Addressing the order or package is important to ensure that it ends up at the doorstep of the right customer. Properly addressed packages reduce confusion and make it easy for the courier service to deliver at the right place.
If the address isn’t written the right way or has information missing, this can impact the delivery time, making the customer wait longer than what they were informed, ultimately leaving them disappointed. This can then translate to your business getting low star ratings and negative reviews.
So let’s try and weed out the problem from the root.
How to address a package the right way
1. Include sufficient space in your checkout forms for filing address
Customers often limit writing down the full info just because the form doesn’t allow them or provide them to enter their full-form address. If the address is right to the very street and building, the delivery executives will have no difficulty figuring out the right place to deliver.
Thus, while designing the address column on your website, make sure you prompt the customer to add every minute details of their address, including a backup phone number if the primary one doesn’t work.
2. Double check the address while registering it at the courier office
While you take down the address you have received, double check it to ensure that you have included everything that’s needed and that no word is misspelt. Additionally, ensure it's a valid address before handing it over to the courier service.
If there are two places with identical names, you could avoid the confusion by including a drop-down in your address filling form and distinguishing it with the help of landmarks. Doing this at an earlier stage ensures that the customer is able to fill out the form confidently and, moreover, the package won’t be delivered late.
3. Label the delivery address on the wide or longest side of the parcel
If your parcel is in the form of a cuboid, paste the consignee’s address onto the longest side of the box and not on a corner.
Print the address on a sufficiently big piece of paper or write it down in non-cursive, block letter format to make it easier for the executives to read it.
Also, while printing the address, use only black-colored, easily readable, block fonts and print it over white paper. While writing it down, use a non-spreadable, black-colored ink, preferably a non-white board, permanent marker.
4. Write the address down in a particular order
Even when you have all the components to the consignee’s address, you might mess it up by writing it in the wrong order. Here’s how you should write it:
Start by writing the consignee’s name at the top. The agency/courier service will have their number. So when they call, they can confirm if the person answering the call is the consignee or someone closely related to them.
Write the full name, and don’t omit any part of the name. If the customer has provided four names, write it all down.
Next comes the suite/flat number or the name of the villa. Following it should be the street address or the name of the locality, including any particular landmark that the customer has mentioned.
At times, you might come across the customers mentioning the coordinates using numbers or by denoting N (North), S (south), W (West), E (east), NW (North-West), etc., make sure you don’t omit those. It would be highly helpful for the delivery guy to pinpoint the address correctly.
Next comes the zip code and the city name, followed by the country name.
Final Thoughts
Well, that’s how to address a package correctly so that it gets delivered to the right customer in the mentioned time frame. The same applies to return packages; only in this case, you will have to request the customer to write your company’s warehouse address in the right way. You could even send them the slip to be printed. This will make their as well as the courier service’s work easy.
