Melissa Team | Mailing & Shipping, Marketing | address verification, direct marketing, ecommerce, email marketing

As a retailer, you have probably taken the time to carefully
select how you will ship your products. You’ve taken the time to select the
right mailing package and the right packaging. You offer an amazing product
with the quality shipping products, but have you done everything you can to
ensure the delivery?

How can you ensure delivery? Well, one way is through
address verification. Invalid addresses equal out to packages not being
delivered which then result in unhappy customers. Sure, carriers might be able
to correct addresses to ensure package delivery, but you end up having to pay
extra for that service.

As you seek to expand your global reach, learning to format
addresses by county is important. Not only does incorrect formatting confuse
deliverers, but it also delays and at times even prevents delivery. Plus, you
don’t want to rely on postal services to fill-in the holes regarding your
customer’s information.

This is an easy problem to solve, and it is done by
validating the shipping address at checkout. Melissa Data offers a verification
system that uses data from international postal services as well as marketing
companies and other sources to validate a shipping address at checkout by
cross-referencing it against its address database. If the address provided by
the customer does not turn up a match, the retailer is immediately notified and
can then contact the customer.

This system can also be used to build in address auto-fill
capability at checkout. This saves time for the consumer while minimizing data
entry efforts. In addition, Melissa Data also provides geocoding tools to help
retailers improve delivery rates by assigning a latitude and longitude to
international addresses. This tells retailers whether the order is being
shipped to a rural area where a delivery agent may be needed.

Data that is accurate and up-to-date will help you reduce
costly returns and correct addresses to ensure delivery. Keep your customers
happy and learn about Melissa Data’s solutions.

By Natalia Crawford