Address Lookup tool - what can it do with data? - Fetchify
Address standardisation is the process of removing mistakes and aligning address data with the official format accepted by the postal service of the country in question.
Postal addresses are a fundamental cornerstone of modern society; connecting individuals with one another, allowing ecommerce and home delivery to flourish, giving residents access to a range of essential services from financial to utilities. Customer address data is also a fundamental cornerstone for modern business, whether capturing data for the first time at checkout or registration, searching or cleansing your existing database. It is vitally important to get the delivery details right, particularly for companies such as ecommerce merchants which ship overseas. If you only have the house number where the recipient country is expecting a postcode, or any number of other simple but easily made mistakes, it could lose you time and money in trying to reformatting for your logistics or courier company, rearranging delivery, potentially returning, and refunding, or even completely losing your goods and the future business of that customer.
However, although it is a vitally important detail, accurate address data, formatted to the correct standards, is still only a tiny part of your business and the service you provide to your customers, be it in ecommerce, finance, insurance, utilities, hospitality, or a membership organisation. Which brings us to the real answer.
Quite simply, if you integrate our address auto-complete or postcode lookup address finding tool, you really don’t need to worry about address standardization at all. Our API will analyse the address entered by your customer, detect and remove common errors, match the information to the verified address in our database, apply missing formatting such as capital letters, and populate the address form in the correct order depending on the standards of the selected country. All in a matter of milliseconds.
For a bit of history, in case you were wondering why we even have set standards for addressing, if I live on the corner of Beech Street and Poplar Avenue, down the road from the train station in my town, why not just say that? Well, the thing is that is exactly what used to happen. Up until the 19th century, people would just describe the place and person they wanted to send the letter to, and the poor postal worker would just have to get as close as they could and then start asking around. At a certain point it just got too exhausting. In the UK, the introduction of house numbers and the division of London into the first districts in the 1850s, began the slow and methodical process of standardizing postal addresses. The Postal Museum in London holds a collection of posters encouraging people to use their correct house numbers and postcodes as many were slow in adopting them, even up to the 1970s when those shown below were produced.
A similar advertising campaign took place in the USA accompanying the implementation of the Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP Codes) in 1963. Having seen the struggle of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company to get the public to adopt area codes at the beginning of phone numbers, the post office pre-empted public resistance and decided to tackle it from the very beginning the with Mr. Zip.
Learning about this can make you realize just how hard the job of being a postman was. Before address standardization the postal round would have been a very different experience. But it’s not all plain sailing these days. You may have seen the story in the news recently about this letter which was successfully delivered against all the odds of eccentric address writing.
The fact that this letter made it through is a testament to the dedication of the Royal Mail and how lucky we are in the UK. But without the assistance of the referenced BBC2 programme, most likely letters addressed like this will end up at the National Returns Centre in Belfast. Or similar “dead letter” offices in other countries.
Every country in the world has it’s own story of the development of an addressing system, some more recent than others, and many still being refined. The “Addressing the world—An address for everyone” initiative by the Universal Postal Union seeks to help countries around the world develop cohesive address infrastructures and to guide them through common complications with addressing. But that is probably a subject to dive into another day.
As volumes of mail, mail-order shopping and then ecommerce have increased, so has the need to streamline the sorting and delivery process. Standardised addresses which can be quickly and efficiently recognised and sorted are a vital part of this process. Thankfully over the last 200 years the public has mostly learnt how to use addresses pretty consistently, but people still make mistakes frequently, it happens. Our address search and data validation tools are here to mop up the errors, typos, autocorrects and everything in between, ensuring you collect only accurate and standardised address data, every time.
