Good examples of UK postcode lookup flow

Question

I'm looking for a good, well designed flow of a UK postcode lookup process as part of registration for an eCommerce account.

We're redesigning ours and want to see what is out there and how I can make it as friendly as possible.

--Update--

Basically our current design was a manual entry form (worked pretty well) which a less than experienced developer then bolted the postcode lookup onto.

So the order currently reads: Country, Line1, Line2, Line3, Town, County, Postcode. And he just put a lookup button on the bottom of that. So user goes line by line, THEN looks at postcode and uses the lookup.

I'd like to see some others in action because of the point made in the answers about allowing manual override.

Answer 1

What's wrong with the simple house number\name and postcode prompt?

Perhaps you could say how your current lookup works and why it's felt to need redesign.

Answer 2

Either way, please make sure you include a manual address override (ie allow the user to enter their address without the aid of a look-up). I live at a newly built address and it's not yet showing up on everyone's databases. I'm unable to register with eCommerce sites about 50% of the time. Very annoying.

:-)

Answer 3

Do you mean asking:

1. House Name or Number:
2. Postcode:

Then a call to Capscan, Equifax (esp. if you will be doing a credit search later, as their address match is free in that case), the Post Office, or so on?

Then display to verify with the user (or display a list to select from).

All along with an option to manually enter their address - and in the background you should still attempt an address match on that so you get the unique address key.

Answer 4

To do the lookup properly you have to use the Postal Address File (PAF) from the post office. It is expensive and there are restrictions on where you can use it - you can't include it in products. But it does list the correct address for each house.

Answer 5

Ah I see; the nicest ones I have seen have a "sidebar" to the address where you could enter your postcode/number and press lookup; which would then fill in the address fields, which you could override as necessary.

In this way you have the normal address flow for manual entry and you don't end up putting postcode first.

Damned if I can find an example right now though!

Answer 6

Just an idea - why not look at how the main PAF resellers do it on their websites - they wll have put more thought into it than most (you would think).

e.g. QAS, Postcodesoftware.co.uk, Hopewiser, even the Royal Mail themselves