Post-Purchase Experience Archives | Lateshipment.com

Leverage Existing Tech Stack To Build Exciting Post-Purchase Experiences This Holiday Season

Sashank Ravindranath — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 14:32:02 +0000

The holiday season is a critical time for e-commerce businesses, with the potential to attract new customers and drive significant sales.

To take things a notch further, you need to stand out in a competitive landscape and retain customers. The best way to do that is to deliver an outstanding post-purchase experience to build a loyal customer tribe and grow.

There’s an easier way to do this — leverage their existing tech stack to create seamless and delightful post-purchase experience without starting from scratch. Here’s how to do it effectively this holiday season.

Leverage Existing Tools to Enhance Your Customers' Holiday Post-Purchase Experience

Understanding how you can leverage technology to enhance the experience of your store ultimately comes down to picking the right set of tools to support your scaling efforts and improve your customers’ experiences at every stage of their journey.

With advanced shipment tracking, delivery, and returns management tech, brands big or small can easily provide great post-purchase experiences that drive fierce customer loyalty. The best part is, here are some ways for you to do that without making any changes to the existing tools that you’re using.

1. Leverage Email Marketing Tools for Post-Purchase Engagement

Communicating relevant information at the right time to customers makes a whole world of difference for a customer anticipating their order (especially during the Holiday season when their parcels are prone to delays).

This is where you can leverage marketing automation tools such as Klaviyo, Attentive, Omnisend or Twilio by integrating with a post-purchase platform like LateShipment.com to:

Send post-purchase transactional emails and SMS notifications to keep your customers in the loop about their orders throughout the delivery and returns lifecycle and to keep customers informed when your customers’ parcels are facing uncommon delivery issues such as weather-related delays during the holiday season
Send follow-up emails requesting reviews or feedback about the purchased product.
Trigger personalized upsell or cross-sell emails featuring products that complement the customer’s recent purchase. For example, if a customer has recently purchased a camera, you can recommend accessories like lenses or tripods.

2. Enhance Your Customer Support Reps Tracking and Delivery Visibility Using Delivery Experience Platforms + Help desk Integration

Delivery experience platforms like LateShipment.com can transform the post-purchase journey by providing real-time tracking and predictive delivery alerts whenever something goes wrong with your customers’ orders.

You can extend this post-purchase visibility to your helpdesk platforms such as Zendesk, Gorgias, or Freshdesk to

Automate responses to common queries such as “Where is my order?” or “How do I return an item?” during peak shopping periods to enhance customer satisfaction and reduce support workload.
Automatically trigger delivery-related tickets for several common delivery issues and enable your customer support team to proactively resolve delivery issues by stepping in where necessary and taking necessary corrective measures.

Being proactive mitigates your customers’ worries and sets them on the path towards satisfaction. Moreover, it also reduces the burden on your support team during the busy season and lets them focus on product-related queries. Also, taking preemptive action results in your customers appreciating your efforts, which can prove to be fruitful during times like the Holiday season.

3. Streamline Your Returns Process Via Integrating Your E-commerce Platform/ OMS

An efficient returns process is crucial for maintaining customer satisfaction, especially during the holiday season when return rates tend to spike. Returns management software, such as LateShipment.com, can help streamline this process.

Integrating your e-commerce store or Order Management Systems such as Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, Linnworks, ShipStation, etc, can enable you to streamline your shipping processes and enhance the post-purchase experience.

This integration allows businesses to automatically sync order data, track shipments in real time, and proactively manage delivery exceptions. Additionally and more importantly, this integration also allows businesses to provide seamless returns experiences via:

Allowing customers to initiate returns, print labels, and track the status of their returns through a self-service portal and thereby reducing the manual workload for support teams
Leveraging returns data to identify common reasons for returns and make adjustments to product descriptions, quality control, or sizing information.
Improve revenue by incentivizing customers to opt for exchanges or store credit over refunds for each return

And ultimately make returns easy, frictionless, and an integral part of your post-purchase strategy.

One Simple Integration, a World of Retail Benefits

Pairing LateShipment.com with your existing e-commerce, order management, marketing automation, and helpdesk tools allows you to tap into all the great benefits that can take your business to the next level.

LateShipment.com integrates seamlessly with your existing tools and makes it possible to boost their capabilities in the following ways:

Additionally, LateShipment.com also can integrate with custom-built tools and platforms. Our API makes it easy to enable such integrations.

At LateShipment.com, we are committed to enabling your business to wrest control of the post-purchase experience you provide customers. Therefore, integrate your tech-stack with LateShipment.com and stand apart from your competitors by offering your customers near white-glove service in the post-purchase phase.

Ready to try out some of our integrations? – Get Started

Still have questions? – Talk to our integration expert

The post Leverage Existing Tech Stack To Build Exciting Post-Purchase Experiences This Holiday Season appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Package Delivery (and Returns) Satisfaction Ratings: Driving Customer Retention and Revenue Growth

Sashank Ravindranath — Sun, 20 Oct 2024 09:44:09 +0000

Today’s consumers have more choices than ever when it comes to their shopping needs.

With customer experience (CX) being a cornerstone of customers choosing brands to shop with, you need to go above and beyond to provide a positive delivery and returns experience in order to keep customers coming back.

Here’s what the stats have to say:

95% of customers share negative experiences online, compared to 47% who share positive experiences online
93% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase.
74% of consumers say they would stop doing business if they had a bad experience.
86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience.

Fierce competition and a low threshold for customer tolerance. There’s only one way to counter both. Raise the bar with your CX and spread the word out to attract other potential shoppers. The best way to do both — simply ask them.

Satisfaction Ratings: A Metric to Measure Delivery Experience Quality

At its heart, the Satisfaction rating (SAT score) is a surprisingly simple system that allows your customers to rate their delivery experiences on a scale of 1–5.

After each successful delivery or return, these ratings give you a clear and unbiased view of customer sentiment about the quality of the experience you offer. They act as a window into the world of customer experience, allowing businesses to gauge how well they’re meeting their customers’ expectations.

These unprecedented insights stand to benefit your e-commerce business by helping you:

Measure Post-Purchase Customer Experience on Par with Pre-Checkout Customer Experience – While most businesses place a great deal of emphasis on the onsite experience they offer their customers, the post-purchase phase is inevitably neglected. While CSAT and NPS provide an idea of customer sentiment in the pre-checkout stage, DSAT and RSAT can help shine a light on the quality of your post-purchase phase

Identify Which Areas of Your Logistics Operation Need Attention – The feedback mechanism that the DSAT or RSAT system provides allows you to unambiguously identify which areas of your logistics operation need attention in order to allay customer concerns. By identifying areas of improvement and taking appropriate action, you can now address issues, rectify mistakes, and streamline your delivery and returns processes. In the long run, this leads to operational efficiency, cost savings, and improved customer experiences.

Understanding customer satisfaction levels in the order delivery or returns phase is just one part of things, the important challenge remains in the form of amplifying customer satisfaction, as it translates to increased retention and profits.

The Importance of Positive Customer Feedback Around Delivery and Returns Satisfaction Ratings

Satisfaction Ratings: A Window into Customer Retention

DSAT (Delivery Satisfaction) ratings provide a detailed assessment of customers’ delivery experiences by measuring key factors such as delivery timeliness, tracking accuracy, and the quality of communication throughout the shipping process.

RSAT (Returns Satisfaction) ratings provide e-commerce businesses with a comprehensive measure of their customers’ returns experience. Customers can rate their experiences based on factors such as ease of returns processing, clarity of returns policies, returns status communication, and speed of refunds.

These ratings provide customers with a platform to voice their opinions and share their experiences. By giving regular feedback, customers now feel heard and will more likely continue their association with your brand.

That’s not all! Each time a negative review is taken seriously and improvements are made, customers will begin to trust the brand with their choices. As this becomes a routine, happy customers become loyal patrons and will return time and again.

On the other hand, for your business, these ratings offer valuable insights into how satisfied customers are with the delivery and return process, helps you identify areas for improvement.

The Domino Effect: Revenue Growth

Customer retention is closely linked to revenue growth.

Satisfied customers not only come back for more, but they also become brand advocates. They recommend the brand to friends, family, and even share their positive experiences on social media.

Moreover, satisfied customers are more likely to explore other offerings from the same brand. Cross-selling and upselling opportunities increase as customers gain confidence in your efforts to improve the delivery experience. This translates directly into higher average order values and increased revenue per customer.

How E-Commerce Businesses Can Improve Delivery Satisfaction Ratings

Here are some ways your retail business can boost customer satisfaction in the last mile:

Improve on-time deliveries: One of the top-most expectations of customers when it comes to delivery satisfaction is their packages being delivered on time or even earlier. On the other hand, each time there’s an unannounced delay, there’s a possibility of a negative review that can affect your overall satisfaction scores.
Improve returns processes: Offer a seamless, self-service returns experience to customers where they can easily initiate returns, print return labels, and track the status of their refunds.
Ensure proactive communication: Delays are inevitable and almost all customers understand this. This is why, despite the underlying disappointment, they will appreciate your efforts to keep them informed about the status of their orders.
Focus on proper packaging: Ensure that the contents of your customer’s purchase are well-protected from damage during the shipping process via proper packaging techniques such as using the right box, sufficient protective measures, and fragile stickers (if necessary). During times like the holiday season, customers also appreciate receiving their packages in themed and personalized packaging.
Bring in efficiency to your customer support: The chances of all your customers’ parcels facing issues while it’s on its way to reaching their doorstep are low but never zero. In such cases, customers expect to be able to get the help they deserve from your customer support representative. By empowering your customer support team to step in before customer impact and proactively address issues, you can boost your customers’ confidence to keep shopping with you.
Invest in technology: There are a number of technologies that can help businesses improve their delivery processes, such as real-time and self-serve tracking, predictive analytics, automated ticket creation, proactive notifications, etc. These technologies can help businesses to improve on-time deliveries and to provide customers with more information about the status of their orders (delivery and returns).

In the quest for constant enhancement of delivery and return satisfaction ratings, you can adopt these data-driven strategies to take a proactive approach that not only prevents future disappointments but also showcases the brand’s commitment to providing your customers with a great post-purchase experience.

Decode customer actions in the post-purchase order delivery phase with LateShipment.com

LateShipment.com doesn’t just help you deliver phenomenal experiences but also helps you understand whether all that money, time and effort spent is working in your favor or not.

By capturing customers’ delivery and returns experience ratings, you can now learn from your customers about the experience your brand delivered. All you have to do now is to consistently direct efforts and get those 5-star ratings that promote brand credibility.

That’s not all! LateShipment.com also helps you gain insights on:

User engagement metrics – To measure how your customers are engaging with your brand post-purchase via your tracking page, emails, and SMS notifications and to know what your most effective channels are
Carrier Performance Scores – To review your carrier choices based on a detailed assessment of how your carrier’s delivery performance fares against service-specific delivery standards.

Conclusion

In the ever-evolving landscape of e-commerce, package delivery and return satisfaction ratings emerge as a critical factor in driving customer retention and revenue growth. They offer customers a voice, allowing them to shape the way brands operate. By paying attention to these ratings, businesses can build trust, enhance customer experiences, and pave the way for long-term success. After all, a satisfied customer today is an ambassador for the brand tomorrow.

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How 3PL Providers Can Extend Their Capabilities With Post-Purchase Automation

Sashank Ravindranath — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 07:41:22 +0000

A report indicates that 90% of Fortune 500 businesses use 3PLs to handle their logistics and supply chain operations. The primary role of a 3PL provider is allowing their customers, i.e., primarily e-commerce and B2B businesses to scale without needing to invest in additional warehousing or labor. This includes warehousing, picking and packing, shipping, etc,.

Recently, there has been an increase in the herculean responsibility of the post-purchase phase (dealing with high customer expectations for timely, transparent, and reliable delivery). However, as your 3PL business scales and your customer base grows, managing post-purchase operations manually can become unmanageable.

The post-purchase phase comprises shipping, delivery, and returns — all of which you have almost no control over and have to rely on carriers and the experiences they provide.

As these areas, which you have no expertise in, now fall under your responsibility, achieving your fullest potential or meeting the end user’s expectations can be a real challenge.

Why Should 3PLs Reevaluate Their Post-Purchase Strategy?

1. You are overpaying shipping charges by 6-8%

Delivery issues like lost/damaged shipments pose a constant worry to the packages you’re in-charge of. While you can file claims and obtain refunds, the process to do it is difficult and time-consuming due to high shipping volumes. To make things worse, there are more than 50 carrier errors such as late deliveries, invalid delivery exceptions, incorrect surcharges, duplicate charges, etc. In the long term, this implies that you’re never actually getting full value from your carrier service.

Impact: When not kept in check, delivery issues and overcharges can lead to increased shipping costs and put a dent in your savings.

2. You have limited visibility into shipment status and carrier performance

As a 3PL provider, you often work with multiple businesses of different scales, in both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar formats, and ship through multiple carriers, each with their own tracking systems. This puts you in a position where you lack proper insights in the form of organized shipping analytics. Without a proper system in place, this can result in limited visibility into the exact status of shipments and the overall performance of carriers.

Impact: Limited visibility hinders your ability to provide accurate delivery estimates and proactively address potential issues. There’s also the lack of insights to optimize the overall efficiency of delivery operations (identifying underperforming carriers and optimizing carrier selection).

3. You lack opportunities to provide quality post-purchase experiences

3PL giants have their systems in place to scale, but what about the others? They have to compete amongst themselves to gain customers and keep them forever. Coming up with efforts to scale, such as value-added services to improve the customer experience, can be challenging, especially when you’re dealing with multiple carriers and a high volume of shipments.

