Address validation is the process of making sure that an address is accurate, complete, and correctly formatted according to postal records. Address verification, on the other hand, goes beyond just validating that an address is accurate, complete, and correctly formatted; it determines that an address exists and can receive mail or deliveries by comparing it against third party reference data (such as the USPS) and involves address correction when possible.
To properly ensure address verification, the deliverability of the address must be checked against postal or authoritative databases. However, the validation of the address means the parsing, correctness, completeness, and formatting/reformatting are checked according to postal standards. Some solution providers may or may not utilize a CASS/DPV certified address engine to perform address validation. Using Google Maps as an address verification tool for example, does not verify that an address is deliverable, but rather displays an approximation of the address on the map and even a photo of the non-existent area where the house should be located.
When addresses are correctly formatted and within a valid range of addresses in the USPS data file and includes Delivery Point Validation (DPV), you can be sure that the address actually exists and can be delivered to – right down to the apartment or suite number.
Bad data can enter an organization’s system due to typos/misspellings, formatting issues, or incorrect information - and the consequences are costly. When it comes to maintaining data quality, trust is a key consideration for data stewards who are trying to decide between an in-house or commercial solution. There are many factors that go into that decision, but the challenge with building an in-house solution is keeping up with ever-changing, or “active” customer data and having the right tools to manage it. Simply validating that an address is correctly formatted and is complete is not enough; verifying that the address is deliverable ensures organizations can leverage it to enhance analytics and power business intelligence.
Why Melissa?
Melissa has helped businesses for 40 years with leading-edge address management and mailing solutions. Melissa’s Address Verification solution matches the input address against the USPS DPV file to confirm the address is valid and deliverable. We verify addresses at the point of entry and in batch to ensure only valid billing and shipping addresses are captured and used in your systems. In addition, we combine a global knowledge database with location reference datasets for over 240 countries and territories and proprietary parsing rules to:
- Correct spelling mistakes, wrong house numbers, incorrect postal codes & formatting issues
- Validate - we supply verified suggestions as users type to make entry fast & easy with Address Autocomplete
- Enrich data by adding missing components such as postal codes and suite numbers
Our postal certified address engine uses official government data including CASS (USPS), SERP (Canada Post), PAF (Royal Mail) and more to keep your addresses correct, current and deliverable.