LateShipment.com makes your shipping refund claim process effortless by tracking and automatically requesting refunds from FedEx and UPS for all eligible shipments.
Automate Your Shipping Refunds!
Are you holding shipping carriers accountable for their performance?
If you run a business, you will have to make sure you hold all vendors responsible for their tasks and responsibilities. Most vendors liaise with you before delivery and the shipping partner comes in during the last leg of the product sale if you ship your products across. So, the question here is, do you hold your shipping partner accountable for their performance? If yes, how? What are the parameters you use to gauge performance or non-performance of the shipping partner?
Where shipping is concerned, there is a narrow spectrum of parameters. What is the track record of your shipping partner when it comes to:
1. Delivering on time
2. Delivering right package to the right customer
3. Not losing the package midway
4. Delivering the package without damages
Package loss is a real possibility but it is very improbable these days. To counter that, shippers offer insurance to cover the loss. In case you deal with valuable merchandise, it is prudent to sign up for shipping insurance. Most reputed shipping carriers offer such insurance. Read the clauses thoroughly and sign only if you are convinced of the policies.
Now, coming to delayed shipments, it is a very probable risk. FedEx and Ups, the most renowned carriers we know, offer a full refund on all delayed packages even if it is a minute late. Check on how to Deal With Shipping Delays. This is one of the reasons ecommerce sellers choose between FedEx and UPS. But late shipments do happen. Do you chase your shipper and get the refund if your delivery is later than the promised time? If you don’t, you are losing out on a major avenue of saving on your shipping bills.
Despite the full refund guarantee, shipping carriers seldom pay up if they fail on the promise. Because the onus of filing for refunds, claiming them and following up on that sits squarely on the shoulders of the customer. If you ship several shipments per day, you obviously find no time to do it yourself. And remember, it takes time and effort to find shipments that were delivered late, raise a refund request and track the whole process. So, prudent business people automate the process entirely. Signing up with a late shipment tracker like lateshipment.com can put an end to losing out on shipping refunds.
Your shipping partner has GPS and hence real time tracking of the whereabouts of your package is very much possible. So, look at automating alerts when the shipment is stuck somewhere or when it’s rerouted to a place that is not near the destination. Lateshipment can alert you proactively in case such package transfers happen. You can reach out to the shipper immediately and ask for redressal.
If you are vocal about your complaints to the shipper, the shipper is bound to make sure that errors are minimal from his end, thereby ensuring great quality in his service.
Related:
1. How to hold your shipping carrier accountable for all your lost packages?
Taking responsibility for last mile deliveries: Your customer loyalty depends on it
A poor last mile delivery can cost you hugely even if you have managed very smoothly on time. The customer does not know of the effort and cost you have put into the entire shipping plan. All he knows is that the product delivery was delayed. Or, the delivery disappointed him otherwise. A bad delivery can override a good product and dent your product image with the customer.
Typically, ecommerce sellers work with 3PL companies to get products delivered. Or, sometimes the last mile delivery is done by the ecommerce seller, depending on the size of company, the geographic scope of market, the nature of products, and the capabilities of business. If quality is supreme in your business, take responsibility of last mile delivery and have direct control over that leg.
Having a set of people, who deliver the customer his purchase can have a great advantage especially if your drivers have a brand “code” to follow in their customer interactions. You also get the opportunity to monitor, measure, and manage the way the deliverer’s time is spent at each stop. When you outsource the task, the parameters are all about the time a vehicle spends at a certain place than about driver performance. If your business is restricted to your own city and its suburbs, managing last mile is child’s play. But when you ship your product to customers far away, it becomes tough.
If you want to take ownership of last mile delivery, you might need to rethink your warehouse strategies. Having the warehouse as close as possible to dense customer concentrations is the way to go. So, rent or lease warehouses based on that.
If you have retail stores, you can use them as staging posts for online orders. Clubbing these orders with your regular retail deliveries can cut down the costs involved in delivering smaller orders to residential addresses. As you would already know, shipping to residential addresses is always more expensive than shipping to office addresses. Even if you don’t have brick and mortar retail stores, you can use urban distribution facilities run by 3PLs for the same purpose.
If you deal with a product that needs last step installation, basic usage instruction, removal of packaging and in the case of appliances, removal/recycling of the unit that’s being replaced, you have to take responsibility of last mile delivery all by yourself. This kind of job needs training and cannot be outsourced to a random deliverer who will just get the package delivery signature once the delivery is completed. So, much depends on what you sell. If you expect returns or customer issues, you need to train the same deliverer to handle that as well. Reverse logistics can be more expensive than shipping one time.
