If you have address lists, you should better check them with batch address verification software. Single address verification attempts would take too much time and effort. You would have to manually paste every record, process it, and enter it into your database.

Batch address validation enables you to handle large volumes of address data at once. You just need to upload a batch, click the Process button, and wait until batch address verification software does everything for you.

Still, despite its efficiency, batch address validation is not a magic pill. There are many challenges related to bulk address validation. You may have trouble collecting big data, suffer from limited functionality, or face software integration issues.

To protect you from such troubles, Inkit has prepared an overview of top batch address validation difficulties. Read our article to find out:

• The seven batch address validation issues to watch out for
• Best practices for batch address validation
• How to manage address data with Inkit

7 Batch Address Validation Issues to Watch out for

When you start validating addresses in batches, the result mainly depends on the chosen batch address verification software. Whereas some tools easily integrate with your system and have all the necessary features, others may disrupt your business. Therefore, choosing software for your company, you must be sure it doesn’t cause the following problems.

#1. Invalid input at the point of entry

Even though batch address verification software can parse and standardize most addresses, it is useless in some cases. Such software won’t help you if a street address or city name is incorrect. It may also fail to process customer data when the postal code is missing. The more incomplete addresses you have, the less effective is validation.

Note that batch address verification software can only fix things like a misspelled city or missing ZIP code.

To prevent invalid input, you will need to use batch address validation software with address autocomplete. The tools like Inkit allow you to implement auto-completion on your website to collect more accurate addresses. This feature provides users with address suggestions as they type and helps to minimize mistakes.

#2. Inability to process multiple sources of data

Some businesses collect address data through several channels. For example, they have a subscription form that requests addresses and asks for address data at the checkout. As a result, they may end up having separate address lists with duplicate records. This undermines the effectiveness of batch address verification software and further communication with customers.

Software integration is the only way to solve this problem. Once you connect all your data sources within one system, all the address information will be automatically recorded in one database.

#3. Poor integration with current systems

Unlike single address verify solutions, batch processing requires software compatibility. If the selected tool doesn’t support the necessary integrations, you won’t be able to use it to the fullest. Therefore, choosing batch address verification software, make sure it integrates with your existing tools. Lots of batch address validation tools don’t do this, so choose carefully.

#4. Limited functionality (No single address verify)

The problem is that many solutions focus either on batch data management or single address verify requests. Because of this, you may need to combine several address lookup services and spend more time to run complete and accurate address validation.

Ideally, batch address verification software should also support a single address verify feature. This would make you more flexible and enable you to check separate addresses when needed.

#5. No support of international addresses

If you run an international business, you will have to verify addresses from different countries and territories. Many local postal services don’t provide as accurate delivery information as the USPS. In case a batch you want to process includes international addresses, the result may be flawed.

To avoid troubles with global address data, you should pick batch address verification software that can check any address. Inkit is one of the tools that automatically processes both US and international addresses matching data with reliable databases.

#6. Insufficient automation capabilities

Manual batch processing is tiresome. Non-automated batch address verification software will force you to upload and manage address lists manually. Apart from wasting your time, this makes you more likely to make mistakes and miss important addresses.

Therefore, it’s recommended to automate batch address validation fully. The software will automatically access addresses in your database, validate them, and update the records. You can even connect other automation tools to instantly send messages to these addresses, deliver orders, etc.

#7. Low data security and regulatory compliance

Address information belongs to confidential data and must be processed with extra care. 

Thus, before you upload anything to batch address verification software, make sure the tool is reliable. The lack of security may lead to data breaches that will damage your brand reputation. That’s a huge problem.

Again, the risk of security issues depends on the batch address verification software you choose. You should always check whether the tool is compliant. GDPR, HIPAA, and a range of financial regulations are the primary laws that may affect you.

Additional Recommendations on Batch Address Validation

As you can see, the right batch address verification software is the easiest way to solve any validation problems. It ensures a high level of data quality and frees you from the need to handle batches manually.

Thus, our key recommendation is to think about what software you choose from the very beginning. Make sure it’s automated, CASS certified, and can check international addresses if you need it.

Apart from this, you need to optimize data collection. For accurate results of data processing, it’s essential to provide verification tools with valid input. Here are the main ways to do this:

• Study the requirements of the USPS. According to the United States Postal Service, a complete address includes a street address, apartment or suite number, city, state, and ZIP code. Hence, you should ask your customers to provide these details or add them automatically when possible (e.g., ZIP codes).
• Provide tips for customers. If customers share their contact information on your website, help them with suggestions. Thanks to this, they won’t have to guess what data format is required.
• Look for common errors. If you regularly suffer from the same mistakes, find what causes them. You should analyze the collected data and take steps to prevent such errors.

These simple tips should help you collect accurate addresses from the very beginning. Later on, batch address validation software will only double-check and standardize them. Such practices significantly reduce the percentage of invalid or non-mailable addresses.

How to Manage Address Data with Inkit

Inkit is a reach enablement platform that supports batch address validation, among other features. It’s a fully automated solution that checks addresses in real-time. Once you subscribe to Inkit and connect it with your systems, you can:

• Process single address verify requests or large batches.
• Collect all standardized address records in a single database.
• Add address autocomplete to assist your customers at the checkout.
• Automatically send personalized communications to verified addresses.
• Use address validation APIs to implement address checks in your products. This allows you to easily upgrade your website, application, or other services with address validation.

Learn more about the capabilities of Inkit Verify and other Inkit’s products. Our platform can automate a large share of your business processes and allow you to focus on big decisions.