Staying on Top of the Data Quality Game

At a Glance

Mergers, new clients, and foreign business—our relationship with this client, who provides digital solutions for figures, businesses, and institutions in the sports industry, has given us the opportunity to apply our Kleber solution to different use cases and demonstrate its capabilities on an international level.

The Client

The client is a sports-focused digital solutions provider. They are:

• Specialised in sports training, league development and marketing, and media and licensing for brands, sports organisations, and collegiate institutions
• Representing and managing some of the world’s greatest sports figures and fashion icons
• Staging hundreds of live events and branded entertainment experiences every year
• Known as one of the largest independent producers and distributors of sports media.

They approached us multiple times since 2014 to discuss how they could implement Kleber with multiple clients. They needed a data validation tool, related to addresses and other contact details, that could be integrated into their current platforms which focused on registrations, memberships and e-commerce.

The Challenge

This sports client handled several businesses and was constantly on the move. As a result, they needed software and people that could keep up with their pace. Throughout our relationship, they relied on our guidance for address validation during peak demand seasons, across international borders, and with multiple clients.

The Process

Our relationship with the client started in May 2014. They heard of us through Postcode Anywhere. Our contact, who was the head of our future client’s ecommerce division, disclosed that they had over 200 stores on their shop platform, and they needed an address validation tool. They were based in Australia, with most sales made domestically.

They also needed software that would integrate well with their custom-built platform, which was powered by Cold Fusion.

To kick off discussions, we shared how Postcode Anywhere had (at the time) recently appointed us as their exclusive agent for their Capture+ Technology within Australia and New Zealand. We were working on a new joint solution that would enhance their Capture+ technology with our extensive knowledge of localised addressing.

While our interaction went well, the project they needed our services for was put on hold. We reconnected for further discussions mid 2015, and they registered for an Express Capture trial. We went over pricing options for our service, and they explained that they were talking to another provider for validation within webforms as well.

Since this was a competitive situation, our specialist made a direct comparison between our solution and their alternative’s solution. After the discovery meeting, we also emailed an overview of Express Capture and Kleber.

A few days later, they registered for a Kleber trial and informed us of their decision to proceed with DataTools.

The client was also concerned that it would not be a consistent monthly amount. They asked if there was a way to increase the validations available without blowing through their monthly plan amount, such as if they could pay a standard monthly amount to cover 200,000 validations over a yearly period instead.

We explained that their Kleber licence is solely based on usage across all applications and touchpoints. To help them further, we asked if they could give us a breakdown of the quantity of validations per country and clarified that tripling the volume would not triple the cost of Kleber because of the bonus credit offered.

Our specialist gave a safe estimation of the number of credits they would need per month, as well as a feasible but borderline amount as an alternative, with all royalties included within the costs. Finally, we added that the prices given would replace the existing payments they made for their plan, not add on top of it.

We also clarified:

• The Kleber pricing model
• How/when the Bonus credit applies
• Any unused monthly credit rolls over for up to twelve months as long as they continue their subscription. This would act as a buffer for periods of increased demand.
  Kleber is non-contractual and can be cancelled at any time. If cancelled, any bonus credit accrued is lost.
• Annual subscriptions are available as an alternative.

Satisfied, they asked if there was an online portal one of their clients could use to test the validation on, and we offered our own online portal.

They also sent in additional questions:

• What they needed to do to implement an option in our services for addresses not found in the Australia Post database
• Known compatibility issues or anything specific with regards to a user’s browser, operating system, or device that could cause the address validation software to not show any options, as they received a few reports of this occurring.

We called and explained that the shortcomings could be remedied by adding in the Repair method, which was recommended previously but not yet implemented.

In December 2017, they asked if we could send an outline of all the Kleber packages available because they were looking at adding this service to other clients. We explained our monthly plans and their pricing structures.

We also asked them to get in touch with us regarding their Department Code usage because they needed to optimize it for better reports and reminded them to implement the Repair method soon.

The Repair method was important because it is used when an address is not selected by the user or if major errors are made within input. It stops doing Searches after a certain number of calls and allows the user to enter whatever they wish. This full address string is then automatically passed on to the Repair method.