Mastering Holiday Shipping: Strategies to make customers love your store during the busy holiday season
The holidays are a frenzied time for online stores. While customers welcome their holiday mood with some retail therapy, ecommerce sellers and shippers work extra hours to keep up with the orders pouring in every minute. Here are a few strategies to help with the rush.
Expect the madness
If you have been in the industry long enough, go back to your old business records and figure out patterns during the holiday season. More often than not, history repeats. So, if you want to gear up for the season in advance, you can stock up on what you sold the most last season. You can also learn from your mistakes from the past. If the holiday season last year had several orders for a certain product and you ran out of it, you can always stock it this year. Cut down on products that aren’t a great hit during the holiday. Match your inventory with what is to be expected.
Hire extra help if necessary
If the last holiday season made you tired working all by yourself, hire help. And hire the help in advance so that you can train him/her to step in when you need assistance. Ecommerce has cut down on human intervention but there are things to be done. For example, people might call you regarding their orders. Someone has to manage keeping up with orders and sending out shipments. Packaging takes time. Training someone to package the product according to your needs and instructions takes a lot of time. So, look out for assistants well in advance.
Can your shipping partner handle the extra load?
Holidays are when people call you with instructions and requests for deliveries on the same day, in a couple of hours or the next day. People remember to buy something on the last minute before they leave on vacation and end up calling you to hasten delivery. You know how your shipping partner works. See whether he can ramp up during the rush. Else, try to work it out temporarily with a carrier who is known to have a great holiday season track record. The cost might work out higher though.
Stock up
Before the madness begins, bolster your inventory of products and packaging materials. The last thing you want to happen during the fast season is to run out of packaging material. Order whatever you need to have a smooth run, well in advance from your vendors. If you reroute your orders to another location from where orders are shipped to customers, make sure the warehouse has enough. It goes without saying that your inventory has to be mapped properly to the warehouse inventory.
5 important questions that help you pick the right shipping carrier
Does the carrier provide end to end delivery?
Ask if the shipping carrier you choose does end to end delivery. The idea of having a shipping partner is, a reliable partner should be the one whom we can ask for ally, they act us our representatives while reaching out to people living in places you can’t reach yourself. Make sure your courier companies have tie ups with local partners to manage delivery to the remotest areas. Request details about the first mile, in-transit and last mile delivery of your shipping partner before deciding.
Does the carrier offer Insurance?
Like it or not, there are a few orders lost in transit and if the item is not insured the merchant has to bear the cost of the lost product. Even if the product turns up after a delay, the rerouted delivery might take months. Whatever the error is, if the package is not insured, the shipping carrier cannot be held at fault and be expected to make up for it unless there is an insurance clause. So, ask before you sign: Does your carrier offer insurance? Understand the policy before you sign. There might be caveats that say insurance covers only a certain kind of delays and losses due to specific factors. Do not finalise the deal without understanding insurance policies, how shipments are covered, how to dispute when the case arrives, how to file a claim and how to calculate the value of your parcel and so on.
Also read How to hold your shipping carrier accountable for all your lost packages?
How cost effective is the carrier?
The most important factor in sealing a deal is the cost. Aim for a competitive rate from your shipping partner. Give details on your order value and pitch with several carriers. Opt for one or two carriers. You can always check for rates with either carrier and then decide on real time, based on delivery and cost. Every carrier would also ask for a security deposit upfront. So, choose wisely.
Is the carrier suitable for your needs?
Shipping is different across industries. Someone who does a great job with cold storage shipping might not be great with regular stuff. A carrier with a good track record of international shipping might not be great with local operations. Let’s say you run a local operation and deal with fresh cut meat and fish. You need someone who can do quick trips in the city. But if you have an apparel store, you will want to reach a wide audience around the country. Look for peer reviews and choose a shipping partner who excels in your area of shipping expertise.
Does the shipper reach places you are aiming to reach?
If you want to reach every nook of the country, look at the local delivery partners your carrier liaises with. Not every courier company provides complete coverage. If you do international shipping quite often, opt for one who specialises in that. If your partner does not comply, you can lose out on customers. If you should, go for more than one shipping partners who cover different areas. But also remember that you have to pay security deposits at all places.
Related:
Choosing the right Shipping carrier for your business
5 factors to consider when choosing a shipping carrier.
Shipping, like every other component of business, needs plan B. There are several things that can go wrong with shipping, however much care you invest in it. Reliable shipping partners do have their off days. Weather conditions can wreak havoc in your perfect shipping plan. So, it is important to have contingency plans in shipping.
A dedicated person to handle business continuity
Disruptions can prove very costly to your business so,have one person as a business continuity point person. This point person needs to know what to do in case things do not work in your favour. He/She should be able to handle any disruption to your business. This person should be given the authority to carry out the job and take responsible decisions on his/her own. He/She should be trained to factor risks and dispatch emergency shipments in case there is a delay or loss.
