Have you implemented email address checking from AFD Software? Human error is all too easy when keying in data. One wrong character in an email address will result in a failed delivery.
For a business or service-based organisation this can be costly to both revenue and reputation. An enquiry from a prospective customer appears not to have been answered or an order goes unfulfilled
AFD Software make it easy for businesses to check email addresses wherever they are entered by staff or customers. There are three checks:
Some services check only syntax, some only domain and many do not check the local part. Email address validation from AFD Software checks all three: Syntax, Domain and the Local Part. It is not always possible to validate the full email address at each domain – however, whenever it is at all possible the AFD email validation service will do so.
Did you know? One third of the earth’s population use email and together send around 74 trillion emails each year – so we reckon an email address check is worth implementing!
The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is the national body for dinghy, motor and sail cruising, all forms of sail racing, Rigid Inflatable Boats, sports boats, windsurfing, personal watercraft, and a leading representative body for inland waterways cruising.
With over 100,000 personal members and more than 1,500 affiliated clubs and classes, the RYA sets and maintains an international standard for recreational boat training through a network of RYA-recognised training centres, world-class courses, and educational material.
Responsible for one of the UK’s most successful Olympic medal-winning sports, the RYA’s coaching, and development schemes actively support the UK’s top sailors, from talented juniors to Olympic and World Champions.
Benefits of RYA membership includes advice and support, certification, offers and discounts, insurance, and the latest relevant information on all aspects of recreational boating. We caught up with Andy Galvin, Information Systems Manager, to understand more about his role within the organisation and the importance that accurate customer and address data plays in communicating with and recruiting its members.
“When I joined the team in 1997, one of the projects the IT team was involved in was scoping out a solution that would improve data accuracy. We needed to migrate over 300 Microsoft Access databases into a single Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution. Whilst attending a CRM EXPO, other businesses mentioned how they partnered with AFD to get address data right, so we got in touch.
Whilst many things have changed including that initial CRM system, one thing that has been consistent is our partnership with AFD that has now been in place helping us get customer and address data right for 24 years.”
Manual data entry has two main drawbacks: time and human error. Having automatic address validation in place helps to remove these challenges. Data accuracy helps ensure communications get to the right place, and when the message being sent contains critical information, this is essential.
Andy describes: “As a membership organisation, we actively communicate with our members via traditional mail – sending out updates, events and literature which include safety information updates and protocol changes. We need to make sure this vital information is getting to our members and instructors quickly and accurately to help them stay within the latest guidelines.
We have up to 70 team members processing contact data in the CRM at any time. When we consider that manually typing an address can take between 15 and 20 seconds (slowed down further when struggling to read hand-written application forms), and processing over 250,000 address checks per year, AFD’s address lookup solution is saving 1400 hours each year in staff time and headaches!
Following the easing of government restrictions last summer that allowed sailing to resume, we found a much higher volume of applications for RYA Certificates of Competence (boat and yacht qualifications) and membership. Despite the high spike in applications, we were able to accurately process an increased number of applications in the same timeframe. Without AFD in place to help process the data, our application processing time would have increased and data accuracy would have dropped massively.”
Due to the difficulty in processing handwritten applications, the RYA now provide the ability to sign-up as a member on their website. To ensure they have plugged all the gaps for data accuracy, AFD’s address validation is deployed to help quickly capture the right address.
Validating addresses on entry has additional benefits which Andy goes on to explain: “When the application is completed online, our CRM system then checks if the applicant is already in the database via a postcode and surname match. This process relies on the accurate address AFD provides, allowing us to eliminate duplication which in turn reduces wasted costs and administration in rectifying.”
With a growing international presence and members from around the world wanting to train at RYA centres to gain their International Certificate of Competence, the website and UK-based team process international applications which come with their own challenges.
Andy continues: “We have found some countries addresses are more difficult than others to process. These difficulties are further compounded when most applications are filled out using pen and paper. Having a tool that allows the team to search for international addresses makes a tricky process very straightforward and saves us having to recruit address experts with local knowledge for the 50+ countries’ varying postal systems we work with.
