Estonian Post (Omniva) Address Validation: Benefits, Limitations and Alternatives
As per research by Harvard Business Review, 20% of ecommerce deliveries fail on the first attempt. It could be due to incomplete or inaccurate address data. Without correct information, you might send the mail or package to the wrong location, or the carrier will return it. This wastes significant time, effort, and money. Keeping this into consideration, Omniva, the Estonian postal service, designed an address search tool that can assist in ensuring accurate delivery. This blog will examine this solution, its benefits, and its limitations. We will also provide a feature-rich alternative and compare both to see which is more suitable.
Key Takeaways
- Omniva offers a ZIP code lookup tool that customers can use to check whether the postal code corresponds to the entered address.
- It standardizes information up to the street level for areas within Estonia. Moreover, it updates the details in real-time to provide recent data.
- It does not offer international address verification and bulk checking. Moreover, since it does not provide geocodes and premise data, you are left with vague information, which can impact delivery.
- PostGrid Address Verification provides real-time verification, validation, and standardization globally. It also offers relevant and type-ahead suggestions to enhance delivery accuracy.
What is Estonia Post (Omniva) Address Validation?
Esti Post, or Omniva, Estonia’s national postal service provider, offers a ZIP code lookup tool to validate addresses. You have to enter the details, and the solution will provide a postal code aligned with it. You can also enter a ZIP code, and the system will provide the details of the areas it covers. If you want to search by the village’s name, you must add “kula” before the name. If there are numerous addresses in the search result, you can refine it by adding a specific location, such as the county’s name.
This tool will ensure that the address is routable and recognized. Moreover, it provides street, district, city, county, and postal codes in the format accepted by the national postal standards. Hence, you will get well-formatted and complete addresses.
It fetches the details from the official address database of Estonia, which is updated regularly to match the country’s Address Database System (ADS). It also cross-references the locations with the administrative divisions to provide the most accurate postal code. You can copy and paste the results from the website or download them in CSV or XML format.
Omniva also helps find the nearest post office. By entering a specific location, you can confirm that it is recognized and serviceable within the delivery network. Knowing the post office will ensure you route the parcel efficiently. This is useful in areas where postal boundaries may vary, such as rural regions. It is also helpful for places that are close but have different post offices serving them. Confirming the post office will validate the details and ensure the shipping service redirects it to the correct facility. This will reduce the possibility of misdelivery and return.
How Can You Benefit From Omniva Address Validation?
Enhances Delivery Accuracy
A small mistake in the postal code can lead to the package getting routed incorrectly, leading to delays or misdelivery. The Omniva ZIP code lookup tool provides verified postal codes by checking the official database. This will ensure that the carrier ships the parcel to the correct location.
Ensure Completeness
This tool will provide all the necessary components per the national postal standards. After you enter any address elements, it will provide street, district, city, county, and postal code. This completeness will prevent failed deliveries or returned mail. Moreover, comprehensive details are essential for formal documentation, contracts, and government correspondence. This makes it a reliable tool for ensuring address accuracy.
Logistic Planning Support
It provides valuable insights into the delivery zones. Knowing which address falls under a specific zone allows you to plan routes efficiently. By grouping your areas by ZIP code, you can reduce travel distance, lower fuel costs, and shorten the delivery time. This will improve operational efficiency and productivity. Moreover, when customers get their products on time at the correct location without any back and forth, they will be satisfied and continue doing business with you.
Up-to-Date Database
The official address system, ADS, is updated regularly in real-time. Municipalities and legal authorities must update new addresses and any changes and deletions as they occur. It reflects any new street name, renamed areas, or changes in administrative division. Since Omniva cross-references the entered data with this system, you can ensure you will only get up-to-date postal codes and other information.
What Does Omniva Address Validation Lack?
Does Not Offer Complete Address Validation
Upon entering specific information, the tool will provide details up to the street name. However, except for the ZIP code, it does not indicate whether the location is accurate, verified, and deliverable. This increases the chances that the incorrect addresses will go unnoticed.
Businesses rely on precise details for accurate delivery. Without it, the parcel might get sent to a nonexistent or wrong location, leading to delays and additional costs for returns or redelivery. Not receiving the product on time will also frustrate the customers, leading to a loss of trust.
500No Application Programming Interface (API)
A lack of API will force the businesses to verify the addresses manually. It can be time-consuming, error-prone, and not scalable. This can be disadvantageous when handling a large volume of customer orders. It will increase the risk of inaccurate details slipping through. Moreover, doing the process manually will slow down the workflow in ecommerce, such as customer onboarding and logistic operations, leading to delivery delays.
Lack of API integration also means your business cannot add real-time address validation to the website or check-out forms. You won’t be able to provide immediate feedback or corrections to addresses entered by the customer. This leaves significant room for failed deliveries and returns.
