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Validation and standardization

CDP applies the following standardization on data:

Postal address validation and standardization

This data processing is done through a third-party component called Melissa Data.

Currently, the following countries are supported:

  • US
  • CA
  • UK
  • TR

Melissa Data validation for US addresses

Melissa Data ingests the following information from the Address feed shared by customers:

  • Address1
  • Address2
  • Zip
  • City
  • State
  • CountryCode

It standardizes the data, processes the data against the USPS database, and provides the following information:

  • If the CountryCode is not provided, CDP defaults to US and tries to standardize and validate accordingly.
  • If the provided CountryCode is invalid, CDP does not validate the address and returns the result as invalid.
  • If the CountryCode is valid but not supported, CDP does not validate the country. CDP sends the data through as it is.
  • If Melissa Data is unable to validate the combination of Address1, Zip, City, State, and Country, it tries to revalidate the address by using the combination of Address2, Zip, City, State, and Country. This is called field shuffling or swapping. If the updated combination is validated, Melissa Data returns the address as Address2, Address1, Zip, City, State, and Country in the same order. Therefore, CDP swaps Address1 and Address2 in DW.
  • Certified: This field indicates whether the address is CASS certified. CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) specifies that the street exists and the street number falls in the range of street numbers on that street. It does not necessarily mean that this is a deliverable address, but the address meets the standards and can be standardized by the USPS software. In addition, if you provide CASS certification to USPS, you are eligible for postage discounts. However, note that a few CASS-certified addresses can be undeliverable.
  • DPVConfirm: This field indicates whether the street exists or the street number falls in the range of street numbers on that street. It also indicates whether this is an actual stop for the postal carrier. As USPS verified the postal carrier’s stop at the location, DPV (Delivery Point Verified) increases the odds of the mail getting delivered. However, note that if an address is not DPVConfirm, it does not mean that the address is not deliverable. For example, an address can be a non DPVConfirm because it does not include an apartment number, or the apartment number on the address cannot be verified by USPS. Mailers mail these records assuming that the postal carrier knows how to deliver the mail to the person in the apartment building.
  • For a given address, the combination of Certified and DPVConfirm ensures the best deliverability for the client’s campaigns. However, note that a few such certified addresses might be undeliverable. Alternatively, a few non-certified addresses might be deliverable, as the USPS certification system does not cover all cases.
  • ZipExt or ZIP+4: This field is applicable to the US addresses only. This is a precise version of the zipcode, which ensures easier delivery route planning and reduced mailing cost. This is returned only when DPVConfirm for the address is true.

Melissa Data validation for UK addresses

The processing is identical for every tenant. However, Melissa Global Data for UK addresses can be used only in the EU data center. CDP uses the same process for validating UK addresses as is used to validate US and CA addresses. This is done by populating Certified and DPVConfirm attributes in UDM with their UK equivalent.

Melissa Data validation for TR addresses

The processing is identical for every tenant. However, Melissa Global Data for TR addresses can be used only in the EU data center. CDP uses the same process for validating TR addresses as is used to validate US and CA addresses. This is done by populating Certified and DPVConfirm attributes in UDM with their TR equivalent.

Email address validation and standardization

This data processing is done through a third-party component called Melissa Data.

To process email addresses through this component, email addresses must have valid syntaxes with known domains. Additionally, email addresses must not be in the list of known spam-traps.

After processing the data, Melissa Data returns:

  • The following values or email statuses in UDM+:

    • V: Indicates that the email address is verified. The syntax is valid, and DatabaseLookup or MXLookup confirmed the validity of the domain name of the submitted email address.
    • U: Indicates that the email address is not verified. The syntax is valid, but DatabaseLookup did not confirm the validity of the domain name of the submitted email address. However, the domain is not found in the list of invalid domain names.
    • X: Indicates that the email address is incorrect. The syntax is invalid. For example:
      • The address does not contain @, domain, or mailbox.
      • The address belongs to a known spam-trap.
      • MXLookup did not locate the domain name of the submitted email address.
      • The list of invalid domains contains the domain name.
    • NULL: No email was sent to Melissa Data.

  • Email addresses that contain obvious typos and forbidden characters are sometimes cleaned up. For example, sue.gore.@leeaudio.net is corrected as sue.gore@leeaudio.net. Additional examples:

    Input Output Email Status
    erisa85d@hotmail.com erisa85d@hotmail.com V
    erisa85d@homtail.com erisa85d@homtail.com U
    erisa85d@@hotmail.com erisa85d@hotmail.com V
    erisa85d@whatever.com erisa85d@whatever.com X
    erisa85d@hotmailcom erisa85d@hotmail.com V
    erisa85d@hotmail.co erisa85d@hotmail.co U

CDP analyzes your most occurring values and ignores dummy values such as none@none.com. While surveying your data, CDP might come across a few high occurring values with a valid format. The values might be linked to marketing tests, resellers, or bulk buyers. In such cases, Acquia works with you to confirm the proper course of action based on what suits your business needs.

Phone number validation and standardization

This data processing is done through a third-party component called Melissa Data.

Important

This feature is available only for the US and Canada. CDP cannot check the actual country of the customer. You must use this feature only for the US and Canada phone numbers. However, if you use this feature for non-US numbers, international formats and numbers are not corrected properly.

  • Validation: When validation is enabled, it returns the following in the <phonecolumnname>validity UDM column:

    • V for valid numbers
    • X for invalid numbers

    The validation process provides the following results:

    • The primaryphone, secondaryphone, and mobilephone are formatted.
    • The primaryphone, secondaryphone, and mobilephone use the default input number if invalid (unformatted).
    • The primaryphonevalidity, secondaryphonevalidity, and mobilephonevalidity are populated with V if valid and X if invalid.

  • Standardization occurs only when the phone number is considered valid. Standardization:

    • Separates the area code, whenever applicable
    • Splits the prefix, suffix, and extensions, whenever applicable

CDP analyzes your most occurring values and ignores dummy values such as 0000000000. While surveying your data, CDP might come across a few high occurring values with a valid format. The values might be linked to marketing tests, resellers, or bulk buyers. In such cases, Acquia works with you to confirm the proper course of action based on what suits your business needs.

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