Ecommerce administrators, research companies, web developers, digital marketing agencies … There are many businesses and professionals who ask themselves the daily question: how can I validate an international postal address? The answer is actually not so obvious.
An international mailing address often represents a nucleus of little known information and therefore difficult to decipher, especially for those who are not familiar with the language of the target country of the shipment. After all, the language is certainly not the only barrier that the less experienced have to face. The difficulties of validating international addresses are of at least three types, all equally important:
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Different formats
The format of a postal address corresponds to the layout and type of the various records. Name and surname of the addressee, street or square, street number, area code, town, country … these items can vary a lot from one country to another, both in their sequence (logical order), and in the way they manifest themselves (whether they exist or not). International address validation software, as we will see shortly, is able to convert the address format from country A of origin to destination country B, verifying at the same time that the quality requirements of a cleansed address are respected (update, completeness, consistency, etc.).
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Language differences
Another great obstacle for those who do not possess the necessary skills is inevitably linked to the language. The international address must in fact be written correctly, in accordance with the grammar and vocabulary of the target country. Accents are very important in this sense: a simple forgetfulness can give rise to misunderstandings that make shipping to the recipient vain, with obvious negative repercussions in terms of budget and result. The language must therefore be managed wisely, without improvising oneself as translator and without thinking that an address written in the source language may lead to a secure sending of the correspondence.
The possibility of a wrong shipment should be taken seriously by any business. It is not just about sending an order to a customer or a partner and missing the delivery due to an incorrect address. These scenarios are rare, but possible. The most tangible risk is the approximate management of 
Master Data – either IT data or other data – is the most precious intangible assets of a company; that is why the Master Data Management (shortened in MDM) is the best management and treatment system available on the market. We are talking about a sector of advanced corporate governance that includes both multinational holding companies and medium and large size companies. Indeed, any medium and large companies can take advantage of adopting an efficient strategy of Data Master Management. This advantage will be greater and greater because of the exponential growth of the IT systems and the volumes of data that is collected by manual activities (i.e. call centers, data entry, etc.) as well as automatic or semiautomatic activities (i.e. funnels, newsletters, landing pages, etc.). Data comes from different channels, therefore we should not think of Master Data Management as something that concerns the Information Technology only. The advantages, as it will be given in this article, are real only if we consider all the involved variables.
Online database normalization is achieved quickly and easily, even by non-experts, by using Address4 software. You don’t need complex programs or the latest computers because the 
If you want your international parcel delivery to succeed, spelling your address correctly is definitely important. Medium-sized or big companies, online structured stores and other kinds of entities that send material overseas every day as part of their business should reduce to a minimum – or even better, completely eliminate – returns and errors when delivering, therefore avoiding dreadful wastes of time, resources and money. A superficial or erratic approach when composing addresses can cause delays, failed deliveries and customer dissatisfaction, with a negative fallout that is hard to contain. Such risks must be immediately avoided, mastering the knowledge of the formats allowed for international shipments and using adequate tools for data cleansing and normalisation.
Data entry is a simple task but it is by no means cheap. Entering thousands of data elements in the form of addresses, profiles or contacts can be extremely costly, especially in the long run, which is why it is important to find a high-performance work system. Although manual data entry is still prevalent and in some way to be expected for data entry, cost reduction remains an objective for everyone, especially businesses and companies that want to optimise costs without sacrificing quality. In fact, we mustn’t forget that the best data entry method is not the one with lower costs: it is the correctness and validity of the entered data that makes a difference, after which they must be cleansed of any errors or omissions.
To improve Big Data management means you guarantee your company (or your job) tangible advantages on all fronts. By applying correct Big Data management – be it postal address files, user profiles, or other data – you can streamline the decisional procedures, precisely define your targets, access new business opportunities, all without errors, omissions or wasted time. The longer-term potential from this type of investment is enormous: it could be to reorganize your current customer database or send products purchased from the company website anywhere at home or abroad (therefore, know the exact dispatch address in near and distant countries), the effectiveness of the various activities mainly depends on the quality of the data you have availability of.
Data quality control is one of the most difficult challenges for today’s large and medium-sized enterprises. Just managing the names of suppliers, or of customers in contact with customer care is overwhelming, not to mention the latest developments over recent years, newsletter subscribers and company blogs, for example. Different groups, yet united by the same characteristic: their importance to the company. The supply of spare parts, materials and products, in fact, depends on suppliers. Likewise, the brand’s reputation, and therefore the company’s image in the public eye, depends on customer service. The same goes for the many people who follow the company and are registered on the official website: these people represent a company’s most important customer base. This set of contacts must be organised with great care, so as to obtain top quality data.
There are numerous ways to do geomarketing: some are very important because they help us find new customers, others help make work easier because our data is organized better. In all events, we can always gain effective advantages in several fields, from time saved to reduced costs. Just think of what it means for a company or professional to have to manage thousands of addresses linked to likewise customer names, and not have any idea where they are situated geographically. When we need to mail promotions, for example selling pellet stoves, we have to calculate where the customers are located to ensure perfect timing in relation to the climate.