A Guide to Address Autocomplete for Your Website

If you collect addresses on your website, then having Address Autocomplete will be beneficial for both your business and your users. It keeps the data consistent for all entries, makes it easier for your website users, and assists with product delivery. This is a deep-dive guide into how Address Autocomplete can save you money and time and enhance user experience.

What is Address Autocomplete and Why Use It?

Address Autocomplete is a feature where the address field on a website dynamically offers a selection of addresses that a user can select based on what they’ve already typed. This reduces the amount of typing that a user is required to do—making it faster and easier for them to fill out the form; increases the accuracy of the information provided; and minimises delivery and fulfilment errors—saving your business money.

Is Address Autocomplete different to Autofill?

You may have noticed that sometimes when you’re filling in forms online, it will give you the option to Autofill some of the fields with information including your name, phone number, email address, and street address. This is called Autofill and uses data that your device or browser has stored and lines it up with data fields on the page, whereas Autocomplete doesn’t need any stored data and instead completes the address based on what a user types and selects.

Examples of Autocomplete in Action

Plantation Paper uses Address Autocomplete for the collection of delivery addresses to minimise issues with delivery.

Eastern Palliative Care (EPC) uses Address Autocomplete to collect addresses for workshop attendees to make it easier for users to fill in.

Key Benefits for Businesses

Businesses can expect to benefit from having Address Autocomplete in the following ways:

Cleaner and more consistent address data – using Autocomplete helps clean the data as it enters your website, saving you administrative time in the future.

Improved conversion rates – by making fields quick and easy for users to complete, you increase the chance that they will finish all the steps to conversion.

Better integration with shipping and logistics platforms – Autocomplete ensures that the data you’re collecting lines up with the information your shipping or logistics platform requires. This means your delivery issues will be significantly reduced, saving you money.

Enhanced customer satisfaction – any time you make something faster and easier, you enhance user experience. The ease of use, combined with fewer delivery issues, leads to increased customer satisfaction overall.

Address Autocomplete Best Practices

Set a location bias – tell the Autocomplete backend to show matching addresses within a set area first. This can be a country or a specific area around your business, while still allowing addresses outside the area to be shown.

Limit predictions to relevant countries – if you’re an Australia-based business that doesn’t ship internationally, you can set Autocomplete to only offer suggestions within Australia. This provides users with faster, more relevant predictions.

Use clear field labels and validation messages – letting users know what is expected of them and flagging any issues streamlines the process.

Test across devices and browsers – ensure that Autocomplete works across multiple device types (desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and phones), as well as major web browsers (Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, etc.)

Combine with address verification for maximum accuracy – ensure that all addresses entered are real by adding validation to your address field.

Your web developer should already be aware of and following these best practices.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Not limiting by country – if you don’t apply any location bias or restriction, irrelevant results may appear first, requiring users to type more information before their actual address shows up.

Overcomplicating the user interface – including too much detail in the form layout can confuse users. Instead, opt for a simple interface with only one or two actions per field.

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Having Address Autocomplete on your site can be a great asset for both your users and your business. It enhances user experience by making it quick and easy to fill in forms and saves you time and money. It is especially useful for e-commerce websites where you need to organise delivery to a physical address.

Interested in enhancing your business with Address Autocomplete?

Contact our team TODAY