Impact: E-commerce businesses always rely on 3PLs who offer the best possible service for them. This includes providers who emphasize customer experience. Lack of provisions here always puts you in the backseat, leading to low retention and revenue rates.

Of course, you can use up routine, repetitive tasks to manually optimize these processes and streamline workflows. However, these tasks are time-consuming and take away attention from more complex issues that need to be solved.

On the other hand, reducing manual effort provides you with more time to focus on important tasks around improving post-purchase processes. This can be achieved through technology and cost-saving measures, i.e, automation.

How Automation Helps 3PL Companies Maximize Value To Themselves And Their Customers

Automation is not the future. It’s already here (and you don’t want to stay left out).

By Integrating an intelligent post-purchase platform, you can join the many 3PLs that enable automation to optimize operations and thereby maximize value for you and your customers.

Automation for 3PL providers

1. Parcel audit and shipping refunds

As a 3PL provider, integrating automated parcel audit solutions into your service offerings acts as a differentiator in a competitive market.

How it works: A parcel audit system effortlessly goes through each and every invoice and manages all eligible claims, including those for lost and damaged shipments where service level agreements (SLAs) around delivery performance were not met, and automatically files claims for refunds for them.

Benefits: Automation of parcel audits and shipping refunds helps you recover costs by up to 20% associated with service failures and other billing errors. Also, by systematically identifying and addressing these discrepancies, you can reduce the time spent on manual audits and claims processing.

2. Shipping analytics

An extension of auditing shipping invoices and claiming refunds is its effect to give you detailed insights into carrier performance.

How it works: Audit systems help you with advanced shipping analytics that provide data-driven insights to identify patterns and trends, enabling you to make data-driven decisions about carrier and service selection. To make things even better, automation also allows you to track and monitor all customers’ shipments in-transit service failures in real-time and know what’s happening at a glance.

Benefits: Gain complete visibility into anticipating and resolving issues such as frequent delays. and other inefficiencies to make smarter shipping decisions that help in improving operations and optimizing shipping costs. This especially comes in handy during times like peak season, when shipping volumes are multifold and late delivery refunds with major carriers are temporarily suspended.

Automation for e-commerce businesses using 3PLs

3PL businesses need to differentiate themselves from competitors and customer retention acts as a key differentiating factor. It’s easy to connect these dots. You need to own your post-purchase process by delivering value-added services that go beyond the basics and help you improve retention (and revenue).

1. Reduce customer inquiries

Customers are always anticipating their orders and you’re staying dependent on carriers and their delivery experiences don’t really help.

How it works: Automating key aspects of the post-purchase journey, such as real-time order tracking, enables even more in the form of proactive issue resolution and automated notifications. For instance, you can enable e-commerce businesses to keep their customers informed about their orders at all times, including issues that happen, and suggestions to resolve them. Additionally, there are also post-purchase solutions that help businesses take things up a notch via branded tracking experiences.

Benefits for e-commerce businesses: Real-time shipment tracking with proactive order status updates and support alerts for shipment issues to reduce WISMO calls by 72%. Additionally, including marketing assets on order tracking pages and notifications can increase recurring revenue by 12%.

2. Streamlined returns experiences

Additionally, when things go wrong with deliveries, you don’t have to direct brands to external returns platforms by partnering with a post-purchase automation platform, you can integrate returns into your existing workflows.

How it works: Automated returns solutions make returns self-service for end users. For instance, customers with a need for a return will no longer have to reach out to support reps but instead initiate returns and exchanges on their own.

Benefits for e-commerce businesses: Post-purchase solutions with flexible return options, automated returns updates, and a self-service process can reduce returns processing time by up to 95% and increase revenue by 40%.

With a complete post-purchase automation system in place, you can now enable e-commerce merchants to offer excellent post-purchase experiences to their customers and have an assured chance at improving retention.

The exceptional value you can gain by implementing automation is evident. You can not only elevate your client relationships but also transform your logistics operations. This is where LateShipment.com comes in – to back up automation with post-purchase solutions that are designed specifically for 3PL providers.

Lateshipment.com: Empowering 3PL Businesses Like Yours To Deliver Exceptional Value To Your Customers

LateShipment.com understands the unique challenges faced by 3PL providers in the post-purchase space.

You can trust LateShipment.com to automate key post-purchase processes, optimize your delivery performance, protect your shipments, and keep your customers coming back for more.

Here’s how LateShipment.com can help you grow together – empowering your e-commerce clients while boosting your 3PL’s success:

Gain full visibility into your shipping costs and recover lost revenue with precise, automated audits and claims management
Enhance customer retention through branded sub accounts that offer a centralized master dashboard to track and monitor all customers’ shipments in-transit service failures in real time
Boost your revenue via partner commissions for any additional LateShipment.com products your customers sign up for

In crust, our platform seamlessly integrates real-time order tracking, proactive issue resolution, automated shipping insurance, and efficient return management into ONE powerful solution.

LateShipment.com also integrates with leading e-commerce and helpdesk platforms to enable seamless automation of existing workflows

With LateShipment.com, 3PLs can enhance transparency, reduce operational costs, and improve customer satisfaction.

That’s it from us! It’s time to create a win-win partnership with advanced post-purchase solutions — help your clients retain customers while you gain increased retention, differentiated services, and greater efficiency. Together, we drive growth and success.

We specialize in empowering 3PL businesses like yours to deliver exceptional value to your customers.

See why top 3PLs choose LateShipment.com as their post-purchase partner:

Discuss your strategic post-purchase goals, unique needs and challenges
Put money back into your business with an in-depth understanding of your shipping performance for optimization and value-added features that enhance customer retention
Learn about our 1200+ integrations with shipping carriers and e-commerce apps

Book a consultation call with our product experts today.

The post How 3PL Providers Can Extend Their Capabilities With Post-Purchase Automation appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

WISMO: What it means and how to reduce it?

Ajith Srinivasan — Sun, 15 Sep 2024 09:42:58 +0000

This post-purchase phase, where customers are awaiting their parcels, holds more importance than you think.

While most e-commerce businesses assume to just “hope no things go wrong until the customer gets their hands at their order“, the truth is far.

From the moment the order gets shipped, till it gets delivered, there is a window of opportunity to boost customer loyalty by ensuring hassle-free order delivery experiences that reward your brand with repeat sales in the future.

The catch? Customers love to stay in the know and receive updates on their delivery status and expect you to proactively do so. And when you fail to do so, your support teams are flooded with tickets from anxious customers, all with the same question – WISMO?

What Are WISMO Inquiries?

Customers tend to get anxious during the post-purchase phase, especially when they have limited visibility into the exact whereabouts of their order and often have to depend on opaque carrier tracking pages for clarity about their order’s ETA.

That’s where they typically come in the form of emails, phone calls, or chat messages asking, “Where IS My Order?” WISMO roughly translates to the customer wanting to track their shipment or at least know the status of their order.

The problem here is that carrier tracking pages don’t really disclose the depth of the situation when it comes to delayed packages. This lack of communication for a customer’s simple need for reassurance not only adds to customer service workloads but also signals a potential gap in the post-purchase experience.

Why WISMO Inquiries Are a Major Concern for E-Commerce Businesses

When anxious customers are unable to determine the status of their package, they tend to get frustrated. Of course, there’s the option of them reaching out to you and you can send them to the carrier’s tracking page. However, by that time, the damage was already done. To add fuel to the fire, when they don’t get what they want (even after reaching out), the post-purchase experience takes a huge hit, leading to negative reviews and ultimately loss of repeat business, both of which can harm your growth.

Cutting straight to the point, WISMO calls take up about 40% of your customer support queries, and according to a study by Gorgias – a customer service agent spends an average of 10-minutes per ‘where is my order?’ request. Do the math, if your business receives 1000 WISMO queries a week – at 10-minutes per ticket, that’s about 160 hours of your customer support’s time. Now that’s an alarming number!

That’s not all. High volumes of WISMO inquiries stretch your support team thin, leading to longer response times and higher operational costs. Also, addressing repeated WISMO issues can be costly, as it pulls resources away from other essential business functions.

So, what is it you can do as a business to reduce the number of WISMO calls to optimize the customer experience and save those big bucks in operating costs?

How to Reduce WISMO Inquiries

By now you would’ve already figured out the crux. Dealing with WISMO requires you taking a proactive approach to cut them down, even before your customers get the thought about asking the question.

Here are the different ways through which you can get proactive with your efforts to curb WISMO.

1) Be transparent about your delivery dates :

Unrealistic expectations are one of the foremost reasons for WISMO inquiries. This can be an even more serious issue during times like the peak season when unexpected delays are higher than usual.

As a start, you can include an estimated order delivery date on your product page to give the customer a realistic delivery timeline. For instance, you can categorize these dates based on the customer’s location and chosen shipping method.

There’s still a concern in the form of consistent delays that happen seasonally or due to uncommon reasons such as weather or road closures. In such cases, you can explicitly let your customer know that there might be delays with their order – on your website and checkout page.

2) Over-communicate delivery information :

Despite estimated delivery dates and warnings, WISMO inquiries can still be frequent at the hands of customers whose packages are particularly facing issues. These stem from the lack of communication regarding order status information.

In this case, you can make use of a delivery experience management software that takes all possible delays and discrepancies. You can proactively share this information to keep your customers informed at all times and avoid giving them unpleasant surprises.

Here’s how you can make this work. Send email or SMS notifications as the order progressively updates — from “shipped” to “out for delivery” and “delivered” or delivery exceptions. Remember, it’s always better if any kind of updates (be it good or bad) come from your end rather than customers reaching out to them.

This way, there’s a possibility that the customer’s anxiety and resulting frustration will be mitigated by your efforts to resolve their issues.

Apart from shipping notifications, you can also share order information with customers via self-serve, ‘branded’ tracking pages.

3) Provide self-serve, real-time order tracking :

Offering a branded tracking page that allows customers to track their orders whenever they want from your website rather than the carrier’s tracking page (that is dull and off-brand).

By redirecting your customers to tracking pages that are hosted in your domain, you have an opportunity to reinforce your brand identity and stay on the top of customers’ minds while keeping them engaged with order tracking information.

Additionally, they provide opportunities to offer additional promotions or product recommendations, thereby serving both as a convenience for your customers and a marketing opportunity for your brand.

Also, these branded tracking experiences can be extended to shipping notifications as a way to capitalize their high open rates to double your chances at driving repeat sales.

4) Optimize Your FAQ section and chatbots to deal with WISMO inquiries

Alongside estimated delivery dates and alerts on website/app floaters, many WISMO inquiries can be preemptively resolved by offering a comprehensive FAQ section and help center.

The section can include questions related to order tracking, delivery times, and what to do if a package is delayed. This way, customers can find the answers themselves and are less likely to reach out to your support team. You just have to ensure that this content is easy to find on your website.

You can also extend your efforts at offering proactive customer support by offering multiple support channels like chatbots. This AI-powered chatbot can instantly answer common questions like WISMO and provide tracking information. This reduces the workload on your customer service team without the need for human intervention.

If the inquiry is more complex or if the customer requires additional information, you can also include the provision to easily escalate the conversation to a live agent.

5) WISMO done, WISMR next

Returns often lead to a second wave of inquiries under WISMR or Where is my return, with customers asking about the status of their return, exchange, or refund.

You don’t have to do anything particular here, simply replicate the order tracking initiatives with a seamless returns process.

For instance, include easy-to-follow return instructions with the shipment and on your website. Provide real-time updates on the return status just as you would for the initial shipment. Then, follow up with proactive return notifications to notify customers once their return has been initiated, processed, or their refund issued.

Handling WISMO questions proactively makes things easy. To make things even easier, you can make use of a post-purchase tool like LateShipment.com.

How top brands leverage LateShipment.com to reduce/avoid WISMO calls and cut down on operational costs

In the context of WISMO, LateShipment.com provides your customers with a self-serve order tracking system and sends out regular delivery notifications apart from giving them a real-time delivery estimate but they still choose to reach out to your customer support regarding the whereabouts of their order.

With LateShipment.com’s Delivery Experience Management (DEM) platform, you can effortlessly :

Receive Predictive Delay Alerts – Pay attention to daily deliveries with predictive delay alerts and more on a purpose-built dashboard for support reps.
Resolve Issues Proactively – Proactively communicate with customers to prevent them from having bad experiences due to delivery failures.
Send out Delivery Status Notifications – Send custom or automated delivery status notifications to your customers for traditional events such as “shipped”, “attempted”, “delivered” and exceptions such as “in transit with delays”, “failed deliveries”, etc.
Provide Branded Order Tracking – Build fully-customizable order tracking pages for your customers to improve brand recall and sales.

And so much more…

With DEM, you can resolve WISMO as a pain point for both customers yourself. By implementing proactive communication, offering branded tracking, and optimizing customer support, merchants can significantly reduce these inquiries, enhance the customer experience, and improve operational efficiency (and profits).

In short, resolving WISMO is not only a smart operational move but a marketing strategy that builds trust, increases customer retention, and acts as a competitive differentiator for your brand.

The post WISMO: What it means and how to reduce it? appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

What is a Delivery Exception and How E-commerce Business Can Handle It?

Sashank Ravindranath — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 08:10:32 +0000

You don’t need major issues such as packages getting lost or damaged, even small incidents like a ‘delivery exception’ can create unexpected roadblocks that disrupt the smooth journey of a package to its destination and pose a challenge for your e-commerce businesses.

With the excitement of sales and fixation on issues like late deliveries and lost packages, delivery exceptions tend to be often overlooked. However, their impact on customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and overall business reputation is profound as they have the power to hurt your customer relationships and lead to increased costs.

