In the past, local delivery partners have also found it difficult to locate addresses given inconsistencies in the way that addresses are formatted in certain regions compared to others such as the US or Europe. For example, in Costa Rica, many addresses use local landmarks like churches or parks to reference a location, with many containing components such as “250 metros sur de la iglesia” or “250 metres south of the church”. Needless to say, this can make it very tricky for carriers to find an address.
Added to this, remote locations in Europe and the US also experience issues with deliveries owing to inconsistencies across various address sources as highlighted in our recent blog on using 1-metre accuracy data to help Sainsbury’s improve its delivery times.
Loqate has recently partnered with data organisations from around the world to access new sources of address data. After being cleansed, this new address data has been cross-referenced and combined with data from multiple sources within individual countries to markedly improve the quality of address in these countries.
Why does data quality matter to address capture?
By improving the address quality, customers gain access to the world’s most comprehensive repository of address data. Such improvements include 150% more street data (additions made in 85 geographic markets) and 151% more postcodes (additions made in 30 geographic markets).
How does better data help improve address capture?
Loqate compiles its data using a proprietary methodology known as persistent data hierarchy (PDH). PDH works by combining data from multiple sources and layering them into a single record. This record forms the gold standard as the most complete address data repository in the address capture market.
PDH works by simplifying and standardising the naming of address fields for all countries, ensuring that address data is consistently accurate. Duplicates are removed automatically from the multiple sources, and missing address components are filled in from the various sources, increasing consistency and match-rates of validated addresses.
All data sources are scanned, and PDH performs normalisation across the Unicode character sets to create more uniform address sets. Unicode is the universal character representation standard used to represent text in relation to code that allows information to be understood in multiple languages. In the case of address capture, it allows people to type in addresses in their native language and the search will return the results without delay.
Another way that better data helps address capture is that more granular geocoordinates enable location biasing to work better, reducing the keystrokes needed to find an address. Location biasing uses a person’s location to influence search results and generate results much faster, improving the overall experience. Read more about how location biasing works here.
What are the benefits of better address data?
Carriers can find an address with greater ease if it has been sourced from a superior data source as it is more likely to be accurate and have additional levels of detail to aid the delivery. Furthermore, customers are more likely to select the correct address if theirs is drawn from a database rather than typing it into a checkout form.
See how your business could benefit from an address capture solution with more comprehensive data than ever by signing up for a free trial now.
