AFD’s address lookup solution allows you to search and validate UK and International address data. Our flexible postcode lookup API and range of plugins makes it easy to add address validation to your websites, apps, front-end and back-end systems.
Using the address search field below, enter your postcode or start typing an address to see results returned.
Business Benefits
Address validation saves time and money. It is the backbone of excellent service, customer retention, prevention of duplicates, data analysis, enhanced reputation and more profitable business performance.
The Postcode People at AFD help deliver the best possible address search solutions for your company to help ensure:
Speed
Typing addresses is slow. AFD’s address lookup solution makes data entry lightning fast.
Accuracy
Many UK addresses are ‘odd’, complicated and not as expected – manual mistakes are easy. Our address verification solutions eliminate errors by providing letterbox-level accuracy based on the very best data sources including Royal Mail PAF® and Ordnance Survey (OS) AddressBase Core®.
AFD’s solution was initially used as a desktop service for telephone orders. As the focus switched to online so did our requirement from AFD. UK and International address validation are both deployed on the website to ensure speed and accuracy during the customer’s buying journey, regardless of where they need the product delivered.
Project Manager of Platform Operations at Pro:Direct Sport
AFD’s address validation API can be flexibly deployed in a host of environments, installed, or hosted.
Plug-ins for popular platforms such as Magento, Shopify, Salesforce, D365 and AFD Robot provide a range of developer-free integrations via our address lookup API.
Visit our Developer Area using the button below to find out more.
AFD’s address lookup and postcode lookup solutions can validate address data from over 250 countries.
In addition to fast, accurate address entry and address search, our solutions can return a whole host of other datasets.
See some of the options below:
UK and International address validation API for over 250 countries helps organisations trading globally to lookup and validate addresses worldwide. More information can be found here.
Almost all 2.2 million UK organisation data records are complete with telephone numbers, the actual or imputed employee size, turnover banding, and user-friendly business classification and Standard Industry Classification (SIC) code.
More information can be found here.
The 37.6 million UK residential name and address records include length of residency and geodemographic classification. Over 11.9 million of the records have a telephone number.
More information can be found here.
Once an address has been selected using AFD’s address validation API, property level latitude and longitude data can be returned to show the exact location on a map. This location can then be edited by simply dragging the “pin” on your chosen mapping software if a delivery needs to not be at the front door or the address has multiple buildings.
See more information here.
Our geolocation API functionality removes the need for manual address data entry. If enabled, by using the GPS in your customer’s mobile device or computer, our solution instantly returns the full PAF matched address of the current location, in the correct format with pinpoint accuracy and lightning fast speed.
Nearest functionality allows a customer to enter their postcode, click a button and be given the branch name and address closest to the address provided with an accurate travel time or distance.
AFD’s address lookup and postcode API solutions also contain location and property characteristic data for over 31 million unique properties in the UK. Every record has unique identifiers in the form of a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) from Ordnance Survey (OS) and a Unique Delivery Point Reference Number (UDPRN) from Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File (PAF). In addition, all addresses have a property classification, e.g. Residential or Business, to help organisations better understand their customers’ property data and help plan for more efficient deliveries.
Each residential postcode on your database can be appended with a Censation code (there are 52 different codes) which will indicate the typical relative affluence, life-stage and lifestyle of those who live there. It’s a simple to use but effective Geodemographic Classification System and with it, you can understand more about the ‘profile’ of your best customers – and then look for more of them. That way, resources are more wisely directed to prospects which match the right profile – cutting waste and improving the probability of success.
Adding the what3words functionality to AFD’s address lookup solution helps organisations improve customer address data capture during the checkout process on e-commerce websites. Logistics companies benefit by having an extra layer of data to get their drivers to the exact delivery location which isn’t always the property.
What is the most widely-recognised and used source and reference point for UK addresses?
Simple, the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF), which can be accessed via AFD’s postcode lookup API Royal Mail data.
AFD’s solutions contain address, location and property characteristic data from Ordnance Survey (OS) for 33 million unique properties in Great Britain.
AFD provides latitude and longitude coordinates at property level, showing a pinpoint location of an address on your chosen mapping tool.
Every single one of the 2.2 million letterbox addresses in Ireland has its own unique Eircode. The Eircode has now been appended to government data where 47 million different versions of Irish addresses have each been resolved and appended with the correct Eircode.