An Increase in Orders for the AFL and NRL Grand Finals

We reconnected in September to discuss Kleber. They wanted to know how Kleber’s credit system worked because they needed extra credit for the AFL and NRL Grand Finals. With several teams on their shop platform, they were looking at processing quite a significant number of orders in that week alone. This would be a crucial moment for them; they needed to make sure that their forms would capture accurate addresses on their platform so each delivery could be completed accurately and efficiently.

Our specialist explained that we notify our clients to top up when their credit is running low. Since they signed up for a plan, we would not discontinue the service after they consumed all their credits; instead, their account manager would reach out and discuss top up options to cover usage until their next payment date.

For their situation, we ran the calculations and estimated that a top up would cover the additional traffic.

In addition, we discussed how the client was also receiving and validating Canadian addresses. Due to licensing, this would require specific Search and Retrieve methods—and while the Search method was already implemented, they still needed to set up Retrieve. We advised them to do so at their most convenient time.

Re-introductions, and More Validations Needed

In 2017, the client was in the middle of a merger and messaged us to ask about our services. We explained to our new contact that they were existing DataTools customers and that they were using Kleber’s predictive address capture for Australia, New Zealand, and international validation.

They presented the following issues:

Some of their clients used the online membership system to take registration for sporting programs and teams

The registration includes mandatory contact information such as home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses

They currently use a Google plugin that looks up addresses but allows for entering addresses without numbers, and changing parts of addresses that have been chosen from the drop down

As a result, some of their clients needed to send merchandise to those who register incomplete or incorrect addresses.

They needed validation connected to Australia Post where, as someone begins to type in their address, the options present to the user pre-fills the individual address fields but does not allow for these to be edited individually without selecting other addresses from the dropdown menu.

This was their biggest focus, but they hinted that in the future they may also look at validation for the other fields. They said they would come back to us regarding the potential of extending our services onto another technology platform they had for the same purpose and asked for a quotation for additional usage if they pushed through with this project.

After a few calculations, they concluded that they were looking at a substantial increase in required validations.

Starting Another Project with Kleber

In August 2018, a new contact from the organisation introduced themselves and asked for more details on our services. They were looking into enrolling in another sport for address validation.

They revealed that they currently use Kleber for a sports program where parents can register their kids to play at their local football club. They were currently discussing the possibility of doing something similar with another sporting association. With this project on the horizon, they needed to know whether there was anything important they needed to work on before they launched it on their membership portal.

They also sent us a few questions:

• How much we charged per retrieval of an address in each region
• Whether they would get charged every time, if the same address is used multiple times
• What the different colors on the bar graph meant
  We discussed their current agreement with DataTools and showed them their last twelve months of credit usage. They had plenty of credit rolled over because in those past twelve months. With this in mind, we advised them to go ahead with their new client, assuring them we would reach out if we needed to reassess their plan.

We clarified that the different colors represent the Kleber data method they were using. Most of their methods were for Australian addresses, but they did have a few international addresses from New Zealand, Canada and the UK.

We noted that they had an unusually high record of auto retrieves, which happens when a client’s implementation does not include the retrieve portion of the address. This is crucial for Australian organizations because Australia Post charges a royalty on each address pulled from their file. We offered our help in fixing the issue if needed.

Lastly, we assured them that they did not need to add anything extra for their new client. We sent them a link to our best practices for implementing predictive address capture and reiterated our support team’s availability for them around the clock.

The Impact

Flexibility in Address Validation Solutions

Our client needed software to accommodate the different and growing needs of their business. In several situations, we were challenged to help them accommodate a massive influx of address validations. These were make or break situations that would have had a big impact on their business if addresses went wrong because thousands of parcels could have gone undelivered or returned. Our continued relationship with this client goes to show that we know what we’re doing and we are good at providing validation solutions to their platforms.

Reliability Across Several Validation Requirements

This client did not hesitate to reach out and consult us for issues, new projects. They consistently communicated with us and gave us new situations to use our software. This is a testament to Kleber’s reliability for forms across multiple clients and scenarios