Webinar
Smarty

Full address validation leads to better business data

Address validation checks a mailing address against a database. Using validated addresses can eliminate duplicates, reduce shipping costs, and more.
John Hickey
John Hickey
 • 
January 31, 2023
Tags

Certain surprises are fun. Finding out the person in front of you at Starbucks paid for your coffee? Java-tastic! Finding out you've been shipping products to addresses that don't exist? That's a postal catastrophe.

Luckily, many shipping snafus can be prevented by using address validation software.

Address validation (or verification) is the process of checking a mailing address against an authoritative address database. If the address matches an address in the known database, it is marked “valid”—meaning it's real. If an address doesn't match, it's marked "invalid."**

Just because an address didn't validate doesn't mean it's not real.

Reasons an address might be marked invalid

  • Imaginary address: Despite what Universal Studios wants you to believe, Hogwarts does not actually exist and Dumbledore isn't receiving your requests to enroll. Fake, hypothetical, no longer existing, or not yet existing addresses will not validate.
  • Address not registered: Some addresses won't be registered with address authorities like the USPS or utility companies yet because they're for brand-new buildings. If an address isn't in the system, it's invalid because there isn't an address to match.

In addition, millions of addresses exist in the US where the USPS doesn't deliver. You won't find these addresses in the USPS database.

If you have customers at those addresses, you need an address validation provider, like Smarty, that references the USPS database but also utilizes other authoritative private and public sources.

Download the 4 Steps to Unlocking Latent Revenue and Driving ROI with Your Address Data ebook

Choosing an address validation provider

Many providers get lumped into the "address validation" category but don't fully validate or might not even offer validation.

For example, while UPS offers “street level” validation, they usually won't indicate apartment, building, or house number errors.

Another commonly considered service, Google Maps won't tell you if an address is missing an apartment number. It also won't tell you that you entered a house number that doesn't exist. The mapping tool simply provides the best guess with any entered address.

Here at Smarty, we validate every part of the address and indicate if an address is in an apartment building. Such information allows you to pinpoint addresses that might be missing components—suite or floor numbers, for example—before you're struggling with lost and returned mail, missed appointments, angry customers, and more.

Business benefits of address validation

In addition to avoiding shipping issues and cranky customers, you may benefit in other ways from validating your address data.

Eliminate Duplicates The phrase “double trouble” did not originate in data management, but it might as well have. Duplicate addresses make it difficult to segment your data accurately, and can cause you to double your administrative work and expenses by sending multiple bills to the same location. And what if you have 20 versions of the same address? It happens.

Reduce Shipping Errors and Potential Fraud When it comes to accurate delivery, the third time is NOT the charm. Using address validation helps you get your deliveries right on the first try, so you're not out the cost of the item or paying a return fee to get your product back.

On another note, shipping products, bills, account information, or other mail with personally identifiable information to the wrong address could expose your customers to fraud.

Data Appending Your address validation provider may offer appended data and extra features. Data appending involves adding new information to your database that can improve your marketing campaigns, customer segmentation, and long-term planning.

Smarty, for example, focuses primarily on address validation and geocodes, both US and international. But in addition to the standardized and validated address, you'll receive over 55 data points for each address. These can include:

  • RDI (residential/commercial)
  • Climate statistics
  • Observes DST (or not)
  • Congressional district

Why does this extra info matter?

If you know who your customer is, what they care about, and where they live, you can craft a more efficient marketing campaign and increase ROI. That's just one example of many.

Want to know more about how to increase revenue with accurate address data? Download our free ebook, 4 Steps to Unlocking Latent Revenue and Driving ROI with Your Address Data.

Download the free ebook today Download the 4 Steps to Unlocking Latent Revenue and Driving ROI with Your Address Data ebook

Subscribe to our blog!
Learn more about RSS feeds here.
rss feed icon
Subscribe Now
Read our recent posts
Computer Security Day
Arrow Icon
Here is a day to consider protecting sensitive data, whether it's names, addresses, social security numbers, telephone numbers, email addresses, driver's license numbers, passport numbers, financial data, or biometric records! Today's the day to double-check your systems and ensure accurate information management. It’s Computer Security Day, baby! 2-factor authentication? Check. Fingerprint and facial recognition? Check. Passwords over 15 characters long with alternating capital and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers? Check!Your IT team is metaphorically making you double-pull on that yellow tab to ensure you’re strapped in securely.
Smarty® named among Utah's Top 2024 Workplaces
Arrow Icon
PROVO, Utah, April 10, 2024 – The Salt Lake Tribune recently announced that Smarty ranked 8th in the Small Business category for Utah’s Top 2024 Workplaces. We. Are. Pumped. Smarty is a great place to work, and we’re proud to say that the tradition of being publicly recognized as a top workplace is still going strong. If you’re unsure of what the Utah Top Workplaces Awards are or how they’re ranked, here’s the process in a nutshell. First, there’s no cost to participate. This award isn’t a pay-to-play award, and there’s no obligatory purchase of products or services.
Santa uses Smarty® 
Arrow Icon
HO HO HO! Merry Christmas, my dear friends,I’m taking a minute from my busy toy-making and list-checking (twice) schedule to write you a letter. I know, I know, usually, it’s you and your lovely children writing ME letters, but I’ve loved seeing your efforts to get on the nice list this year and want to give you a peek into how I make the magic happen. Because you made my heart feel warm even at the North Pole, I’m sharing the answer to my most asked question: "How do I deliver billions of gifts to people all over the world?” The magic behind my sleigh rides? Hint: it's not the reindeer… I use Smarty.