AFD’s International address validation allows us to search by postcode or other address fragments and find the right address without having to do further research or spend time contacting the member.”
Funding from membership revenue allows the RYA to continue its work and deliver the benefits and certificates that members sign up for. With a range of membership plans available for both individuals and families, payments can be made for annual memberships online and over the phone.
Describing the process of capturing payment details Andy continues, “When an error is made during a direct debit process, it’s not only the cost of a missed payment but also the cost of fixing the issue. A member of the team will need to go into the record, remove the direct debit and try to contact the member to update the record. This complication results in a poor experience when becoming a member or renewing.
With AFD’s bank verification solution for our team and the website, we can spot and rectify any errors whilst the customer is still on the phone or completing their application online, helping to achieve a smooth onboarding process.”
In summarising the partnership between the RYA and AFD Software, Andy concludes: “The way we have designed all our processes is tailored to give the best experience for both members and our team. We view services from AFD as far more than just address lookups; onboarding, finding, and communicating with members all rely on our partnership in data quality.
We have worked with The Postcode People at AFD Software for over 20 years. Two decades of partnership is a testament to the quality of solutions that we receive and the team that sits behind them.
We have found all the team are proactive and quick to respond to any of our requests. Being able to pick up the phone or send an email to a real person rather than an automated response is especially important for our small team. From a technical perspective, the APIs are straightforward to work with and deliver the results we need. I would recommend the team at AFD to help overcome challenges around contact data accuracy.”
For nearly 40 years, AFD has helped organisations get data right.
In the membership and not-for-profit sector, accurate contact data is crucial to ongoing communication and support. Our data validation and cleansing solutions help thousands of organisations accurately capture and maintain millions of contact records each year.
To find out how our solutions could benefit your organisation contact joel.miller@afd.co.uk or call 01624 811711.
Adding address validation to your website for customers or internal systems for staff use has multiple benefits:
Speed
How long does it take to type your address?
Using a keyboard it took 16 seconds to type:
18 Weatherhill Rise
Oakes
Huddersfield
HD32AF
The same address took 23 seconds on a mobile device.
Luckily, address lookup and address validation means the same address can be found by just entering the postcode and selecting the house number or typing the house number then the postcode.
Customers are used to a fast online checkout experience, adding between 16 and 23 seconds to this journey can cause potential sales to not complete.
Accuracy
Speed is one aspect, but accuracy is essential if you want your goods or services to reach the customer.
Time it takes to enter details will be dwarfed in customer annoyance if an order doesn’t reach them, has to be returned and resent!
Using address verification at the point of entry ensures only accurate addresses can be selected.
Formatting
Storing data in multiple formats can lead to a multitude of issues.
If a decision is taken to move systems data could be lost during exports and imports
Mail and parcel labels lead to customers asking “why does my address look like that?” when they receive their delivery.
By having controls in place to validate address data is accurate, also ensures address formatting is consistent.
GDPR approved
A key part of GDPR confirms “Personal data shall be: (d) accurate” Address data is personal data when it is entered along with a customer’s name. Postcode lookup and address lookup helps facilitate accuracy of persona data and meet the regulations.
Analysis
Organisations wanting to identify their “ideal customers” to upsell to or find prospective customers that match their characteristics will struggle if analysis is based on inaccurate or missing data.
The Postcode People at AFD Software have nearly 40 years’ experience helping thousands of organisations get address data accurate. A combination of; the best team with 450 years of combined experience, the best data sources utilising in house, Royal Mail PAF and Ordnance Survey (OS) Address Base within the best solutions make AFD the ideal choice as your partners in address and data quality.
To find out more and try out our address lookup solutions click here or contact one of the team today.
Next week, AFD Software are attending the UCISA conference in Manchester.
If you or a member of your team are attending, we look forward to seeing you at stand 96.
