Why lowering the number of failed deliveries is crucial for your business

Have your customers ever ordered something online and eagerly awaited its arrival, only to discover it was lost or delivered to the wrong address? It can be frustrating and time-consuming to deal with failed deliveries, and it's an issue that affects both customers and businesses. In fact, Citizens Advice recently reported that over 13 million people faced a delivery problem with the last parcel they received. But what if we told you that many of these issues could be prevented simply by using an address lookup software at checkout?

It's true – if someone inputs the correct address at checkout, there will be fewer delivery failures. This is because delivery companies rely on accurate address information to deliver packages to the correct location. When a package is delivered to the wrong address, it not only causes frustration for the customer but also results in a loss for your business.

That's where address lookup and data validation products come in. Another report by Channel X revealed that 12% of UK residents experience missing parcels, and a third of UK residents reported concerns about sending or receiving parcels due to loss or theft. By using a reliable postcode lookup and data validation service like Fetchify, you can minimise these risks and provide your customers with a better experience.

Why entering the correct address at checkout is crucial

Entering the correct address at checkout is crucial to ensuring a smooth delivery process. When a customer inputs an incorrect or incomplete address, it can lead to a range of problems that can cause delivery failure. For example, if a customer accidentally inputs the wrong postal code or street name, the courier may not be able to find the correct address and may end up delivering the package to the wrong location.

Additionally, incomplete addresses can also cause problems. If a customer forgets to input their apartment or unit number, the courier may not be able to deliver the package to the correct recipient. Incomplete addresses can also lead to packages being returned to the sender if the courier is unable to deliver the package to the intended recipient. However, with the integration of address finder software at checkout, many of these issues could be prevented simply by ensuring accurate address input.

Delivery failures caused by incorrect or incomplete addresses can lead to a range of negative consequences. The package may be delayed or lost, which can result in frustration and dissatisfaction for the customer. It can also result in additional costs for the merchant or courier, who may need to resend the package or refund the customer. Ultimately, delivery failures can damage your reputation and result in lost business.

Ensuring that customers enter accurate and complete addresses at checkout is essential for reducing delivery failures. Address lookup and data validation software play a pivotal role in this process. By integrating these products into the checkout process, you can automatically validate and correct customer addresses in real-time, ensuring that the correct information is captured and reduce the risk of delivery failures.

Merchants can leverage postcode lookup and data validation products to ensure accurate and complete address information is captured during the checkout process, reducing the risk of delivery failure and improving customer satisfaction.

How losses are reduced with accurate address lookup at checkout

When online customers enter correct delivery addresses at checkout, it can lead to several benefits that help businesses reduce losses. Here are a few ways this can happen:

Fewer failed deliveries
When the customer's address is correct, it’s more likely that the delivery will be successful. This means that the package won’t need to be returned to the seller due to an incorrect or incomplete address, reducing the risk of failed deliveries.

Reduced shipping costs
Failed deliveries can be expensive for businesses, as you may need to pay for the package to be shipped back and then re-shipped to the customer once the correct address is obtained. By integrating an address finder tool and reducing the number of failed deliveries, you can save on these extra shipping costs.

Improved customer satisfaction
When a customer receives their package on time and without any issues, it can lead to increased satisfaction and loyalty. In contrast, failed deliveries can result in frustrated customers, negative reviews, and a damaged reputation. By incorporating a postcode lookup software and ensuring that the customer's address is correct, you can improve the overall experience for the customer and reduce the risk of negative feedback.

Reduced fraud risk
Correct addresses can also help reduce the risk of fraud. By validating the customer's address at checkout using an address finder tool, businesses can ensure that the package is being shipped to an existing address. This can help prevent fraudulent orders and reduce the risk of chargebacks. In a nutshell, entering correct delivery addresses at checkout can lead to significant benefits for both businesses and customers.

The Fetchify difference

Fetchify offers fast, accurate and intuitive customer data verification software to help businesses save time, work even smarter and deliver a superb customer experience. Data verification products help you reduce failed deliveries and boost checkout conversion, too. These are also easy to integrate with most leading business software platforms through plug-and-play integrations – such as Magento, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. This means that businesses can easily incorporate Fetchify's products into their existing systems without having to make significant changes to their workflow.

