Reliable customer contact data is invaluable. As such, there should be special safeguards and best business practices in place in all contact centers – including an address hygiene program. After all, companies rely on the integrity of that data to fulfill orders, deliver marketing messages and administer funds.

Data drives business - but what if that data is inaccurate or incomplete?

Often times, data collected is often incomplete or incorrect right from its capture point. Vital address information might be unavailable when a customer places an order from a catalog. There is also human error to consider – they may transpose numbers in a zip code or spell a street name incorrectly. Any number of address errors may occur which is why address verification software is so important for maintaining data integrity.

Even if the data is correct at the point of capture, there is no guarantee that it will remain so over the long haul. After all, people move!

The cost of bad data can rack you up more costs than you might initially think. All of the mismanaged material, labor and shipping costs certainly add up.

The size of the problem for U.S. businesses is estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars every year.

Thankfully, companies like SmartSoft Inc. are prepared to help businesses cope with this money-eating problem. It offers a whole suite of standalone products and toolkits that integrate into address-dependent applications. Its products are SERP and CASS certified – and they are also capable of validating, updating and standardizing the postal addresses in databases (and can also provide additional data tied to that address.)

Sounds handy, right? If you’re having address verification problems, it might be worthwhile to look into it.