Build your validation logic

This document describes a process for building an address checking system to handle a variety of responses from the Address Validation API. It covers how to interpret the API response in order to determine when and how to prompt your customers for more information.

In general the API response determines the following ways your system should handle an address:

  • Fix—the address might contain significant issues.
    Consider prompting your customer for more information.
  • Add subpremises—the address might be missing a subpremises.
    Consider prompting your customer to add a unit number.
  • Confirm—the address might contain minor issues.
    Consider prompting your customer to confirm the address is correct.
  • Accept—the address might not contain issues.
    Consider using the address without further prompting, at your own risk.

Key purpose

This document helps you modify your system to best analyze the API response and determine the next actions to take with supplied addresses. The following pseudocode illustrates a possible flow.

if (verdict.possibleNextAction == FIX)
    Prompt the user to fix the address.
else if (verdict.possibleNextAction == CONFIRM_ADD_SUBPREMISES)
    Prompt the user to add a unit number.
else if (verdict.possibleNextAction == CONFIRM)
    Confirm with the user that the address is correct.
else
    Continue with the address returned by the API.

The exact logic depends on your situation - see Customize your validation logic for more details.

Possible workflows

The table below summarizes possible workflows you could implement to prompt your customer based on the API response.

Your system behavior
Fix the address

The response from the verdict indicates there may be significant issues with the address. For example, verdict.possibleNextAction is FIX. Consider prompting your customer for more information.

Workflow

  1. Investigate address components if necessary.
  2. Prompt customer to fix address issues.
  3. Request validation for the updated address.
  4. (Optional) Send a request to the feedback endpoint for the API. See Handle updated addresses.
  5. Proceed with address.
Add subpremises

The response from the verdict indicates the address might be missing a subpremises. For example, verdict.possibleNextAction is CONFIRM_ADD_SUBPREMISES. Consider prompting your customer to add a unit number.

Workflow

  1. Prompt customer to add a unit number.
  2. Request validation for the updated address.
  3. (Optional) Send a request to the feedback endpoint for the API. See Handle updated addresses.
  4. Proceed with address.
Confirm the address

The response from the verdict indicates there might be minor issues with the address. For example, verdict.possibleNextAction is CONFIRM. Consider prompting your customer to review the address.

Workflow

  1. Corrections needed:
    1. Investigate address components if necessary.
    2. Request validation for the updated address.
    3. (Optional) Send a request to the feedback endpoint for the API. See Handle updated addresses.
    4. Proceed with address.
  2. No corrections needed:
    1. (Optional) Send a request to the feedback endpoint for the API. See Handle updated addresses.
    2. Proceed with address.
Accept the address

The response from the verdict indicates there might not be issues with the address. For example, verdict.possibleNextAction is ACCEPT. Consider proceeding with the address as you would for your risk level.

Workflow

Proceed with returned address.

Customize your validation logic

While you can use the results from the verdict.possibleNextAction field to determine how your system proceeds with the API response, you might also consider building custom logic, such as to handle business-specific needs.

The purpose of this section is to illustrate how you can develop your own custom logic for interpreting the API response in order to determine if and how you want to prompt your customer. This section covers risk levels and additional API response signals to consider for your customization.

That said, even if you rely solely on the verdict.possibleNextAction to decide on your next steps, the additional signals described below can still help you understand details about potential issues with the address.

Risk tolerance

When designing how your system responds to signals from the Address Validation API, the following recommendations can help you build a more effective response model. However, these are only recommendations, so bear in mind that your implementation should suit your business model.

Guidance Details
Risk level

Take into account the level of tolerance for your situation when balancing between prompting for corrections and accepting the address as entered.

The Address Validation API returns a variety of signals that you can incorporate with your risk level to optimize your validation process.

For example, if an address has an unconfirmed street number, you can still accept it. On the other hand, if your business operation requires greater address precision, you might prompt your user. For an example that could fall into either category, see Non-US unconfirmed street number in Accept address - examples.
Accept addresses

It's a good practice to allow your system to accept the original entry if the customer does not respond to prompts.

In these cases, the customer might have entered an address not in the system, such as for new construction.

