Address Look Ups

Question

I am working on an E-commerce app with an address book. I have observed several different patterns for entering a new address. Some simply use the postcode, then return a list of addresses. Some are more advanced, in the search field it may say 'enter a new address' and the user can type freely street name, postcode and results are returned. I was wondering whether there was any research on which of these types of address lookups perform better? Which is easier for the user? Are there any scenarios where one approach would be preferred over the other?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Answer 1

It depends on the requirement, I'd say. Since delivery is an integral part of an eCommerce, a detailed address is needed in that case. If the application is so local that just the house name and road name are only important, go for that only. It totally depends on how deep and fragmented the information is needed by the operation team. Because in the end, the product has to be delivered to the buyer and by that it creates a good experience for the user/buyer.

Giving freedom to the user just to input in 'enter a new address' can be misused, and you don't know beforehand which user is going to input what. I wouldn't bother myself with that and make things complicated uselessly. Take a very specific requirement about the address and put it there in that way. that'd be a better strategy.