Shared premises create challenges for many organisations. Royal Mail’s Multiple Residence file identifies and verifies premises where multiple households share a letterbox, and provides a detailed address structure for these properties.
The Not Yet Built (NYB) file contains addresses for properties either under construction or just completed. Imagine preparing to move into a new build property but not being able to order goods and services for your new home as its address does not appear.
POLAR stands for Participation of Local Areas. Developed by the Office for Students (OfS), the POLAR classification groups areas across the UK based on the proportion of the young population that participates in higher education.
Censation is the most widely distributed UK Geodemographic Classification system. It is worth over £4,000 per annum and is free at the point of use for all customers who use AFD address management Solutions.
The British Armed Forces and their families living on base have special addresses, called BFPO Numbers, used for delivery of mail. Both regular letters and parcels can be delivered to any BFPO address regardless of if they are sent via the normal (Royal Mail) post or most couriers.
AFD’s occupancy indicator helps identify business/residential or mixed occupancy at postcode and property level. This can be useful to couriers or distributors who wish to set delivery priorities or set pricing according to the type of area.
Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (“NUTS” (sic)), since updated for the UK with ITL (International Territorial Levels), is a geographical system, divided into one of four levels based on geographical size.
Accurate phone number data allows your organisation to maintain contact and relationships with customers. If the phone numbers in your database have errors, communications will fail.
GDPR Compliant
AFD’s GDPR-compliant phone verification solution validates UK landline, UK mobile and International telephone numbers to ensure the number entered is formatted correctly and has the right number of digits.
Full Confidence
In addition to checking the format and number of digits, AFD’s phone validation also checks the number is “live”, giving you full confidence in the accuracy of your phone number data.
When contacting students, we found multiple instances where the email addresses and phone numbers provided were wrong. Each student studying at the college provides us with £5,000 per annum of vital funding, whilst students over 18 provide £2,000. Preventing one or two students from slipping through the net, because they would otherwise miss a key communication and fail to enrol, more than covers the cost of email verification and phone verification from AFD.
Systems Development Manager at South & City College Birmingham
Using the form below, verify phone number data by entering a landline or mobile number and our service will confirm if it’s a valid phone number, or if it’s invalid.
AFD’s phone validation API can be flexibly deployed in a host of environments.
Plug-ins for popular platforms such as Magento, Shopify, Salesforce, D365 and AFD Robot provide a range of developer-free integrations.
Visit our Developer Area using the button below to find out more about our phone verification API.
A simple mistake in typing an email address makes it impossible for an email to reach the right recipient. For a business or service-based organisation, this can be costly to both revenue and reputation.
Accuracy
At AFD Software, we make it easy for you to check email addresses are live wherever they are entered, by staff or customers, using a 3-point email check system.
Bounce back
Our powerful and unique email verification service via our email verify API can return suggestions and additional insight to help inform why the email hasn’t passed the email validation check.
When contacting students, we found multiple instances where the email addresses and phone numbers provided were wrong. Each student studying at the college provides us with £5,000 per annum of vital funding, whilst students over 18 provide £2,000. Preventing one or two students from slipping through the net, because they would otherwise miss a key communication and fail to enrol, more than covers the cost of email validation and phone validation from AFD.
Systems Development Manager at South & City College Birmingham
Email validation from AFD Software uses a 3-point check system to confirm email address are valid and “live”:
1. Syntax – There are certain characters such ‘?’ and ‘#’ that are disallowed. Of course the ‘@’ is essential!
2. Domain – The domain means the name of the website or service provider. For example @gmail.com, hotmail.com and yahoo.co.uk are commonly used domain names. So are @asda.com @natwest.com, @ibm.com – and of course @afd.co.uk!
3. Local Part – Local Part. This is the mailbox name – usually the name of the recipient (e.g. john.smith@gmail.com) or a department (e.g. accounts@afd.co.uk)
Try AFD’s email verification API using the form below to confirm if a valid email has been entered. You will also see a detailed response indicating if the email is likely to be a throwaway email, dummy, or spam – in some cases we can even correct spelling mistakes.
AFD’s email validation API can be flexibly deployed in a host of environments, documentation can be found here.
Plug-ins for popular platforms and languages such as Magento, Shopify, Salesforce, D365, AFD Robot, jQuery, React, and Angular provide a range of developer-free integrations.
Visit our Developer Area using the button below to find out more about our email validator API.