Risk-averse checkout flow example

If you want to reduce the risk of failed deliveries, you might customize your logic to prompt your customers more often. For example, rather than use the logic described in the Key purpose section, you could use the following logic.

if (verdict.possibleNextAction == FIX or verdict.validationGranularity
== OTHER or verdict.validationGranularity == ROUTE)
  Prompt customer to fix their address.
else if (verdict.possibleNextAction == CONFIRM_ADD_SUBPREMISES)
  Prompt customer to add a unit number.
else if (verdict.possibleNextAction == CONFIRM or verdict.validationGranularity
== PREMISE_PROXIMITY or verdict.hasSpellCorrectedComponents or
verdict.hasReplacedComponents or verdict.hasInferredComponents)
  Prompt customer to confirm their address.
else
  Proceed with the returned address.

Low-friction checkout flow example

If you want to reduce the friction in your checkout flow, you might customize your logic to prompt your customers less often. For example, rather than use the logic described in the Key purpose section, you could use the following logic.

if (verdict.possibleNextAction == FIX)
  Prompt customer to fix their address.
else if (verdict.hasReplacedComponents)
  Prompt customer to confirm their address.
else
  Proceed with the returned address.

FIX signals

Fix an address when the results clearly indicate that the address may not be deliverable. Your system can then prompt the customer to provide the necessary information, after which you re-issue your workflow to get a deliverable address.

The following fields of the Address Validation API response can be used in addition to verdict.possibleNextAction to determine if an address has major issues, and what those issues are.

Validation granularity When the validation granularity enum for an address is OTHER, it's likely that the address is incorrect.
Missing components When the address.missingComponentTypes is not empty, it's likely that the address is missing key information.
Suspicious components When the confirmation level enum for a component is UNCONFIRMED_AND_SUSPICIOUS, it's likely that the component is incorrect.
Unresolved components An unresolvedToken is a part of the input not recognized as a valid part of an address.
USPS DPV Confirmation When uspsData.dpvConfirmation is either N, or empty, there might be an issue with the address. This field is only available for US addresses. For more details on uspsData.dpvConfirmation, see Handle United States addresses.

Fix address examples

CONFIRM_ADD_SUBPREMISES signals (US addresses only)

You prompt your customer to review the address and consider adding a unit number when the Address Validation API response indicates the address might be missing a subpremises. In these cases, the address of the building is likely valid, but you want greater confidence that the resulting address is the one intended by the customer.

The following fields of the Address Validation API response can be used in addition to verdict.possibleNextAction to determine if an address is likely missing a subpremises.

Missing subpremise component When the address.missingComponentTypes field contains a value of subpremise, that indicates a unit number is missing from the address.
USPS DPV Confirmation When uspsData.dpvConfirmation is S, that means the primary number of the address has been matched to an address in the USPS database. However, the address was expected to contain a secondary number as well. This field is only available for US addresses. For more details on uspsData.dpvConfirmation, see Handle United States addresses.

Add subpremises address examples

CONFIRM signals

You confirm an address when the verdict indicates that the Address Validation API either inferred or made changes to address components in order to produce a validated address. In these cases, you have a deliverable address, but prefer greater confidence that the resulting address is the one intended by the customer.

The following fields of the Address Validation API response can be used in addition to verdict.possibleNextAction to determine if an address has minor issues, and what those issues are.

Validation granularity When validationGranularity for an address is ROUTE or PREMISE_PROXIMITY, the address might be incorrect.
Inferred data When the hasInferredComponents field is true, you know that the API filled in information it gleaned from other address components.
Replaced data When the hasReplacedComponents field is true, the API replaced entered data with data it deemed to make the address valid.
Spell corrections When the hasSpellCorrectedComponents field is true, the API corrected the spelling of some misspelled components.

Confirm address examples

ACCEPT signals

You might accept an address when the Address Validation API API response provides a high degree of confidence that the address is deliverable and can be used without further customer interaction in the downstream process.

The following fields of the Address Validation API response can be used in addition to verdict.possibleNextAction to determine if an address is of acceptable quality.

Validation granularity A validationGranularity of PREMISE is often acceptable, though a value of ROUTE may still indicate a deliverable address.
No inferred data When the hasInferredComponents field is false, you know that no components in the output were inferred.
No replaced data When the hasReplacedComponents field is false, you know that no input data has been replaced.
No spell corrections When the hasSpellCorrectedComponents field is false, you know that no spell corrections have been made.
USPS DPV Confirmation When uspsData.dpvConfirmation is Y, that means the address has been matched to an address in the USPS database. This field is only available for US addresses. For more details on uspsData.dpvConfirmation, see Handle United States addresses.

Accept address examples

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