Address Cleansing

Address cleansing is the process of checking how valid postal addresses on your list are. If you are a company that sends mail or parcels to clients, it's imperative to make sure that it reaches the destination.

Unfortunately, many people make mistakes when sharing their addresses. They don't use standard formats, miss letters, forget zip codes, and much more. Some clients may even enter the wrong addresses on purpose if they don't want to receive any marketing materials.

• Standardization - Putting the address in the right format so postal services can recognize it when handling mail. Includes putting information in the right order, making sure all abbreviations are according to postal standards, spelling out all necessary elements, and much more.
• Correction - any elements of the postal address that contain typos or missing data. Otherwise, the mail may end up in the wrong hands or go back to the sender. The address cleaning tool corrects errors when possible or alerts the company about them.
• Validation - Compare the address against the official address databases. Check if the address is valid. If it's not, the chances of delivering mail to such an address are close to zero.
• Translation - for international mail. Mail workers in another country may not understand it. Address cleaning also involves putting international addresses in the right format that's demanded by the destination country.

Without address validation, you are likely to have many invalid addresses on your list. Even if the list seemed fine before, it could contain errors and problems that keep you from operating properly in the future.

• Save money - by sending mail to the wrong recipient or an invalid address, you are wasting money. In the best case, the parcel will bounce and return to your company. In the worst case, it gets delivered to the wrong person and you never see it again. Address cleansing doesn't just allow you to save on shipping, it prevents you from losing products.
• Happy clients - if a client makes a mistake when typing an address, you may get invalid data. If you send the product or marketing materials to the wrong address, you may not learn about the mistake for a while. The recipient, who doesn't receive the promised product or mail, isn't likely to stay with your company.
• Eliminate errors - errors in mailing lists can appear at different stages of data processing. If the client doesn't make a mistake, an employee may do it when entering it into the system (if the process isn't automated). Address cleansing can make sure these errors are rectified timely.
• Better reputation - by sending mail to the right people and doing it on time, you are maintaining a stellar reputation.

The process of address database cleansing can be manual. However, checking addresses one by one is likely to lead to new errors. By using an address cleansing tool, you are automating the process, saving time, and ensuring address list validity.

• Parsing - breaking down the address into different parts (zip code, street name, house number, etc.) to have a clear understanding of each piece of data.
• Standardization - putting all pieces of data together in the right order according to the USPS (or other countries) standards. This part of the process can include correcting errors and typos.
• Validation - checking the address against the reference databases.