Failed deliveries can be a significant issue for businesses, resulting in lost revenue and frustrated customers. However, by using address finder and data validation software like Fetchify, businesses can ensure that their customers' addresses are accurate, reducing the possibility of failed deliveries. With easy integration with a variety of platforms, it's a solution that's accessible to businesses of all sizes.

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 at checkout, leading to increases in conversion rates, and help reduce failed deliveries and customer frustration. We enjoy global coverage in over 250 countries, with businesses from various industries benefiting from our address finder offering.

If you’re looking to boost conversion rates, eliminate failed deliveries, minimise human errors, and provide a seamless experience for customers on your platform, then look no further than the experts in customer address data validation and postcode lookup solutions – Fetchify.

The best part is you can try out our 14-day Free Trial before committing to our services. Our excellent technical and customer support team is on hand to answer your burning questions. Make sure to Get in Touch and experience the Fetchify difference – like thousands of e-commerce businesses around the globe.

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About Fetchify

Fetchify’s address lookup and data validation platforms cover more than 250 countries, and increases customer conversion with the fastest, most accurate customer data capture. Fetchify’s flagship products – Address Auto Complete and Postcode Lookup – reduce friction at the checkout, and also significantly increase the number of successful deliveries. Founded in 2008, Fetchify processes millions of data transactions every day for clients ranging from startups to established high-street names, and offers a full suite of data validation tools, including phone, email and bank, too.

Smarter Data Cleansing Decisions for Smarter Data

By Fiona Paton • December 3, 2025

New Year. New Approach. The countdown to 2026 is on, and if you want to hit the ground running, it’s time to think about the one thing that can make or break your year: your data. We’ve all heard the saying “start as you mean to go on.” Well, if that start involves messy, inaccurate data, you’re already tripping before you’ve left the starting gates. Clean, accurate customer data is the foundation for everything: smarter campaigns, smoother deliveries, and sales that actually reflect the effort you put in. Without it, you’re fighting uphill from day one. The truth? Bad data isn’t harmless. Every failed delivery, bounced email, or wrong phone number chips away at your bottom line. In the UK alone, dirty data drains an eye‑watering £900 billion a year from businesses. And with 1 in 5 records typically incorrect, each one costs around £81 annually in wasted spend, lost opportunities, or compliance risks. Why it matters? Still need convincing? Here are the stats that show why clean data is non‑negotiable: Confidence in every customer record : Royal Mail PAF makes 3,000–5,000 updates a day - over 1 million a year. Compliance and reduced risk : UK GDPR requires customer data to be accurate and up to date. Get it wrong, and you risk fines of up to £17.5M or 4% of global turnover. Lower delivery failure and service costs : UK businesses lose £1.6 billion a year to undelivered parcels. At £125 per parcel, even small errors add up fast. Protect marketing ROI : 50% of customers walk after a single failed delivery, and 80% won’t come back at all. The Challenge That’s why starting 2026 with a data cleanse isn’t just smart - it’s essential. Clean data means clear visibility, fewer delivery failures, better targeting, and reduced compliance risk - without the operational headache. By tackling bad data upfront, you give yourself the perfect launchpad for growth, instead of joining the many organisations that end up spending 10–30% of their revenue fixing problems after the fact. So here’s the challenge: make 2026 the year you stop letting bad data hold you back. Cleanse it, validate it, and set yourself up for campaigns that connect, deliveries that delight, and results that truly count. The message is clear: dirty data costs growth, trust, and opportunity. By cleansing upfront, you protect your ROI, strengthen compliance, and give yourself the platform to launch a year of real momentum.

