The accuracy of international address data is essential in many different contexts, including marketing data, package delivery, and business correspondence. Address verification software works by comparing the customer's address with a database of addresses from over 240 countries. Most suppliers keep their database current and up-to-date, which ensures accuracy in every case. However, not all suppliers are equal. Here are a few key factors to consider before choosing a supplier.
The first factor to consider is the language of your customer base. If you're shipping to consumers from abroad, you should consider transliteration to communicate effectively with them. Transliteration translates the input address into the language that the customer speaks. It can change the character sets of foreign addresses into Roman or similar-sounding letters, while maintaining the underlying meaning of the address. In order to make the address input process as simple as possible, consider using software that can automatically transliterate address data into Latin or other languages.
Address validation software can also help you validate the street address portion of an international address. While the US postal service has an incredibly organized system, not all countries are as well organized. In fact, if everyone in the United States received their mail on the same day, the postal service would need to make 150 million stops to get everything to everyone. This means that an address will not be validated if it does not match the address in the database.