Hi people,
Just wanted to get your feedback regarding the address search functionality on various telco websites. Which one do you like and why?
I have just been curious in search logic in general and am looking to build something similar (just as a hobby). The criteria that could be used is:
Speed
Accuracy
Suggestions for misspelled address etc.
Cheers
RSmith
Links to the search are as follows:
Thanks for the feedback.
I find these extremely annoying.
I have address autocomplete turned on in my browser, and these don't work properly with that. Plus I have a common street name so I have to manually type almost my whole address to be able to pick it.
I have also had a time (I think it was either ALDI mobile or Belong) where they did not have my address, and gave no option for manual entry, so I was unable to do business with them.
I also worked in telco, and the mismatch between, say, the NBN and Telstra address datasets is epic, plus addresses change all the time, new homes, sub-divisions etc. It is a really, really hard problem to solve, supporting multi-billion dollar companies (e.g. ESRI).
Basically, you are guaranteeing a small percentage of users is irritated. Is that worth the benefits of fewer data entry errors? I guess you should decide.
It takes you extra effort to build the web page, license the address database and make it all work, but it provides a worse solution, so why do it?
The problem with manually entering data is that people make mistakes and then it gets even harder to get or guess the correct address. I think to eliminate those incorrectly entered addresses, the telcos are using this functionality.
TPG's archaic design has always been a negative for me but I get some people like it but if you have seen their my account interlace it is atrocious.
I like the simple and clean minimalist bust still stylish design of Dodo and iiNet.
Belong is good too but they have less information on things I find.
Honestly in terms of the speed, accuracy and suggestions they all seem good.
Less clicks for me is better though.