Address validation in ecommerceImprove ecommerce data quality with Shopify address validation

Without validating address information at source, you risk compromising your ecommerce investment as the inaccurate data makes it impossible to run an efficient operation and personalise your approach.

2023 saw the largest growth of the ecommerce^[1] industry since pre-pandemic times, and now in 2024, there is more competition than ever.

We’ve witnessed ecommerce leaders embrace data – and all its insights and analysis glory, to gain their edge. Retailers have leaned into investing in paid platforms like Shopify to leverage this data efficiently and one up their competition.

But when the data is poor quality–in that form fields are wrong or missing– there’s only so much that ecommerce platforms can do Fortunately, that’s where address validation for ecommerce comes in handy.

Why do enterprise and ShopifyPlus users need address validation?

Operating at an enterprise scale means that you’ve likely got hundreds of thousands of customers, and millions of accompanying data points.

You already know about the value of this data to power critical business operations and you’re looking to leverage the insights as much as possible, which is why you’ve invested into an enterprise level solution like the Shopify Plus plan.

Customers make mistakes

In a rush to get that product shipped to their home, purchasers can make address entry typos and miss crucial fields, like the post code.

It’s not your fault, of course, but it will come back to bite the store because errors lead to – invalid addresses, failed deliveries, frustrated customers and higher expenses relating to product replacements and refunds.

These mistakes also skew the data. They’ll limit your ability to forecast sales and profits, predict customer behaviour based on geographical patterns, and analyse your overall performance.

Address validation leads to better insights

During last year’s Cyber Week, Experian validated 109 million addresses, including 26 million on Black Friday alone. With better customer segmentation, ecommerce stores benefit from accurate profiling. This can feed into the decision-making, enabling merchants to personalise communications and improve overall conversion rates.

With a reliable ecommerce address validation tool, Shopify merchants can benefit from reduced data entry time, more successful deliveries and higher customer satisfaction.

How does address validation work?

At an enterprise scale, ecommerce address validation works in real time at the point of data entry, using one of two options:

• Postal service lookups
• Dedicated apps e.g. for ShopifyPlus

It would be impossible to employ someone to work on verifying thousands of customer addresses per day, especially because it would take minutes per address, rather than the milliseconds that automated platforms can deliver.

Postal Service Lookups

Thanks to the brilliant integration opportunities within platforms like Shopify, ecommerce stores can link directly with their delivery partners on the platform. With a simple API, their postal partners can automatically access customer-inputted address information, and either:

• Approve that it exists, is correct and deliverable
• Flag that the address is not compatible with their service, either because of spelling mistakes or location (in real-time), and prompt the customer to re-enter the correct address

In the UK, the Royal Mail’s postal lookup service contains over 30 million addresses^[2]. This provides assurance that the delivery service can reach the address, reducing the chance of failed deliveries.

However, a limitation for postal service lookups exists for international deliveries. In the Royal Mail database, for example, only UK addresses are stored. But those who use Shopify typically have thousands of customers with reach all around the world – so need their software to recognise a foreign address component.

Couple this with form fields that are too small for fingerprints, and you’ll quickly realise why many checkout processes are not mobile friendly. These days, 59% of shoppers^[3] prioritise mobile interfaces when deciding where to shop online, and more than 50% of all Shopify customers^[4] purchase through a mobile device.

Therefore, a dedicated Shopify solution for ecommerce address validation might offer better solutions for mobile-friendliness, smooth checkout processes and international address validation options.

Address Validation ecommerce app for Shopify

Since Shopify is the second most popular global platform^[5] for ecommerce, it makes sense that dedicated Shopify ecommerce address validation is available.

No-code solutions help store owners forego technical installation woes, with simple plug-and-play apps making the installation a breeze.