To better handle the delivery exception, we’ve come up with this article that starts with the basics: what do they mean, why do they happen, and what can you do about it?

What Does a Delivery Exception Mean?

A delivery exception occurs when a package deviates from its planned delivery route due to unforeseen circumstances. These disruptions can range from minor delays to complete delivery failures.

A package in transit is exempted from delivery, i.e., marked as a ‘delivery exception’ at the hands of the shipping carrier when it faces any hindrance that makes it take longer than expected to reach your customers’ doorstep.

In simple terms, this indicates to the recipient that:

The package has crossed its intended delivery timeline
This is not a case of a delay at the hands of the carrier
The courier will deliver the package soon (based on the reason for the exception).

We’ll break down delivery exceptions further to get a better context.

Why do delivery exceptions occur?

We discussed how exceptions are predictable and happen due to external influence in most cases. But how exactly? Here’s how.

Failed delivery attempts – Also known as missed drop-off. Deliveries are marked incomplete due to the recipient’s or an adult’s (in case of special deliveries) unavailability at the drop-off location to sign and receive the package
Address-related issues – Incorrect, incomplete, or ambiguous addresses can also lead to failed delivery attempts and subsequent delays. For instance, when the address on the label is unrecognized or is at an undeliverable location, etc
Man-made causes – Packages are prone to be damaged at sorting facilities and at times, the carrier would abstain from making the delivery citing this
Customs delays – International shipments are subject to customs clearance procedures, which can be time-consuming and prone to unexpected delays
Natural disasters – Severe weather conditions such as earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, blizzards, or heavy rain can disrupt transportation networks and cause the package to be held back at the facility to safeguard
Carrier-related problems – Issues with the shipping carrier, including lost or misplaced packages, vehicle breakdowns, or labor shortages
Federal holidays – When carriers refrain from making deliveries on particular days due to federal holidays in the country of origin or destination.
Peak season challenges – Increased order volume during holiday periods or promotional events can strain shipping resources, leading to longer delivery times

These are some of the most frequent reasons behind the carriers getting an exemption from fulfilling the delivery. They are valid and in many cases, you can choose to ignore them with so much as a “It’s just one day, the delivery will be made tomorrow“.

However, can you afford to do that? is the question. And that question is what led e-commerce businesses to take the initiative to address delivery exceptions for more reasons than one.

Why is it Important For E-Commerce Businesses To Address A Delivery Exception?

The consequences of delivery exceptions extend beyond mere inconvenience for the customer. They can have a ripple effect on various aspects of an e-commerce business:

Increased WISMO inquiries – Even when the delivery exception is minor, the customer who isn’t aware of it constantly bombards your support reps with WISMO calls that consume all of their time
Customer dissatisfaction – Frequent delays or failed deliveries that come along with delivery exceptions also come with the potential to erode customer trust and loyalty, leading to negative reviews and social media backlash. In the long term, this can lead to a drop in customer satisfaction metrics such as retention rate and lifetime value
Return processing challenge – When delivery exceptions are due to damages or undeliverable packages necessitates a possibility for the customer to opt for a return that can complicate inventory management
Operational inefficiencies – Delivery exceptions result in frequent re-deliveries from warehouses or returns that can disrupt shipping schedules and operations
Financial losses – Ultimately, returns-related costs (processing costs and refunds), unwanted support tickets, increased labor costs, and acquisition costs due to delivery issues can significantly impact a business’s bottom line

The cost of delivery exceptions for your business is evident. Therefore, it is important to handle them effectively. To make things easier for you, we’ve also come up with some of the best ways for you to handle delivery exceptions.

How To Handle Delivery Exceptions?

Most e-commerce businesses take this myopic approach of resolving delivery exceptions only when your customers are impacted by them. However, given the high expectations of today’s customers, it doesn’t matter how quickly you solve it because the damage is already done. Therefore, all you have to do is comply with your customers’ expectations — solve delivery exceptions even before they become an issue.

Through integrated solutions and metrics, you can be proactive when it comes to handling delivery exceptions and thereby set them up for a great delivery experience.

Handling delivery exceptions: The aftermath

Let’s assume the delivery exception happens, what now?

First, promptly acknowledge the exception by informing your customer about it. You can then follow up with clear and transparent communication regarding the nature of the exception by rerouting or rescheduling deliveries based on convenience to manage customer expectations.
Have a strategy early in place for delivery exceptions, i.e., develop clear guidelines for customer support and operational teams to make adjustments and handle things as effectively as possible.
If the exception is major, possibly due to packages that are lost or damaged, then you need to consider implementing shipping insurance into your existing business practices.

Preventing delivery exceptions from occurring in the first place

Delivery exceptions can happen due to external causes and at times inevitable. But that doesn’t mean you do nothing about it. As an e-commerce merchant, you have the power to cut down exceptions in occurrence.

By implementing proactive issue resolution strategies, you can not only reduce delivery exceptions but also unlock new opportunities to reduce costs and improve customer experiences.

Start by informing potential delivery exception-causing incidents such as carrier strikes, federal holidays, weather-related issues, etc. on your homepage and product page to let customers know that their orders might face issues and avoid disappointments.
Leverage data and evaluate the performance of different shipping carriers to select reliable partners with fewer cases of delivery exceptions and a strong track record of on-time deliveries.
The next step involves making use of real-time tracking to identify potential issues even before they happen and take proactive measures to rectify them.
Extend the capabilities of real-time tracking data by keeping customers informed about shipment status and potential exceptions.
In times like peak periods like the holiday season, you need to anticipate an increase in order volume and adjust staffing, inventory levels, and shipping capacity accordingly.

Bottom Line

While delivery exceptions are inevitable occurrences, addressing them promptly is not only possible but also essential for ensuring a positive delivery experience. By acknowledging and resolving issues quickly, you can effectively minimize customer frustration, maintain trust, and uphold their reputation for reliability and customer-centricity.

Also, don’t forget to prioritize proactive communication through shipping notifications and branded tracking pages to turn delivery exceptions into opportunities that strengthen customer relationships and foster long-term loyalty.

The post What is a Delivery Exception and How E-commerce Business Can Handle It? appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Pre-Parcel Anxiety And The Problems It Brings To Your E-Commerce Business

Sashank Ravindranath — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 06:55:13 +0000

We’re all worried about things at times. How is this day going to turn out? How is my business going to thrive with the rising competition? Will the Chiefs win this year’s Super Bowl? What is going to be my costume for Halloween? Or Where is my order?

Now each of these questions has a reason to exist. The last question — that’s because of this relatively new condition called pre-parcel anxiety that is affecting several online shoppers today.

What is Pre-Parcel Anxiety?

The concept of ‘pre-parcel anxiety’ comes with the understanding of the ‘post-purchase’ phase.

To bring this into more context, let’s picture this scenario: We’ve all placed orders in online stores, right?

That means we’ve all wondered where our orders were at some point. So, this anxiety is normal or that’s what we think. But pre-parcel anxiety isn’t that. It’s what happens later — when customers cannot determine the status of their orders with the business they shopped with.

When such things happen and customers are left in the dark regarding their orders, they tend to get anxious, assuming the worst, leading to increased support inquiries or WISMO requests.

Pre-parcel anxiety is the psychological condition a customer undergoes while awaiting their parcels that they have no direction about. It keeps customers impatient about their orders, often checking the carrier’s tracking page and bombarding the brand’s support teams with WISMO calls.

While frequent order status inquiries mean anxiety for the customer, they mean something entirely different for the merchant.

The Effects of Pre-Parcel Anxiety on Your E-Commerce Business

Let’s take a look back — pre-parcel anxiety is a feeling of unease and impatience while waiting for an online order to arrive, and can be a significant hurdle for e-commerce businesses.

As we mentioned earlier, the first sign of frustration from pre-parcel anxiety is increased support inquiries.

Repeated inquiries like WISMO can be frustrating for both customers and support staff. For instance, customers waiting anxiously for their orders are prone to leave negative reviews and complaints on social media, leading to a decreased brand reputation.

On the other hand, customers experiencing pre-parcel anxiety are more likely to contact your support team with questions about their order status. This can strain your resources and lead to longer wait times for genuine inquiries.

Support tickets with a longer resolution time can cause customer frustration and negative experiences. Ultimately, customers who have a negative experience with waiting for a previous order may be less likely to purchase from your store again.

TLDR: Here’s how pre-parcel anxiety affects your business:

Increased support inquiries
Lower brand reputation
Reduced customer satisfaction
Lost opportunities to drive repeat purchases

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to address pre-parcel anxiety and improve the customer experience you offer.

How E-Commerce Businesses Can Mitigate Pre-Parcel Anxiety And Its Impact

1. Transparency in communication

First and foremost, letting your customers know that their orders are in safe hands is a great start in your attempt to mitigate their anxiety. There are multiple actions that you can take to achieve that.

For starters, you can provide clear and accurate information about estimated delivery times on product pages and during checkout to make sure that your customers don’t feel the urgency to contact your support team with the need to get tracking information.

You can then double it down by offering real-time tracking information with detailed and regular updates to keep your customers in the loop of their orders.

P.S. You don’t have to wait for customers to hit your support reps with WISMO calls, instead, you can send proactive email or SMS notifications about their delivery status.

2. Setting Realistic Expectations

Second and most importantly, don’t over-promise on delivery times.

Be realistic about timeframes, especially during peak seasons. I.e. Delivery during peak season times like the holidays can take longer than usual, in such cases you can let the customers know about these updated delivery timelines and reasons for delays.

Setting delivery expectations right by showing order arrival dates on your website like product, cart, and checkout pages helps you improve conversions, reduce cart abandonment, and ultimately works towards building trust and boosting conversions.

Of course, you can always put these steps into action on your own but your shipping partner might not be straightforward with delays, given to not project themselves in a bad light.

On the other hand, implementing these steps is relatively simple — when you have an efficient package tracking system in place that works on your behalf.

How a last-mile tracking solution like lateshipment.com can help

LateShipment.com’s Delivery Experience Management (DEM) is the perfect solution for you to craft order tracking experiences that boost engagement and repeat purchases — all while reducing customer service costs.

DEM can help you reduce WISMO calls by 72% by sending delivery status updates in the form of:

Automated shipping notifications proactively sent on channels like email, SMS or WhatsApp based on triggers for every step of the package journey from order ‘shipped’ to ‘delivered’ to ‘delayed’ and
Self-serve order lookup that enables customers to track their orders without any help, embed an order lookup widget on your website or chat.

Like Jane Norman of Nola Skinsentials says, “Many brands think their relationship stops after shipping the package, which is not true”. Thus, the need to make the post-purchase phase customer-friendly is a must if you plan to stay ahead of the curve.

By addressing detractors like pre-parcel anxiety, you can create a smoother and more positive post-purchase CX that leads to increased customer satisfaction, improved brand loyalty, and ultimately, higher sales for your e-commerce business.

Also, while you’re there, try LateShipment.com for not just seamless delivery experiences but all your post-purchase needs. Curious about how we might work for your business? Talk to us.

The post Pre-Parcel Anxiety And The Problems It Brings To Your E-Commerce Business appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

How Has Customer Experience Been Transforming and What Value It Holds In The Future?

Sashank Ravindranath — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 13:07:08 +0000

From brick-and-mortar to e-commerce, businesses have been running successfully all these years by building their foundation on just a question — “What do customers want?”

In the case of physical stores, products of good quality, stores with sufficient inventory, convenient locations, interactions from the staff, etc, were some of the primary things customers considered as a reason to frequent.

All of this with the addition of faster deliveries, efficient returns, effective post-purchase engagement, etc, started as a special feature or USP of brands as the gradual shift to e-commerce took place but since then has become a necessity in customer expectations.

So, coming back to the question, “What do customers want?” Stands for the increasing and ever-changing customer expectations with your business and the answer of meeting or rather exceeding these expectations stands for what one would call ‘a great customer experience’.

The Need To Focus On CX In Today's Business Landscape

Customer demands are never the same. However, what’s been the same in the recent past is businesses increasingly prioritizing CX to facilitate repeat purchases.

45.9% business professionals rated CX as their priority and thereby are consistently investing more in improving it.

That brings us to the #1 reason — To stay in the competition.

While product quality might have been the criteria two-three years ago, it’s no longer the reason why customers choose to do business with you. Today, it’s all about who offers the best customer experience. So, if you’d like to stay noticed by your prospective customers, you have no option but to put your focus to improving customer experience.

Not just your peers, but even customers will agree with it. CX makes or breaks customer loyalty.

According to PwC, 1-in-3 customers will leave a brand after just one bad experience, making reason #2 — CX acts as the key differentiator between today’s brands and when done right, can become a competitive advantage.

Well, if customers want something and your competitors are adhering to it then, there must surely be something beneficial for both parties. And that’s reason #3 Improved CX = Increased loyalty and revenue.

Think about it. It’s not rocket science! You give your customers something they want and that impresses them to the extent that they want to keep shopping with you. With loyal customers at hand, you can create opportunities to improve revenue by making them spend more and cut down costs by lowering acquisition rates.

Just like E-commerce, CX is also transforming while still being an integral part of the shopping channel and innovations can’t be left out. Why? Because of the scale at which customers are shopping online, you need to keep innovating to stay ahead of the curve, and not to forget, customer demands are ever-increasing!

