Posts filed under ‘Address Validation Services’
Why 5-Digit ZIP Codes Don’t Work
When isn’t 78368 the ZIP code for Hubert, Texas? When it’s the ZIP code for Mathis, San Patricio, Argenta or Sweeny Switch, Texas.
Lookups for 5-digit ZIP codes are often inaccurate, because, like the example above, a single ZIP code can be assigned to multiple U.S. cities. Why? Despite the geographic assignment of most ZIP codes, they generally correspond to address groups or delivery routes; sometimes more than one city can rest within a single group or route.
If you ship products within the United States, the best way to guarantee delivery is to use the latest ZIP + 4®. Since many consumers often don’t know, and therefore don’t supply this number, the only way to accurately assign a city to a ZIP code is to use an address validation system that looks at the input street address and 5-digit ZIP code simultaneously and queries the United States Postal Service’s ZIP+4® database for accurate city assignments at the street address level.
The added group of four numbers acts as an extra identifier to aid in efficient mail sorting and delivery, pinpointing not only the city, but its geographic segment within a five-digit delivery area, such as: a city block, a group of apartments, a P.O. box or an individual high-volume receiver of mail (like the IRS).
About 15% of U.S. mail, (or over 90 million pieces) is deemed undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA). Incorrectly spelled or formatted city names can mean mail returns, delays or one-way trips to mail recovery centers (MRC). Collectively, these facilities were once referred to as the “dead letter office” because once mail reaches that point, it’s destroyed.
Another multiple-city ZIP code is 62812. It has six Illinois cities assigned to it: Rend City, Benton, Barren, Eastern, Steel City and West City.
When doesn’t mail sent to 62812 end up in Rend City, Illinois? When it’s redirected to a mail recovery center; waiting alongside other “dead mail” to be destroyed.
► Lookup ZIP+4 and see how Address Validation solves the ZIP code problem.
Why Google Maps Isn’t a Good Substitute for Address Validation
What is the difference between Address Validation and Google Maps?
Deliverability, deliverability, deliverability. Okay, there are a few others, but that’s the big one. Just because Google Maps places a marker on a map when you input an address, does not mean that you can deliver mail there, nor that a property even exists at that marker.
Take the following “address”:
4130 Calle Real
Santa Barbara, CA 93110
View Larger Map
As you can see, Google Maps says this is a valid address and puts its marker next to an empty field with no buildings. As you’d expect this is not a deliverable address and will be returned to sender.
The reason for this discrepancy is that Google Maps is not an Address Validator, it is a Geolocation Estimator that uses addresses to aid in its estimation.
Imagine two people each holding a ruler with the numbers 1 – 12 printed on it. One of them is blind-folded. If they were asked to point to the number “6″, how would each one go about it?
The one who could see all the numbers would just find the 6 and point to it. The one who was blind-folded would probably guess that 6 was printed right in the middle of the ruler and point there.
But what if the ruler was missing the number “6″? Well, the person who could see all the numbers would state that the number was invalid, and the blindfolded person would point to an empty space in the middle of the ruler.
Google is blindfolded. They know street names, and the numbers on the endpoints, but very little about the numbers in-between. Often they assume a continuous and evenly-spaced number line and point to where they’d guess your number is.
Admittedly, this is an extreme example. But what it demonstrates primarily is that Google Maps does not have a strong knowledge of valid primary numbers within street segments and therefore cannot be used to determine deliverability of an address. The only thing that can reliably determine deliverability is a CASS-Certified Address Validation Engine that can match an address against the USPS database of valid addresses.
Posted: by Donnie K.
Need to Verify Addresses? 5 Things to Look for in a Service Provider
Nearly every company doing business on the web today can benefit from performing simple validation and verification against the contact forms on their website. Each piece of customer contact data has the potential to hinder a company’s business processes if the information is inaccurate, incomplete or fraudulent. Perhaps the most key–and often most inaccurate–piece of information captured is the postal address.
Research shows that performing validation and verification on addresses can help businesses improve deliverability and shipments, reduce overhead spent following up on bad data, and reduce waste associated with Undeliverable Mail and over-production of direct mail pieces.
A quick search for Address Verification or Address Validation on a search engine like Google™ will yield pages of results for companies offering tools to validate and standardize postal addresses.
So how does a company seeking to improve communication with customers and reduce their direct mail waste, choose the right service provider?
Here are 5 important things to look for in an Address Verification or Address Validation service:
(more…)
February 10, 2010 at 10:11 am serviceobjects2001 Leave a comment
Address Geocoding—a Big Tip for Delivery Businesses
All over the country businesses have popped up to bring quality sit-down restaurant meals into our homes. In the Pacific Northwest, Dinner Delivery Plus is one such business. Serving the Greater Eastside of Seattle area for the past 16 years, Dinner Delivery Plus offers the 400,000+ residents and businesses a variety of national and local restaurants with more than 80 choices. About 4 months ago, Dinner Delivery Plus decided to make some changes to their business model. Using DOTS Address Geocode℠ from Service Objects, they have redefined restaurant delivery in their market.
