To cut to the chase – yes.
Mistakenly typing “street” instead of “avenue” for a shipping label will cost you an additional $18.00-$19.50 per package depending on your carrier. If you are an e-commerce business, shipping thousands of parcels daily, these costs make a huge impact on your bottom line. And even worse, while these costs add up, you also risk losing customers due to delayed deliveries caused by incorrect shipping addresses.
Address verification before shipping your packages is a simple and easy way to help ensure on-time deliveries. An incorrect address on a package will take longer to sort and send to the right facility for delivery. Often the packages are returned to the shipper to verify addresses, resulting in additional charges including extra fees and shipping costs.
This issue is becoming more top of mind for e-commerce businesses, as on-time delivery is paramount to customers. A 2019 survey from parcel and freight technology firm, Convey, acquired by Project 44 in 2021 still rings true – “Not getting delivery right can be a business killer, with 72.7% surveyed saying they are unlikely to do business with an online site again after a poor delivery experience”.
This is where Address Verification tools come in. An Address Verification tool collects and cleans up your customer address data. It also ensures that your existing address data is accurate, standardized, and current.
Several Address Verification tools are available, but choose wisely, as there are subtle differences among each. Some of these differences include constraints on verification capabilities for different types of address data, limited carrier compatibility, and differing verification speeds. Accuracy and speed are particularly important for e-commerce businesses, which often compete on speed in delivery. Businesses that are equipped with tools that quickly and thoroughly verify their shipping addresses can get their packages delivered to customers on time, the first time.
Furthermore, while customer satisfaction is the number one goal, keeping costs low is also critical for e-commerce players. Carriers will charge a surcharge per package for address correction, or if the incorrect service is selected due to an incorrect address.
Address correction surcharges have increased over the years as carriers handle growing volumes and are pressured to deliver fast and accurately. With address correction fees rising, it has become imperative for e-commerce businesses to ensure that they are providing accurate mailing addresses to their carriers.
With so many tools available to combat the negative repercussions of incorrect address data, there is no need to pay the price. To learn more about Address Verification, as well as how our solution stands out from others in the industry, please click here.