Have a defined list of all possible disruptions to your business
A political crisis in a far off country can create a butterfly effect and result in a shipping delay. Natural disasters like tsunamis, cloudbursts, volcanoes and storms can result in loss of shipped goods or delays. Furthermore, there is the risk of fires, water and chemical spills. Airports can be closed for various reasons when your cargo is stuck inside. Think through the list of scenarios and come up with a game plan that can address each issue. Document this and share with the concerned people. If something goes wrong, your team can jump into action immediately. Detail the steps to remedy, each disruption scenario. This includes making sure that everyone involved, is on the same page about what is to be done. Include details about technology, operations, purchasing, transportation etc. There should be specific instructions for each department.
Know whom and where to ask help
There will be situations where you need to expedite shipments in an emergency, appeal to shipping carriers to help you out using their capabilities before a crisis arises. Apart from speeding up shipments, carriers offer different types of services and have different service records you can make use of. Like with every other business, you need to read through their bouquet and choose wisely. And you need to be prepared with the knowledge before crazy situations arise. Identify mission critical carriers and know whom to contact from their side during a crisis. If you can, meet these people time to time and make sure they understand your requirements.
Understand all your alternatives
You can choose between flights, ships, trains, road trucks as paths for your shipping needs. Obviously, there are several factors like time, cost and urgency to consider before you choose one. In case one fails, you need to have a ready list of alternatives you can re route your shipments through. Expediting shipments involves a detailed study of cost and time again. Take an educated guess as to what works during that particular crisis situation. A client who brings in a lot of moolah to you would probably rank high in times of emergency and you wouldn't mind investing a particularly high cost to his shipment just once. So, spend time studying tracking ability, around-the-clock availability, special handling requirements, and domestic vs. international capabilities of your shipping partner. In times of urgency, you can ask the carrier to ramp up according to your needs.
Related:
How To Choose The Right Shipping Carrier
5 factors to consider when choosing a shipping carrier.
5 Smart strategies to master International Shipping
In the era of ecommerce, shopping is seldom limited by international border lines. It’s not uncommon for someone across the globe to find your site and place an order with you. It’s almost as similar as a local order. Process wise, it’s only the shipping part that varies. Here are a few strategies that can help you with your international shipping.
Be transparent with shipping charges:
When you ship overseas, your shipping charges are going to be high. So, be very transparent about the exact amount that the customer is going to incur, in the name of shipping charges. So, route the information through a real time shipping calculator where the customer inputs his location and the tool calculates shipping costs inclusive of surcharges and taxes. Charges are live and change according to current tariff.
Know legal dos and don'ts:
There are strict rules on what to ship and what not to ship to certain countries. For example, New Zealand does not permit seeds from other countries via private personnel. What looks like a normal souvenir to one might be illegal in a different country. So, before you take an order and pack the product to be shipped across, do your diligent research. Use your discretion here. Generally, aerosol, alcohol, ammunition, cigarettes, explosives, perfumes mean trouble across international borders. So, it’s prudent to not advertise these in your international catalogue. There is also a lot of documentation that is required in these couriers.
Track your package:
International packages take 2-3 weeks from origin to destination. So, you need to keep track of where your package is. Sign up with a reputed shipping partner who gives real time tracking details on the whereabouts of your package. This will help you answer questions from the customer. One need not manually check the trackers. There are tools that auto generate information using which you can raise an alarm in case there is a problem. This helps you to be proactive with damages, delays and losses.
Packaging:
If you are shipping products overseas, pay heed to packaging. Your packaged product spends a lot of time in transit where it can be exposed to different weather conditions, heat, dust, moisture and some heavy loading and unloading at different points. So, package with caution. Make sure that it can withstand tough handling and reach the customer in one piece.
Insurance:
If you are shipping valuable products overseas, you are better off with shipping insurance. In case of damage or loss, you are covered with insurance. Talk to your shipping partner about it and come to a conclusion on what kind of insurance to take. Read the document fully before you sign the dotted line.
Related Topics:
Smart packaging = Less shipping cost
7 important metrics that you should be tracking to stay on top of your game
How many times have we heard of people exclaim that a certain ecommerce company sells great products but that their logistics leaves a lot of scope for improvement? With time, people realize that the shipping services, packaging and several other logistics factors are as important as the product itself. After all, your usual restaurant is not a favorite just because they have great food, right?
No one goes to a restaurant where the waiters are rude, however good the food is. Industry giants, especially the ones that have no inventory of their own have one thing right: logistics. They liaise with reliable shipping partners who deliver goods on time to the customer.