In the world of software, which underpins ClearCourse and its growing portfolio of software-led brands, we’re never too far away from a conversation about data. And for good reason, too. Even in 2021, a government report revealed that 99% of participating organisations agreed that data is important to their success. Five years on, it’s now clear how it’s not just having data that’s important, but having the right data. Clive Humby’s phrase about how data is the new oil is well understood (and well-used, for that matter). However, we recently came across this unattributed quote that goes a little deeper and is certainly more relevant in the context of this article: data is the new gold, but it needs to be mined and refined before it’s valuable. The lifeblood of modern organisations Data is now the main currency of the digital economy. Every call, email, campaign and customer interaction depends on it. With UK businesses undergoing major digital transformation programmes in tandem with navigating the ever-changing AI landscape, a light is being shone on companies’ data weak spots. What that light is uncovering is how organisations are still struggling with fragmented systems, duplicate records and outdated details, none of which are conducive to operational efficiency, meeting high standards and delivering world-class performance. Our view is that whilst organisations are still grappling with data efficiency, there’s an opportunity for those who’ve cracked it to use it as a USP; an indicator of excellence, if you will. So, with that in mind, here are five data-centric areas that we feel organisations should be prioritising. 1. Data is the customer experience engine The key to delivering good customer service is good data. If a phone number is wrong, the call fails. If an email bounces, the campaign underperforms. Multiply this by hundreds, if not thousands, of records, and it goes beyond being merely an inconvenience; it’s a significant engagement failure. Research by Experian in 2025 highlighted how 74 per cent of organisations are actively prioritising data to drive performance, innovation and real-time decision-making, with 85 per cent seeking even more data to make their business a success. In 2026, clean data should no longer be regarded as a nice-to-have but a key tool in which to build and maintain brand credibility. 2. You get out what you put in The UK is good at AI, which is reflected in its ability to effectively use predictive analytics, automated outreach and sophisticated CRM systems. However, AI doesn’t fix bad data – it amplifies it. Any data weak spots and incorrect records will only be magnified when run through AI-led processes. At best, this is likely to counteract an organisation’s desire to benefit from AI. At worst, it could lead to reputational damage. In our view, clean data isn’t an AI strategy enhancer. It’s an essential prerequisite. 3. Regulatory scrutiny is intensifying Given how the Information Commissioner’s Office can issue fines of up to £17.5m or four per cent of global annual turnover under UK GDPR, examples of which can be found here , data governance isn’t just a big issue – it’s big business. Whether you’re contacting individuals without consent, retaining data longer than permitted or sending sensitive data to the wrong recipient, getting it wrong can be very costly. In today’s digital landscape, clean data isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about protecting your organisation from a legal and reputational standpoint. 4. The hidden cost of dirty data Bounced emails, failed calls and even returned post are all frustrating – but that’s generally viewed at a micro level through the lens of an individual or even a team. Step up for a macro view, and what this actually means is significant amounts of time and cost wasted on inefficient marketing spend and lost opportunities. Duplicate records distort the true picture, and inaccurate segmentation sends organisational money to the wrong places. Yes, poor campaign performance is generally frowned upon. But it’s the bigger picture cost that will really rock the organisational boat. Clean data is way bigger than simply boosting campaign performance. It’s the lifeblood of a solid communications strategy and a key aid at the decision-making level. 5. A mindset change In days gone by, dealing with data was typically perceived as a nuisance; something that you had to address in reaction to impending regulation, an unsuccessful campaign or even a compliance scare. However, by taking a proactive approach, not only do you avoid the pitfalls of poor data, but you also reap the rewards of having clean data, of which there are many. From launching new products faster to engaging with your audience on a deeper level, better data yields better results. By switching mindset from data management as a reactive to a proactive measure, you’re providing more stable foundations for future growth. Data collection and maintenance are two very different things In today’s data-driven world, all organisations collect (mine) data. However, not all of them manage (refine) it appropriately. Simply having more data doesn’t make your organisation better. Data volume doesn’t necessarily equate to increasing your bottom line or boosting engagement across your supporter base. It’s having clean, usable and relevant data that will help your organisation stand out whilst ensuring that you’re on the right side of the compliance fence. Data cleansing and ongoing management are now more important than ever before. It helps organisations cut through the noise, avoid costly mistakes and unlock the full potential of their CRM. Not only that, but it also helps provide organisations with a competitive advantage. Start the year as you mean to go on - with clean, reliable data. Contact our team today to discover how we can help your organisation thrive.
