Managing customer expectations and experiences when it comes to deliveries can be a nightmare - but should it really be?
Last-mile delivery issues, failed deliveries, misleading (or a total absence of) updates...it's easy to see WHY customers can be frustrated. When you boil it down, all they want to know is when they're supposed to get their parcel, and then actually get it. Simple!
But all too often, this isn't what customers experience - and the impact of receiving something you've eagerly been waiting for is dramatically reduced if at the last minute, you find out it's not coming today after all. Or worse, it's been 'delivered', but there's no sign of it.
It's natural to WANT a customer-first delivery experience, but if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it. With our latest carrier integration, Packfleet, we take a look at how important it is to prioritise the customer during the delivery process, and the benefits that arrive from taking this approach.
Streamlined Tracking Details
Transparency AND accuracy are naturally going to build trust in your brand. The sooner you can give them tracking details, the more faith they will have in your ability to deliver on those promises. But speed isn't everything - if you pass them back a tracking code that has an unrealistic expected date or time, you're setting yourself up for a fall.
Tristan from Packfleet stresses the importance of being realistic and managing the customer's expectations when it comes to expected arrival times:
“Parcel delivery is such a common part of everyday lives now that it needs to work around customers, rather than the other way round. People should not have to sit at home all day just to receive a parcel!”
Shiptheory automatically passes tracking details back to your sales channels when they've been received from your carrier, and if those details are realistic, you're well on your way to keeping your customers.
Flexible Deliveries
A more recent trend in deliveries is consumer desire to change things late in the process - this can be a pain for carriers, who have to roll with the punches, but it does make sense. There are any number of reasons why someone may suddenly not be in to receive a delivery, and want to rearrange or at least specify an alternate delivery location or safe space to leave their package.
Packfleet gives customers full control over their delivery, letting them change everything from the delivery address, delivery date, and delivery time, even while the parcel is en-route.
We live in a world where you can get a Deliveroo to your door in 30 minutes or an Uber instantly; why should you not have the same level of control over all of your parcel deliveries too? - Tristan
Shared Values
Any business worth their salt is going to talk the talk when it comes to customer service, but its worth deep diving to find out if this is really true. When you're looking for partners to help manage your shipping process, how much they value YOU and communicate with you can be a good indicator that they'll enable you to have an excellent relationship with your customers.
Communication is paramount to the success we've had at Shiptheory: it's important that customers can reach us via whatever their preferred medium is, whenever they have an issue, so we can help them resolve it as quickly as possible
Our Support Team Leader, Joe, has built a team focused on excellent responses:
We put our customers at the very top of our priority list. As such, if a customer comes to us with a question or an issue, our main goal is to get them up and running again as quickly as possible. The sooner we respond, the sooner we can get our customers back to shipping!
Likewise, Packfleet take pride in the transparency and success rate of their deliveries, but also in the time it takes to resolve support issues. Both Shiptheory and Packfleet have average response times of under 5 minutes for support queries in 2023, which is a great indicator of a customer-first approach. (You can check out this blog to see a full deep-dive into our latest support stats.)
Having all the tools and partners you work with pulling in the same direction is incredibly important, but not just to boast about your numbers. Satisfied customers are more likely to become repeat customers and tell a friend, leading to increased sales and brand loyalty. And the quicker you are to get things resolved, the sooner your customer service team can focus on other important tasks to power your business forward.
Conclusion
Excellent customer experience is critical for eCommerce success in 2023 - in an oversaturated market, as soon as your customer's opinion starts to drop, there are dozens of other businesses waiting to snap them up. Bulletproof your customer experience by investing in your delivery experience, making sure it's seamless from start to finish, and your customer is fully aware of where their delivery is throughout.
If you're looking for a combination that prioritises the customer experience over all else, Shiptheory's new Packfleet integration is about to go live - keep an eye on our socials for the launch announcement. In the meantime, you can learn more about Shiptheory and Packfleet from their respective websites.