So, organizations know that brand building is also about logistics. When you sell something that is comparable with what your peer sells online, you need to make sure you stand apart with your logistics handling. And you also need to market that to your customers. With luck, this becomes your USP. It comes to a point where customers stick to you despite paying more because of your logistics reliability. For example, Amazon is a household name today not because of its competitive prices but because of its revolutionary delivery systems. One can order a product and get it the same day. Tomorrow, a drone delivery seems plausible with Amazon. People trust Amazon to deliver. Quite literally! So, logistics is definitely the new brand differentiator.
If you run an ecommerce company, these moves can help you build better logistics and thereby improve your brand:
Experts say 80 per cent of a company’s sales come from 20 per cent of its products. So, if you want to improve your overall reputation as an excellent logistics and operations seller, you need to focus on these high selling products. The rest, you can put on the back burner for a while. You can look at customer complaints with these product deliveries and look at resolving them first.
Periodically, do a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is one that tests your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This would help you understand where you lag behind in logistics and you can look at improvement in these areas. An external consultant can help you chalk it out neatly.
Have pilot projects where you scrap logistics ideas that do not work and enforce newer ideas. For example, it can be as simple as trying out a new shipping carrier for a certain product or area. If it works better than usual, it gives you an avenue to shift operations to a better carrier. You can try promoting free shipping for a minimum purchase limit. All these trial runs can be used as case studies.
Related Topics:
Unravelling the secret shipping strategy of top 5 established Brands
3 Game Changing Logistic Decisions for a Successful Online Business
How can your online store leverage data analytics for a better customer experience
Offers and Promos:
Data analytics is very helpful for insights related to customized promotions and special offers. Every customer has unique tastes, preferences and needs. So, each customer will be interested in a personalized scheme. This can impact overall sales and profitability along with customer loyalty. While wish lists are great for the customer to curate the products he is interested in, the seller gets to see what the customer really likes and aspires to buy. So, he can customize offers based on that.
Check more details: 3 ways to convert your customers into brand advocate
For example, a customer who has recently bought a certain brand of shampoo might be a potential target for a conditioner from the same brand and line. If his wish list has products you can give offers on, you can buy customer loyalty.
Customer experience Insights:
Data on inventory photos, color, objects in the photo, size, resolution, message combined with a database of the deployment data of time and place the content went live, what it was promoted with, who the audience were. Performance can be measured against these parameters to understand what works. The best customer experience can be charted out according to the study results.
Some photographs can look awesome on laptops but terrible on phones. Today, people shop from various platforms. So, your content needs to be feasible on all platforms. These also add to customer experience insights.
Learn More: The 6 fatal mistakes of customer service
Study friction elements
A customer who comes to your site with the intention of looking at earphones searches for earphones first. Then, he likes to filter the list according to his budget and brand preferences. After this, he likes to sort the list according to price, reviews and customer feedback. After all this, if he decides to abandon a cart, he must encounter friction. Look at what causes this friction. And try to eliminate them as much as possible. For example, a cumbersome check out process that asks for too many details can irritate a customer. Or, not allowing a one time guest login can cost you. Not many people like giving details like birthdays and anniversary date for an online purchase. He will abandon the cart for these reasons.
Session replay
You can get into the customer’s shoes when you see a replay of his session on your site. You can map his entire journey and get an idea of what he likes and dislikes about your site. You can mechanically track the number of seconds each customer spends on each page of your site to understand what captures customer attention. and then, based on that date, you can build better customer experience.
Related Topics:
5 metrics to measure online customer satisfaction
How to make your customer come back to you every time
How to choose a real time shipment tracker for your e-commerce store
If you run an e-commerce store, big or small, you need a shipping system that has a real time shipment tracker. The most important factor that drives online shopping is trust. When a customer orders a product from your site, he trusts you to deliver the product. And if he pays before receiving the product, he trusts you with delivery. If he promises to pay on delivery, you ship the product across with trust that he will pay. And both out of your trust in the 3PL partner here, the shipping company to take the product from the seller to the buyer. This is why you need GPS enabled real time tracking systems for your store.
What should your real time shipment tracker include?
Estimate time of delivery
Once the customer enter his address, the shipment tracker tells him how long it would take for the product to reach the customer’s destination. Real time tracking is accurate. When you ship the product after the customer has placed the order, you can give estimated time of delivery so that the customer can make arrangements to get the package at his address. If it’s his residence, he can make himself available. Or, he can make alternative arrangements.
Package loss alerts
The tracking system should tell you in case there are parcel damage or loss. Shipping is not devoid of accidents and disasters. With the tracking system in place, you can work around and make sure your brand doesn’t suffer from a tarnished image in case the shipping partner loses a package. If you act quickly, you can replace the product and control the damage.