Many ecommerce businesses focus heavily on attracting visitors to their website. This makes sense. Without traffic, there are no sales. But what happens after that first visit is often where growth is either unlocked or quietly lost. Even with faster checkout journeys, cleaner address data, and fewer form errors made possible by using Fetchify, most visitors will not convert straight away. Ecommerce buying decisions are rarely instant. Customers compare prices, check delivery options, and shop across multiple sites before making a decision. They browse, get distracted, or simply decide to come back later. That behaviour is normal. What matters is whether your business has a way to recognise that interest and follow up once the moment has passed. This is where email marketing plays a critical role in ecommerce growth. Why email marketing still matters for ecommerce Email marketing is sometimes underestimated because it feels familiar. Most ecommerce businesses already send emails. But there is a big difference between sending emails and using email strategically. Email is one of the few channels that allows ecommerce brands to re-engage shoppers without paying again for traffic . Once someone has shown interest, email provides a direct line back to them, whether that interest came from paid advertising, organic search, or previous purchases. Used well, email marketing supports both conversion and retention , helping businesses get more value from the traffic they already attract. Not all ecommerce visitors are ready to buy It is easy to assume that if someone does not convert immediately, the opportunity is gone. In reality, many purchases happen after multiple touchpoints. Email marketing exists to capture that intent and keep the conversation going. This might include: Following up on abandoned baskets Reminding shoppers about products they viewed Re-engaging customers who purchased before but have not returned Encouraging repeat orders and increased lifetime value Without email in place, these opportunities are often lost, forcing businesses to rely more heavily on paid traffic to generate the same level of revenue. The ROI case for email marketing Email marketing consistently delivers strong returns when it is structured correctly. Industry research supports this. According to Litmus’s 2025 State of Email survey , many companies report very strong returns from email marketing , with a significant share seeing returns of up to 36 times what they spent . While results vary, the pattern is clear. Email performs best when it is automated, behaviour-led, and aligned with the customer journey. For ecommerce businesses, this means email is not just a communication tool. It is a revenue channel . What effective ecommerce email marketing looks like Successful email marketing is not about sending more emails. It is about sending the right message at the right time. Effective ecommerce email programmes focus on: Intent-based automation , triggered by real behaviour Clear segmentation, so messages feel relevant Timing that reflects where the customer is in their journey This approach ensures emails support purchasing decisions rather than interrupting them. It also helps build trust, as customers receive messages that make sense based on what they have already done. Common reasons email marketing underperforms When email marketing fails to deliver results, it is rarely because the channel does not work. More often, it comes down to execution. Common issues include: Over reliance on generic broadcast emails Poor segmentation Lack of integration with acquisition activity Measuring success on opens rather than revenue Without clear goals and structure, email becomes noise rather than value. With the right approach, it becomes one of the most efficient growth tools available to ecommerce businesses. How email marketing works alongside paid traffic Email works best when it supports demand that already exists. Paid traffic brings visitors to your site. Email ensures that interest is not wasted if a purchase does not happen straight away. Together, they help ecommerce businesses increase return from the same traffic rather than relying on ever higher acquisition spend. This joined up approach also makes marketing performance easier to measure. Instead of viewing each channel in isolation, businesses can see how traffic, follow-up, and conversion work together. How this fits with Fetchify Fetchify helps ecommerce businesses remove friction at checkout by improving data accuracy and reducing form errors. That makes it easier for customers to complete purchases once they are ready. Email marketing builds on that foundation. By following up with interested visitors and encouraging repeat purchases, email helps ensure the effort put into acquisition and checkout optimisation delivers lasting value. Together, these elements support a smoother and more profitable customer journey. As part of the ClearCourse group, Fetchify customers can access specialist email marketing teams who manage ecommerce programmes with performance in mind. These services are designed to complement Fetchify’s role, focusing on strategy, automation, and measurable outcomes rather than one-off campaigns. A practical next step Ecommerce growth is not just about attracting visitors. It is about turning interest into revenue and one-time purchases into long term relationships. Email marketing plays a central role in that process by capturing intent, following up at the right moment, and increasing lifetime value over time. For Fetchify customers looking ahead, speaking to a specialist can help clarify how email marketing could support their growth plans and where the biggest opportunities lie. The next step is simply a conversation. Contact our team today to discover how email marketing can help you get more from the traffic you already have.
