diego, CA 92129, if you request to only remove exact matches the two addresses will be mailed.  If you instruct the mail house to dedupe the list with close matches then only one of the address will be included in the mailing.  You will also need to instruct the mail house which is the master list which no records will be removed from and which is the list that will have the duplicates removed from.

Removing duplicates can be more complex as you can include multiple lists and can even change how data is presented if duplicates are found.  For instance if there are duplicates with the same address and the same last name you can remove the duplicates and change the name associated with the address to be the last name followed by the word Family.  The possibilities are endless, and duplicate removal can be tailored for you specific need.

Deduping list is important in saving postage and printing costs while also providing a professional product to recipients. When deduping your lists, be sure to be clear with exactly what you would like removed, and how you would like your mail house to go about deduping your lists.