Trace delayed packages
If your customer says that he is yet to receive his product delivered and it’s late already, you know what your first task is. You should be able to look at the shipment’s tracking history without even having to call the shipping partner. The customer or the shipper can also do this as step one. Proactive customers track packages themselves and contact the shipping company in case there is a delay. Check the below blog for more details on late delivery.
5 Reasons to Fight Late Delivery
Aid refund processes
FedEx and UPS offer full refund guarantee in case they goof up on delivery time. The tracking system can be used in your claim for refund on shipping cost, in case FedEx or UPS fail to deliver the package on time. So, the tracking history comes in handy when you claim for refund.
Related Topics:
Why real time tracking of shipments is imperative for your online store?
Say Hello To Pulse!
5 best return policies that every e-commerce store needs to implement
If you run an e-commerce company, expect returns. So, along with your shipping plans, you need to frame your returns policies. Everything needs to be in black and white.
These are the 5 best return policies that e-commerce stores generally have:
1. Accept returns in the first place
Customers put their trust in you when they purchase from you. Sometimes, their expectations and your product do not match. Unless you enable easy returns, the customer is never coming back to your store. If you facilitate easy returns, however disappointed the customer was with the product, they will still have a great opinion on your store. So, understand that all sales are not final. Accepting returns involves several processes: return shipping, exchange, refund or credit. So, deal with every department and make sure the customer does not have a daunting task ahead of him when he chooses to return a product he is not satisfied with.
2. Do everything possible to avoid returns
Customers return products only when they are not satisfied with them. So, minimise disappointment. Do not promise the moon. Stick to accurate descriptions and good product photography. These steps can help minimize returns a great deal. Do not share photographs of something else and deliver something different. And when you describe a product, make sure you mention power requirements, guarantee and warranty details. Ensure that the colour of the product is exactly what the photograph shows.
3. Stick to plain English
Do not sound verbose when you describe the product. Unless you deal with very niche customers who are expected to understand jargons, do not use jargons. Your legal policy should also be simple to understand. Even if you mean what you intend to mean, if your language is ambiguous, you will have product returns because the customer has understood it differently. Whose mistake is that? Yours, because you leave scope for such misunderstanding.
4. No fine text
If you have a caveat, mention it forthright without minimising font size. Your policies, especially the ones that matter should never be tucked away in a corner. Post the exact return policy as is. Your customer should find all details he needs right before his eyes.
Your customer should never bear the costs of returns. Not a single cent. If you hide return costs, that’s the worst image you can ever build in front of your customer. If you still want to make the customer pay for return shipping, you need to mention it very clearly.
5. Exchange, credit or cash?
If you are willing to refund the customer in case he returns the product, mention that. And if it is store credit you are willing to offer, mention that in black and white. If you send a malfunctioning product, it shouldn’t be the customer’s responsibility to pay for anything.
If you liked this blog, check out other blogs:
1. Your return Policy could become your USP and how?
2. Why online shoppers love these 5 return polices?
5 key strategies to craft an effective customer experience journey map
A customer experience journey map is the story of the customer’s entire experience from how he hinds your site to him becoming a long term buyer. The idea of sketching such a map is to make organisations learn their customers better. It is an attempt to make the customer experience better.
1. Understand why the map is essential:
Every business has its set goals. Identify the goals that the map will support. Look at answering questions about how the map will support business goals, who will be using it and how it will be shared. You will be able to come up with goal specific maps, user specific maps and medium specific maps that would each serve its own purpose.
2. Have data:
Customer journey maps should be based on truth. So, collect data as the first step. Also remember that people will not be interested in your story if it contains only numbers. Use numbers and extrapolate information to make the map engaging. At the same time, these maps should be easy to understand, especially when your user base is varied. If you want to project the map to marketing people and sales people at once, you need to have a comprehensive idea of both arenas in the map. Also check out 5 Tips to Handle Millenial Customers
3. Invite all teams to participate:
The guy in sales might have a very different perspective on a customer experience aspect from the guy in maintenance. It helps resolve differences, solve problems when you involve several teams in mapping the customer experience journey map. A particular customer might have had a wonderful sales experience but a bad service experience. So, the overall customer experience in that case would still be bad despite best efforts from sales and profitable numbers. If you would like to improve the overall customer experience visit How to make your customer come back to you every time
4. Visuals and numbers tell stories best:
The idea of coming up with a customer experience journey map is to make the process look easy enough to learn. So, make your map a great story telling medium by using numbers in charts and by using pictures. Infographics are a great medium to tell a story. But start with a text based gist to drive across the point of the map.
5. Share the map in person:
Customer experience journey maps are best shared with human interaction. So, if you intend making one to be sent as an email attachment, think twice. All the effort put in will be wasted. No one bothers seeing the map and it will be sent to trash. So, invite people in person or via Skype and make this an interactive session where people understand the various segments of the map through conversation. Such a medium also enables instant feedback.