Maintaining a clean, duplicate-free customer, supporter, member or prospect address database underpins the foundations of effective marketing, high-quality customer service and punctual delivery. This helps ensure communication, protects your company’s reputation, complies with GDPR, and supports sound financial management.
Speed
Capable of processing millions of records per hour, AFD’s database cleansing solutions clean, de-duplicate, re-format and geo-code address data.
Accuracy
Our address verification solutions eliminate errors by providing letterbox-level accuracy based on the very best data sources, including Royal Mail PAF® and Ordnance Survey (OS) AddressBase Core®.
We receive client-supplied data for a mailing and their request is typically to use the data as it is. AFD’s data cleansing solutions allow us to quickly identify errors and highlight to our clients (with examples) why cleansing the addresses is essential. Last year we sent 12 million pieces of mail with complete confidence. AFD delivers exactly what we expect it to - we put poor data in and get good data out. I would recommend The Postcode People at AFD Software as the best possible address and data quality partners for any organisation wanting to improve their address validation and cleansing processes.
Head of Data and Mailing, Lonsdale Direct Solutions
AFD’s database cleansing solutions can be flexibly deployed in a host of environments.
Visit our Developer Area using the button below to find out more.
AFD’s database cleansing solutions clean, deduplicate and reformat address lists.
In addition, our solutions can append a whole host of other datasets. See some of the options below:
AFD’s database cleansing solutions help hundreds of organisations get address databases right – and keep them that way. Your organisation can develop clean, reliable, consistent databases, identify potential duplicates and add extra data in a single automated batch process.
AFD’s database cleansing solutions also contain location and property characteristic data for over 31 million unique properties in the UK. Every record has unique identifiers in the form of a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) from Ordnance Survey (OS) and a Unique Delivery Point Reference Number (UDPRN) from Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File (PAF). In addition, all addresses have a property classification, e.g. Residential or Business, to help organisations better understand their customers’ property data and help plan for more efficient deliveries.
Each residential postcode on your database can be appended with a Censation code (there are 52 different codes) which will indicate the typical relative affluence, life-stage and lifestyle of those who live there. It’s a simple to use but effective Geodemographic Classification System and with it, you can understand more about the ‘profile’ of your best customers – and then look for more of them. That way, resources are more wisely directed to prospects which match the right profile – cutting waste and improving the probability of success.
Update or remove out of date and incorrect contact data records from your database that have degraded over time.
People move and people pass away. Using suppression datasets you can access new addresses, highlight if someone has moved out, or flag if someone has deceased.
AFD’s solution allows your organisation to append property level geocoordinates (Latitude and Longitude to 7 decimal places, Grid Eastings and Northings) to address data to better understand its physical location, helping visualise data and better understand how to reach delivery points.
AFD MailSaver helps organisations make major savings by sorting mailing data.
MailSaver’s step-by-step process sorts, reports and prints all that’s necessary for Royal Mail Bulk Mail Services. MailSaver has been fully tested by the Royal Mail to ensure it meets stringent requirements.
Phone and Email data can now be validated – in bulk. Is the mobile or landline number valid or not? Is the email address valid? Refiner will get results – LIVE. This helps by confirming accurate data and flagging data that needs to be re-checked – which is a real support toward accuracy and currency of personal data – core to GDPR compliance.
What is the most widely-recognised and used source and reference point for UK addresses?
Simple, the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF), which is a core part of all AFD Software name and address validation solutions.
AFD’s solutions contain address, location and property characteristic data from Ordnance Survey (OS) for 33 million unique properties in Great Britain.
AFD provides latitude and longitude coordinates at property level, showing a pinpoint location of an address on your chosen mapping tool.
Every single one of the 2.2 million letterbox addresses in Ireland has its own unique Eircode. The Eircode has now been appended to government data where 47 million different versions of Irish addresses have each been resolved and appended with the correct Eircode.
Student accommodation, apartments and business premises are all present on the Multiple Residence file. The number of separate addresses behind the single accessible letterbox can be as few as one additional record – or as many as 1,000!
The Not Yet Built (NYB) file contains addresses for properties either under construction or just completed. Imagine preparing to move into a new build property but not being able to order goods and services for your new home as its address does not appear.
POLAR stands for Participation of Local Areas. Developed by the Office for Students (OfS), the POLAR classification groups areas across the UK based on the proportion of the young population that participates in higher education.
Censation is the most widely distributed UK Geodemographic Classification system. It is worth over £4,000 per annum and is free at the point of use for all customers who use AFD Address Management Solutions.