Here’s how it works:

1. Install the app from the Shopify App Store
2. The customer’s address is automatically checked, corrected and properly formatted in real-time, without impacting the customer experience

This purpose-built address validation app for Shopify is a simple way to reduce cart abandonment, and increase accurate deliveries– saving your store from refund, redelivery and lost package fees. Plus, it validates address against key postal authorities including Royal Mail, Eircode, United States postal service (USPS) and Australia Post, for smooth international deliveries.

Address validation in the real world: a case study

Charles Tyrwhitt is a UK-based men’s fashion retailer. In 2015, the company was searching for ways to improve sales conversions and reduce lost deliveries. The business opted for an integrated address validation solution, powered by Experian.

Charles Tyrwhitt improved their sales conversion rate as the speedy capture of address data leads to a smoother and more enjoyable customer experience. Plus, more deliveries arrive at the right address first time. This has reduced the cost of incorrect addresses, and the need to reissue products for lost orders.

We chose Experian because it’s a market leader with a mature, easy-to-integrate solution. It’s stable, works well, and does what we need it to do. If a business isn’t using address validation, they should have it, and yes, I would recommend Experian.

Doug Wooten, IT Director of Charles Tyrwhitt

Recommendations for ecommerce address validation software

So, you’re onboard with the idea of address validation software– great! Now comes the difficult part; deciding which service to use.

Here are our recommendations:

• Use an accredited supplier
• Consider ease of installation
• Opt for real-time autocomplete search
• Check international coverage locations

Use an accredited supplier

With tons of options on the market, it can be difficult to determine how trustworthy your address validation supplier is. After all, if you’re looking to use address data as part of your overall business operations, such as customer acquisition strategy, you’ll need to trust that the data is of good quality.

Fortunately, Shopify accredit their approved suppliers with certifications. You won’t need to manually determine which niche providers only offer basic services without the operations to scale and grow, because 93 of their apps^[6] have been carefully vetted.

In Experian’s case, we’ve been data quality experts for over 25 years, and our technology validated over 6 billion addresses last year, which are just two of the reasons why we’re proudly Shopify-approved.

Consider ease of installation

When you run an ecommerce store at an enterprise level, you’re already juggling requests from operations, finance and sales. It doesn’t seem fair to require extra coding skills just to add address validation to your Shopify site.

Fortunately, there are plenty of no-code options for seamless app installation. Plug-and-play is as easy as it sounds– you simply install the app and get going.

Since Shopify boasts the highest-converting checkout page^[7] on the market, you’ll be able to add address validation without redirecting customers to external sites or forcing them to create third party accounts.

This means you’ll get access to more high-quality data without having to worry about the impact on the customer; because there isn’t one!

Opt for real time autocomplete

Not every Shopify ecommerce address validation tool is made equal. Features can vary from a simple verification that the address exists, to entry-point correction and more. But real-time autocomplete could be the most important for your customer.

In 2024, 22% of customers^[8] say they’ve abandoned their cart due to a checkout process that’s too long or complicated. But real-time autocomplete works by predicting an address based on the first few keystrokes typed. It means that customers don’t have to type out their entire address, and can instead select the correct option from an interactive drop-down list.

Autocomplete is one of the best ways to use vast customer data, and provides a faster and more seamless checkout experience. And similar to the chicken and egg, it’s a cyclical process; as you collect more information, you can be more confident in the accuracy of autocomplete features.

Shopify uses autocomplete to offer 1-click checkout, which multiplies ecommerce conversion rates^[9] by 1.72 times. Similarly, Experian’s address validation autocomplete simplifies and speeds up the checkout experience, reducing data entry time by up to 80%.

Check international coverage locations

At Shopify scale, businesses are already likely to be operating in multiple locations. Choosing a national provider can curtail your growth by delaying international orders and reducing profits as it causes delivery headaches.

Local shipping address validation services often get stumped by a different address format; international addresses. Unfortunately, no matter how good the service is, if it doesn’t work outside of your country, your business becomes severely limited.

We know that global locations matter, which is why Experian is one of the largest providers in terms of coverage, with 250 countries and territories supported.