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A question to owners of online stores…Have you ever had a bad delivery experience when you’ve ordered something online? If yes, then you’ll know it’s not something you want your customers to experience.
We’ve put the following list together showing procedures and solutions that should be part of your order to delivery strategy. They show you care and gives each purchaser the best chance of having a good experience with your business.
- Effortless ordering – Your customers just want to make an order and receive the package with minimal fuss. If you sell from your website, make sure that it loads quickly, has easy navigation to help the visitor find what they want quickly, and has a simple order and payment process. This is the most work they’ll do in the transaction, so make it as simple as possible.
- A choice of delivery options – Show that you’re conscious of your customer’s availability by giving them a choice of delivery solutions to suite their needs. In the UK, these would primarily include; Next Day, Standard UK Delivery or Click and Collect.
- Clear, accurate tracking online – Try to steer your customers towards choosing a tracked delivery option. If they can view where their package is and its delivery progress along the way, it’ll give them peace of mind. It’ll also help you to track down where a parcel may have gone missing, should problems occur.
- En route communication – Some courier companies like Flight Logistics can provide SMS notifications via text or email. A driver can contact recipients to advise them that they’re close or running late. This gives the recipient peace of mind and time to prepare for the arrival.
- Appropriate packing – Apart from minimising risk of damage, it also cultivates a sense of professionalism. A well packed item in the correct sized box and appropriate internal packing shows your company has taken time to apply bespoke needs to the safe delivery of the recipient’s item.
The wrong way to package
- Courteous delivery – The driver is an extension of your business even if you are using a third-party supplier to help with deliveries. The difference between a parcel being handed over with care and a smile compared to a rude exchange is obvious.
- Receive what was ordered – This is all about making sure that your order to delivery strategy is appropriate to negate mistakes and miss picks. Click Here for a great guide to this.
- Good communication when problems occur. All etailers will experience the occasional delivery issue. The answer is to proactively communicate with customers so they know someone is there to help. This level of customer care instils confidence that all is being done to help and can turn a bad experience into a good one.
- Easy Returns process – Often the forgotten component of an e-commerce business plan, the unwanted practical necessity of dealing with returns! It’s quite possible that for whatever reason the customer needs to reject an item and if you want to keep your customer happy, make sure you have a robust returns mechanism in place.
- Eco-conscious delivery/policy – This is on the rise as more and more people have become aware of social and environmental issues. In many cases customers will investigate a supplier’s sustainability management before making a purchase.
Making sure that all the above are part of your delivery strategy will help to achieve a successful delivery and build loyalty, and if something does go wrong, will provide an opportunity to manage a customer’s frustration and retain your good brand values.
