by Sean Sherwin-Smith, Post-Purchase Product Director
Peak season is an opportunity to build new customer relationships and grow revenue. From delivery choice at checkout to order tracking, it’s vital that retailers provide a customer experience that guards against complaints.
That’s why ecommerce vendors must ensure that they anticipate customer complaints and work to reduce them. This is especially important during peak season when demand rises and pressures increase.
The right ecommerce delivery management solution, complete with order-tracking software, can help retailers reduce the following customer complaints:
Complaint: “none of your delivery options suit me”.
Solution: increase delivery choice at checkout
This is typically a silent complaint. Customers rarely get in touch with the retailer to inform them that they can’t find the right delivery option. They’ll simply abandon their shopping basket and find a retailer who gives them what they want.
So providing the right range of delivery options really matters. And these need to be clearly displayed at checkout so that the customer can find what they are looking for easily.
nShift has a library of 1000+ carriers. This makes it easy to set up a variety of delivery options including lower-emissions last-mile shipping and pick up / drop off (PUDO) lockers.
Our Checkout feature enables retailers to clearly display these options in the look and feel of the webshop. They can badge and label options to make it easier for the customer to quickly scan the page and find what they are looking for. For example, they could put a green leaf icon next to lower-emissions choice.
Complaint: “where is my order?”
Solution: provide updates with order-tracking software
Customers hate it when their order is late. They get especially frustrated around the Christmas shopping season. What if their purchase was intended to be a gift?
Real-time updates throughout the delivery process keep people informed. This reduces the customer’s stress and complaints to the retailer. In fact, relevant and timely updates can cut WISMO (where is my order?) calls by 60%.
Complaint: “there was a problem with my delivery.”
Solution: gain real data on carrier-company performance
Missed deliveries, late deliveries, or the parcel being left in the wrong place can trigger bad reviews and customer complaints. Customers may well appreciate it’s the carrier company’s fault, rather than the retailer. Ultimately, though, the memory of a bad post purchase experience does more harm to the retailer, as shoppers head elsewhere.
Retailers and warehouses need to reduce errors in the delivery process. To do that, they need real data on the performance of their carrier companies. Ideally, they will want to quickly compare the performance of one carrier company vs another.
Our delivery management solutions enable teams to quickly pull off carrier performance reports, enabling data-driven conversations about performance that can lead to better value and improved results.
nShift’s delivery & experience management platform (DMXM) drives ecommerce success. Grow beyond limits with constant innovation and the world’s largest carrier network. Build customer loyalty with end-to-end tools that enhance experience. Unify data into usable insight that connects and optimizes processes. With nShift, make delivery the essential link between your brand and your customers.
Author
Sean Sherwin-Smith
Post-Purchase, CX, and Sustainability Product Director
With 30+ years in final mile technology, product and CX, Sean has a wealth of knowledge and first hand stories to share, helping retailers understand the psychological, commercial and operational advantages that can be created in the post purchase journey. From the very early days of eCommerce, he has helped and advised retailers and carriers how to keep customers engaged after they have clicked the buy button and convert them into loyal brand advocates.