Delivery services, whether it be for restaurants, flowers, or groceries, often charge customers Delivery Fees on a Zone-based model. Zone-based models typically put the onus on the consumer to figure out how much their delivery charge will be by manually plotting their location on a map in relation to the business they are ordering from. To calculate a delivery fee the customer has to figure out which zone their desired restaurant is in and which zone their home or business is in, then they have to calculate the delivery based on a complicated grid or map. Some restaurant delivery services only offer consumers the option of choosing from restaurants within their specific zone. All in all, not the best customer experience—usually at a higher cost to the consumer.
Dinner Delivery Plus saw the opportunity to do things differently and to redefine their market. Their goal was to offer a better value and more restaurant choices to their customers. By employing distance based delivery pricing instead of Zone-based delivery, customers would pay a delivery fee based on the actual distance from the restaurant they were ordering from to their location.
Here is where address geocoding comes in. Using a real-time address geocoding web service, Dinner Delivery Plus is able to pinpoint the exact location of the customer when they register and input their address into the web form to place a delivery order. The geocoding service validates the address and determines the latitude and longitude coordinates. With this information Dinner Delivery Plus is able to tell the customer the exact delivery charge based on their distance from each of the 80 restaurants. Their website makes recommendations for restaurants that are the closest, but leaves it to the consumer to decide where they want to order from–creating a better customer experience.
Offering better value and a better customer experience drives more loyalty and ultimately more revenue. Address geocoding services can be a game-changer for businesses providing delivery as a service to their customers.
What are you doing in your business that is redefining your market?
Service Objects—the leading provider of real-time contact validation solutions—offers Address Geocoding for both the US and Canada.
Posted by: Gretchen N.
Direct Mail Marketing Isn’t Going Anywhere Yet
While many industry experts are calling 2010 the year that will “kill marketing as we know it”, some feel that we shouldn’t be so quick to write off some of the good ole’ tried and true methods. I just read an article in the Wall Street Journal that further convinced me. The article, “Firms Hold Fast to Snail Mail Marketing” talks about several companies who made a shift away from their direct mail campaigns and found their business suffered direct losses from eliminating this type of communication with their customers and targets.
Direct mail marketing can still prove to be a very effective way to reach customers and prospects. Especially for small businesses with a unique offering who are looking to stand out and continue a dialog with their audience. I think the main issue with Direct Mail though is that it needs to be done smartly, with consideration that people are constantly being bombarded with messages, offers and promotions through other mediums. Direct mail should not equal waste. It should not be a waste of time for the recipient, environmental resources or budget dollars.
Businesses who plan to use Direct Mail as a part of their marketing efforts in 2010 might consider committing to make their campaigns more effective and less wasteful by putting in place “greener mail” initiatives. Each year, the US postal service attempts to deliver billions of pieces of mail that will never reach their intended recipient due to being undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA). Using tools that verify and standardize addresses is a quick and cost effective way to reduce the impact of direct mailings.
Check out our best practices tip sheet “Greener Mail: 6 Tips Simple Tips for More Eco- and Budget Friendly Mailings” for more information.
Posted by: Gretchen N.
January 13, 2010 at 8:37 am serviceobjects2001 Leave a comment
Tired of Returns: Santa Claus Resolves to Validate all Addresses in 2010
Every year Mr. Santa Claus faces enormous pressure to deliver billions of presents around the world. He has just one 
night—just one chance to ensure delivery of all the toys to children all over the globe. In recent years Claus has turned to technology to aid him in his annual quest. Said Claus, “While Rudolph’s nose may guide the sleigh, I still need all the help I can get. This year we received a lot of returned packages and gifts – mostly from incomplete or incorrect addresses. While maps and on-board computers lend a hand on the sleigh we just don’t have all the information we need.” Looking for answers and new tools for 2010, Claus began his search for something to help him verify addresses for his deliveries.
Luckily for Claus he found a real-time web service which offers Delivery Point Validation, CASS/USPS Address Standardization, and even RDI (Residential Delivery Indicator) for all the addresses on his “Nice” list. By using DOTS Address Validation by Service Objects, Clause estimates he will increase his delivery efficiencies by 40% and dramatically reduce the number of toys which need to be returned to the North Pole each year. When asked about his new services Claus could barely contain his excitement. Old Saint Nick stated “Now with Service Objects’ web services I will be able to almost guarantee that all the presents will be delivered. Not only will the addresses be validated and entered into my on-board computer in real-time, but the reindeer will know if they will be landing on a residence or business thanks to the new RDI filter.”
The North Pole is now giddy with excitement over the implementation of their Address Validation Web Services. In addition to Santa being more efficient on the big night, his elves will also not have to collect, sort, and re-stock returned toys like they have in the past. Santa added, “My workshop costs are going to go down and I can reinvest that money into developing new toys and hiring more elves. In other words, Christmas came early for me this year. This is one new year’s resolution I know will stick!”
How have you resolved to improve your business efficiencies in 2010?
Posted by: Will E.
