Blog posts
Product Updates
Product Updates
Introducing: Address autocomplete
David Simpson
July 15, 2024
With Beacon address autocomplete you can start typing an address, or type a postcode, and Beacon will suggest addresses that match. When you select one, Beacon will populate the different sub-fields within the location field for you - no need to type out the whole address.
You do not need to sign up for a separate location service, address autocomplete is built directly into Beacon.
To enable address autocomplete in your account, head to the Charity preferences under Settings.
Scroll down to the new Address autocomplete section, and click the toggle to enable the feature. You'll need to add your organisation's address, as this is a requirement of the Royal Mail database that we use.
Once enabled, you will need to purchase address lookups in order to use this feature.
If you do not enable address autocomplete, then you will still be able to add addresses to Beacon manually.
Address lookups can be purchased from your Billing page.
You don’t pay for address searches, you pay once you make a selection from the results that are presented to you. We call this an 'address lookup' and it costs 2p.
You will need to purchase address lookups separately to your Beacon plan and you can purchase between 500, and 1,000,000 lookups in one go (£10 - £20,000).
What happens when I run out of address lookups?
When you get close to running out of address lookups we'll send an email to your Beacon Admins. When you run out, your address inputs will revert to the manual style.
Do address lookups expire?
No, there's no time limit on address lookups that you purchase. You can buy as many as you need, however often you need to.
What is powering address autocomplete?
Beacon's address autocomplete system is powered behind the scenes by Ideal postcodes. We explored a number of providers and Ideal Postcodes is the most modern and is the most cost-effective.
Why do we have to pay for address lookups?
Unfortunately, just like credit card processing, the organisations who provide this functionality don’t do it for free, even for charities. We’ve shopped around to find the very best deal on address lookups, and we’re passing the volume discount on to you. Beacon isn’t charging a fee or taking a cut of the 2p per lookup. Alternative providers can charge as much as 6.9p per lookup, so we're comfortable that we've found a really good deal for you!
Do address lookups work internationally?
Yes! Although right now address autocomplete doesn't return Eircodes for Irish addresses. We're looking into adding this very soon.
When can we have this on forms? That would be so useful!
We know! We wanted to get this in your hands as quickly as possible so that you can get set up and start using address autocomplete. We're expecting to release address autocomplete on forms by the end of July 2024.
