Vintage to virtual: Modernising this car rental service with better address data

When things started taking a turn for the digital, they needed help updating the way they stored customer information, so they could get better address data and start reinventing the way they approached their audience.  

Plenty of companies that fail to innovate ahead are mercilessly tossed aside in favour of the newest, shiniest products and services. Remember the Blackberry and Blockbuster? Big names that left a mark on their respective industries, but now linger on as cautionary tales. 

So, the big question now is: how do businesses keep the journey smooth when the road is digital? This client’s challenge was to make sure that each online booking was made by a legitimate customer…and the best way to ensure that would be to validate all their given information.  

Smooth Driving on the Digital Highway 

Car rentals make a vital part of transportation accessible to more people. They could be serving tourists, businesspeople on work trips, locals in need of emergency replacements, weddings, test drives, and more.  And this is supported by numbers: according to Expert Market Research, the local market is being driven due to growth in tourism, business travellers, and traffic congestion. 

All these situations need careful attention to detail, prompt service, and thorough background checks. No car rental wants an international fugitive or criminal car-wrecker to be driving away in one of their vehicles. A single misstep in customer verification could lead to a wild detour for their reputation, operational efficiency, and equipment in the long run.  

In a nutshell, they were in a pretty dire situation if they didn’t make better address data a priority and switch things up quickly.  

So what kind of features did they need in their future address data validation partner to stay king of the road? 

Integrate With Salesforce 

Whatever tool they decided to use needed to integrate seamlessly into Salesforce, which was their platform for managing customer relationships, tracking sales activities, and delivering personalized marketing campaigns.   

Straightforward and Easy to Use 

Given the vast and diverse customer base, their chosen tool needed to cater to various regions and languages, making simplicity a key feature. It had to have an intuitive interface that allowed employees across different departments to effortlessly validate and manage customer address data without requiring extensive training. And if anything went downhill, they needed to know that they could call on the support team for help.  

Global and Local Precision 

The ideal address validation partner for a leading car rental company should offer comprehensive global coverage, ensuring accurate validation of addresses across all countries and territories where the company operates. This capability is crucial for serving international customers and managing global reservations effectively. The tool should be capable of recognizing and adapting to local address formats and nuances, providing precise validation down to the doorstep level, which is essential for better address data, delivering services and communications accurately. 

Real-time Validation and Autocomplete 

Speed and efficiency are paramount in the car rental industry. The address data validation tool should offer real-time validation and autocomplete features to streamline the booking and customer onboarding processes. This functionality would help reduce errors at the point of entry, improve the user experience on digital platforms, and expedite the reservation process, allowing customers to complete their bookings swiftly and with confidence. 

Compliance and Data Security 

With operations spanning across various jurisdictions, the car rental company must adhere to a complex web of data protection regulations, such as GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California, USA. The chosen address validation partner must demonstrate a strong commitment to data security and privacy, ensuring that their solutions are compliant with international data protection standards. This includes secure data handling, processing, and storage practices to protect customer information from unauthorized access or breaches. 

Scalability and Customization 

As the car rental company grows, its address validation system must be able to scale accordingly, handling increased volumes of data without compromising performance. The tool should be customizable, allowing the company to tailor its features and workflows to meet evolving business needs, customer preferences, and market demands. This flexibility ensures that the car rental company can adapt to changes in its operational environment, maintain its competitive edge, and continue to meet customer expectations effectively. 

Robust Analytics and Reporting 

To continuously improve customer service and operational efficiency, a car rental would benefit from an address validation partner that offers robust analytics and reporting capabilities. This feature should provide insights into data quality, validation success rates, and user interactions, enabling the company to identify trends, pinpoint areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to enhance its services and customer satisfaction. 

How this car rental service steered clear of trouble 

Our autocomplete and real-time address validation service were the key to securing better address data. During their trial period, they integrated this tool into their web forms and found that it worked well with their current set-up in Salesforce. 

Part of this new system involved a verification counter that would be triggered after the successful validation of every new customer’s address, which leveraged our tool directly on their website’s forms. 

Furthermore, they’ve embraced mobile verification techniques and are eyeing the future with plans to use it in their web forms, broadening the spectrum of data fields they confirm for customers.  

This small commitment to a new address verification tool made the whole process of signing up, registering, and getting a car rental easier and faster for customers. And more importantly for them, it reduced the amount of fraudulent bookings made on their site. 

Big lessons for better address data from this car rental giant 

1. Keep forms short, sweet, and straight to the point. People most likely visited their site to rent a car, not read about the car rental industry or proofread and debug the website! 
2. Forms can capture customer information—but what’s equally important is they can keep out malicious actors, too. 

Now, there are many reasons why this client is one of the best in their field. They don’t just rent out cars. They also offer roadside assistance around the clock, a range of insurance options, a loyalty program, flexibility in rental terms and pick-up/drop-off points, and a great set of cars to choose from! 

Optimising their website through their customer forms was only one aspect of a big user experience that we’re happy to be a part of. 

If you’re looking for a way to weaponise better address data and give your business an unfair advantage, schedule a consultation with one of our data quality specialists.