Verify Addresses Instantly

For many businesses, an inability to verify addresses can result in returned deliveries – a costly issue at over US$25 a piece. By implementing an address verification solution as part of the customer onboarding process, bad actors are deterred from trying to scam and fraud, while companies can reduce shipping costs, improve data quality, and create a better UX for their customers.

An address verification tool works by parsing, matching, standardising and enhancing the data that is entered into a checkout, registration form or CRM. For example, when an address is entered into a form it is analysed by an algorithm to look for common errors such as switched letters and words, abbreviations and nicknames, missing or extra spaces. This is followed by a process of unlocking reference data and adding corrections. It is then improved by a process of transliteration to match the format used in each country, followed by a final step of sanitisation and enhancement to ensure that the resulting data meets a specific criteria that makes it easier for businesses to use.

Alternatively, an automated system can use predictive type ahead (often called address autocomplete) to suggest the correct entry as someone types, while some services are able to offer device fingerprints or location data to help provide more relevant suggestions. This can save time and effort for your users and is particularly useful on mobile devices. Address verification can also go a step further and check the validity of an address by cross-referencing it against an authoritative source or requiring additional proof documents such as a pay stub or utility bill.