Choosing the Best Address Verification Tool
Address verification is an integral part of many successful business models. The address is one of the most important customer details which is subject to many errors.
From mistyped street names and lost zip code digits to outdated details and improper formats, invalid addresses cost companies millions of dollars.
An address verification tool helps solve these problems by identifying typos, format issues, invalid data, and more. Adding address validation to your tech stack helps to avoid these issues and their consequences.
Let’s take a closer look at choosing the best address verification software for your needs.
What Is an Address Verification Tool?
An address verification tool is software that helps your businesses verify the validity and accuracy of addresses. It uses a database or API to cross-reference the address data against reliable sources. For example, validating against postal records or commercial address databases. The tool checks for address completeness, correctness, and standardization.
The main advantages of using an address verification software for your company include:
Higher Data Quality
By enhancing customer master data quality, this tool improves your data analytics results. Since the address carries important demographic data, it can become an integral element of your marketing and sales campaigns.
Customer Satisfaction
The verification process must ensure the accuracy of customer data in order to reduce shipping errors, failed deliveries, or returned packages. By avoiding these problems, you can improve customer satisfaction and reduce customer service issues.
Cost-Effectiveness
Using address verification software speeds up the address validation process by eliminating manual data evaluation and cleanup. This reduces unnecessary shipping and return costs created by invalid or incomplete addresses.
What to Consider When Choosing an Address Verification Tool
Since many companies offer address verification tools, it can be complicated to make a choice. Things to pay attention to when exploring the options include:
Accuracy
This is very self-explanatory. The address validation software needs to be very accurate and reliable in all countries and regions you plan to use it in. An accurate and reliable solution can help you dramatically increase your data quality and eliminate many problems associated with bad data quality.
Scalability
Find out how many addresses the solution can handle as well as how fast it can process them. Even if you don’t need to check large volumes of address data today, the situation can easily change in the future.
Flexibility
Look for address validation software that easily integrates with your existing tech stack. If you want the solution to check for typos and errors in real-time, you need to make sure that it integrates well with your existing workflows.
Find out whether the validator is an on-premise or a cloud solution. Cloud solutions are highly flexible and can be used at any time and from anywhere. They usually have attractive payment options and pricing structures too.
User-Friendly Interface
One of the key considerations is user-friendliness. The address verification software you choose should have a straightforward and intuitive interface. Your team should be able to start using it immediately.
Many tools have a free version that allows you to try how it works. Pay attention to the simplicity and user-friendliness.
Cost vs ROI
Cost shouldn’t be the deciding factor, at the end of the day it is the ROI that really counts. Look at the pricing structure of the address verification tool and consider the value for your business vs the costs (ROI). While some tools charge per address, others have monthly or yearly plans.
Real-Time Verification
Find out if the address verification tool can provide real-time results. It means that while the customer is typing the address, the tool is checking its validity. This can help prevent typos and keep customers from using non-existent addresses.
Uptime
You don’t want the tool you choose to have downtimes during the busiest time on your website. Look for address validation software with a high uptime guarantee.
Reviews
Reviews and testimonials from other users can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the address verification software of your choice. Read reviews from reputable sources like G2, Capterra (), or Clutch.io to understand the experiences of other businesses using the tool.
Data Security / GDPR
Since the tool will be handling personally identifiable information, you must choose a provider that takes good care of data protection and security. Find out how the tool complies with relevant data protection and security regulations in all the countries that your customers come from.
International Databases
If you are working with customers from different countries, review the ability of the tool to check out-of-country address data formats. Find out if the tool can handle overseas addresses and whether they contain location data for all the countries you need.
Top Address Validation Software
With the above information in mind, let’s explore the most effective address verification tools available in the market today.
Byteplant Address-Validator
Byteplant Address-Validator is a comprehensive address validation solution that offers an easy-to-use interface, multiple address data verification options, real-time validation address validation, address autocomplete, and many more.
This validation tool stands out from the crowd for its:
- Advanced auto-complete option – offers the user address options after each keystroke, minimizing errors, and speeding up the checkout process.
- Full GDPR compliance – supporting 240+ countries and complying with all data protection and security regulations accordingly
- Real-Time APIs and Bulk Processing – to clean up existing databases and CRMs
- Credits do never expire and can be used anytime
- 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
This tool has a flexible payment system and offers a free trial. According to multiple reviews, Byteplant has excellent uptime capabilities and a highly responsive customer support team.
Smarty
Smarty is another popular address verification tool in the US. It has an autocomplete feature and offers real-time address verification as well as a geocoding and reverse geocoding API.
The key features to pay attention to include:
- US Focus
- US Rooftop Geocoding
- Good customer support
The majority of users are happy with Smarty’s interface and pricing system. It comes with a free trial. Overall, Smarty can be a great choice for SMBs who focus on the US.
Google Address Validation
Google has an address validation API which can be useful for Google Maps users. For now, Google has limited options in terms of country coverage. It also sometimes has issues parsing addresses (see https://www.byteplant.com/address-validator/google-address-validator-vs-byteplant-address-validator.html for details).
The benefits of using this solution include:
- Easy-to-use for Google Maps users
- Part of the Google ecosystem
- $200 credit toward the entire Google Maps platform (which AV is a part of)
- Address verification for 30+ countries
This address validator comes with a demo version. Once you choose to take advantage of it, you use a “pay-as-you-go” pricing model. If you need an address validator for a small business that doesn’t have many international clients and if data quality is less important, Google AV could be an acceptable solution.
Loqate
Loqate address validation service offers a lot of features, including on-site installations. While it doesn’t have an advanced autocomplete option, it has both on-premise and on-cloud service solutions.
Benefits to consider include:
- On-Premise installationsReverse geocode feature
- Based in UK
The tool has a 14-day trial which you can apply for. The cost varies depending on the number of address validations you need.
Deutsche Post’s Address Factory
Address Factory is an address verification tool offered by Deutsche Post whose parent company is Deutsche Post DHL Group. It has an online tool that allows you to verify addresses without downloading software but also has an app that integrates with your programs to check addresses in real time.
The benefits of this solution include:
- Easy address cleansing
- Focus on Germany
- Correction of names & relocation data
- The prices for this product vary depending on which solution (Web, Direct, Tape, Or Automatic) you choose.
Experian
Experian’s address verification tool provides real-time address capturing, validation, formatting, and enhancing postal addresses from many countries.
The benefits of using this tool include:
- Focus on USPS data
- Change-of-Address data
The company offers customized pricing plans depending on the number of postal addresses you need to verify.
Making the Best Choice: ROI, Data Quality and GDPR
Choosing a reliable and cost-effective address verification tool can be complicated. At the end of the day, it is the ROI that really matters. When looking at the costs you should also consider the implementation efforts and prefer solutions that are easy to integrate into the existing workflows. Accuracy and data quality as well as country coverage are also important factors and last but not least you need to make sure that the solution you choose is fully compliant with all relevant data protection and security regulations like GDPR.