Improving customer onboarding and fraud prevention in financial services with Fetchify

By Fiona Paton • November 24, 2025

The Background A leading financial services provider needed to strengthen the accuracy of customer information during digital onboarding. They handle thousands of new applications every month and rely on fast, frictionless sign-up journeys that still meet strict compliance, risk and verification requirements. Their existing process struggled with poor quality address and bank details, leading to increased manual checks, slower approvals and higher abandonment. Incorrect or incomplete address data was also creating downstream issues for customer communications, account documentation and regulatory reporting. The organisation wanted a solution that could improve data quality at the point of entry, reduce friction in the onboarding journey and support their compliance teams with more accurate source information. The Solution The client selected Fetchify to enhance customer onboarding with accurate, validated address and bank data as soon as a user enters it. Fetchify provided: Global address validation UK enhanced datasets where deeper detail is available Bank account validation to check the sort code and account number accuracy Simple integration into their digital onboarding flow Consistent formatting to support KYC, AML, and compliance checks By validating information early, Fetchify helped streamline the entire customer journey. The Result After implementing Fetchify, the organisation achieved: Reduction in applications failing due to incorrect address or bank details Faster onboarding with fewer manual reviews Greater confidence in customer identity information Better outcomes for compliance and risk teams Improved data quality flowing into internal systems A smoother experience for new customers Why Fetchify? The organisation chose Fetchify because it offered: Reliable global address validation Additional UK data where extra detail helps accuracy Fast and predictable performance A simple, low-effort integration A single platform for address and bank checks Helpful and responsive support A cost structure that fits digital volume growth The Outcome Fetchify now supports the business with ongoing customer onboarding, ensuring address and bank details are accurate before progressing to further checks. This has reduced operational workload, improved customer experience, and strengthened compliance processes across the customer lifecycle.

Man checking out newly arrived shoe stock to add to his online store

Frictionless Footwear: Delivering Checkout Speed and Trust Online

By Fiona Paton • November 17, 2025

How an online shoe store is using data validation tools to provide a speedy, frictionless checkout, reducing failed deliveries and increasing ROI

Photo of fields and countryside with Fetchify traditional, postal and ceremonial counties

The Curious Case of Counties: When Address Accuracy Meets Human Geography

By Fiona Paton • October 27, 2025

Counties are one of those quiet curiosities of UK addressing - the kind of data field that often sparks more debate than you’d expect. Should they be included? Which kind? And do we even need them anymore? As with so many things in data, the answer is: it depends. Three Counties, One Country In the UK, the word “county” doesn’t describe one single thing. It describes at least three - each with its own history, purpose, and quirk: Postal counties were once the backbone of the Royal Mail’s sorting system. They helped machines (and people) get mail to the right place efficiently. But in 1996, Royal Mail officially dropped them, and by 2010, county data was removed from the official address dataset entirely. For the postal system, counties simply no longer exist. Traditional (or historic) counties trace their origins back centuries — the counties of record, land, and local identity. They don’t match today’s administrative borders, but they persist in cultural memory and local pride. To some, these are the real counties of England. Ceremonial counties , meanwhile, are what most modern maps and local authorities recognise today. They loosely align with lieutenancy areas — the basis for everything from local government to BBC weather maps. And just to add another layer, the UK also has metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties used for administration, because nothing in British geography would be complete without a little complexity. So… Do We Still Need Them? For Royal Mail, the answer is simple: no. County names are ignored by modern sorting systems, and they don’t affect delivery. But in the real world of databases, integrations, and overlapping address systems, the answer is less clear-cut. Counties still appear because: Some legacy systems require a county field for validation. Some organisations and couriers still use them for regional routing. And sometimes, humans just like them — they help people orient themselves, especially in places with duplicate town names. It’s a reminder that addresses aren’t just for machines. They’re for people, too — and people often bring context, emotion, and memory into their sense of “place.” The Bigger Picture: One World, Many Formats Counties are just one example of how geography, history, and technology collide in addressing. Every country — sometimes every region — does it differently. Some use regions, provinces, or prefectures. Some rely on hierarchies of towns and municipalities. Others have no subdivisions at all. For global platforms and data validation providers, that diversity creates a fascinating challenge: how do you standardise something that isn’t standard anywhere? It’s the quiet work of address intelligence — understanding not just where something is, but how people describe it. Why This Matters The goal of address accuracy isn’t to erase local identity or force uniformity; it’s to understand and support variation intelligently. Whether you’re sending a parcel, mapping customer data, or building systems that work across borders, knowing how and why these differences exist is part of getting the data right. So next time you’re faced with that little “County” field — think of it not as a relic, but as a reminder. Behind every address is a history, a structure, and a story. And understanding that story is where true data quality begins.