The Evolution of Customer Experience and Key Drivers of this Transformation

As an e-commerce merchant, understanding the evolution of e-commerce and the key drivers behind it can be crucial for you in remaining competitive and thereby seeking success in the modern marketplace. So, let’s delve into the evolution of customer experience (CX) and the key drivers of this transformation:

Traditional customer experience vs. modern CX – The primary difference between traditional and modern approaches to customer experience is embracing digital transformation and prioritizing customer-centricity. Businesses that do that can differentiate themselves and build stronger relationships with their customers.
Changing consumer expectations and behaviors – Understanding and adapting to changing consumer expectations and behaviors is essential for businesses seeking to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
Shift from transactional to relationship-based interactions – The shift from transactional to relationship-based interactions reflects a strategic evolution in how businesses approach customer engagement. By prioritizing it, businesses can cultivate loyal customers who become advocates for their brand and drive sustained growth.

Understanding the evolution of CX to its current state or ‘trend’ helps you stay relevant and survive among a multitude of competing businesses. But knowing what’s going to come in the future gives you a head start in the rat race with your competitors.

To gain that head start and thereby get enough time to optimize things, here are some insights on what the future of customer experience will look like and how you can adapt to it.

Future Trends in Customer Experience

Hyper-personalization and predictive analytics

We’ll start with a trend that is slowly moving away from being called a ‘trend’ to becoming a standard that all e-commerce businesses would like to get hold of in the coming months, particularly before peak season times as a resort to improve their sales numbers.

If you look at it, hyper-personalization is just an advanced way of doing personalization using technologies that keep taking e-commerce by storm to create highly relevant experiences by understanding customer behavior in real-time.

Currently and in the future, hyper-personalization is about using AI, data analytics, and automation

Here’s an in-depth look at how it works:

Make use of marketing automation tools that not only provide you with a goldmine of data in the form of browsing and purchase behavior, shopper demographics, and preferences (search queries) but also help you with predictive analytics in the form of real-time reports and insights in the form of predicting which products a customer is likely to purchase, forecasting trends, identifying potential churn risks, etc. With these actionable insights, you can identify distinct customer personas and understand exactly how you can cater to them.
With personas identified, the next step is to customize the direction of personalization based on the stage of repeat purchase funnel they’re in. For instance, personalized product recommendations for customers if they are still on the lookout, targeted campaigns and personalized discounts if they have items added to their cart, proactively addressing issues during order tracking, etc.
As businesses strive to deliver personalized experiences, they must also navigate complexities in the form of transparent data collection, secure privacy regulations, and most importantly, maintain customer trust while delivering personalized experiences.

TLDR: The future of CX with hyper-personalization is promising, thanks to continuous advancements in technology. Businesses that can navigate and take hyper-personalization initiatives while upholding ethical standards are the ones that are poised to thrive.

Integration with AI and automation

The idea of integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation into an e-commerce system is already in the talks and the basic opinion has been that these technologies promise to bring unprecedented efficiency and innovation and that businesses must adapt to these changes.

Automation AI represents the blend of automation tools with AI to create a system that can not only automate tasks but also learn and improve over time. Here are some ways in which this integration or ‘intelligence automation’ can potentially help transform the CX:

Chatbots and Virtual Assistants: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants will play an inevitable role in providing instant support and assistance to customers throughout their shopping journey. These chatbots will automate routine customer service tasks such as order status inquiries, return processing, facilitating transactions, etc., and free up human agents to focus on more complex issues that require human intervention.
Supply Chain Optimization: AI and automation will play a critical role in optimizing e-commerce supply chains, from inventory management and demand forecasting to order fulfillment and logistics. With the help of predictive analytics, you can anticipate demand fluctuations, optimize inventory levels, and orchestrate fulfillment operations to ensure timely delivery and minimize costs as a bonus.

TLDR: In a rapidly evolving marketplace, stagnation is not an option. Businesses that fail to adapt to technological advancements risk falling behind. Therefore, you MUST make use of intelligent automation to improve efficiency, accuracy, and offer more personalized experiences.

Final Word

The evolution of customer experience (CX) has been nothing short of transformative, shaping the way businesses engage with their customers and driving new standards of excellence in the digital age.

As we look to the future, the value of CX will only continue to grow, with hyper-personalization, seamless omnichannel integration, and relentless innovation at the forefront of delivering exceptional customer experiences.

By embracing these trends and prioritizing customer-centricity in all aspects of their operations, businesses can forge deeper connections, foster loyalty, and unlock new opportunities for growth and success in the dynamic landscape of tomorrow’s e-commerce marketplace.

An important phase of the CX that is also the most difficult is the post-purchase. This is because it represents the final touchpoint in the customer journey and any incident that happens during this phase can be the last thing your customers remember about your brand. Therefore, the impact of it on your satisfaction levels and repeat purchase rates is imminent.

For businesses that have been looking to optimize their post-purchase CX, it is time to invest in post-purchase technology that comes with ways to foster meaningful connections and ultimately drive loyalty (and revenue).

The post How Has Customer Experience Been Transforming and What Value It Holds In The Future? appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

6 Post-Purchase Pain Points & Solutions for E-commerce Customers

Sashank Ravindranath — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 07:09:23 +0000

If you’re an e-commerce merchant who wants their business to become successful, you need to become the customers’ favorite (offer them a great experience, stay ahead of the competition, improve profit margins, and whatnot).

However, a customer’s journey with your e-commerce business is filled with multiple issues regarding the website, payment, checkout, and much more…

But our focus is not on these issues. Of course, not dismissing them as trivial but when you think about it the hurdles or pain points on your customers’ pre and purchase phase of the journey account for minimal damage and are easily rectifiable since most of it is under your control. Post-purchase issues, on the other hand, are an even tougher challenge.

Pain Points in Other Phases Vs Post-Purchase Pain Points

Here’s a comparison of pain points in the post-purchase phase to other phases of e-commerce to begin with.

Pre-purchase or the familiarity stage: Product discovery, website usability, and concerns around trusting your website.
Purchase or the decisive stage: Payment errors, sudden costs, product being out of stock, or a lengthy checkout process.

Such issues can deter customers from completing their purchases and lead to abandoned carts.

But think about it, worst case scenario: what do you think happens when a customer abandons their cart?

There is a lost opportunity to convert a potential sale
There is a lower return on investment (ROI) for marketing efforts

The priority of resolving post-purchase pain points

Now let’s do a little time jump. Assuming the issues get resolved and you convert the sale, the customer makes the ‘purchase’ and awaits the product — what do you think happens when they face an issue at this ‘post-purchase’ phase of their customer journey?

Here’s a chronology of the events that might follow:

They stop shopping with the brand, leading to a drop in loyalty and revenue and a rise in acquisition costs, shipping costs (returns/ cancellations), product costs (loss and damages), etc.
Their frustration doesn’t end there as they vent their frustrations on social media, thereby demotivating their friends and family (your potential customers) from shopping with you, leading to a poor brand reputation.

You can compare things for yourself — the worst-case scenario for a pain point in the pre and purchase phases comes at the earliest stage in the post-purchase phase, putting the stakes much higher.

It’s not just all doom and gloom. Let’s take a look at some positives as well. Assuming there are no post-purchase pain points or they’ve been resolved timely, the verdict is a great post-purchase experience, and here’s what it can bring to your business.

6 Pain Points For E-Commerce Customers In The Post-Purchase Phase And How You Can Fix Them

1. Lack of order updates

The first and foremost point of frustration for your customers is when they’ve placed their order but become uncertain about its status as time goes by. This can be problematic for your business, as customers often feel anxious when they can’t track their orders, leading to increased support inquiries and a decrease in trust and satisfaction.

Solution: Keep customers informed about their order status at all times. However, manually notifying all customers throughout the delivery lifecycle can be difficult. To make things easy, you can make use of a real-time tracking solution that monitors all your shipments and also enables you to send shipping updates via email or SMS.

2. Shipping issues (Delays, loss, and damage)

A shipper and a customer’s worst nightmare — a package facing an issue while en route from the former to the latter. Unfortunately, for both, delivery issues are inevitable and common occurrences in shipping as even with today’s technology, 1-in-5 parcels shipped face delivery issues on average. To make things worse, delivery issues cause high customer frustration, negative shopping experiences, bad reviews, and ultimately decreased loyalty.

Solution: Proactively communicate shipping issues such as delays and offer solutions like expedited shipping or refunds. This helps you demonstrate commitment towards customer satisfaction and thereby retains customer trust.

3. Difficulty contacting customer support

Delivery issues might have scared you a little but what if I told you there are actually not the worst of the worst? TBH, customers are indeed somewhat forgiving and are willing to offer you a chance to fix their bad experience. However, imagine them having difficulty reaching out to customer support or not receiving timely assistance. This can infuriate them even further to the extent that you never hear back from them.

Solution: Offer multiple support channels like chatbots that are active 24/7 and offer minimum support to customers such as catering to WISMO calls and other common post-purchase inquiries. You can make things convenient by clearly displaying options for them to reach your support team on your website and tracking assets. However, the best part lies in making use of a post-purchase solution that sends alerts for critical delivery failures and proactively notifies customers from within your help desk.

4. Damaged shipments

7% to 11% of customers’ online orders arrive broken or damaged, making us emphasize the focus of businesses tending to them more than preemptively notifying customers. Additionally, sending out replacements for each damage can cost you valuable dollars. With real-time tracking effectively helping you fight late deliveries and lost packages, what is that you can do to reduce damage?

Solution: Ensure products are securely packaged to prevent damage during transit. You can use appropriate and effective packaging materials and padding to protect fragile items. Additionally, you can consider using branded packaging as an opportunity to enhance the unboxing experience and reinforce your brand identity.

5. Lack of personalization

The missing piece in the puzzle of great post-purchase experiences is exceeding your customers’ high expectations, being tailor-made experiences that cater to them and treat them as more valuable customers than just someone without an identity. Remember, failure to meet these expectations can result in reduced engagement and loyalty.

Solution: Implement personalized communication strategies while engaging with them, i.e., send them a ‘thank you’ note, product usage information, etc. You can also drive repeat purchases through personalized product recommendations and targeted promotions, based on customer preferences and behavior.

6. Complicated returns process

Even merchants who decide “Okay, I’ve got to do something about improving my delivery experiences” unwillingly ignore extending their efforts in the returns phases. This happens primarily due to misconceptions of them seeing returns as a burden and cost center. However, the truth is far from it.

Solution: Streamline your returns process to change the perception of your brand, create a positive reputation, and gain higher retention rates. For instance, simplify return procedures with prepaid return labels, clear instructions, and multiple return options to make it easy for customers to initiate returns.

What's next?

Pain points and frustrations are a small but valuable part of your customers’ post-purchase experiences. On one hand, merchants have realized that they are inevitable and want to ensure customer satisfaction despite bad delivery experiences. On the other hand, some merchants like to turn the tide and are looking for ways to keep customers happy throughout the order journey.

For every kind of merchant, who’d like to optimize their post-purchase efforts, we have more exciting content coming up to answer all of your questions. Stay tuned and keep implementing these strategies for your business to improve loyalty and reduce costs.

The post 6 Post-Purchase Pain Points & Solutions for E-commerce Customers appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

How to Overcome E-commerce Shipping & Delivery Challenges

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 07:59:21 +0000

The shipping and delivery phase of an e-commerce order is filled with opportunities or ‘touchpoints’ that you can capitalize on to convert one-time shoppers into repeat customers and spread positive word of mouth to influence their close ones, all while hoping that you don’t encounter any challenge that can infuriate your customers and get your costs ridiculously high.

Some of these challenges might be common and inevitable but doesn’t mean you have to step back and watch. Here’s taking a deeper look at them for better understanding and how you can overcome them.

Frequent Shipping and Delivery Challenges and How You Can Overcome Them

High Shipping Costs

Skyrocketing shipping costs are the most frequent challenge for both e-commerce merchants and customers. A not-so-fun fact is that shipping is arguably one of the biggest cost-centers for any e-commerce business.

The problem with shipping costs lies in major shipping carriers transferring the ownership of these costs to the shippers (e-commerce businesses, 3PLs, etc), and these costs are ultimately paid by the end customers, who are prone to be repulsed by high costs and would prefer the brand that offers the least shipping costs than one that offers faster deliveries.

Solution

Every carrier has their own set of pros and cons. Compare their prices across different locations, etc, and pick a carrier who fits your business’s needs
Offer ‘free shipping’ as a marketing strategy (based on distance, cart value, no.of items, etc). Don’t worry for bearing the shipping cost, you can balance the scales by spurring shoppers to spend more with your brand

Use proper packaging techniques to reduce DIM weight costs
Invest in flat rate shipping to optimize costs if your business frequently ships packages to select locations
Analyze where your shoppers are frequent and set up a warehouse/delivery hub in that zone to reduce shipping distances as well as improve delivery speed
Encourage options such as BOPIS (Buy Online Pickup In Store) for shoppers at close distances to prevent shipping in the first place

Shipping costs are not just the primary challenge in the post-purchase front for their frequency in occurrence but almost all other challenges that we’re set to discuss below have a definite impact on shipping costs directly or indirectly. So, not just these solutions but there are multiple ways to cut down shipping and delivery costs and ensure post-purchase profitability.

Late Delivery Incidents

On average, more than 10% of all shipments get delayed, with this number increasing multifold during peak shipping season times like the holidays.

Unfortunately, with high customer expectations and CX playing the role of a competitive differentiator, you cannot afford delays that are common, inevitable, and have the potential to cause bad delivery experiences.

Prevention is better than cure might be cliched but it holds true to this context. Delays may be unavoidable, but their impact on your business can definitely be prevented. Here’s how.