Many ecommerce businesses have already invested heavily in improving their websites. Faster checkout journeys, cleaner address data, and fewer form errors all help remove friction and reduce abandoned carts. By using what Fetchify has to offer, retailers have put strong foundations in place. But even with those improvements, growth can still stall. If the right people are not finding your site in the first place, optimisation work can only go so far. Ecommerce success increasingly depends on attracting shoppers who are ready to buy, not just browse. As competition grows and organic visibility becomes harder to maintain, paid advertising plays a critical role in driving consistent demand . This is where PPC comes in. Why PPC matters for ecommerce PPC gives ecommerce businesses direct control over how and when they appear in search results. Instead of waiting for customers to discover products organically, paid advertising allows brands to meet demand at the exact moment it exists. When someone searches for a product, they are already expressing intent. PPC ensures your products appear at that point of decision, rather than relying on chance or brand familiarity alone. For ecommerce businesses, this makes PPC one of the most effective ways to attract high-intent traffic at scale . Traffic quality comes before traffic volume It is easy to focus on impressions, clicks, and visit numbers. But high traffic does not always translate into high revenue. Large volumes of low-intent traffic can inflate costs, distort performance data, and create the illusion of growth without delivering real results. Visitors who land on the wrong pages, arrive with unclear expectations, or have no immediate intent to purchase are unlikely to convert. PPC allows ecommerce businesses to be more selective. Campaigns can be structured around specific products, categories, and search intent, helping ensure that visitors arriving on site are already closer to making a purchase. When traffic quality improves, everything else improves with it. Conversion rates rise , checkout optimisations deliver stronger returns , and marketing spend becomes easier to justify. PPC as a revenue focused growth channel At its best, PPC is not about buying traffic. It is about generating revenue. Effective PPC campaigns are built around a clear structure, strong relevance, and ongoing optimisation. Rather than running on autopilot, they are constantly reviewed and refined based on performance. This includes understanding which searches drive sales, which products perform best, and where spend is being wasted. Over time, this approach helps ecommerce businesses scale in a controlled and predictable way . Within the ClearCourse group, specialist PPC teams manage ecommerce campaigns with this commercial mindset. Over the past 12 months alone, ClearCourse managed paid advertising has generated £6,694,724 in revenue for group customers . That performance comes from focusing on intent, structure, and continuous improvement, not just increasing budgets. One retailer described the impact as a game changer , pointing to significant improvements in both traffic quality and sales. This is the difference between PPC as a cost and PPC as a growth lever. Common reasons PPC underperforms Many ecommerce businesses have tried PPC before, often with mixed results. In most cases, poor performance is not caused by the channel itself, but by how it is managed. Common issues include poorly structured campaigns, weak tracking, and a focus on clicks rather than revenue. Without clear measurement and ongoing optimisation, it becomes difficult to understand what is working and what is not. PPC requires regular attention. Search behaviour changes, competitors adjust their strategies, and product ranges evolve. Successful campaigns adapt to these changes rather than staying static. How PPC works alongside on-site optimisation Fetchify helps ensure that when customers are ready to buy, the checkout process does not get in their way. Faster forms, accurate address data, and fewer errors all help turn intent into completed orders. PPC builds on that foundation. By bringing high-intent visitors to an optimised site, PPC helps ecommerce businesses get more value from the improvements they have already made. When traffic quality and checkout experience are aligned, conversion rates improve and wasted spend is reduced. This joined up approach allows ecommerce businesses to focus on growth without sacrificing efficiency . Accessing PPC support through Fetchify As part of the ClearCourse group , Fetchify customers can access specialist PPC teams who manage ecommerce advertising with performance in mind. These services are designed to complement Fetchify’s role in improving the checkout experience, not replace it. Support covers strategy, campaign setup, tracking, and ongoing optimisation, all focused on driving measurable outcomes rather than surface level metrics. For ecommerce businesses looking to grow in an increasingly competitive market, this provides a clear and practical next step. A practical next step Ecommerce growth today is about attracting the right customers and making it easy for them to convert. PPC plays a central role in achieving that by putting products in front of shoppers who are already searching to buy. When combined with strong on-site optimisation and accurate data, PPC becomes a powerful driver of sustainable growth. For Fetchify customers planning, speaking to a specialist can help clarify where PPC could have the biggest impact and how to approach it effectively. The next step is simply a conversation. Contact our team today to discover how managed PPC can support your ecommerce growth plans .
