Many problems with the quality of address data can be eliminated by simply qualifying an address before adding it to your database. Standardizing things like abbreviations and formatting during data entry can save a lot of headaches in the future. In the past, solutions for standardizing addresses during data entry have been very expensive. Qualified Address is looking to change this and make data entry address verification affordable for even the smallest company.
People have been trained to write addresses in many different ways. In fact, if five people were to type the same address into your website, it is likely that you’d get five completely different formats. Take this address for example:
Person 1: 100 North Main Street, Suite 203, New York, New York 10023
Person 2: 100 No. Main St. #203, NY NY 10023
Person 3: 100 Main Street #203, New York City, NY 10023
Person 4: 100 N Main 203, New York, New York 10023
Person 5: 100 N. Main St. Suite 203, New York, NY 10023
Each of those five people entered in the address in a way that is completely logical and understandable to human eyes, but the computer will see each of these five entries in the database as unique addresses, even if they are all the exact same address for the same person. So, how do you go about taking these five addresses and putting them into a standardized format?
The United States Postal Service has set guidelines for address standardization in a document entitled Publication 28. These standards include rules for abbreviation, ordering, punctuation, and more. For example, the USPS prefers that all punctuation, other than the hyphen in the +4 Code, be omitted in the delivery address block. Also, ‘STE’ is preferred to ‘Suite’ or ‘#’ and ‘ST’ is preferred to spelling out the word ‘Street.’ The document itself is over 130 pages long and includes rules on everything from unusual addressing situations (such as the ‘Salt Lake City Syndrome’ grid addresses) and business word abbreviations.
Using the example address used previously, you might standardize the address according the USPS rules and have it in this format in your database.
100 N Main St Ste 203
New York NY 10023-1234
Applying the standards set forth by the USPS to your address data during data entry is an excellent way to improve the quality of your data. Not only is it easier to remove duplicate data from the lists, but it will also save you trouble in the future. The trouble is how do you go about actually applying the USPS standards to your list without spending months programming and implementing a solution?
In the coming weeks, Qualified Address will be releasing an API that allows businesses to easily standardize their address lists without the hassles and overhead that exists with current solutions on the market. We’re excited about the revolutionary approach that is being taken and are looking for people who are interested in helping out.
If you’d like to participate in the beta testing for our API, please contact us by emailing your name, email address, company, and phone number to sales.rep 'at' qualifiedaddress.com (replace the ‘at’ with an @), and we’ll get you setup as a beta tester. In the mean time, submit your address list to Qualified Address Scrubbing to get the data already in your database standardized. The service is very affordable and just takes a few minutes of your time.