Solution

Proactively reach out to customers whenever their package is about to be delivered late via customized and empathetic messages. Remember, it is YOU, who should reach out to customers with an ‘order delayed’ notification and not the other way around.
If the delay looks like it can be fixed, this is your chance to course correct and ensure that the delivery is made on time or when the customer requests. If not, you can check with the customer on how they would like the issue to be resolved (refund, replacement, coupon on their next purchase, etc).

When it comes to reducing your late delivery spend, shipping carriers have a money-back guarantee policy, where shippers can claim refunds when packages are delivered late because of carrier error. However, the process of filing these claims manually is tiresome and time-consuming. To make things easier, you can use a parcel audit solution that automatically audits your invoices and files refund claims on your behalf. P.S. Just ensure that you haven’t signed a money-back guarantee waiver with the carrier.

By following these actions, even if the issue goes unresolved, your customers will still appreciate your efforts to provide them with a great experience and be satisfied enough to shop with you for the next time.

Lost and Damaged Packages

Following delays, comes another inevitable duo that takes up the top spots for the most common delivery issues — lost and damaged packages.

11-15% of all packages get lost or damaged in the U.S. in a year. Of course, this includes packages that get stolen or the ones that get damaged after being left unattended on the porch. But, there is no doubt like delays, packages are bound to get mishandled or misrouted by carrier representatives, leading the orders to get marked as ‘damaged’ or ‘lost’ in transit.

While lost and damaged packages are hurtful on their own, they can incur more damage when these packages have higher emotional value (gifts). Customers who are faced with lost and damaged packages don’t hesitate to share their grievances on social media/ word of mouth and tarnish your brand’s reputation, thereby preventing others from shopping with you.

Solution

Common action for all delivery incidents – proactively step in and notify the customer about their package getting lost or damaged, and get their requirements on the next course of action.
Apart from delays, refunds can be claimed for 50+ carrier errors like lost and damaged packages
Not just the shipping costs, but by insuring your packages (via a shipping carrier or a third-party), you can recover the entire product cost in case of lost and damaged packages

Dealing with porch pirates or miscreants who damage packages is a whole different challenge that requires you to come up with specific measures to keep such issues at bay.

Returns Management Issues

As much as e-commerce merchants don’t like to hear it, the harsh truth is that returns are inevitable. All customers at some point want to return their product and at times, the reason would have nothing to do with you.

More than half of e-commerce returns that merchants face are size and fit-related. However, not the number of returns but the way businesses manage them poses a challenge. For instance, customers returning their product are already in a not-so-positive mood, having to return something that they’ve waited long enough to collect.

So, why make the experience even more frustrating for them? Instead, by making the returns process easy and convenient, you can ensure positive experiences, reduce costs and prevent other ways in which returns are a logistical burden.

Solution

A returns policy that is clear and easy to understand with longer return windows and lenient return conditions (but not too much to encourage fraudulent returns)
A returns portal for the customers to easily initiate returns
Return status notifications and tracking at all times to keep them engaged as well as reduce the burden for your support team
A returns management solution that allows you to set return rules and resolve returns faster
Track returns consistently to gain intel into your returns process – why are customers returning their purchases, what items are they frequently returning, how do I cut down unwanted returns/ reduce return-related costs, etc.

Remember, returns only become complicated when they are not controlled as most businesses leave out returns in conversations about shipping and delivery. However, returns are a necessary evil that helps you improve post-purchase CX. So, start optimizing your returns experiences and see the benefits come in for yourself.

Pre-Parcel Jitters

Even when things are going all great and there’s absolutely no issue with your packages during transit, there is still one challenge that you’re set to face in the modern e-commerce era — customers being left in the dark regarding their orders.

On average, 1-in-5 parcels shipped face delivery issues. So, it is understandable that your customers are worried about their parcels facing the same fate, not to forget the high anticipation that comes naturally with each order.

If your customers are unable to determine their parcel status or track their orders, they are prone to bombarding your support reps with WISMO inquiries that can consume all of their time.

WISMO inquiries also take up 50% of customer inquiries.

Send proactive shipping notifications as the order successfully crosses each delivery cycle (shipped, in transit, out for delivery, etc). Make sure these notifications are sent across channels, wherever your customers are active (SMS, Email, WhatsApp)
Enable your customers to track their own orders via a widget that is embedded in your emails and website or sent as a link via SMS and chat
Instead of taking your customers to the carrier’s tracking page that is dull and boring, you can create your own branded tracking page, filled with branded elements and marketing assets to encourage cross-selling and increase revenue in the post-purchase phase

Keeping your customers in the loop of their orders can help you cut down WISMO (Where Is My Order) inquiries by up to 72% and allow your support reps to focus on other important tasks at hand.

Other Frequent Challenges

While we’ve mainly kept our focus on shipping and delivery issues that happen out of your control, how they can pose a challenge to you, and most importantly what you can do to prevent them; there are quite a few challenges that happen within your control and may escape your concern as they are less frequent or trivial. But let’s not take risks — here are some more challenges that your business might face in the post-purchase phase.

The problem of international shipping – Getting your products across borders involves overcoming a whole bunch of challenges such as exchange rates, customs, duties, etc. In such cases, you can familiarize yourself with the documentation, make use of an international carrier, etc to supercharge your cross-border shipping game!
Supply chain disruptions – Remember the recent crisis that happened as a result of increased demand from the COVID-induced lockdown and other restrictions? Similar to such instances, there can be cases of pandemics, political unrest, and natural disasters that can prevent smooth shipping. While these disruptions cannot be controlled, you can inform your customers about the ongoing crisis and how it can lead to their parcels arriving late.
Outsource to a third-party logistics provider (3PL) – If you find shipping expensive and hard, you can hire a 3PL to take care of your last-mile logistics needs. 3PLs can help you with warehouse space, equipment, and personnel. This can help you improve efficiency and scalability and can be especially helpful for small businesses.

Final Word

Time and again, the emphasis on shipping and delivery in an e-commerce environment is stressed enough for two main reasons.

One, ‘the post-purchase’ or the phase of the order after it is shipped out, opens the door for the first set of events that happen outside of anyone’s (particularly the business’) control.

Second, most businesses assume their job is to be done once the order has been handed over to the shipping carrier and move on to the next customer while waiting for this shopper to make their next purchase. What they don’t realize is that a positive post-purchase experience directly leads to an increase in repeat purchases and revenue. On the other hand, it costs 5x more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one. Thus, the math clearly states that your efforts in the shipping, delivery, and returns phases of the order guarantees your success in the long run.

And this success does not attribute just to positive experiences and customer spending, but also to the reduced operational costs for your business via cutting down unwanted shipping and return shipping related costs.

Thus, no matter how many challenges shipping and delivery might throw at you — handle it in the best way possible to go a step ahead of your competitors.

The post How to Overcome E-commerce Shipping & Delivery Challenges appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

10+ E-Commerce Memes On Post-Purchase Experiences

Sashank Ravindranath — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 04:56:22 +0000

Not just post-purchase or even e-commerce, but most blogs that you sit down to read, either in your leisure time or on the go — tell you two things. You can either do this or do not do this. How about something different for a bit? How about sitting and just looking at memes that perfectly describe the rollercoaster of emotions that you usually go through at your work?

Well, most work memes describe conditions at the workplace or a specific situation, like a customer coming in with a weird request. How about another change? Let’s talk about memes that capture what your customers (and maybe even you!) experience in the post-purchase — shipping, delivery, and returns phases as well as decode the process they represent.

Think of this article as putting down everything you’re doing to scroll through your social account and laugh at a video of the two cats talking to each other. For people working in the hectic area of e-commerce, especially in the post-purchase phase, we’d like to call this article the digital embodiment of TGIF.

Let’s start with the most relatable memes and progress to the most thought-provoking ones.

ICYMI, here’s the first part of this article — e-commerce memes that exclusively cover just the order delivery phase.

1. Estimated Delivery Date

Meeting customers’ high expectations regarding order deliveries might not be so easy but remember, there are a lot of brands out there that would easily replace you as their choice unless you’re making efforts to give them what they want.

To keep up with the rising competition, you need to constantly create an opportunity for the customer to trust your brand.

A great way to start your efforts is to set them with the right delivery expectations and show that a great post-purchase experience awaits them. You can do this by showing the estimated order arrival date on multiple areas of your website such as product, cart, and checkout pages.

Knowing the delivery timeline, keeps their expectations in check and helps you improve conversions and reduce cart abandonment. Just make sure to not break their trust.

2. Lack of Updates

A situation where all of us as customers would have definitely been at least once. That really speaks volumes about the relatability of this issue, we might say.

We place an order, it gets confirmed, we get ecstatic… Then what? We’d have to wait 2-3 business days until the package to be mysteriously delivered. This happens in most cases and should be highly avoided if you’re the merchant.

Because, here’s what happens — On average, 1 in 5 parcels shipped face delivery issues, such as delays and getting lost, and customers are aware of this — making them constantly worry that their package would be one of them. This puts them in a perpetual state of anxiety, causing them to bombard your support reps with WISMO inquiries, thereby consuming all of your support team’s time and leading to increased costs.

3. Issue Resolution

The post-purchase phase is notorious for issues that have the potential to hurt customer satisfaction if left unattended and when one such incident happens, all your efforts to provide the customer with a great shopping experience won’t matter if a subpar post-purchase experience is all your customers are going to remember about your brand.

You don’t have to do anything new or special. Just include proactive shipping notifications for events such as delays, lost in transit, failed delivery attempts, etc, and assure the customer that efforts are being made to rectify the issue at hand. This prevents customer frustration and thereby complaints and bad reviews.

With customers satisfied, you can follow up by sending a replacement or issuing coupons for upcoming purchases, whatever they prefer to exceed the expectations of your brand.

4. Complex Return Policies and Procedures

Everything went well with the delivery process and the customer is excited to open their package. But it was not what they expected — the order was of the wrong size or color, then there’s no choice for the customer but to return their purchase, the one that they’ve waited for all this time.

Contrary to the myths, returns are not a bad thing. In fact, they open doors for new CX opportunities in the post-purchase phase. But that doesn’t mean customers are excited to do returns each time, so make sure the experience isn’t even stressful for them.

Simplify returns for them with your policies and procedures:

Make your return policy easily accessible on your website
Clearly outline the return window, eligible items, refund options (full, partial, store credit), and any restocking fees
Make initiating returns easy via a self-serve returns portal
Allow returns to multiple locations (stores, drop-off points) or offer pick-up services
Provide customers with real-time tracking information for their return shipment
Just like delivery status notifications, send timely email updates on the status of the return and refund.

5. Customer Service Nightmares

Let’s assume a brand missed out on doing each of the aforementioned steps or even just one of them.

What do you think happens next?

All of your support reps’ time is wasted tending to customer queries and complaints, preventing other important stuff like product-related inquiries from getting addressed. This leads to additional costs in the form of unwanted support tickets.

Also, too many support inquiries to handle, results in slower response and first resolution times, and ultimately putting your customer in a state of outrage.

By making use of a real-time tracking solution like LateShipment.com’s Delivery Experience Management, you can provide support agents with order status info inside your helpdesk to enable fast resolution of delivery issues. Overtime, this enables a better control to measure and improve support operations and post-purchase CX with accuracy & speed.

6. High Shipping Costs

One of the major reasons behind cart abandonment is customers facing the shock of high shipping costs as they’re about to checkout (48%). When this becomes repetitive, you have no option but to absorb these costs, giving up a percent of your profit in return for conversions.

There’s a better way to do this with not one, but multiple solutions — explore regional fulfillment centers to shorten distances, offer BOPIS options, negotiate better rates with carriers, and offer transparent shipping options with clear cost breakdowns.

Additionally, you can consider offering free shipping and return shipping as a marketing tool to attract customers and boost conversion rates.

7. Benefits of Insuring Packages

Adding to increased shipping costs cometh the costs associated with order delivery issues such as lost and damaged incidents that are more frequent in occurrence than you think.

This is where shipping insurance comes in. If you’re an e-commerce merchant who regularly has to ship out parcels with expensive content, try getting them insured.

Shipping insurance gives you financial security against potential loss or damage and allows you to ship out parcels without worrying about significant losses due to said delivery issues. The best part, despite its numerous benefits, insurance is easier to get than most people think.

Especially with third-party, merchant-led insurance options like LateShipment.com — you can bring in comprehensive coverage options, automate insurance based on custom rules, and effortlessly manage claims.

8. Refunds for Carrier Errors

Apart from loss and damage, there exist over 50 carrier errors including delivery issues such as late deliveries and billing errors such as unwanted surcharges that go into your shipping invoices.

The issue? These costs (although smaller in isolation), are common and severe in the long run, adding an extra 20% or so on your shipping bills.

But as with all other problems mentioned above, we also have a solution for it. Start auditing your parcels and claim refunds for 50+ service failures and save on shipping costs.

However, it may not be easy as manually auditing all your shipping invoices is an exhaustive task. Thus, get your hands on automation to submit refund claims and recover every dollar that is rightfully yours.

9. Optimizing Shipping Processes

Regularly auditing your invoices and claiming refunds also shows you which areas of your shipping and delivery need improvement.

For example, what delivery issues or billing errors are a more common sighting, which carrier performs with the most inefficiencies, how much are you spending on shipping, etc.

All these insights can help you negotiate better carrier rates, make better shipping choices, and ultimately curate your most profitable shipping strategy.

10. Savings on Returns

Another great way to start saving on shipping costs is to reduce as many returns as you can.

One approach is to mention all return details correctly in your shipping policy, ensure products are of the highest quality, etc, and cut down on unwanted returns. Another approach is to make sure that not all returns are refunded but instead opportunities for repeat shopping.

For example, you can encourage customers to exchange and store credits over refunds to secure the sale and make customers shop with you again.

