Accept the names, numbers and postcodes the world actually has

When to use it

When some traffic is international and the form enforces one format for phone, name or postcode, showing as repeated failures on one field from the same countries.

How to run it

1. 1Loosen the rules to fit the real world: apostrophes, hyphens and accents in names, international codes and lengths in phone numbers, alphanumeric postcodes of varying length.
2. 2Make the rules follow the selected country, and accept uncertain input with a flag instead of blocking submission.

Why it works

Make the action easier to complete

US-only validation tells real customers, like O'Brien or anyone with a UK postcode, that their own details are wrong. Baymard's address-form research finds these hard rejections among the most reliable ways to lose a completed order.

Source: Baymard address-form research