8 Tips For Communicating Throughout The Delivery Process

How can you make your Customer Experience better?

It’s not enough to just have a great product.

For your business to thrive, you need happy customers who will sing your praises to their friends and family members.

A positive delivery experience is a vital part of the Customer Experience. Relevant communication with your customers throughout the courier delivery process flow is key. If you’re not doing it well, your customers may find themselves complaining to their associates or taking their business elsewhere. It’s why the delivery management process is more critical than you might think.

Why should you communicate?

Communication is essential in every aspect of business, but communication is especially vital for a positive customer experience in the ecommerce world.

Your customers want to know what’s happening with their order at every stage and have a voice where they can ask questions or provide input.

When you’re not communicating properly throughout the courier delivery process flow, your customers may find themselves feeling frustrated and not satisfied. A recent study found that 47% of customers will avoid re-ordering from you because they do not feel they can track the delivery process.

Improve your sales with transparency. Customers feel more confident in placing orders if they know the expected delivery time. They’re also 61% more likely to buy when you offer them accurate shipping timings in their shopping cart.

Communication tips for the order delivery process

Communicating effectively with your customers is a key part of the delivery management process.

Here are some of the best practices you can utilise to effectively communicate with your customers throughout the courier delivery process flow:

1. Have delivery information on your website

Communication is about being proactive and anticipating a customer’s needs, which is why it starts even before a customer makes a purchase. Having a page dedicated to common delivery questions such as:

• How your shipping works
• Delivery timings
• How to track their order
• Which courier company you use
• How much is the delivery cost for them

Answering all their questions before they contact you will save you a lot of time.

2. Provide tracking numbers on all orders

Give every order its own tracking number, which customers can use for updates on the status of their package throughout delivery.

Making tracking easily accessible through your website will help your customers quickly and easily check the status of their package. If you use a courier company, let your customers know how to track their packages directly, and it will also save you time.

Additionally, you can also use API’s to communicate the status of these packages to customers based on their email, phone number or other personal information. This is great if you have many parcels going out every day with multiple delivery options in all different directions and locations. For example, if you have a customer with an express delivery courier tracking number, all the information they need will be integrated seamlessly with their tracking number no matter what delivery stage it is in and they can automatically get updates.

Have more questions about tracking? Contact your local courier provider or check out our FAQ’s here.

3. Provide an estimated date of arrival

Be clear about when their order will be delivered. To communicate effectively, this should be told to the customer promptly, so they know when to expect their order. Make sure communication about this topic occurs early on in the process.

If you can, provide this at checkout so your customers know right from the beginning. This will limit any potential customer service queries requesting an ETA.

4. Communicate often

With push notifications, ecommerce platforms like Shopify make it easy for businesses to communicate effectively and with their customers regularly.

The key is consistency – if someone opens up your email or app notification and sees that it’s been a while since they last received one, they might not open the next one.

5. Communicate delays (if you can)

If you know an order is delayed and isn’t going to be delivered in a reasonable timeframe or when agreed upon, being proactive and communicating this to them will help manage expectations and mean a positive experience for your customers in what could otherwise be a negative experience with your brand.

For example, if you let a customer know that an order will take at least 2 days to arrive, but it hasn’t shown up after 2 days, customers appreciate communication reassuring them you are aware of this and doing everything you can to get that order to them quickly.

If the package doesn’t arrive within the reasonable timeframe given at the time of purchase and no communications are sent to that customer, this can lead to that customer not returning to your store or worse yet, a poor online review.

6. Allow for two-way communication

Communication is a two-way street. It’s your responsibility to stay in touch with your customers, but communication also means that they need to keep you updated on any changes with their circumstances.

Make it easy for customers to contact you with any questions or concerns. An easy way to do this is by having contact details or a contact form on your website. When filling out this form, whether they’re providing feedback about their order, requesting more information from you, or asking a question, it should be clear what the customer is looking for.

7. Utilise visual communication

Communicating with your customer doesn’t stop with texts or voice messages – make sure that you communicate visually through your designs.

This means including pictures of the products or package, updates on where it is at any given time, and responding quickly and effectively to any questions or concerns. Design and visual communications are the easiest way for more information to be processed in a single glance, and it provides customers with a quick way to visualise their package’s journey.

8. Switch on Parcel Notifications

Switching on Parcel Notifications with your carrier allows you to automate the process of updating your customer on the status of their order while they’re waiting, especially if the order is delayed for any reason.

Parcel Notifications can be switched on in your shipping platform, where they will create automated updates via email and text for your customers without you having to do anything. One less thing that you need to worry about!

Bonus communication tip

Be sincere: Communicate any delays or problems with delivery that may come up promptly and make sure it is handled professionally by being sincere without giving too many details to the customer at once.

Communication channels to utilise

There are several channels you can use to communicate effectively with your customers throughout the courier delivery process flow, and some may be more appropriate than others for your business and the types of customers you have.

You may want to ask your customers what channels they prefer and tailor that type of communication to specific customers. Allowing your customers to choose what they prefer increases the likelihood they will engage with the communications you send to them, and it’s a great way to build a relationship, brand loyalty and show you’re a customer-centric brand.

Here are some communication channels you should be using:

Email

It’s important to make communication as personal and intimate as possible. Email is still the leader of all communication channels. It allows for the most flexibility, customisation and personalisation, which is key for your brand, primarily when operating your communications at a large scale.

Many ecommerce brands do this by sending out an order confirmation email thanking them for their business and providing information about their order. Email is the perfect channel to include information like order summary, delivery timings and FAQs. The more relevant questions you can answer in the emails, the less likely customers will contact you directly.

Text

Another way you can communicate effectively with your customers is through text messages. A study showed, more than 90% of text messages we get on our phones are opened and read.

With text, you have the opportunity to be a bit more casual with your communication but lose the ability to go in-depth, so make sure your text messages are direct and to the point. If you need to get a more extended message across, try using another communication channel or including a link to a page on your website where you don’t have a character limit.

Social Media

Many brands use social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to communicate with their customers. Social media can be helpful because it creates the opportunity for a two-way conversation, whether by direct message or in the comment section of your posts.

The most important thing when using social media is consistency. If your brand is seen to be replying to comments and direct messages through social media platforms, your customers will expect a response. 70% of companies ignore customer complaints on Twitter, but responding demonstrates empathy and consistency. Plus, 83% of consumers say they expect to get a reply from companies.

Responding to all comments and messages on multiple social media platforms can require many resources, so you may want to create an automated way of directing all communication back into one internal platform. Hence, you can deal with and respond to all types of queries.

Phone Call

Phoning a customer to update them on their order every once in a while can be a great way to delight your customers. A phone call is the most personal of all the communication channels and creates the best opportunity to build a relationship with your customers.

Suppose you give your customers the option of calling you directly. In that case, the most important thing to remember is to be professional and answer your customer’s phone calls within a reasonable time frame, so they know that you’re accessible and don’t get frustrated.

Conclusion

While different methods are great for various businesses, communication should be a core focus regardless of your industry. Communication is the key to excellent customer service and a great customer experience.

Customers want information about what’s going on with their order at every step of its process – from when they purchase it all the way up until it arrives at their doorsteps. Communication doesn’t have to end once the delivery is made though, use this as a platform to continue the conversation and create engaging relationships with your customers so you can turn first-time buyers into promoters of your brand.