3 Address Validation Mistakes Your Business Must Avoid

In the UK, 48% of employees waste three or more hours a day on inefficient systems. Over the course of a year this costs the average business at least £28,000. What’s more is that 51% are not confident in the accuracy of data within their company’s internal systems.

When it comes to your address data, inefficiency and inaccuracy can be easily solved. Have a look below to see if you’re making any of these address related mistakes, and find out how you can avoid them:

1. Not Using PAF

The Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF) contains over 30 million delivery points, and is the UK’s most up-to-date address database. All the leading providers of address validation software, including Hopewiser, use this dataset to power their solutions.

Using a software provider that isn’t powered by PAF can lead to problems such as increased risk of misdeliveries due to inaccurate matches and complicated online transactions which may result in cart abandonment.

Considering PAF receives 4-5,000 updates per day, it is essential you incorporate an address validation tool that uses this highly accurate dataset.

2. Having Disparate Address Validation Tools

46% of respondents to a survey claim disconnected data is negatively impacting their organisation’s ability to engage, support, and meet the needs of their customers. We’ve spoken before about the dangers of having disparate data, and your address validation software is no exception.

If your business has numerous systems in various departments, this can become problematic when it comes to updating the software. If certain tools receive updates more reguarly or irregularly than others, this can cause conflicting output data, which then comprimises the accuracy of your customer information.

Having a centralised solution will help you avoid the problems that come with disparate systems. Not to mention you’ll benefit from cost savings with reduced licence fees and less maintenance time.

3. Not Making Use of Additional Datasets

19% of business decision makers express they have lost customers as a result of having incomplete or inaccurate information about them. Depending on your target audience, additional datasets are sometimes required to enhance your customer targeting.

If your business fails to make use of extra datasets, such as Multiple Residence and Not Yet Built, verifying customer identities and ensuring delivery to the correct address could become an issue. This in effect could harm customer retention as well as making your company more susceptible to fraud.

Hopewiser became the first value-added reseller of Royal Mail PAF in 1982, and since then has lead innovation in the address management arena. Find out how our accurate address validation solutions can help your business today!