Data Cleansing and International Address Standards
In the digital age, data is a critical asset for any business. Clean, accurate data is essential for effective communication, streamlined operations, and enhanced customer experiences. Data cleansing involves detecting and correcting (or removing) corrupt or inaccurate records from a database. It ensures that your data is consistent, accurate, and useful. Integrating address lookup software into your data management practices is also essential for maintaining accurate and up-to-date address data.
Data cleansing can help in various ways:
- Improved Accuracy: Ensures all data entries are correct and complete.
- Enhanced Efficiency: Streamlines operations by eliminating errors and inconsistencies.
- Better Decision-Making: Provides a reliable basis for analysis and strategy.
- Cost Savings: Reduces the costs associated with incorrect data, such as returned mail or undeliverable shipments.
- Customer Satisfaction: Enhances customer experience by ensuring accurate delivery information and personalised communications.
Using address lookup software can significantly enhance the accuracy and reliability of your data. This is especially important for businesses that handle large volumes of customer information and need to ensure that all addresses are correct and formatted properly.
What is UPU S42 and Why Should You Care?
Now that we understand the importance of data cleansing, let's delve into UPU S42 and its relevance in this context.
First, what does UPU stand for? The Universal Postal Union (UPU) is the second oldest international organisation in the world, founded in 1874. (For context, the oldest is the International Telecommunications Union, founded in 1865.) With 192 member countries, the UPU’s mission is to bring standardised and efficient postal systems to countries around the world. The organisation helps member countries develop and implement addressing standards and grow their mail, parcel delivery, and financial services. The UPU acts as a forum for international discussion and collaboration in the postal sector.
UPU S42 is the international addressing standard developed by the UPU’s Postal Operations Council and experts from its Addressing Group. It breaks down postal addresses into the generic component parts commonly used by all UPU member countries:
GIVEN NAME > SURNAME > STREET NUMBER > STREET NAME > STREET TYPE > FLOOR > TOWN > REGION > POSTCODE > COUNTRY
The second section of UPU S42 provides templates of how these components are arranged according to the standards of each country. With over 200 different addressing systems in the world, this database is vital as it provides a framework by which international shipments can be efficiently processed.
Implementing UPU S42 standards in data cleansing solutions ensures that addresses in customer databases are not only validated but also reformatted, where necessary, to the precise standards of their country.
A simple example is addresses in Germany, where the street number generally comes after the street name. If someone in the UK types in a German address, they may use their local form and place the street number first. After data cleansing, the address will be formatted in the standard format for Germany.
Locally formatted address:
Hienz Wolff
167A Königstraße
Berlin
14109
Standardised address for Germany:
Hienz Wolff
Königstraße 167A
Berlin
14109
Why is this important?
Collecting data in your chosen format, likely the standard format of your country’s address system, might result in technically valid but improperly ordered data for the destination country, potentially causing delivery delays.
Data cleansing verifies the format of every address as an automatic step in data processing systems. This is particularly vital for logistics and fulfilment companies that do not capture address data directly from customers but receive orders via retailers. Validating address data and ensuring the correct format for the destination country streamlines shipments and reduces lost or delayed deliveries.
The Fetchify difference
We process millions of data transactions weekly for thousands of clients, from small e-commerce start-ups to large household brands such as LG, Heinz and RBS. Our flagship products, Address Lookup and UK Postcode Lookup, reduce friction on checkouts, leading to increases in conversion rates, and help to reduce failed deliveries and customer frustration.
Our address lookup software is designed to integrate seamlessly with your business systems, ensuring accurate and up-to-date address data. We are proud to offer fit-for-purpose plug-and-play integrations with most leading business software platforms. We enjoy global coverage in over 250 countries, with businesses from various industries benefitting from our address finder offering.
Accurate address data is essential for smooth business operations, and our address lookup software makes this achievable.
Get in Touch and experience the Fetchify difference – like thousands of e-commerce businesses around the globe.
