Common problems when working with address data

November 29, 2022

Standardization

Standardizing addresses helps solve many of the problems inherent in data blending (combining two or more address databases together). To properly blend different address databases together, you need to either have an external ID correlate the two sources or have identically formatted address fields.

It’s worth noting that the USPS DPV barcode isn’t sufficient for data blending. It can be very difficult to properly correlate addresses going off ove the DPV barcode only. See “Semi-valid Addresses” below for more information on that.

Human error

Human error is a natural occurrence that can wreak havoc on an address database. If you decide that you’re going to self-standardize your database and change every “street”, “avenue”, or “boulevard” to a standard abbreviation, there’s plenty of opportunity to make mistakes.

Imagine what would happen if you have a correct address, but it isn’t standardized, and when trying to manually standardize it, you accidentally change a number. The issues just pop up from there.

The solution is using an automated system to standardize your address database. This could be through a bulk standardizing tool, an API, or other means.

An additional benefit to using an external standardizing tool is that it will likely also validate the addresses. Standardizing means to make an address appear correctly, but validating means that it is an actual mailable address. So what should be considered when validating an address database?

Common address validation issues

Not every address validation tool is created equal. Many will merely tell you if it’s mailable or not, but even those who’t tell you why they're not mailable.

Adam went over three main problems that most people run into when trying to validate addresses.

Unique ZIP Codes

There are some places in the United States that receive such a high volume of mail that the USPS has given them their own ZIP Code. For example, the Empire State Building, some university campuses, or other large corporate offices.

This means that when you use a validation service that uses the USPS database, you won’t get a whole lot of information about those addresses because as long as it has those ZIP Codes, it’s mailable, but still might not get where it needs to go.

There’s more information about this in one of Adam’s previous webinars, Address data masterclass.

Smarty counteracts this challenge by ensuring that we inform the user of unique ZIP Codes, and we have three unique places to make sure you’re informed.

Semi-valid addresses

Addresses that are missing secondary addresses may still be valid, but may not get your mail delivered to them. This means if you mail something to da large apartment building, but you put an apartment number that isn’t in the building, it would still be identified as mailable. However, Smarty’s validation tools will ensure that you are aware that your address may have trouble delivering to that address.

R7 addresses fall into this category. These are mailable, but they’re not street-deliverable. This sort of mail is typically picked up from the post office and doesn’t have a DPV barcode.

Non-postals

Not every address is USPS-serviceable. This doesn’t mean that these addresses are not real, though. Depending on your use case, these addresses may still be valid. For example, if you’re trying to mass-mail something to addresses that are non-postal, they are probably not valid. But if you’re a real-estate developer they may be valid for your purposes.

Typically, to validate non-postal addresses, you’ll need a special validation service. Smarty has an Enhanced match validation tool that handles these like a dream.