Customer satisfaction is imperative to maintaining sales numbers; your customers won’t be coming back if they are not satisfied with the overall experience. And while many factors play key roles in customer satisfaction, the entire delivery process is one of them.
So, while you are measuring customer satisfaction and searching for ways to deliver an enhanced experience, we’ve listed some shipping tips.
Because the delivery process has a significant impact on customer satisfaction, this expert advice is a practical way to ensure that all your once-off buyers turn into brand-loyal customers.
1. Use Quality Shipping Materials
Customers often order exciting products online, only to feel later disappointed when the item arrives broken or damaged. The most common reason for this is inferior shipping materials.
If your products aren’t packaged properly for shipping, they might not make it through the journey unscathed. Unfortunately, this type of situation can substantially harm your company’s reputation, mainly if unhappy customers cause a public stir by posting their negative experiences on social media.
However, with suitable shipping materials, this won’t be a concern for your business at all. You won’t find yourself constantly trying to undo the damage to your reputation if you use quality sturdy shipping materials, such as insulated mailers, high-quality box tape, and others. Never cut corners when choosing shipping materials; quality shipping materials are just as vital as professional product packaging.
2. Find The Most Reliable Courier
Couriers are an essential service provider for so many businesses. Without them, getting orders out in a timely manner would be a lot more complicated. But with that said, all couriers are not the same, and some are more capable of upholding your business’s reputation than others.
Finding exemplary courier service for your business is crucial to maintaining customer satisfaction; late deliveries can negatively impact Customer Satisfaction retention. It is best to look for a service that offers speedy same-day deliveries, overnight shipping options, and others your business will frequently need.
But beyond that, you also need a professional courier, has an excellent reputation for quality services and uses the latest parcel tracking systems so you can always keep your customers up to date with order status.
3. Keep Customers Updated
One of the best advancements in the shipping industry is the release of live parcel tracking systems that keep everyone in the loop regarding the whereabouts of a parcel. With this, customer convenience enhances dramatically.
However, customer convenience can only be enhanced by this if businesses use the systems to their advantage. Instead of only updating customers when there is a delay, the best approach is to send out automated updates via email, SMS, or other, to alert the customer each time the parcel’s whereabouts change.
For example, you can alert the customer when the order has been received, confirmed, and left for delivery. You should also go the extra mile here in terms of effort and alert the customer when it is about to arrive and again when it has been delivered.
4. Offer Several Delivery Options
Offering more than one delivery option is an excellent decision to give your customer more convenience. Same-day delivery is not the best option for everyone, just as waiting for five to seven business days is not ideal for others.
Fortunately, with courier services going above and beyond thanks to enormous industry growth, adding more delivery options is as simple as choosing a courier that offers these varieties. Some courier services can do it all, while others provide only two or three delivery options.
5. Make The Checkout Process Effortless
While the checkout process for customers might not be a part of the shipping process, it is the final step before shipping begins. So, enhancing this area is an excellent idea.
Assess the experience that your checkout process offers, and find ways to improve details that are lacking. For example, if your website is lagging and pages take forever to load, you will need to optimize your site to ensure that checkout is always a smooth process free of frustrations for your customers.
Beyond that, add several payment options to further add to customer convenience; having more than one way to pay will also prevent your business from losing potential sales.
Enhancing customer satisfaction is vital in maintaining customer retention. As a result, your shipping process is imperative to repeat sales and to create brand-loyal buyers. Once you have improved your shipping process in favor of customer satisfaction, you will find your business’s bottom line will strengthen substantially.
