Best Practices for Building an Online Address Form

If you manage a website, chances are that you use an online address form. There are many kinds of address forms used for lead generation, bookings, questionnaires, payments and more, and they all serve one purpose: capturing accurate address details.

A wrong or difficult form can cost you potential customers, additional resources, time and even money. Address autocomplete can enhance the usability of your web form and ensure the accuracy of the data you gather.

Address Form Design

User-Friendly Layout and Address Labels

A user-friendly layout is crucial for an address form as it directly impacts the user experience. A well designed form with a clear and intuitive layout helps users navigate through the address input process effortlessly. Use consistent formatting and align fields logically to make it easy for users to understand and complete the form. Keep in mind that “Address Line One” and such labels can be confusing for users, so use descriptive labels like "street address" to indicate the specific information you require them to fill out. With address lookup, users simply enter their details in a single field, while the remaining address fields autofill when an address is selected.

Mandatory vs. Optional Fields

Properly labeling each field can prevent any confusion or errors. Clearly indicate which fields are mandatory and which ones are optional. For example, marking the ZIP code as a required field while leaving the "county" field optional can help users understand what information is necessary for successful delivery.

Accessibility Considerations

Address forms should be accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. Follow best practices for web accessibility, such as providing clear labels and instructions for screen readers, using sufficient color contrast, and ensuring keyboard navigation compatibility. Accessibility not only improves the user experience but also helps you reach a wider audience and comply with legal requirements.

Internationalization

If your business operates globally or serves customers from different regions, address form design should accommodate international addresses. Consider allowing users to select their country or region from a dropdown menu and adjust the form fields accordingly.

Address validation can automatically recognize the country as the user types, making the process much faster.

Manual entry

If address lookup does not yield any relevant matches or suggestions, provide the option to allow users to manually enter their required address information. Some users also prefer to enter their details themselves, so it’s best to cater to both.

Build Your Form with Address Lookup

Integrating address verification to your web form is the best solution to verify the accuracy of user-entered addresses. Address Lookup assists users in seamlessly completing the form. It suggests accurate and valid addresses in real-time as a user types, as well as corrects any misspellings. Save your business time, improve data accuracy, and enhance your users experience.

Sign up for free and implement address validation to popular eCommerce platforms, CRMs and form builders. Follow our address lookup api documentation to get started.