Introducing Dojah Address Verification API — the new way to verify addresses in real-time
Businesses need to capture, store, and analyze consumer data regularly. Collecting data allows them to improve customer experience, understand day-to-day operations, make informed business decisions and learn about their customers.
One of such data is the customer’s address or location. Obtaining information about where a customer lives is critical for businesses in industries like Logistics, Lending, Banking, as well as Domestic Employers. However, these businesses are also responsible for verifying that the provided address is accurate and can be contextualized enough to provide needed insights.
Address verification is an added layer of security in the identity verification process, aiding KYC compliance and protection against fraud.
The Shortcomings of Manual Address Verification
Today, most businesses are limited to using manual address verification processes.
Firstly, manual address data capture is problematic. Manually capturing addresses through documents such as utility bills (water, waste, DStv, etc.), tax assessments, bank statements, government-issued, and other documents issued by a reliable authority (land use charge receipts, tenancy agreement) is a hectic experience for customers. Having to look for these documents, scan them, and then wait for acceptance or rejection is a process anyone would rather not go through.
Multiple customer applications also mean many documents for the business, which then become cumbersome to process and store. The more documents there are, the higher the chances of misplacing them, damaging or having them fall in the wrong hands.
In other cases, businesses use digital platforms that require the user to input an address via a form. Although digital, this process is still inefficient since users are likely to submit addresses with typographical errors or input invalid address data.
Secondly, the inefficiencies of manual verification also pose huge costs for business operations. For example, as part of the account opening process, banks require customers to provide their address for Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance and to prevent fraudulent activities. To verify the address, banks send agents to the physical location to make a confirmation, which costs money, time, and tons of manpower. With this method, there is yet a high chance of human error coming into play.
It is impossible for global-minded businesses to scale operations locally and globally with this current process. An advanced system that leverages technology to deliver the most complete and accurate address verification in Nigeria is necessary.
So We Built the Address Verification API
To solve the pressing need for reliable and efficient address verification, Dojah has developed a smart API that helps businesses confirm that the address data collected is accurate, valid, and verifiable.
We built the Address Verification API to fix the shortcomings of the manual verification process. By replacing utility bills and physical checks, we make it easy for businesses to verify their customers’ addresses in real-time.
Here’s How it Works
Dojah’s Address Verification API is powered by predictive text and auto-complete technology to remove friction from the form-filling experience and increase the likelihood of completion. This technology suggests possible address matches as your customer types, so they can quickly select their address from a pre-populated list. Allowing this predictive text input ensures the address provided is void of typographical errors and you would always capture only valid addresses.
This means, the customer only selects a real address at all times; giving no room for typographical errors or invalid data. As a business, you can eliminate the time spent on manually correcting address errors and reduce the costs associated with future data correction by easily confirming:
- The validity and existence of every inputted address.
- The geocoding information, such as the latitude and longitude of an address.
- That the address is formatted correctly, with standardization capacities.
Business growth is possible when you trust your customers and employees; more so when the process of establishing trust does not stand in the way of successful onboarding or accessing your product and services. Making it easier for prospects to enter address data results in faster sign up completion, more sales leads, better customer engagement and fewer drop-offs on your site.
Beyond data capture, the Address Verification API allows you to digitally verify a customer’s address and keep track of the verification status continuously over a period of time. No physical visits are required, don’t make unnecessary phone calls or intrude on your customer’s privacy. Businesses are able to check that the customer is within range of the captured address as often as they want and receive a percentage score indicating the accuracy of the address match per time.
The Dojah Address Verification API meets the compliance guidelines set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and leverages multiple data points.
How Dojah Address Verification API Can Help Your Business Grow
For Banks and Fintechs
Speed up compliance and totally eliminate the cost and time required to execute physical address verification with agents. Now, you can verify your customer’s address through their smartphone — unlock customer satisfaction and fraud reduction at scale.
Collecting accurate data is crucial for businesses in the financial industry, by only accepting legitimate addresses, you’ll be able to identify fraudulent activity before the transaction goes through.
For eCommerce
Optimize checkout experience and increase conversion rates by simply reducing the time it takes to provide an address during checkout. You can also deliver to your customers’ doorstep with 100% accuracy so your dispatch riders will not get lost or make unending phone calls.
Lending
Lending companies can optimise their loan recovery process and accurately track defaulters with a valid customer address. Valid address capture also makes it easier to establish trust between lending businesses and their customers.
Transportation and Logistics
Address verification during onboarding helps logistics and ride-hailing companies spot and track drivers to prevent fraudulent or criminal intentions. Logistics companies can also utilize Dojah’s real-time address verification to ensure that items reach the right address every time, mitigating shipping frauds while allowing customers easily select the preferred delivery address without any errors.
Domestic Employers
Beyond corporate employers, individuals who need to verify the address and personal details of their domestic staff — drivers, cooks, nannies, etc — can do so easily.
Seamless Integration for Product Teams
Our address verification easily integrates into any third-party platform or service with our JavaScript library as well as Plug-and-play SDKs for Flutter and React Native API integration. You can also take the API-driven approach and build directly with the address verification API. Regardless of your workflow, you have complete control over how you integrate our API.
Questions
- Why not just use services like Goggle Maps?
Digital mapping with services Google Maps is still problematic in Nigeria. Google Maps relies on a Country’s national databases of addresses for accuracy. In a market like Nigeria, where there is no proper addressing system, Google Maps is much less reliable.
2. How does your solution ensure accuracy?
Our system continuously monitors and evaluates the given address and provides you with updates every 24 hours. Performing this check over a period of time ensures a high level of accuracy. The address update frequency can be customized to fit your preference.
How Do I Start Using The Address Verification API?
The Dojah Address Verification API is only available to limited clients, you can request access to the APIs by sending a mail to us at sales@dojah.io
Have other questions about Dojah, please send us an email at info@dojah.io — we’ll love to hear from you.
