Swiftcomplete, the address verification and places search specialist, today announces its partnership with precision addressing system what3words. Swiftcomplete’s address verification is the first to offer what3words as a standard, built-in feature, meaning that what3words can be switched on anytime a Swiftcomplete address finder is added to an e-commerce checkout page.
Swiftcomplete is integrated into ecommerce checkout pages where what3words can be easily enabled. The integration means online retailers can offer customers a user-friendly way to specify their exact delivery location alongside a traditional Royal Mail postal address. Customers can then find their address quickly and accurately, as Swiftcomplete’s smart search prioritises displaying postal addresses closest to the customer’s what3words location. For some customers, their postal address may even be displayed straight away, with no additional typing required, making the checkout process quick and seamless.
This combination of a pinpoint delivery location and a traditional postal address ensures logistics partners can deliver orders to the right place more efficiently. With every failed delivery costing retailers across the UK, US and Germany an average of $17.78, it is essential for businesses to ensure they are efficiently reaching every customer, every time, in order to stay competitive.
what3words provides a simple way to identify and name 3m x 3m squares – anywhere in the world – with a unique address made up of 3 dictionary words. For example, ///filled.count.soap will take you to the precise front door of what3words’ London office. Another key benefit of the technology is its universal use case. Addresses aren’t standardised globally, causing mistakes and failed deliveries. Available in over 45 languages and optimised for optical character recognition (OCR) scanning, what3words smooths cross-border logistics.
Over the past few years, online retail has become the most popular way to shop and has only been accelerated by the pandemic. The UK has the most advanced e-commerce market in Europe but its addressing system does not boast the same accolade. In fact, it’s estimated that 70% of addresses will not take you to the front door. Poor addressing results in inefficient delivery – the extra time taken to locate a destination ultimately costs money. And when you consider that the ‘last mile’ accounts for 28% of the overall delivery cost, the numbers quickly add up. In the UK, 0.5% of all deliveries fail due to poor addressing.
Today, we’re all so accustomed to plugging in our address details into the billing and delivery information sections of a checkout page that we barely give the process a second thought…. except, that is, when we have a poor experience. A bad checkout experience of not being able to put in the correct address information is frustrating for the customer, and ultimately reduces checkout page conversions, increases drop-offs and can negatively impact sales. That’s why technologies like Swiftcomplete exist: to ensure that the experience of entering your place/addressing information into an online addressing field and/or checkout page is as smooth and simple as possible.
On the partnership, Chris Winfield, Swiftcomplete Founder says, “At Swiftcomplete, we focus on helping our customers find accurate addresses, places and coordinates – it’s address verification and places search made easy. We’re always looking to innovate and see what can be achieved with the latest technology, and partnering with what3words was the obvious next step. Being the first address verification technology to offer what3words as a standard feature is a really exciting way to make our tech easy to use and accessible to all.”
Chris Sheldrick, Co-Founder and CEO at what3words, says, “Swiftcomplete’s what3words integration is the most user-friendly way for online retailers to let their customers specify their precise delivery location. This will help to get orders to the right place the first time, every time. Having what3words turned on as a standard feature means that the experience of entering your addressing information into an online addressing field and/or checkout page can be as smooth, simple and efficient as possible.”
