Getting a great reputation for your ecommerce brand is really important to continuing to win new customers. And there are steps you can take to ensure that you leave your customers happy:
- Great products
- Competitive pricing
- Great packaging
- Fast responses to customer service queries
There’s plenty you can do.
But the reality is that for more retailers (unless you’re hand delivering products yourself) the final part of the purchasing process is out of your control.
The moment you hand over to a courier or delivery service, you have no further control of things.
So what you do to minimise the chance of things going wrong during the delivery process? Here are four practical tips.
Choice of Pick Up Points or Home Delivery
Lots of courier services now offer deliver to home or pick up points where local newsagents or shops act as pick up points.
You can go one step further and use couriers that use outdoor parcel lockers too. This means that your recipient doesn’t have to be home during the delivery and doesn’t have to reach a shop during specific hours of the day.
They can collect from their nearest locker at their convenience.
One of the biggest frustrations with parcel delivery is not being home when it arrives and a courier either not delivering at all then or leaving it somewhere it is at risk of being stolen or damaged.
So by using couriers with so many different options, you give your customers much more flexibility.
Read Reviews Before Picking Delivery Companies
Do your research on specific delivery companies before you start sending out with them.
It’s not always simple because reviews can vary wildly in different towns, cities and streets even just based on the local courier for that area.
But read through some of the reviews in detail and look at common complaints and frustrations.
For example, if people consistently complaint that they cannot get help when they need it from a delivery company, then this is a big problem that’s likely to affect people in all locations.
Don’t just read the average star rating. Properly dig into the specific review information to make sure the complaints are not fundamental ones that apply consistently.
Multiple Courier Options
It’s possible and arguably makes more sense to let people pick their courier. For example, some of your customers may just know that in their specific area they have more reliable couriers working for one company than another. Giving them the choice of couriers(or a “pick the cheapest”) gives them an element of control and choice.
Can You Absorb Delivery Costs and Make it Free Delivery for Customers?
Our own research showed that almost half of people are likelier to buy from a retailer who offers free delivery.
So if you can factor free delivery into your pricing this helps to win customers.
But it can also help with perceptions of the delivery experience. If someone is getting free delivery and there’s a small delay, arguably they will be less annoyed than had they spent money on delivery in a certain timeframe only for it to fail.
In Summary…
We have to accept that certain things during delivery are not in your direct control.
But we can do our utmost to ensure the delivery options we offer are as flexible as possible and work with reputable courier companies.
It’s also worth keeping an eye on complaints relating to delivery to ensure that if service drops off with one courier, you can address it.
And ultimately, seek feedback from your customers to ensure they’re happy with it too!