We will be hosting live demonstrations of our HE specific solutions that include;
Address, email and phone validation and cleansing of existing student contact data.
Further information about AFD’s education-specific solutions that over 90 Universities rely on can be seen here.
The postcode is made up of five to seven letters and numbers that indicate four different levels of a geographic unit. It’s part of a coding system developed by the Royal Mail and used to sort mail across the United Kingdom. Postcodes are an abbreviated form of address, that groups together delivery points (property or post boxes).
Full valid postcodes can be validated with AFD’s address lookup solutions at https://www.afd.co.uk/try-it/
There are two elements to each postcode. The outward postcode, or outcode, is the first portion. This is separated from the second part, which is the inward postcode, or incode, by a single space.
The outward postcode allows mail to be delivered to the right local area. Both area and district are contained within this part of the code.
The inward code sorts mail at each local area delivery office. Containing a numeric character that identifies the sector in the postal district then two alphabetic characters defining one or more properties within the sector.
For example: HD3 3WZ
HD states the postcode area of Huddersfield. The UK has 124 postcode areas in total.
HD3 is the postcode district in the postcode area of Huddersfield. There are 2,979 postcode districts.
HD3 3 refers to the postcode sector. There are 11,228 postcode sectors.
HD3 3WZ. The WZ completes the postcode. The last two letters define the ‘unit
postcode’ which identifies one or more small user delivery points – in the case of HD3 3WZ, 26 delivery points.
As of January 2022, there are 1,785,571 postcodes in the UK.
Presented by Joshua Comish, DevOps Engineer for the AFD Group.
SaaS (Software as a Service) and Cloud computing are an extremely powerful set of tools that empower organisations to expand their IT operations quickly and cost efficiently. Companies moving from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud save an average of 20% – 40% on their computing resources and additional labour savings. Cloud computing has come a long way since its origins in the early 2000’s and so in this presentation Josh will guide to you through exactly what it is , and how you get started in using it in your business?
For more information and to secure your FREE place click here.
To watch this talk via live stream on the evening, click here.
These are the UK’s “golden postcodes” based on properties that have the highest value per square foot by region:
London
SW1X
SW13
NW1
SW19 Of Wimbledon fame
NW1
South East
OX2 – Oxford
GU5 – Guildford
RH5 – Dorking
East
CB3 – Cambridge
AL5 – Harpenden
South West
BA1 – Bath
TQ7 – Kingsbridge
Midlands
CV35 – Warwick
CV37 – Stratford-upon-Avon Shakespeare’s birthplace
S18 – Dronfield
LE15 – Oakham
Yorkshire & the Humber
LS21 – Otley
YO1 – York
North West
LA12 – Ulverston
WA16 – Knutsford
North East
NE45 – Corbridge
Wales
LL53 – Abersoch Jonathan Stocks, Head of Sales and Marketing at AFD’s favourite holiday destination
In January 2021 the Postcode Address File (PAF) contained 30,968,535 delivery points.
Just 12 months later the number of delivery points has grown by 341,379 to total 31,309,914!
This figure alone justifies the importance of having access to the latest available data to validate and cleanse address details, but as we dig deeper the total number of changes within PAF grows further:
Localities added 43
New postcodes 34,475
Delivery point changes 76,992
PAF Facts
Number of Postcode Areas 124
Number of Postcodes 1,785,571
Number of Post Towns 1,500
Number of organisations that rely on PAF 40,000
For further information and the latest data updates visit www.afd.co.uk/data-news
According to the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF), there are over 700 streets in the UK referencing Robert Burns.
The Scottish national holiday held today continues to celebrate the life and work of the national poet of Scotland, Robert Burns.
We hope you enjoy your Burns supper of Haggis, neeps (swede), and tatties (potatoes).
Did you know AFD Software started in Scotland? Read more about the AFD story here.
We serve thousands of organisations and a network of hundreds of partners across multiple industry sectors, enabling them to have full confidence in their contact data.