Does Not Allow Bulk Address Validation
Businesses typically have an extensive customer database and must verify it for shipping, marketing, or compliance purposes. This is why you need a solution that supports bulk validation. However, you cannot do this with the Omniva ZIP code lookup tool. Your team will have to verify one address at a time. It will take up a lot of time, require labor allocation, and be unsustainable for businesses handling large volumes of data. It will also slow down order fulfillment, delay deliveries, and frustrate customers.
Limited to Estonia
You cannot check the validity of ZIP codes beyond Estonia. This can be restrictive for businesses serving an international customer base. The postal code structure and address format vary according to the country’s standards. When you cannot verify an international address, you may enter incomplete, incorrect, or improperly formatted details. This will increase the chances of misdelivery or returned parcels, thus increasing shipping costs.
Without an international validation system in place, you will have to verify the foreign address manually. This will waste time and leave room for errors. This will also increase the labor cost and slow down order processing.
Does Not Offer Autocomplete Recommendations
Long checkout processes lead to customers abandoning their carts. One reason contributing to this is that they have to enter every detail in the address fields. Moreover, not every customer will remember every aspect. They might enter the wrong postal code or building number, leading to failed deliveries.
An address validation system offering autocomplete suggestions can be useful here. It will reduce the time and effort required to enter information. Moreover, validated recommendations will ensure there are no errors. However, the Omniva ZIP code lookup tool does not provide this feature, increasing customer frustration and increasing the likelihood that they will not complete the purchase.
Does Not Provide Geocodes
To ensure accurate deliveries, you need a precise location on the map. This is why you should know the coordinates of your customer’s location. Since Omniva does not provide these details, solely relying on postal addresses might lead to failed deliveries, especially in areas where places might share the same name.
Without geocodes, you might be unable to segment the audience and offer hyperlocal services. This will prevent you from executing targeted strategies, which can boost sales and engagement. Additionally, specific industries like insurance and banks need geocodes to evaluate critical details like risk assessments. Without this, they might incorrectly calculate premiums and make underwriting errors.
Does Not Offer Delivery Point Validation (DPV)
An address validation system should tell whether the components, like the apartment or floor number, are deliverable. This ensures the carrier gives the package to the correct recipient on the first attempt. However, Omniva does not have this feature. You only have details up to the street address. With unverified premise-level information, you might ship to an incorrect or invalid address. The package will be undelivered, returned, or lost. With each failed attempt, you must incur additional costs, such as address correction, re-shipping, etc.
No Residential Delivery Indicator (RDI)
The type of address can impact the shipping charges. However, Omniva does not tell whether the entered address is residential or commercial. Without RDI, you cannot estimate the shipping cost. Residential deliveries are typically expensive due to extra handling or longer driveways. If you assume the address is commercial, you might have to pay an unexpected surcharge from carriers.
It might also affect the delivery timings. It is advised to send the package to a commercial address during business hours. For residential areas, you must deliver mail on weekends or in the evening of the weekdays. When dispatchers can’t differentiate between the address types, it might lead to missed windows and failed attempts.
Does Not Ensure Compliance
Businesses in industries like healthcare, finance, insurance, and ecommerce are legally obliged to safeguard customer’s information. A tool that does not comply with industry standards like HIPAA, PIPEDA, or SOC-2 will make the data vulnerable to breach, theft, or misuse.
What Makes PostGrid Address Verification the Right Alternative?
| Factors | PostGrid Address Verification | Omniva Address Validation |
| Main Focus | It offers real-time verification, validation, standardization, and autocomplete recommendations. | It only validates the ZIP codes. |
| Modes of Usage | You can use it in three ways:
Integrate the API into your CRM or sales tool. Install the software on your system. Check details directly from the website. |
You must visit the website whenever you want to verify the ZIP code. |
| Global Address Verification | It can verify and correct addresses for over 245 countries and territories | It only checks the ZIP codes of Estonian addresses. |
| Batch Processing | You can check over 1 million addresses by uploading a file. | You can only check the postal code of one address at a time. |
| DPV | It will tell you the exact delivery point, whether an apartment or flat, can receive the mail. | It only provides details of the street name but does not validate it. |
| RDI | You can determine whether the area is residential or commercial. | It does not offer this feature. |
| Autocomplete Suggestions | It provides real-time, geolocation-based autocomplete recommendations. | You have to enter every detail manually. |
| Match Score | It tells how closely the entered details are correct after checking them against the official postal standards. | Although certain address elements match the official database, unless the address is correct, it will display “couldn’t do anything.” |
| Latitudinal and Longitudinal Details | It offers reverse and rooftop coordinates to provide precise locations for accurate delivery. | It does not offer metadata like geocodes. |
Choose PostGrid for Highly-Detailed Address Verification
A tool that only validates ZIP codes will likely result in misdeliveries and increased operational costs. This is why you should choose PostGrid Address Verification. It will verify the address elements down to the floor and apartment number. Moreover, it will format the details per the respective country’s format and provide autocomplete suggestions to enhance delivery accuracy. To see us in action, request a demo now.