The British Armed Forces and their families living on base have special addresses, called BFPO Numbers, used for delivery of mail. Both regular letters and parcels can be delivered to any BFPO address regardless of if they are sent via the normal (Royal Mail) post or most couriers.
AFD’s occupancy indicator helps identify business/residential or mixed occupancy at postcode and property level. This can be useful to couriers or distributors who wish to set delivery priorities or set pricing according to the type of area.
Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) since updated for the UK with ITL (International Territorial Levels) is a geographical system, divided into one of four levels based on geographical size.
Successful electronic payments require precise and accurate bank details. But people make mistakes when reading bank details, writing them down or keying them in. In some cases, delayed payment or fraudulent activity can occur by introducing deliberate errors.
Successful Payments
Bank validation and bank card data validation help ensure payments are successful, minimise transaction failure and fraud whilst meeting strict financial compliance and best practices.
Faster Data Entry
Fast, accurate account number and sort code data entry makes checkouts, payment processing and Direct Debit setup a smooth process improving both customer service and cash flow for organisations.
We rely on AFD’s Bank Verification solution online as part of the new member onboarding process and in the data import function for our main CRM system. We have to ensure that our systems are not a cause of failure when an individual is completing a membership application. To facilitate this, our systems have been designed to make that initial joining experience as smooth and pain-free as possible. Introducing an error is very easy to do, especially when reading an account number and sort code from a card and typing them in. When bank details are entered incorrectly or the account being used does not allow direct debits, a popup message appears notifying the prospective supporter that the entered combination of sort code and account number is invalid.
Application Development & Support Manager at RSPB
Using the form below, enter a sort code and account number to confirm if they are a valid combination.
AFD’s bank validation API can be flexibly deployed in a host of environments, installed, or hosted.
Plug-ins for popular platforms such as Magento, Shopify, Salesforce, D365 and AFD Robot provide a range of developer-free integrations.
Visit our Developer Area using the button below to find out more.
AFD’s range of Geolocation & Geocoding solutions combine the very best data sources including Royal Mail PAF® and Ordnance Survey (OS) AddressBase Core® to find, identify, visualise, and list by distance order, property and location data.
Geolookup functionality returns the nearest, valid address to the users current location.
Geocoding appends property level grids (lat/long) to property databases for pinpoint deliveries and visualisation.
AFD Maps displays a map of the address searched, a pin can then select the exact delivery location.
Nearest functionality the closest store or branch to the customers asddress.
Whilst address validation is great from a postcode or first line of an address, errors in the entry of the data or address selection are more likely to creep in on a mobile device. To overcome this and shave a few more seconds off the checkout process we worked with AFD Software to implement AFD’s geolocation address lookup. This allows a customer to press a button, then select their address which is listed in nearest order from the current location. Two-button taps, and all the address data is entered accurately.
Digital Specialist at Paultons Park
Click the target button at the end of the field below to display your nearest address. AFD’s geolocation API functionality uses gps co-ordinates from your device to return nearby addresses – it works best on mobile devices!
AFD’s geolookup API can be flexibly deployed in a host of environments.
Plug-ins for popular platforms such as Magento, Shopify, Salesforce, D365 and AFD Robot provide a range of developer-free integrations.
Visit our Developer Area using the button below to find out more.
AFD’s geolocation and geocoding solution provides a range of location based functionality. See some of the options below:
Our geolocate functionality removes the need for manual data entry. By using the GPS in your mobile device, our solution instantly returns the full PAF matched address of the current location in the correct format with pinpoint accuracy and at lightning speed.
How does it work?
From the customer’s latitude and longitude, we return the correct address, in the correct format, instantly.
Once an address has been selected using AFD’s address validation API, property level latitude and longitude data can be returned to show the exact location on a map. This location can then be edited by simply dragging the “pin” on your chosen mapping software if a delivery needs to not be at the front door or the address has multiple buildings.
See more information here.
Nearest functionality allows a
customer to enter their postcode, click a button and be given the branch name and address closest to the address provided with an accurate travel time or distance.
Nearest allows distance calculations to be returned in three ways:
Driven by customer demand and genuine business requirements, AFD’s enhanced Nearest calculation will provide an accurate travel time or distance to help your customers decide which is the closest restaurant, cinema or chemist to their current location.
Geocoding is the process of appending latitude and longitude to an address to better understand its physical location, helping visualise data and better understand how to reach delivery points. AFD’s geocode API provides geocode coordinates at different address levels including town, postcode and property level, providing a pinpoint location on your chosen mapping tool.
