How to Use the Correct Address Format for Your Global Shipments

Wrong addresses can lead to wrong deliveries. Order fulfillment is an important aspect of the eCommerce industry, and to manage this efficiently, you need to have the address details entered correctly by the customers. Without the right information, you cannot deliver the shipment correctly. To ensure that the shipment information is filled in correctly, each country uses a standard address format for shipping. Most of the countries follow almost the same style of writing the address, but a few have their way of putting it. To understand this in a better way, we have explained how to address a package for your global shipments.

What is Address Format and Why is It Important for Shipping?

An address is a collection of information that points to a physical location. Generally, we present the information using a standard format, which differs by country. The information includes:

  • The recipient’s name
  • An apartment or house number
  • The street name
  • The name of the city
  • An area or state with the two-letter postal abbreviation.
  • The postal code
  • The name of the country

When you are sending a shipment, the delivery depends completely on the shipping details entered. So if you wrongly enter any of these details, then your shipment will either be returned or it will end up in the wrong place. Hence, remember to address your package accurately.

Some Useful Tips on How to Address a Package

Here are some useful tips to address the package correctly:

  • Use upper case letters
  • Write the address in English
  • Better not to use over five lines
  • Write the complete return information accurately.
  • Don’t write a phone/mobile number or fax number as a part of the delivery details.

Shipping Address Formats for International Countries

To accomplish your international shipping promptly, you need to follow the address format accurately. Even though the address contains the same details as city, state, street address, and country, we might write them in different formats in different countries. Let’s look at a few of the address formats for different countries.

The United States

The address format for the US is as shown:

CHRIS NISWANDEE

SMALLSYS INC

795 E DRAGRAM

TUCSON AZ 85705

USA

The address format includes the name of the recipient on the first line. It is followed by the street name, city, and the two-letter abbreviation for the state and the zip code. The last part is the country’s name.

Canada

The address format for Canada is as shown below:

JOHN JONES

10-123 1/2 MAIN STREET NW

MONTREAL QC H3Z 2Y7 CANADA

The first line contains the recipient’s name. Then the street address. The following line contains the province, municipality, postal code, and country.

UK

The address format for UK is as shown below:

Mr. Walter C. Brown

49 Featherstone Street

LONDON

EC1Y 8SY

UNITED KINGDOM

In the very first line, you can see the name of the recipient, followed by the street address. The next line contains the name of the city, followed by the postal code, and finally the country name.

Australia

The address format used in Australia is as shown below:

Mrs. Smith

98 Shirley Street

PO BOX 98

PIMPAMA QLD 4209

AUSTRALIA

Here, as you can see in the above sample format, the recipient’s name is followed by the street address, then the post box number. The next line contains the suburb and the postal code, which is followed by the country’s name.

How to properly write an address?

Here are five takeaways to get the mailing address right.

  1. Take your time to verify the address. You can either confirm with the customers or make use of address validation tools.
  2. For international shipments, it is better to research the common address format. You can use an online directory for choosing the right address format.
  3. With military mail, you need to make sure that you are following the required format.
  4. Be specific always in the address.

How to avoid mistakes while entering Addresses?

Entering the address correctly is the crucial part of getting your delivery right. But customers make mistakes while entering the addresses. To avoid mistakes while entering addresses, either you can look them up in the address books or you can make use of address validation plugins.

One of the ideal ways to get the addresses right effortlessly is by using the ELEX WooCommerce Address Validation & Address Autocomplete Plugin.

The plugin lets you validate the addresses entered on your store as well as provide you with accurate addresses using the Google Address Autocomplete feature. 

Address format

The plugin uses the Google Auto Address complete to help the customers look for their addresses just by typing in the respective field. Upon doing so, different address suggestions will be displayed, and the customer can choose the right one.

Address format

The plugin uses address validation based on countries. The addresses are validated by EasyPost, UPS, USPS, and AddressFinder API separately depending on the country and the shipping carrier you choose.

Address format

Learn more about the address validation plugin from the product page.

Get your Addresses right to get your Delivery Right

Getting the right address from customers saves you from incorrect deliveries. Invalid addresses can lead to undelivered or wrongly delivered packages, which will affect your customer satisfaction. To ensure that you get it right, it is ideal to depend on address validation plugins, which will make the job easier for you as well as for your customers. 

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