11. Post-Purchase Branding

You might think savings are the best thing to come out of your post-purchase.

But what if I told you there’s something better? And that is post-purchase being a revenue channel of its own when put to maximum use.

The first step towards that course is to replace traditional order tracking in carrier pages with custom-built branded tracking experiences.

For instance, populate the tracking pages built on your domain and shipping notifications with your branded elements such as color, font, etc, to keep customers in a brand-immersive experience and ensure your brand remains on the top of the customers’ minds.

12. Post-Purchase As A Marketing Channel

Customers track their order 6 to 8 times before delivery, that’s 6 to 8 lost opportunities to generate more sales during order tracking.

Once you’ve made sure your customers have had a positive experience and your brand recall game is done right, the next step is to transform tracking moments into recurring revenue opportunities with effective cross-sell techniques.

A great way to do that is to include personalized product recommendations, discounts, and other sales promotions on your tracking page and shipping notifications to double your chances at driving sales.

Final Word

So, there you have it – a glimpse into hilarious (and relatable) post-purchase memes. While laughter is certainly the best medicine, remember, these memes aren’t just for amusement. They hold valuable insights into your customers’ minds and experiences.

So embrace the meme, embrace the feedback, and keep creating an e-commerce experience that’s anything but meme-worthy (in a bad way, that is)!

The post 10+ E-Commerce Memes On Post-Purchase Experiences appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Post-Purchase Experience And Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Relationship Goals

Sashank Ravindranath — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 08:26:56 +0000

The success of an e-commerce business depends on a lot of factors — venturing into new markets, net profits made during a quarter, rapport shared with customers and the general public, offering quality products and services, etc. As a merchant, you initiate and perform a list of activities that contribute to said success — be it by improving the shopping experience, coming up with offers, or leveraging tools.

Success may be a very broad topic but there are narrow, definite ways to measure the outcome of success for particular aspects of your business. One such measure is Customer Lifetime Value, which provides insights into aspects like customer satisfaction, repeat shopping, and revenue generation.

Understanding Customer Lifetime Value

Just like the name says, Customer Lifetime Value is the total amount of money that a customer spends in the time they were doing business with you. In other words, a.k.a. industry terminology, Customer Lifetime Value is a metric that represents the total revenue a customer generates for their business throughout their relationship with your company. Both CLV and CLTV are common acronyms for Customer Lifetime Value and are interchangeably used.

Talking about CLV, it’s a calculation used to assess the long-term financial value of a customer. Take this scenario, you possess a Netflix subscription that you renew for $22.99 every month. Now, if you’ve been a subscriber for more than 9 months, your lifetime value would be $206.91.

The idea behind using Netflix as an example is that CLV is easy to calculate for a subscription-based business. But when it comes to an e-commerce business where product values and consumer spending differ, there is no actual guarantee on the specific amount or time of the customer’s next spending.

However, with a little ‘extra’ effort, you can ensure an assured increase in CLV. But before we get into the efforts, let’s look at how CLV actually spells ‘success’ for your business.

How CLV measures the success of your business

CLV is not just a metric that talks about revenue but also gives you insights on various metrics that spell long-term success for your business.

Profitability: By subtracting Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) from CLV, a business can determine the profitability of acquiring and retaining customers (a metric known as adjusted CLV or CLV to CAC ratio).
Retention rates: A non-subscription model and higher CLV often translate to better customer retention rates, i.e., an indication that they are satisfied with the products or services.
Long-Term Strategy: CLV encourages businesses to focus on long-term success, thereby promoting strategies that prioritize customer satisfaction, loyalty, and even brand advocacy.

It is clear that CLV is a powerful metric that measures the success of a business by assessing its revenue generation, profitability, customer retention, etc. So, what do e-commerce businesses generally do to improve their business’ CLV?

The impact of post-purchase experiences on CLV and other metrics of growth

ICYMI, the post-purchase experience comprises of all customer interactions that take place once the order has been shipped until it reaches the customer’s destination or in some cases is making its way back to the warehouse. It makes up 50% of the overall order experience, meaning that when done right, it is a goldmine of opportunity to increase retention and so much more.

However, most businesses (like you, probably) neglect the customer experience after checkout. This may not be a good move, considering the post-purchase, when unattended is a time that is marred by frequent issues such as delays and customer rants on support channels that have the power to jeopardize the CLV.

Customers don’t care much about the workings of the parcel behind the screen. What matters is that customers have a low tolerance for delivery issues and will shift to a competitor after one poor experience. This brings us to the first metric, retention rates.

Customer Retention Rate (CRR) – A measure to identify if your customers are indeed happy and are still shopping with you at the end of a period compared to at the start of it. Remember, increasing your customer retention rate even by 5% could lead to increased profits of between 25% and 95%.
Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) – In simple terms, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the cost of convincing a potential customer to purchase your product/service. This includes the cost of marketing and sales. When businesses have low retention rates (thanks to poor CX), their immediate choice is to look after new customers. What they don’t realize is that it is 5x to acquire a new customer than retain an existing customer.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) – Low retention rates and high acquisition rates are a direct sign of low CLV because naturally, the longer a customer chooses to buy from a business, the greater their lifetime value. High CLV rates are a must for businesses as loyal customers are worth 10 times as much as the value of their first purchase.

The message is loud and clear. For a higher CLV, you have to create a great post-purchase experience and that brings us to the focus of this article and the question in your head — what should I be doing to my post-purchase if I need to increase my CLV?

We’ve heard you and drafted a list of post-purchase techniques that you need to follow if your focus is CLV.

Post-Purchase Strategies to Boost CLV

1. Data-driven personalization

Data-driven personalization in Customer Experience (CX) refers to leveraging data analytics and technology to create highly customized and relevant experiences for each customer such as tailoring interactions, product recommendations, and other content based on their past behaviors, preferences, and demographic information.

In a report by Salesforce, 52% of the consumers said they would switch to a different business if the CX was not personalized.

Here are some examples of data-driven personalization in post-purchase CX.

1.1 Leverage Customer feedback to improve post-purchase engagement and operations

There’s no better way for businesses to gain insights into their customers’ experiences and preferences than actively seeking and analyzing customer feedback. Know what your customers think of your post-purchase operations, what their expectations are, etc, and work on meeting exceeding them.

Here’s how customer feedback contributes to data-driven personalization and improving CLV:

Engagement analytics: Leverage insights from post-purchase engagement KPIs like tracking page visits, open and click-through rates on notifications to include personalized and branded elements that put your brand on top of the customers’ minds.
Optimize fulfillment (delivery and returns) operations and post-purchase CX: Gain access to a goldmine of data in the form of customer satisfaction feedback on delivery and return-related experiences to make post-purchase enhancements.

P.S. Apart from customer feedback, regularly tracking your customers’ parcels in the delivery and returns phases also gives you shipping intelligence on aspects such as on-time performance, returns trends, and other insights, etc, that help you unlock opportunities that improve your post-purchase operations.

1.2 Repeat purchase strategies

Providing a great post-purchase CX is 90% of the work done to ensure your customers keep picking your business over your competitors. All they need is a little encouragement in the form of product recommendations & promotions that double the chances.

Personalized product recommendations: Convert visits to your order tracking page into repeat purchases with personalized product recommendations based on your customers’ recent purchases.
Targeted marketing campaigns: Use your tracking pages and email campaigns as real estate to drive more sales through targeted campaigns, discounts, and sales promotions.

2. Effective post-purchase customer engagement

Personalization in post-purchase marketing is an essential part of keeping customers really excited about repeat shopping with you but it doesn’t work unless your customers are happy with the delivery experience they’ve received. And trust me, this is an important hurdle to cross as the post-purchase is a phase where issues are frequent and have the potential to create bad experiences that demotivate customers from choosing you.

This is where an effective post-purchase engagement strategy that nurtures customer relationships, drives additional sales, and creates a positive feedback loop comes into place.

Proactive notifications: Make use of a post-purchase automation platform that sends out proactive alerts for delivery issues and enables you to proactively notify customers. Even if you are unable to take measures to correct the course, your customers will appreciate your efforts and thereby give you a chance to avoid a bad delivery experience.
Timely shipping updates: Even if everything seems to be going well, you can still capitalize on the post-purchase opportunity to engage your customers with timely email and SMS shipping notifications that keep them in the loop of their orders and mitigate their anticipation.

3. Seamless returns experiences

Most e-commerce merchants often assume returns to be a bad thing for their e-commerce business but that’s only when they’re left unattended. When taken care of in the best possible way, returns are the perfect opportunity to turn a potentially negative interaction into loyalty and growth.

Here are some ways businesses can provide a returns process that builds customer trust and contributes to CLV growth.

Easy returns: As the first step to making returns hassle-free, you can begin with an easy initiation process and follow up with return status updates and self-serve return status tracking.
Promoting exchanges over refunds: Not all returns have to be refunded and end in a lost sale. Instead, you can offer convenient exchange and store credit options that encourage customers to confidently shop with you again.

Final word

A great way to measure the success of yours is the strong customer relationships that are created from positive customer experiences, fortified by your post-purchase phase efforts such as hassle-free returns, hype-personalization, and effective customer engagement.

These are no secret ingredients but something businesses like yours have unwillingly neglected over the years for multiple reasons. So, if you’re looking to supercharge your post-purchase strategies and improve CLV, LateShipment.com is your one-stop solution.

With LateShipment.com’s suite of solutions, businesses can seamlessly provide seamless post-purchase experience that customers crave and ultimately boost loyalty and revenue.

Interested to know more? Check out the different ways in which LateShipment.com can work for your e-commerce business.

Still have queries? Talk to us

The post Post-Purchase Experience And Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Relationship Goals appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

5-Point Checklist To Reduce Post-Purchase Customer Inquiries

Sashank Ravindranath — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 10:22:21 +0000

The post-purchase is an exciting phase for your customers, as it is the last station before they get to their destination called happiness from collecting their orders. However, with most e-commerce merchants not having much awareness about the post-purchase phase and unwillingly neglecting its events, the ‘exciting phase’ is also one of the ‘most anxious’ phases for customers.

This anticipation of order deliveries facing issues (understandable, as 1-in-5 parcels shipped face delivery issues) leads to customers bombarding your support team with WISMO or Where IS My Order? Inquiries.

WISMO requests alone make up approximately 50% of the overall customer inquiries.

Stats highlight that customers’ expectations when it comes to delivery and returns experiences are only becoming higher, yes — but when you think about it, here are some of their primary expectations:

“I’d like to stay in the know of my package at all times”
“If there’s an issue with my package, I’d like to know it beforehand”.

It sounds quite reasonable if you ask.

However, there is an increased frustration among customers because most businesses they shop with fall under the category of not meeting their “bare minimum” expectations.

Forget the stats for a moment — as an e-commerce merchant, you would’ve witnessed countless times, when a customer contacts your support team demanding to know the status of their orders as they grew increasingly anxious about its arrival.

Not just for the sake of your customers, even your support reps would agree that frequently tending to post-purchase issues and pacifying disgruntled customers only consumes all of your support team’s time, thereby preventing them from tending to other important tasks at hand.

30% of the customer support team’s time and effort is WASTED handling repetitive delivery and return-related inquiries

The good news is that with the right course of action, post-purchase queries can be contained extensively so that your support team now saves quality time and you can improve customer satisfaction by mitigating frustrations.

Here’s a checklist containing steps that you can take to reduce customer queries (particularly WISMO) and provide a great post-purchase customer experience. Without further ado, let’s get started.

5-Point Checklist To Reduce Post-Purchase Customer Inquiries

1. Keep customers in the loop of their orders via delivery status updates

A. Automate important shipping notifications

In the era of instant gratification, the only thing that keeps customers from bombarding your business with order status inquiries or ‘WISMO calls’ is your initiative to keep them constantly updated on their orders in transit.

The best way to do this is to automate notifications for important shipping events such as order confirmed, shipped, out-for-delivery, etc. Such notifications assure the customer that their order is making its way and give them the confidence to keep shopping with you.

Remember, the key is to keep these notifications proactive and cover multiple channels such as email, SMS, or WhatsApp to reach customers where they are most active.

B. Make order tracking self-service

Another opportunity that you can create to keep your customers aware of their orders at all times is to simply enable them to track orders on their own.

Here’s how it can be done: once the order gets shipped, you can notify customers with a ‘track your order’ link or embed a button on your website or chat.

By tracking orders on their own, your customers can look up the status of their deliveries any time they need and thereby are less prone to get your support team’s help.

2. Fix delivery issues before they happen

A. Receive alerts for critical issues

Staying reactive and doing damage control for delivery issues is an option. However, this may not be the best option, given that the customer is already impacted by the issue.

Here’s the thing about just being reactive to delivery issues: on the one hand, support reps are tired of constantly hearing angry rants from customers and tending to them. On the other hand, manually checking all of the customers’ parcels for issues and personally catering to them is an exhaustive and almost impossible task (especially if your shipping volume is a bit high).

A great way to get started on dealing with these two birds with one stone is to make use of a real-time tracking solution that triggers alerts for critical delivery issues like delays, lost in transit, failed delivery attempts, etc, and enables your support team to take proactive action.

B. Proactively resolve delivery issues

An extension of automated notifications and real-time alerts is the newfound ability to proactively reach out to customers whose parcels are facing critical delivery issues and take appropriate measures to course correctly.

Even if you are unable to fix the issue in the end, your customers will be appreciative of your efforts to rectify the issue and provide them with a positive experience.

Ultimately, this helps you not only mitigate their frustration levels but also create an opportunity to make them choose your brand again despite a delivery issue incident.