If you liked this blog, check out other related blogs:
In the old world, each town would have had a couple of grocers serving the entire community. And trade boundaries were probably clearly established among the single digit number of competitors within reach. But today, the scenario is entirely different. Let’s say you sell affordable shoes online. You are literally one in a million who cater to the populace of your community. There are vendors from the next street to vendors from China who are willing to ship shoes to any part of your town.
The cost of customer acquisition is significant today and unless you convert him to a repeat business customer, you cannot run a profitable business. So, unless you do something drastically different, you will lose your customers to your peers.
Offer loyalty cards and programs
The oldest trick in the textbook of customer retention is to reward long standing customers with free goods and discounts. Once you identify a potential customer, market a loyalty program with him. Structure the loyalty program in such a way that it benefits the customer and your business. Since he gets incentive in the form of discounts or free goods if he sticks with you, he is bound to keep buying from you unless he finds a fault with your products or service.
Track individual needs, preferences and tastes
When you sell online, it’s easy to have a record of what you have already sold to a particular customer. And with the plethora of tools available online, you can track his movement across your site. And based on his browsing patterns, you can clearly say from the time he spends on each product page about what he likes, prefers and would like to buy. Target him with ads with such products. Or a personal mail saying you have curated a list of products he might be interested in and listing such products would make him buy more. But being overly aggressive with ad retargeting might brand you as pushy. So, don’t overdo this. Also, providing a real time transparent information of the shipments is becoming a norm of a good customer service. To learn more about this practice check out Why real time tracking of shipments is imperative for your online store?
Lend a personal touch
Have you ever wondered why visit a certain cafe even if all the other competitors give you the same stuff? Is it because the waiter there is courteous? Or, do you get a tiny portion of your favourite pudding even without having to ask? Is it because the sandwich is double wrapped for you to carry? Adding a personal touch to your service can go a long way. It is tough to do this over online sales but it can help you much. So, try sending a handwritten note. Or, surprise the customer with a small and inexpensive coffee mug with your logo on it. Pick up the phone and ask the customer if the product you shipped across is satisfactory or if he has any feedback to make it better. The customer feels important enough if he knows that his feedback is taken seriously. And this can make him stick to you for a long time.
Turn Uncertainty Into Opportunity: Get a Handle on Last Mile Delivery
The most frustrating part of supply chain for any e-commerce business is the last mile delivery. You not only have zero visibility over the package location once all control is relinquished to your shipping carrier, but also have no idea how your customers cherish the final moment of truth.
When you are up against e-commerce big players such as Amazon who constantly experiment with their logistic strategy, you have to raise the stakes in curating an exceptional customer delivery experience. Added to that is the pressure of an unprecedented growth of on demand customer industry that leaves no room for guessing.
All is not lost in uncertainty clouding your last mile delivery. There are some sure shot redemption techniques to win your customers back:
Some like it hot, some not
Does your customer like his package to be delivered at his residence or he always picks it up on saturday? Does he prefer paying a premium for same day delivery or opts for free 2 day delivery? Knowing these little nuances about your customer's shipping needs, helps you predict and service your customers better.
Deliver right here, right now
Fulfilling orders are increasingly becoming difficult. Customers want their orders as early as possible. They want it free and they want it now. This formidable combination of demands keeps the retailers on their toes ,always innovating new technology and creative ways to satisfy the growing demands of customers. Close to 25% of the customers are willing to pay a premium price for there parcel to be delivered on the same day. Speed of delivery over price drives the retail industry while competing against their omni channel counterpart. As a small to medium size business even if employing drones to deliver your parcels seems too far fetched , clearly communicating your shipping needs to your shipping carrier would be a plausible solution to your delivery woes. Moreover , revisit your shipping contract to access guaranteed service refunds for delayed deliveries.
See here What is the real cost of delivering packages late to your customers?
Show, don't tell
Are you receiving calls from anxious customers enquiring about their package? Are you re-routing their calls to your shipping carrier? Do you think your customers will be happy when you absolve of your responsibility of the safe, secure and on time delivery? Absolutely not! As far as the consumers are concerned, final mile delivery falls within the gamut of retail experience. Instead of trying to argue or pass on the blame to your shipping carrier, use a real time shipment tracker to show your customers the exact pin location of your package.
Check out other related blogs:
5 Reasons to Fight Late Delivery
4 smart tricks to offer the best last mile delivery experience to your customer
5 simple ways to delight your customers on every order
The life and sustenance of your business lies in satisfying your customers. If you manage to satisfy your customer, you have done your job. But successful businesses that grow by leaps and bounds every year do more than that. They work on not just delivering promises but on exceeding expectations with every single order they receive and send out. So, if you want your customer base to stick with you for a long time, it would be a great idea to see what these successful businesses do to delight their customers.
