Providing an excellent customer experience does not end at the moment of purchase. If you want to stand out from other ecommerce stores, you have to exceed the expectations of your customers right up through the delivery of their order and beyond. One way you can do that is by helping your customers to understand how to track and take control of their deliveries.
This can prevent customers being greeted by disappointing notes on their door that they missed a delivery for something they were really excited to receive.
It also has the added benefit of freeing up your team from additional customer service requests about when packages will be delivered, if they can be rerouted, or tracking down a shipment that has not reached its destination on time.
There are tools that make this easy. For example, FedEx offers a service called FedEx Delivery Manager®. UPS offers UPS My Choice®.
These services give users control over where and when their packages will be delivered. It’s an ideal solution for an online retailer. Your customers get control over the package delivery service at no additional cost to you, fewer calls will be coming in to you about the shipping and delivery process, and it all provides a better experience for you customers. It’s a win-win for both you and your customers.
Why Encourage Customers To Take Control of Their Deliveries?
As mentioned above, there are certainly service benefits to having your customers use services like FedEx’s Delivery Manager® to take more control over their deliveries. Besides keeping your customers happy, there are other benefits.
Reduced Theft
We have all seen the stories and videos posted of people driving around neighborhoods and stealing packages sitting on doorsteps. Of course as the seller, you cannot be held responsible for that, but encouraging your customers to use these services can decrease the likelihood of theft.
Customers no longer need to take time off of work or rearrange their plans to make sure they are home all day to wait for a package.
If customers know they are not going to be home for the delivery, they can schedule a delivery window when they will be home, reroute the package to another location, ask for the package to be left with a trusted neighbor, or even have the package held at a FedEx or UPS delivery center for pickup.
This is all especially valuable for deliveries of expensive products like computers, televisions, jewelry, etc.
Convenience
FedEx’s Delivery Manager® and UPS’ My Choice® programs are extremely easy to use and they are all online. Customers do not have to call a 1-800 number and then wait on hold for 30 minutes before finally getting to speak to someone.
If someone wants to provide instructions for a package to be left around back of their house, have it dropped off with their next-door neighbor, or put a hold on a package delivery because they are going to be out of town for a few days, they can do it all easily right from their computer or smartphone.
Updates
One of the things that customers like best about these services is the ability to receive shipping updates. These updates can be sent by text, email, or both.
If the shipment gets delayed, the customer will receive a notification. If the shipment is ahead of schedule and will be delivered early, the customer will receive a notification. When the package hits the customer’s doorstep, they will receive a notification.
They are kept in the loop through every step of the delivery process.
Help Them, Help You
At the end of the day, encouraging your customers to use these free services benefits everyone. They remain informed of their order’s shipping process every step of the way and can handle any issues directly with the carrier, and you end up with more satisfied customers and fewer service issues to deal with.