C. Integrate your help desk system

One of the major reasons for slow response times amidst a high incoming volume of queries, leading to poor satisfaction levels in customer service is the lack of sufficient data and the right tools to empower staff to help customers better.

For instance, in the case of a delay, your support representatives have to go back and forth on the carrier’s tracking page for package information and the help desk tool to fix the issue. However, this process is inefficient and as mentioned can negatively impact your Average Handle Time.

Instead, work with a real-time tracking solution that empowers support agents with information related to customer order delivery and return status inside your helpdesk so they can quickly respond and proactively resolve post-purchase issues without switching between tools.

3. Extend the capabilities of order-tracking

A. Share the estimated delivery timeline information

The customer gets curious about their order and asks you about the status. You can share a link to the carrier’s tracking page, where the customer tracks their order as it gets periodically updated. This is how order tracking has traditionally been done. But what if there’s a better way to do this?

Display estimated order delivery dates on your product, cart, and checkout pages to let the customer know when their order might be reaching them even before the order is placed. This way, your customers will be less prone to check with you for WISMO inquiries.

You can also add an order countdown timer to create an urgency. Ultimately, this can help you improve conversions and reduce cart abandonment.

B. Include options for the customer to easily access things directly from the tracking page

Another way to achieve a great post-purchase customer experience in the order phase is to include elements such as options to exchange or return, contact customer service, view offers of similar products that go along with their purchase, and much more.

By putting your focus on customer convenience via easy access, your customers are less likely to require your help while requiring an answer for frequent post-purchase queries such as “how to initiate a return?”.

A great CX paired with branding in the post-purchase helps in brand recall and increases the chances of repeat shopping.

4. Initiate steps to reduce post-purchase inquiries even before an order is placed

A. Include all necessary information on the shipping policy page

Not just a quality order tracking experience but much more can be done on your part, even before an order is placed which can reduce customer inquiries to a greater extent.

For starters, make sure to include information such as available shipping methods, international shipping options, and other FAQs such as how to edit order details such as updating the cart, changing delivery address, etc. on your shipping policy page.

P.S. Make sure these page(s) are frequently updated from time to time to prevent any miscommunication.

B. Let customers know about uncommon delivery-related news

E-commerce is an uncertain space where there can be instances of uncommon delivery delays such as supply chain crises and weather-related incidents.

While such incidents happen outside of your control, you can still minimize the damage by notifying your customers of such incidents happening on your homepage and email campaigns.

Proactively addressing the issue builds trust and prevents customers from needing to reach out to you worried about their parcels. Also, with your customers staying informed, you can manage their expectations to a large extent and ease potential frustration.

C. Automate responses via a chatbot

A great option to reduce the burden of frequent post-purchase customer inquiries is to make use of automated chatbots on your website.

These chatbots can be programmed to proactively reach out to customers after their purchase to confirm orders, provide estimated delivery times, and offer tracking, return and exchange information.

The best part is that these chatbots can provide immediate answers 24/7, even outside of your business hours, reducing customer frustration and wait times.

5. Make the process of returns and exchanges seamless

A. Self-service returns and exchanges

Post-purchase customer inquiries don’t stop when the order has been delivered. In fact, they continue through order returns and exchange processes as well.

Don’t just stop by highlighting return-related information such as policies but carry it through until the end of that order experience via hassle-free returns.

The first step is to enable shoppers to initiate and proceed with a return/exchange requiring the most minimal or zero help via self-service returns that guide them with detailed shipping instructions, generate downloadable labels, etc.

B. Returns tracking and notifications

Once your customers have successfully initiated a return, make sure they are in the know of their return status until it is completed, be it reaching the warehouse or even getting denied from your end.

Similar to the order delivery phase, you can ensure seamless tracking in the returns phase as well via

Personalized, proactive return status updates via email and SMS
Enabling customers to look up real-time status updates on their returns on their own
Present real-time status updates and detailed information on your return tracking pages

By providing a hassle-free returns experience, you can ensure that an order return won’t be the last you hear from the customer but they keep shopping with you for a long time to come.

Implementing all the steps mentioned in this checklist can be easily done in no time but we’d like to make it even easier for you. Instead of manual action, you can make use of a solution like LateShipment.com that automates your post-purchase tasks while helping you reap the benefits of a great post-purchase customer experience.

How Lateshipment.Com Can Help You Reduce Post-purchase Customer Inquiries

In the context of seamless order delivery and returns experience, LateShipment.com helps craft great experiences that boost loyalty and revenue for your e-commerce business.

Via effective automation techniques, LateShipment.com also guarantees a reduction in support tickets by up to 72%.

Here’s how LateShipment.com’s post-purchase solution tackles frequent customer inquiries:

Automated notifications to keep customers informed and reduce their need to reach out for updates.
Proactively identify potential delays and inform customers before they arise, thereby managing expectations and preventing frustration.
Self-service portals to look up order statuses and initiate returns and exchanges to reduce reliance on support for these common actions.
Delivery and return feedback to gain insights into customer behavior and identify areas for improvement in post-purchase communication strategies.

By making use of LateShipment.com for your post-purchase needs, you can significantly reduce customer inquiries and reduce the burden on your support team and provide a smoother post-purchase experience for your customers.

The post 5-Point Checklist To Reduce Post-Purchase Customer Inquiries appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Post-purchase Strategies to Turn One-Time Holiday Shoppers into Your Brand’s BFFs

Sashank Ravindranath — Sun, 26 Nov 2023 11:16:54 +0000

Introduction

Holiday shoppers don’t just mean the “I’m planning to spend (more than I usually do during the other months) for my holiday season needs by capitalizing on seasonal trends, special deals, and promotions” type.

It covers impulse buyers — who make unplanned purchases motivated by emotional triggers such as peer pressure or “FOMO” from the holiday trends, gift givers — who are purchasing products for others, early bird or last-minute shoppers, and shoppers of different demographics (age, gender, spend threshold, etc).

Amidst all these characteristics, one thing that stands in common is the holiday shopper preferring to be just a one-time shopper.

The One-Time Shopper Dilemma

You might have faced this scenario where someone shops with your brand once and that’s all… you never hear from them again.

Unfortunately, in some cases, their decision to shop with you just once has something to do with you. This term is coined as “The one-time shopper dilemma”, where e-commerce businesses are unable to convert one-time shoppers into repeat customers due to unfavorable customer experiences.

76% of customers say that an unacceptable customer experience would affect their decision to order from the company again.

It is almost easy for one-time shoppers to get what they want. But in your case, not so much, given the increasing competition among e-commerce brands in today’s space.

Enter “Brand BFF” or repeat customer, a win-win situation for your customers and your business.

Why Focus on Customer Retention?

Overcoming the one-time shopper dilemma requires a comprehensive approach to address the not-so-positive experiences that:

Arise from bad delivery experiences, lack of engagement and follow-up, etc, and
Prevent you from increasing the likelihood of converting one-time shoppers into repeat customers.

To give you a little motivation, here are some of the benefits that you can stand to gain by increasing your customer retention rates.

Cost-effectiveness: Retaining existing customers is significantly more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Studies show that it costs 5 times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.
Stronger customer relationships: Fostering strong customer relationships impacts multiple customer satisfaction metrics such as high customer lifetime value, positive brand perception, and increased brand advocacy.
Competitive advantage: In a competitive landscape where similar products offered are similar, the experiences you offer play the differentiator. And with positive experiences, leading to higher retention rates, you now have a significant advantage over your competitors.

With the importance of customer retention clear, it’s time to focus on one particular component that is crucial to increasing your customer loyalty in the long run — ‘the post-purchase customer journey’.

Chapter 1: Mapping the Post-Purchase Customer Journey

The ‘post-purchase’ is an integral, but often overlooked function in any e-commerce business.

Integral because the experiences offered by you in the post-purchase phase occur in the final stages of the customer journey and thereby have a higher chance of leaving a lasting impression on your customers than CX offered in the pre-purchase and purchase phases.

On the contrary, most businesses don’t pay enough attention to post-purchase customer experience due to reasons such as:

Businesses assume their job is done after handing over the package to the shipping carrier for delivery
Businesses don’t recognize the post-purchase being a goldmine of opportunity to effectively engage customers
Businesses often operate with limited resources, making it challenging to dedicate the time and effort required for effective post-purchase strategies.

Are you one of such businesses? No, it’s all good. If yes, you need to shift your commitment to prioritizing the post-purchase CX. And that process begins with understanding the ABCs of the post-purchase customer journey.

1.1: Defining the Post-Purchase Journey

A customer’s post-purchase journey is interactions with your brand that take place once the order is dispatched to when it is ‘delivered’ or ‘returned’.

In simple terms, the post-purchase customer journey usually takes place from the moment the buy button is clicked and the order is confirmed, till the moment it reaches the customer’s doorstep. In some cases, the post-purchase journey extends beyond order delivery, whenever the customer initiates a return on their purchase.

A successful post-purchase customer experience strategy is ensuring that your customers have hassle-free order delivery and return experiences with your brand that in turn help you nurture customer relationships and achieve sustainable growth. That said, let’s see why post-purchase is a huge missed opportunity for most businesses out there.

1.2: Key Touchpoints and Moments of Truth: Why Post-purchase is a Huge Missed Opportunity

There might be different reasons for Americans choosing to spend 39% less this holiday season from 2022. However, as for pain points, customers said they had several frustrations in the previous holiday season such as a lack of communication during the shipping process (57%), lost or damaged packages (51%), and delayed packages (49%).

A harsh truth to digest is that issues are inevitable and common in the post-purchase phase and mind you, these issues hold serious power to hurt your customer’s satisfaction levels and lead to even more problems.

1.3: Understanding the Post-Purchase CX Challenge: Identifying Threats and Impact

Post-purchase issues may be common. But the real problem lies when you don’t do anything about it and let customers fend for themselves.

This brings up the necessity to maintain engagement and address customer concerns post-checkout. However, with most businesses like yours involuntarily not tending to these issues, there exists a disconnect or a ‘post-purchase CX gap’ that can lead to frustration, dissatisfaction, and ultimately, customer churn.

Up to 20% of shipments face ISSUES such as late delivery, attempted-failed delivery, lost or damaged in transit
Up to 40% of customer support inquiries are WISMO (Where Is My Order) or RETURN-related
Up to 35% of all products that are purchased from e-commerce retailers are RETURNED
82% of shoppers are worried about their orders not reaching them on time
78% of shoppers won’t buy from the brand again after just ONE bad delivery or return experience

But there’s no need to stress — the upcoming sections will cover everything you need to know about creating an e-commerce post-purchase strategy that will improve customer experience, and boost customer retention.

1.4: The Power of Post-Purchase CX

Post-purchase issues tend to drive customers away. On the other side of the same coin, 46% of customers say that a positive post-purchase experience makes them more likely to buy from a brand again. That is the power of the ‘overlooked’ post-purchase CX — to make or break a brand.

Increase in retention, brand reputation, and consumer spending: A positive post-purchase experience can make customers feel happy, valued, and appreciated. Such customers don’t just keep shopping with you but will recommend your brand to others and are also willing to pay more.
Reduced customer support costs: With frequent and meaningful engagement throughout the post-purchase journey, you can minimize customer inquiries and reduce the need to contact customer support, thereby saving you time and money.
Increase in revenue: By leveraging post-purchase interactions to the maximum and exceeding customer expectations, you can create and identify opportunities to upsell or cross-sell additional products.

With the significant benefits that you can reap by working on your post-purchase CX loud and clear, we’ll move on to the hero section of this article. How you can craft a successful strategy to optimize CX throughout your customers’ post-purchase journey.

Chapter 2: Crafting a Post-Purchase CX Strategy

Taking measures to close the post-purchase CX gap and provide customers with a frictionless delivery experience can cement you as their preferred brand.

Now the question one should ask is: On whom does the onus of closing the existing gap and perfecting the post-purchase really fall? The answer is: on everyone — from marketing to sales to operations and customer service.

2.1: Aligning Teams for Post-Purchase Success

Support agents providing fast and exceptional customer service
Operations team making better decisions to improve delivery performance and reduce returns
Sales team using the post-purchase as an additional channel to drive revenue
Marketing team sending effective and targeted campaigns based on customer history

Bringing all business functions together and taking a unified approach to post-purchase interactions is vital for your business to enjoy post-purchase success. But what does post-purchase success look like?

2.2: Metrics and KPIs for Post-Purchase CX

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): To measure customer satisfaction with the post-purchase experience through surveys, feedback forms, and online reviews. In 2023, E-commerce and retail had the second-highest benchmark for CSAT scores at 81.
Net Promoter Score (NPS): NPS indicates the likelihood of customers recommending your brand to others. For the e-commerce industry, the average NPS is 45. That means you should aim for a 45 or higher score to succeed.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): CLV represents the total revenue customers generate over their lifetime relationship with the brand. According to many e-commerce experts, LTV should be about 3x CAC.
Return-related metrics: To monitor different metrics relevant to returns and exchanges to identify potential product or operational issues. Some must-know return KPIs for e-commerce businesses are Return rate, Reason for return, Frequently returned products, etc.
Customer Support Resolution Time: A metric that directly impacts your CSAT and NPS scores — the average time it takes to resolve customer inquiries and issues. 61% of consumers define excellent customer support interaction as one with a quick resolution.

By consistently monitoring these metrics and KPIs, you can identify trends, assess the impact of post-purchase strategies, identify areas and make data-driven decisions for improvement, and drive long-term CX success.

Adopting the following ways to improve your post-purchase CX will ensure a positive impact on both your customers’ lifetime value and the retention rate of your business.

