Category: Address Validation

Writing a postal address can be very simple in all those cases where the recipient is located in the same country of the sender, or, in a country where the postal system follows an identical or similar format. Shipping from one state to another in the US, for example, is not that difficult for a US citizen, nor is it difficult if the shipment is destined to a Canadian address which uses a very similar format. Even within the European Union the addresses of most countries respect the same format. However, if we move to the East or other areas of the world, we will have to understand precisely how to write the address for that country, in order to avoid making mistakes that could slow down or even prohibit the delivery. This is true for individuals and, most importantly, for companies or e-commerces that find themselves, more and more often, having to handle international or even intercontinental shipments.

In business and commercial scenarios, writing a postal address according to the guidelines established by the postal system of the target country means being more competitive and results in quicker delliveris, having full control over orders, returns and shipments in general. Writing addresses correctly becomes a competitive advantage of enormous importance, which will continue to increase in the months and years to come as globalized business increases. How do you achieve the ambitious goal of writing the postal addresses of any country correctly? Before going into the merits of the possible solutions, let’s take a look, through a series of plausible examples, at some formats of postal addresses from countries in various areas of the world, in order to understand what differences exist from one country to another.

Even among professionals, the exact knowledge of how postal address validation works is not always shared by everyone alike. The validation systems, in the form of more or less advanced computer software, each have different technologies and functionalities, so the idea users receive about the real validation mechanism of postal addresses can vary greatly, not only based on the program used (and more specifically on the version of the program used), but also according to the reference language and the target country. We at Address 4 have the great advantage of knowing every aspect of the subject (especially on the development front), and we can talk from a more advanced perspective than any other end user.

In light of the above, we want to offer readers of our site the chance to learn more about how last generation validation software of postal systems works, backed by decades of experience gained by our company in this sector. We will therefore see the many factors that come into play when an address is assigned to computer programs dedicated to validation, and what results can be obtained with these tools in the main configurations of use available (real time, batch, plugin, API). We begin by outlining the major services related to the normalisation of postal addresses in relation to the resources available with the Address 4 software.

• Online address standardisation

The first job option that we mention is online address standardisation, a service that allows you to correct and verify any postal address by entering the data in a template or form within a specific page. In this case, data processing takes place remotely, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The most obvious advantages are practicality and calculation speed, useful factors when you need to obtain a validated address immediately.

If you want your international parcel delivery to succeed, spelling your address correctly is definitely important. Medium-sized or big companies, online structured stores and other kinds of entities that send material overseas every day as part of their business should reduce to a minimum – or even better, completely eliminate – returns and errors when delivering, therefore avoiding dreadful wastes of time, resources and money. A superficial or erratic approach when composing addresses can cause delays, failed deliveries and customer dissatisfaction, with a negative fallout that is hard to contain. Such risks must be immediately avoided, mastering the knowledge of the formats allowed for international shipments and using adequate tools for data cleansing and normalisation.

The first step is to make sure that the addresses are transcribed in an appropriate manner, that is, in compliance with the standards set by the postal system of the destination country. In fact, not all countries adopt the same identical format. If the main data are common for every country (both for recipient and sender), there may be significant variations concerning codes, abbreviations and the order of all the elements too. So how do you get the actual correct format? Many authoritative sources are available online, such as the Universal Postal Union database, the UN specialized agency in charge of coordinating the postal policies of every member country, but also the Appendix V International Address Formats from Microsoft, where some examples are given for international shipping formats. Other than these ones there are also additional sources usually less precise or not as complete as the other ones.

Many studies are conducted on company efficiency. Whether they are carried out in a university or Research & Development environment, the end results show that company efficiency is an extremely important objective, on which the well-being and success of a business, big or small, depends. Pursuable on several levels, both microscopic and macroscopic, company efficiency involves different spheres that include energy management, resource optimisation and data quality. In fact, data quality is one of the cornerstones of modern business management: in an era dominated by data analysis and storage software, having computer programs that can manage names, postal addresses, etc., means being able to take full advantage of the potential of the resources in your possession (time, energy, human capital and money).

Data quality control is one of the most difficult challenges for today’s large and medium-sized enterprises. Just managing the names of suppliers, or of customers in contact with customer care is overwhelming, not to mention the latest developments over recent years, newsletter subscribers and company blogs, for example. Different groups, yet united by the same characteristic: their importance to the company. The supply of spare parts, materials and products, in fact, depends on suppliers. Likewise, the brand’s reputation, and therefore the company’s image in the public eye, depends on customer service. The same goes for the many people who follow the company and are registered on the official website: these people represent a company’s most important customer base. This set of contacts must be organised with great care, so as to obtain top quality data.