The best usability for accepting an address from a user

Question

Let us assume that there is no feature for an autocomplete, and that lookup's based on a zip code are not possible.

The usual UI for an address block is usually:

1. Apartment, house number
2. Building name, community name
3. Street address
4. Area
5. City
6. State
7. Zip code
8. Country

Also, let's assume that Area, City, State and Country are all dropdowns - because, well we dont want a user making a mistake in typing any one of these as it can mess up filtering on the backend.

What we also ideally want, is that when a user selects a Country, it should auto-populate State, and on selection of a State, it should autoload the City and so on till Area.

Now, isn't it a better idea to reverse the order of asking the user to enter their address? Such as :

1. Country
2. State
3. City
4. Area
5. ... the rest ...

Would this order not serve as a better UX, considering that in the prior design (especially on a mobile device) a user may actually have to scroll up to select items from a dropdown should they change their Country?

Thoughts?

Answer 1

In well-designed apps, the process typically is as you've described, simply because it's evident that the sequence should follow the pattern you've pointed out.

Now, the methods to achieve this can differ and not depend on the order. Some forms might use Geo IP detection to auto-populate information, while others might prompt users during the onboarding phase, or at the beginning of a checkout flow or they may initiate with a phone number. Regardless, you're right in your observation, and this approach is quite common on any well designed form.