1. Have an accurate inventory
Stock up on customer favourites. It’s annoying to find that you have several product pages that display ‘Out of stock’. And once the customer orders a product, he expects that the product be shipped across as soon as possible. You will ruin your reputation if you call the customer and tell him that unfortunately, the product he has ordered for is not available. So, have an accurate inventory. The moment one of your products is off your warehouse shelves, it has to be off your website as well.
2. Have honest discount schemes and loyalty programs
Thriving e commerce players are transparent with their pricing. It’s dishonest and particularly nasty to hike prices up by 10 per cent and then advertise a 10 per cent discount. Savvy customers do their diligent research in the hundreds of websites that sell the same product and come to a conclusion that you are dishonest.
3. Deliver on time
If you promise to deliver the product to the customer in 3 days, you have to do so. The customer would be very unhappy if he receives the product after a week. So, it always makes sense to promise delivery a day later than you actually can deliver. This leaves buffer time to save your reputation in case something goes wrong with the shipping procedure. Always liaise with a shipping partner of repute.
4. Package it right
If you are looking to please a customer, go a step ahead and make sure your packaging is notice worthy. When a customer saves the box his product arrives in, you have arrived! While great packaging is not always possible, especially with lower priced products, it can factor much in customer happiness index in mid to high priced products. Even in cheaper products, it is a good idea to focus on perfect, spill proof and damage proof packaging. With the higher end products, you can play around with creativity and advertising to come up with long lasting, save worthy boxes. check out
Smart packaging = Less shipping cost
5. Surprise the customer with free samples
When a customer orders for, let’s say, a bottle of shampoo, you can either just ship the shampoo alone or you can send a similar flavoured/scented sample sachet of conditioner, moisturiser, shower gel or lotion. If he or she is impressed with the sample, they will order the same again. And everyone likes to receive a free product. So, the customer is definitely delighted.
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5 metrics to measure online customer satisfaction
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5 secrets that your shipping carrier is hiding from you
You are all set! You are ready to serve online buyers with your new online business. Your website is in place and so are your shipping partners. But you still have this nagging feeling that something is amiss. This is especially true If shipping is a big part of your business. No matter how many strategies you have evaluated to arrive at the precise and marginally profitable shipping quote, you wonder if you could have done better.
Don't worry! This article brings to light a few lesser communicated facts that you should be aware of while negotiating a shipping rate with your carrier.
1. You don't need clout
Many small businesses hesitate to negotiate with their shipping carrier because they think they aren’t in a position to do so. Low shipping volume and all that! Wrong. All major shipping carriers like FedEx,UPS and DHL, in addition to publishing the shipping rates clearly on their website, assign sales representative for company of every size who can list the various shipping options and services for businesses of every size.
2. Dimensional weight pricing is not set in stone
When UPS and FedEx announced that the packages will be charged based on dimensions , retailers panicked. But what they failed to realize is that “dimensional weight pricing” is negotiable too. Say the dimensions of your 20 pound package are 25*25*25, the DIM weight pricing would be for a whopping 94 pounds. What if you could negotiate the divisor from 166 (standard) to a 250 (custom) ? The pricing is now reduced by 34%!
Check the Impact of Dimensional Weight Pricing by FedEx and UPS
3. Revise your contract
Although your shipping contracts should be renewed according to the terms and conditions that you have discussed with your carrier, there is no reason for not revising the rates in the contract every month if required. Employ the aid of a shipment pricing expert to analyze your contract and suggest incentive options to get optimized shipping rates.
4. Hold them accountable for every service failure:
FedEX and UPS state in their contract that they will abide by the committed package delivery time failing which they would refund the entire shipping cost. However, these businesses are so caught up with their day to day affairs that they fail to note or request refunds for several service failures in the form of delivery delays, lost packages, invoicing errors etc. Handing your shipping carrier a free reign over last mile delivery not only makes them complacent but also results in customer dissatisfaction. With LateShipment.com, in less than 5 minutes you could save up to 20% of your shipping cost by automatically receiving refunds for service failures.
Also read How to hold your shipping carrier accountable for all your lost packages?
5. They know about those delivery details, down to the second.
Shipping carriers tag all their trucks and hence know when exactly the delivery is likely to take place. So why do they choose to offer only a broad delivery time window ? It’s simple.They do not want to commit to a delivery time, not to the very second any way. But then if you could predict delivery delays and suspect lost packages, what a world of difference that would it make to your customers. LateShipment.com offers a real time shipment tracking dashboard that allows to send out alert notification to your customer for every delivery exception thus helping you weave a curated post purchase experience for your customer.
Check our other related blogs:
5 factors to consider when choosing a shipping carrier.
