A spicy take on address autocomplete and verification

Autocomplete getting spiced for National Cinnamon Day

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November 1, 2024

Personalize the experience

You know how cinnamon shows up uninvited in every fall-themed product from September through December? No one asked for that, and it's pretty presumptuous. It's like when you typed "123 Maple," and the website smugly suggested, "123 Maple Street, Apartment 4B, That City Where You Had That Embarrassing Date in 2019."

Rude. And no, that's not where you currently are. Just like a perfectly balanced spice blend, the right approach makes all the difference. Right now, you're sitting in your office trying to order some tasty Thai for lunch.

Instead of traumatizing a person by serving up extremely irrelevant suggestions (and reminding them of one of the most awkward nights of their life), an effective address autocomplete is configured to consider your location using your IP address. It then provides relevant addresses near your actual location so you can quickly find yours and move on.

Speaking of knowing your place, cinnamon could take a hint from an autocomplete API configured to consider location. It's like, hey, spice rack, stop imposing the big cinnamon agenda and assuming you know what everyone wants in their seasonal products.

Avoid the oopsies

But sometimes, even the most well-intentioned systems leave room for whoopsie moments. Just like that time you accidentally dumped the entire container of cinnamon into your coffee instead of just a sprinkle, a poorly configured autocomplete can have catastrophic consequences.

Cinnamon swirl coffee

My friend, Amy, has the most tragic autocomplete story. It happened three years ago, but she still brings it up every happy hour—like that lingering cinnamon smell you can't quite shake. Here's what happened.

She was checking out from her favorite artisanal shop with $200 worth of premium loose-leaf tea. She selected her address from the autocomplete and then mistakenly typed in a rando D to her street name.

You can see where this is going, but like watching a reality show disaster unfold, I'll continue. She waited and waited, but her premium beverage made from leaves in a baggy never arrived.

Here's where it gets spicy (pun absolutely intended).

She contacted the company, and they told Amy they sent her order to the address on file. In fact, the order showed in their system as signed, sealed, and delivered. She screamed into her phone, "Then why am I yelling at you instead of sipping a warm cup of tea and reciting my daily affirmations?!"

The poor customer service rep had their hands tied, and Amy hung up—no sorry, no replacement, no refund. Like a bland cookie missing its essential spice, the whole experience left a bad taste in her mouth.

Snickerdoodle cookie stack with a bite taken out

Amy no longer orders from said company, and to this day, we don't know where the package was sent or where it ended up being delivered.

If this artisanal brand had used address verification along with autocomplete, the verification would have checked Amy's address against an authoritative database to make sure it was legit. It would have recognized the typo and corrected it. Her package would have arrived, and she'd be singing their praises and placing orders left and right instead of crying in the corner.

Don’t overdo it

Now, let's sprinkle in some wisdom here. We can take a lesson from the downright offensive use of seasonal cinnamon. When using an autocomplete address on your website, just be helpful. There's no need to be the ultimate try-hard, like when Cinnamon rushes into your kitchen on September 1 shouting, "Oh, you're making garlic bread? Let me jump in!"

Just as too much cinnamon can overwhelm a dish (or, in some cases, ruin it), you don't want to configure your autocomplete to be overzealous and show 20 different address options in a massive popup that covers so much of the screen that it actually hinders the shopping experience.

So this National Cinnamon Day, as you fill in shipping information for that impulse purchase of cinnamon-scented lip balm, remember: the best things in life are a bit spicy, tailored to the individual, and include a double check—just like that lingering cinnamon aftertaste from your third gluten-free apple pie that arrived on time because your local bakery uses address autocomplete and address verification.

Cinnamon apple pie