Many ecommerce businesses have already done the hard work. By using what Fetchify has to offer, they have invested in faster checkout experiences, cleaner address data, and fewer form errors. All of this reduces friction at the most critical point in the journey and helps prevent abandoned carts. But removing friction alone does not guarantee growth. If the wrong people are arriving on your site, even the best checkout experience will struggle to convert as expected. And if interested visitors leave without any meaningful follow-up, potential revenue quickly slips away. As ecommerce competition increases and acquisition costs rise, growth depends on two things more than ever before: the quality of traffic arriving on your site, and what happens after that first visit. This is where PPC and email marketing come in. Not as isolated tactics, but as complementary parts of a single growth system. Traffic quality matters more than traffic volume For years, ecommerce growth has often been measured in visits. More sessions, more clicks, more impressions. But volume on its own rarely tells the full story. High traffic numbers can look impressive, yet still deliver disappointing results if that traffic lacks intent. Visitors who are browsing casually, comparing prices with no urgency, or landing on irrelevant pages are unlikely to convert. Worse still, they can distort performance data and inflate acquisition costs. PPC allows ecommerce businesses to be more deliberate about who arrives on site. Instead of waiting for organic demand to appear, paid search and shopping campaigns capture users who are actively searching for products. These are shoppers already signalling intent through their behaviour. When traffic quality improves, everything downstream performs better. Conversion rates rise, checkout improvements deliver stronger returns, and marketing spend becomes easier to justify. PPC as the foundation of scalable ecommerce growth PPC sits at the very top of the ecommerce funnel . It controls which searches your brand appears for, which products are surfaced, and how demand is captured at the moment it exists. When managed well, PPC is not about driving as many clicks as possible. It is about prioritising revenue over volume . That means focusing on structure, relevance, and continuous optimisation rather than set and forget campaigns. Within the ClearCourse group , specialist PPC teams manage ecommerce campaigns with a clear commercial focus. Over the past 12 months alone, ClearCourse managed paid advertising has generated £6,694,724 in revenue for group customers. That performance has been driven by targeting high intent searches, refining campaign structure, and constantly testing what actually converts. One retailer described the impact simply as a game changer for their business , highlighting significant improvements in both traffic quality and sales. This is the difference between PPC as a cost and PPC as a growth lever. Why email marketing still plays a critical role Even with high quality traffic, most ecommerce visitors do not buy on their first visit. This is normal behaviour, not a failure of the site or the offer. Shoppers compare, get distracted, or simply need more time. Email marketing exists to bridge that gap. Rather than allowing interest to disappear after a single visit, email captures and nurtures it. It follows up abandoned sessions, reminds customers of products they have already shown interest in, and encourages repeat purchases over time. Industry research consistently supports this role. According to Litmus’s 2025 State of Email survey , many companies report very strong returns from email marketing, with a significant share seeing returns of up to 36 times what they spent. While results vary, the pattern is clear. When email is structured around behaviour and intent, it remains one of the most effective revenue drivers available to ecommerce brands. Email as an amplifier, not a standalone channel Email works best when it supports demand that already exists. On its own, email has a limited ability to create new interest. But when paired with PPC, it becomes far more powerful. PPC brings the right visitors to the site. Email ensures those visits are not wasted. This might mean reminding a shopper about an abandoned basket, following up after a product view, or re-engaging a previous customer at the right moment. In each case, email increases the value of traffic that has already been paid for. Without this follow up, ecommerce businesses often end up paying repeatedly to reach the same users through ads alone. With email in place, lifetime value increases, and acquisition costs become easier to manage. Why PPC and email perform better together Individually, PPC and email are effective. Together, they form a much stronger system. PPC without email leaves revenue on the table. Email without PPC limits scale . When combined, they support both acquisition and retention in a way that feels joined up rather than fragmented. This integrated approach helps ecommerce businesses reduce wasted spend, improve conversion rates, and generate more predictable growth. It also creates clearer data, making it easier to understand which channels are driving results and where further optimisation is needed. Most importantly, it aligns marketing activity with the real customer journey rather than treating each channel in isolation. How this fits with Fetchify Fetchify plays a crucial role in reducing friction at checkout and improving data accuracy. Faster forms, cleaner addresses, and fewer errors all make it easier for customers to complete purchases once they are ready. PPC and email build on that foundation. They ensure the traffic reaching that optimised checkout is worth converting, and that interest is followed up when a purchase does not happen immediately. Together, they help ecommerce businesses turn operational improvements into measurable revenue growth. As part of the ClearCourse group, Fetchify customers can access specialist teams who manage PPC and email marketing with ecommerce performance in mind. These services are designed to complement Fetchify’s core offering, not distract from it. A practical next step Ecommerce growth today is not about chasing every possible tactic. It is about combining the right levers in the right order. PPC improves traffic quality. Email increases the value of that traffic. Fetchify removes friction at the point of conversion. When these elements work together, ecommerce businesses are better placed to grow sustainably in an increasingly competitive landscape. For Fetchify customers looking ahead to 2026, speaking to a specialist can help clarify where the biggest opportunity lies and how PPC and email can support their next stage of growth. If you want to understand how this approach could work for your business, the next step is simply a conversation. Contact our team today to discover how we can help you take your marketing to the next level.