Should online sellers include shipping cost in the product price?
Online stores always face the million dollar question on how to package shipping costs to the customer. The primary focus here is to portray to the customer, a competitive price that still allows for profits. Reaching that perfect and desirable middle ground is what online sellers hope for. The overall price in the customer’s eyes includes the cost of shipping also. So, do online sellers include shipping cost in the product price and offer free shipping? Or, should the product price and shipping price be mentioned separately? Logically speaking, it should make no difference. But, it does. One, customers love the idea of free shipping. Two, shipping prices vary all the time.
FedEx and UPS have APIs that connect with shopping carts to show buyers the shipping cost for that particular order. They factor the product and destination but don’t always factor the multiple surcharges that may apply. Several studies say customers abandon shopping carts when they find shipping prices in the last stage of check out. Ouch, that hurts.
Shipping charges are not fixed. And, online sellers need not charge actual amount of shipping to their customers. The goal is to earn a net profit after all revenue and expenses are considered. So, a lot of sellers build the cost of shipping to their product price and offer the customer a single and fixed price that remains the same throughout the shopping process. Customers also love that. this means, there is a great reduction of abandoned carts during check out citing shipping cost variations. Click to read Tricks to save shipping costs. But, this is tough for the seller because a LOT of thought has to go in before the price is decided upon. There are times when shipping charges go over the roof and there are times when shipping charges are lower than what you facto it to be. Typically, the list of factors that matter here are:
Size and weight of the product: if you sell cheap, inexpensive and light weighted products, you will not end up spending much on shipping. That also means you have a fair idea beforehand of how much you will spend on shipping.
If your average order value is on the higher side, you can afford to give very competitive rates as your shipping price would typically be only a fraction of your quoted price.
Finally, a lot depends on your shipping partner and his tariff. Does he have a floating or fixed tariff? How flexible is he?
Answers to these questions will help you decide on a fixed price.
The easier way here for the seller is to quote the price of the product and collect actual shipping charges during check out. But that will also mean a few abandoned carts. So, the seller needs to come to an informed decision, depending on what he wants and what he can afford.
A very important factor while choosing your shipping price justification is about where your orders are from. Shipping tee shirts within your state is different from shipping wine bottles or jewellery out of the country. The rules of the game differ and are more complex in the latter example. It is obviously more expensive as well.
So, while free shipping is a USP for buyers, the seller needs to think twice before opting for flat rate shipping/ actual shipping rate or free shipping.
5 strategies to help ecommerce stores engage with customers post purchase
There’s a very good chance of getting business again from an existing customer than from a new customer. And that’s a fact every business person knows. So, ideally while businesses look to get new businesses, they are always focussed on maximising sales with existing customers.
The customer acquisition cost is justified and utilised as much as possible. Moreover, a happy customer brings in business through word of mouth also. So, how does one maximise sales with existing customers? Through a well thought out customer engagement plan post purchase.
Check out 5 tips to engage shoppers proactively
A good customer engagement program has time tested strategies like:
1. Suggest a product that goes with the product already purchased.
If you have a customer who has bought a crib from your online store, you understand that he’s shopping for a child. So, it would be a great pitch to send him an email stating the other products that might interest him. A crib requires a mattress, a baby bumper and bedding. And when you understand that there’s a baby at home, you can unleash your inventory of other baby related products at the customer. If the customer has had a positive experience shopping with you the first time, he would think of shopping again with you in case he needs any of the products you pitch.
2. Offer loyalty programmes
People are generally creatures of habit. Especially, when they have had one positive experience with an online store, they like to come back. You can make use of that and offer loyalty programmes where you allow the customer to save reward points and redeem them some day. Or, if a customer buys for a minimum amount, you could offer him a loyalty discount the consecutive times he buys from you. When you bring about the news of the loyalty program right after a successful product purchase, you might get lucky.
3. Ask for Referrals
Your happy customer, after his successful purchase is the best marketing tool you can ever find. So, make the most of it and send him a post purchase email asking for referrals. If he’s satisfied with your store, he will refer you. Offering referral incentives is the way to go here since he will refer you more and more if you promise him significant rewards.
4. Ask for feedback
If you have just completed delivery, don’t forget to ask for feedback and reviews. It makes the customer feels significant. Once you receive feedback, make sure you respond to the feedback.
5. Thank the customer for choosing you
Last, but not the least, be grateful to the customer who has given you business when he could have dealt with some competitor of yours. So, a simple thank you goes a long way in making the customer feel nice. If the purchase is something major, pick up the phone and tell him that he’s made the right choice in choosing you. Of course, you also do your best to deliver your promises. Ask him if the experience has been nice enough and if the answer is not nice, address his grievances.
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Is seamless marketing, the future to a personalized consumer engagement?