Adding the what3words functionality to AFD’s address lookup solution helps organisations improve customer address data capture during the checkout process on e-commerce websites. Logistics companies benefit by having an extra layer of data to get their drivers to the exact delivery location which isn’t always the property.
What is the most widely-recognised and used source and reference point for UK addresses?
Simple, the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF), which is a core part of all AFD Software name and address validation solutions.
AFD’s solutions contain address, location and property characteristic data from Ordnance Survey (OS) for 33 million unique properties in Great Britain.
AFD provides latitude and longitude coordinates at property level, showing a pinpoint location of an address on your chosen mapping tool.
Drive time and drive distance calculations are increasing in use as organisations look to plan routes with optimal time and route efficiency for deliveries. AFD’s mapping solution calculates a route, drive time and drive distance based on the origin and destination address data entered (A-B) or a list of specified addresses (waypoints).
Optimal waypoint order can be enabled taking a list of addresses and suggesting the best route with an origin and destination, maximising efficiency for both fuel and driver time when completing the journey. The route will take into account the speed limit of each road within the route to calculate the drive time.
With AFD, we are equipped with the very best means of rapidly ensuring data integrity in a pressurised environment. We work at the cutting edge of technology and AFD’s solutions meet our data quality. Every minute counts, and ten to fifteen minutes makes a significant difference - the equivalent of 2 - 3 extra deliveries... and when you have thousands of drivers you can see the effect. Equally important, as a people-focused business we want to minimise stress for our drivers. We have achieved this by minimising the time taken to validate, correct or complete addresses at the point of collection or in the depot. The result of raising data integrity is that drivers now spend less time in the depot, are out on the road earlier and have more time available to deliver parcels.
Enterprise Architect at DPD
Once an address has been selected using AFD’s address validation API, property level latitude and longitude data can be returned to show the exact location on a map. This location can then be edited by simply dragging the “pin” on your chosen mapping software if a delivery needs to not be at the front door or the address has multiple buildings.
See more information here.
Logistics companies can visualise driver consignments and overlap to further refine driver routes to maximise efficiency and delivery times. Polygons can be drawn on a map of an area that an organisation wishes to communicate with and the addresses within that area are counted and then added to the mailing list.
Data visualisation helps organisations by allowing them to load, edit and analyse their data through a Graphical User Interface (GUI), giving it visual context through maps and graphs. Customer trends are easier to identify, including distance willing to travel to a store or whether a marketing campaign covered a customer address and led to a sale.
Adding the what3words functionality to AFD’s address lookup solution helps organisations improve customer address data capture during the checkout process on e-commerce websites. Logistics companies benefit by having an extra layer of data to get their drivers to the exact delivery location which isn’t always the property.
Rather than an off-the-shelf solution for mapping and visualisation, our customers have different requirements in this area and solutions tend to be more bespoke to specific need. Get in touch to discuss your requirements today.
What is the most widely-recognised and used source and reference point for UK addresses?
Simple, the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF), which is a core part of all AFD Software name and address validation solutions.
AFD’s solutions contain address, location and property characteristic data from Ordnance Survey (OS) for 33 million unique properties in Great Britain.
AFD provides latitude and longitude coordinates at property level, showing a pinpoint location of an address on your chosen mapping tool.
The Postcode People at AFD have over 400 years of combined experience in Address Management, and of helping thousands of organisations solve unique challenges around contact data.
When it comes to name, address, email, phone and bank data, we consistently deliver tailored solutions to complex problems.
We work with FTSE 500 companies such as Royal Mail, and other major organisations including AXA Insurance and DPD Group. If ‘off-the-shelf’ data validation solutions can’t meet your needs, our team of experts can overcome the specific data challenges you are facing.
Our Data Quality Experts will work with your IT and business process staff to deliver bespoke software solutions. The unique expertise that we have at AFD and our pool of experience allows us to leverage data assets and processes to gain competitive advantages on your behalf, remove pains from major contact data issues and increase the speed and accuracy of your data validation processes. We do this with a consultative and open approach with the aim of making happy customers!
Head of Sales, AFD Software
If you have a specific problem, our expertise is available to quickly see if we are a good fit to be your partner in address and data quality.
We serve thousands of organisations and a network of hundreds of partners across multiple industry sectors, enabling them to have full confidence in their contact data.