We tried the same basic move — one open-ended address field instead of a set of more specific parts — in an attempt to simplify our sign-up flow. We too have since reverted to a more conventional multi-part form.
First thing we discovered: We might have been happy with one big box, but none of the payment services we use worked the same way. This more than cancelled out any usability benefit, because we could no longer reliably pre-fill the address fields on any form for card or bank details. Our customers would still wind up entering the specific parts of their address anyway, but now they effectively had to type the same address twice during the sign-up process as well! (Edit: There’s also a related issue that some browsers will remember and pre-fill fields that look like common address parts automatically, which to my knowledge no browser does for an open-ended address.)
Second thing we discovered: Same as 'FooBarWidget, given a freeform text field, some customers will give you beautifully formatted multi-line addresses, some will stick everything on one line, some will stick just the first line on that one line, some will assume you meant e-mail address(!) and so on.
More recently, we also discovered a third issue because we’re in the EU: I can see no reasonable way to automatically parse any common address format that is sufficient to comply fully with the new VAT place-of-supply rules, but to have a chance of even getting close in the 99% case you at least need to have a separate country indicator.
I do sympathise with the frustration of having to break down addresses into different fields. If the big bureaucracies like payment schemes and governments had more practical rules for working with customers in different locations, one big box really is all we should need, though getting customers to enter something valid in it is still a tricky issue. But since those more practical rules seem unlikely to happen any time soon, there is little either we or our immediate service providers can do but follow the dubious but widely accepted conventions anyway.
First thing we discovered: We might have been happy with one big box, but none of the payment services we use worked the same way. This more than cancelled out any usability benefit, because we could no longer reliably pre-fill the address fields on any form for card or bank details. Our customers would still wind up entering the specific parts of their address anyway, but now they effectively had to type the same address twice during the sign-up process as well! (Edit: There’s also a related issue that some browsers will remember and pre-fill fields that look like common address parts automatically, which to my knowledge no browser does for an open-ended address.)
Second thing we discovered: Same as 'FooBarWidget, given a freeform text field, some customers will give you beautifully formatted multi-line addresses, some will stick everything on one line, some will stick just the first line on that one line, some will assume you meant e-mail address(!) and so on.
More recently, we also discovered a third issue because we’re in the EU: I can see no reasonable way to automatically parse any common address format that is sufficient to comply fully with the new VAT place-of-supply rules, but to have a chance of even getting close in the 99% case you at least need to have a separate country indicator.
I do sympathise with the frustration of having to break down addresses into different fields. If the big bureaucracies like payment schemes and governments had more practical rules for working with customers in different locations, one big box really is all we should need, though getting customers to enter something valid in it is still a tricky issue. But since those more practical rules seem unlikely to happen any time soon, there is little either we or our immediate service providers can do but follow the dubious but widely accepted conventions anyway.