By Barley Laing, the UK Managing Director at Melissa In an age where the price and quality of products is so similar its becoming much harder for retailers to standout. One area where they can steal a march on their competition is in the delivery of fast and accurate fulfilment. This is backed up by research from Ipsos which reveals that 85 per cent of online shoppers said a poor delivery experience would prevent them from ordering from that retailer again. In the current period of economic instability and continuing uncertainty over global tariffs, providing quick, accurate fulfilment globally is critical for those serious about growth. There are three ways to effectively deliver this:

1. Collect and maintain accurate customer address data

When all contact data on customer databases decays or changes at around 25 per cent a year as people move home, divorce and pass away, ensure addresses, along with other customer contact details, are correct. To obtain accurate address data a good place to begin is by using address lookup or autocomplete tools. These services deliver correct address data in real-time by providing an appropriately formatted, correct address when the user starts to input theirs. This approach also reduces the number of keystrokes required by up to 81 per cent when typing an address, speeding up the onboarding process. It improves the whole experience, increasing the likelihood that the user will complete a purchase. Also, very similar tools can correctly collect email addresses, telephone numbers and names at the first point of contact. Verified and therefore usable multiple contact channels can be critical in forging long term loyalty from customers, and are a great way to inform them of new offers while keeping them engaged with your brand. Retailers can also carry out data cleansing or suppression activity to highlight those who have moved or are no longer at the address on file. Along with removing incorrect addresses these services can deliver deceased flagging to prevent the delivery of mail and other communications to those who have passed away. This is important because not only does mailing to those who have passed away have a monetary cost, but it negatively impacts on reputation by causing potential anguish to friends and relatives of the deceased.