Address Validation

Did you know that inaccurate address data is the primary reason why orders do not arrive on time (Magento, 2018)? To increase your delivery rate, Bigblue validates all your clients' addresses!

Read this article to answer your questions:

1. How does address validation work in the app?
2. What do I need to do when an order's status is Action required?
3. Why address validation is crucial & best practices

1. How does address validation work in the app?

Before an order is transmitted to the warehouse, Bigblue automatically tries to validate the customer's address. The validation process can lead to 2 results:

• Automatic corrections → We got you covered 😎
  • We have a set of automatic corrections that will applied directly to the address. Example: "Aubervillrs" → "Aubervilliers"
  • We will also automatically add province or state names when required.

• Order blocked → Action required 🆘 

  The order won't be transmitted to the warehouse until you make the necessary changes. Some parts of the address cannot be recognized and our system fails to validate the address.

💡See section #2 to learn what needs to be done in this case.

What leads to failed address validation?

• Addresses that cannot be converted to Latin characters automatically 
  Examples include Chinese, Korean, and Japanese addresses.

• Postal codes that do not respect the standard national formats 
  Countries with standard postal code formats include France, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium...

How can I keep track of blocked orders?

Easy! The status of blocked orders automatically switches to Action required, therefore you simply need to:

• Go Orders and click on the Action Required tab

You can also receive notifications for Action Required orders via email, browser notifications, Slack or your support tool (Gorgias and Zendesk).

2. What do I need to do when an order is in Action required due to an invalid address?

You can consult this article to learn how to review an invalid address.

3. Why address validation is crucial & best practices

Save huge unnecessary costs with address validation

Failed deliveries due to inaccurate shipping addresses can significantly impact your business by:

• Reducing your sales due to decreased customer loyalty.
• Increasing your costs since a failed delivery includes refunds, discounts and extra delivery costs.
• Damaging your brand reputation — the essence of your business — since one's customer complaint can reach thousands thanks to online reviews and social media. 

⚠️ 40% of shoppers voice complaints on social media after a failed delivery and 56% are influenced by negative online comments.

Yet, 1 in 20 orders never arrive at their intended destination when retailers don’t have the technology in place to allow them to resolve this issue ( Loqate, 2019).

Reduce failed deliveries due to inaccurate shipping addresses by following these two golden tips

• Provide a frictionless checkout for your users

61% of customers would abandon their purchase if they encountered issues entering their address details and 34% would even switch to a different retailer because of this.

💡The main issues customers encounter are unrecognized address formats, the inability to find addresses from a dropdown list, and address formats changing after being confirmed.

• Add a plug-in to prevent invalid addresses

51% of customers feel more confident in placing an order with retailers who use technology to suggest the right address!

💡Check out some address validation plug-ins for Shopify, WooCommerce, and Prestashop.

Sources: Magento (2018), Loqate (2019)