Chapter 3: Delivering a Seamless Order Fulfillment Process

The order fulfillment process is the first step in the post-purchase experience. It’s important to make sure that this process is seamless and efficient to avoid customer frustration.

Here are a few tips for delivering a seamless order fulfillment process:

3.1: Process Orders Quickly and Accurately

The order fulfillment process is the series of steps that take place after an order is placed until the product is delivered to the customer. While it can be time-consuming, when optimized with the right strategies it can help you improve customer satisfaction and so much more.

There are several strategies that e-commerce businesses can implement to improve their order fulfillment process:

Optimize Inventory Management: Accurately keep track of inventory levels to avoid both stockouts and overselling.
Partner with reliable shipping carriers: Partner with reliable shipping carriers to ensure timely and accurate deliveries. Each carrier like DHL, FedEx, and UPS has its pros and cons. Compare them and see what works best for your business.
Make use of an Inventory Management tool: An inventory management software like Linnworks can help you automate processes and execute a seamless CX across the order fulfillment journey.

3.2: Provide Real-time Tracking Information

Providing real-time order tracking information to customers is a crucial aspect of delivering a seamless order fulfillment process. Here are some key benefits of providing real-time order tracking:

Track your shipments across the carriers and 3PLs that you use: Gain real-time visibility of your shipments, even after packages have left your facility — across carriers, 3PL service providers, service types, and locations, to have a true and unified view of your fulfillment operations.
Dive deep into delivery exceptions and on-time performance trends: Gain a commanding and consolidated view of all delivery issues and on-time performance trends to intervene before they can adversely affect your customers’ satisfaction levels and the efficiency of your order fulfillment operations.

TLDR; by prioritizing real-time order tracking, it is time to deliver a seamless and transparent order fulfillment process and enhance customer satisfaction.

3.3: Offer Multiple Shipping Options

By offering a variety of shipping choices, you can cater to different customer needs, preferences, and budget constraints, leading to reduced cart abandonment, and increased customer satisfaction.

Identify customer preferences: Analyze customer data and feedback to understand the most popular shipping options and preferences among your target audience.
Clearly display shipping options: Provide clear and transparent information about shipping options on product pages and during the checkout process.
Accommodate special delivery requests: Offer options for expedited shipping, weekend delivery, or any other specific delivery instructions. This can come in particularly handy while catering to last-minute shoppers.

3.4: Handle returns and exchanges promptly

Making returns easier for holiday season shopping is the norm now as 98% of shoppers say that fast and convenient returns will make them more likely to order again. Here are a few strategies if you’re looking to keep up or even perform better than competing brands when it comes to order returns.

Establish a clear and transparent returns and exchanges policy: Clearly outline the terms and conditions for returns and exchanges, including time limits, eligibility criteria, and return shipping instructions. Make this policy easily accessible to customers on your website, checkout page, and order confirmation emails.

56% of customers abandon their carts due to delivery and returns-related concerns.

Communicate effectively throughout the process: Keep customers informed about the status of their returns and exchanges throughout the process. Send email notifications, provide tracking information, and address any inquiries promptly.
Retain revenue by encouraging exchanges or store credits over refunds: Incentivize customers to exchange an item or accept store credits with additional discounts, rather than a refund to save a lost sale and retain profits.
Streamline your returns processes: Utilize return automation tools to make tasks self-service, automate steps, send proactive status updates, etc, to reduce unnecessary returns workload on your support team as well as to make the process quicker.
Analyze return and exchange data: Regularly review return and exchange data to identify trends, potential product issues, and areas for improvement in the order fulfillment process.

Remember, your customers are not always happy doing returns. Therefore, don’t make it more stressful for them. On the other hand, by making the returns and exchanges process as seamless as possible, you have the power to transform a potentially negative experience into an opportunity to showcase customer care and build lasting relationships.

Chapter 4: Customer Support: Your Retention Superpower

Delivery issues such as delays being inevitable and carriers often withholding information to prevent themselves from being shown in a bad light highly increases the odds of your customers bombarding your support reps with frequent WISMO queries.

Customer support teams are overloaded with WISMO requests that make up approx. 50% of the overall customer inquiries.

On the other hand, with great customer support, you can effectively assist and resolve customer issues and open new doors for customer satisfaction and retention. Here are some ways for you to provide stellar customer support in the post-purchase phase.

4.1: Proactively Resolve Delivery Issues Before They Impact Your Customers

Trigger proactive alerts: Whenever your customers’ parcels are facing critical delivery issues, such as predicted delays, suspect lost, etc, have tickets triggered to your helpdesk system to enable your support agents to proactively address the issue at hand.
Arm your support team with data: Provide customer support teams with access to complete shipment tracking information to resolve delivery issues promptly. This empowerment ensures that customers receive timely assistance and issue resolution.

4.2: Turn Support Interactions into Opportunities

Actively listen and gather insights: Engage in active listening during support interactions to fully understand customer concerns, pain points, and expectations. Use this valuable feedback to identify areas for product improvement, service enhancements, or process modifications.
Personalize interactions: Tailor support interactions to individual customer needs and preferences. Use customer data to provide personalized recommendations, address specific concerns, and offer relevant solutions. This can foster deeper connections and increase customer satisfaction.
Integrate support with marketing and sales: Collaborate with marketing and sales teams to share customer insights gathered from support interactions. Use this data to inform marketing campaigns, sales strategies, and product positioning to align with customer needs and preferences.

By leveraging customer data and insights, businesses can transform customer interactions into valuable touchpoints to gather insights, foster positive relationships, and demonstrate a genuine commitment to customer service.

4.3: Encourage Customer Self-service

Provide your customers with the tools and resources to resolve their own issues to free up your support team to focus on more complex and urgent matters. This can help in reducing support costs and improving overall efficiency.

Branded order tracking experience: Customers track their orders 6-8 times before delivery. That’s valuable time that you can’t afford to miss out to re-engage with your customers and boost brand recall. For instance:
- You can host tracking pages on your domain and populate them with branded elements that ensure your brand stays at the top of their mind.
- Apart from the usual content such as order summary and tracking information, you can also go a step further in customer convenience and include options to contact support for emergencies or initiate returns/exchanges directly
- You can also include personalized product recommendations and run offers/sales to double your chances of driving repeat sales.

Reduced support costs, Increased agent productivity: With customers having enough information at hand to manage their own support requirements, you can reduce the burden on your support teams, which can lead to lower support costs. Also, agents who’ve spent their time tending to unwanted inquiries can now focus on more complex and urgent matters, improving their overall productivity.

Access to 24/7 support: With self-service options available to customers 24 hours a day, customers can resolve their issues whenever and wherever customers need them, without having to wait for support.

4.4: Leverage Customer Support Technology

Technology plays a crucial role in enhancing customer support by providing you with innovative tools and solutions to transform your customer support operations and create exceptional customer experiences.

Utilize predictive analytics: Make use of technology that analyzes historical parcel data and forecasts potential disruptions such as delays and helps you take the right course of action before such issues impact your customer.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Chatbots: AI-powered chatbots can provide 24/7 support by answering frequently asked questions, guiding customers to relevant resources, and escalating complex issues to human agents. Chatbots can also personalize interactions based on customer data and preferences.
Help desk systems: Utilize help desk tools such as Freshdesk and Gorgias as a centralized platform for managing customer inquiries. This can help in empowering your support team to deliver lasting customer experiences, as well as simplify their operations by bringing in a structured way of prioritizing.
Omnichannel support: Omnichannel support integrates various communication channels, such as phone, email, live chat, and social media, into a unified platform. This seamless integration allows customers to switch between channels without losing context and ensures that their inquiries are handled promptly and efficiently.

Ultimately, by effectively utilizing customer support as a retention superpower, you can strengthen customer relationships, reduce churn, and achieve long-term success.

Post-purchase interactions from your end don’t have to be only when something goes wrong. Even when everything is going your way, there’s an additional opportunity to boost engagement and reap its benefits.

Chapter 5: Email and Post-Purchase Engagement

A great way to build lasting relationships with customers is to keep them engaged and ensure that you remain on the top of their minds. And what better way to engage customers throughout the post-purchase phase than keeping them notified till their order reaches them.

5.1: Order Confirmation and Beyond

The ‘order confirmed’ notification is a priority for two things — assurance to the customer that their order has been accepted and kicking off the rest of the post-purchase shipping notifications to improve CX throughout the delivery lifecycle.

Order shipped: Once the order has been processed and shipped, customers should receive a prompt shipping confirmation email, providing them with a tracking link or reference number to monitor the progress of their shipment. This proactive communication keeps customers informed and reduces the burden on customer support teams.
Order In-transit: Throughout the shipping process, customers should receive periodic updates, either via email or SMS notifications, informing them of the shipment’s location, estimated delivery date, and any potential delays or disruptions. Real-time tracking links further enhance transparency and provide customers with a sense of control.
Order out-for-delivery: Upon reaching the destination city or postal code, customers should receive an out-for-delivery notification, indicating that their order is on its way to their doorstep. This timely update allows customers to prepare for the package’s arrival and manage their schedules accordingly.
Order delivered: Finally, upon successful delivery, customers should receive a delivery confirmation email or SMS notification, providing them with a final acknowledgment of the order completion. This closing touch reinforces customer satisfaction and encourages repeat purchases.

However, this is no longer the bare minimum as customers expect brands to keep them informed at every event of their package journey to mitigate their highly otherwise high anticipation levels. If you’re looking to exceed expectations, you need to proactively step up your game and leverage additional touch points in the order journey.

5.2: Post-purchase Shipping

In the order delivery and returns phases of the post-purchase customer journey, there are additional events for you to understand and implement in your existing email and SMS series:

Delivered with delays: A fairly straightforward notification sent when the order is delivered exceeding the proposed timeline. Customers are more likely to forgive you for the delay, when you acknowledge the delay from your end along with a little apology note and a coupon.
In-transit with delays: Tracking your orders in real-time gives you the opportunity to proactively identify and resolve delays before your customer is impacted by them. For high-value customers, you can go a step further and send out replacements via expedited shipping options, so that your customers don’t end up losing them.
Failed delivery attempt: When a delivery attempt is made and yet the order does not reach the customer’s hands, the onus of handling the issue is still on you. Whenever a delivery is re-attempted you have to shell out a few extra dollars as re-delivery charges. Therefore, avoid additional re-attempts, by keeping customers informed.
Delay predicted: Maximizing real-time order tracking and predictive analytics, gives you the opportunity to keep the customer informed when there is a possibility of a delay (which might turn out resolved on its own) to stay on the safe side. This ensures that the customer knows that you are on top of their order and will be less anxious regarding it reaching them on time.
Suspected to be lost: Despite state-of-the-art tracking systems, packages can still end up somewhere else than the required destination. When you suspect a package to be lost, the first thing that you must do is notify your customers at the earliest.
Order lost/damaged: In case your worry turns out to be true and the package ends up lost in transit/ damaged upon being received, you must prioritize notifying customers at the earliest and try to offer a prompt resolution. You can also go a step further and bear the cost of returns and send out a replacement at your own cost and provide discounts or coupons for future orders.
Return notifications: Similar to delivery status notifications, you can also keep customers in the loop of their order returns by sending emails and SMS:
- When they initiate a return
- When their return request is accepted, rejected, or canceled
- When the return order is in-transit, and
- When the returned order is received at your facility

Remember, engaging with your customers when they are not very excited is the perfect time for you to revive their trust in your brand and strengthen relationships.

5.3: Nurturing Customer Relationships Through Email

Keep sharing product recommendations (Cross-selling and upselling): Utilize customer purchase history and identify preferences to send personalized product recommendations. You can also suggest complementary products, accessories, or new releases that align with their interests.
Educate your customers via ‘how-to’, tips and tricks emails: Share product tutorials, usage guides, or tips and tricks to help customers maximize the value of their purchases and enhance their overall experience.
Provide exclusive offers and loyalty rewards: Reward customers with exclusive offers, discounts, or loyalty points based on their purchase history or engagement levels. These personalized incentives encourage repeat purchases and strengthen customer loyalty.
Send ‘thank you’ mails and feedback requests: Express gratitude for customer purchases through personalized thank-you emails. Include feedback requests to gather valuable insights into their experience, identify areas for improvement, and demonstrate a commitment to customer satisfaction.

Post-purchase email is not just about confirming orders and providing usual updates; it’s about building lasting connections, fostering positive experiences, and cultivating a loyal customer base that contributes to sustainable business growth.

Post-purchase CX: The Path to Lifelong Customer Relationships

In the ever-evolving landscape of customer experience (CX), post-purchase interactions play a pivotal role in forging lifelong customer relationships and driving retention.

Prioritize customer satisfaction beyond the point of purchase to transform fleeting transactions into enduring connections.
Embrace evolving strategies and stay attuned to customer expectations to achieve sustainable growth in the ever-evolving world of customer experience.

Appendices

Getting started on implementing these strategies is the first step to turn one-time shoppers into your brand’s BFFs.

But wouldn’t it be even better if there were solutions to automate all these tasks on your behalf?

Meet LateShipment.com’s post-purchase suite — to help you provide delightful delivery and return experiences to automated refund recovery and drive everything post-purchase from one place.

LateShipment.com is a post-purchase automation platform built for D2C e-commerce businesses to offer superior CX throughout delivery & returns, effortlessly recover refunds for shipping errors by carriers, and drive efficiency in shipping with last-mile logistics intelligence.

When it comes to post-purchase CX, LateShipment.com helps you:

Reduce WISMO (Where Is My Order) support requests by up to 70% and return-related customer inquiries by up to 80%
Achieve CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) scores of 80+ even when delivery issues occur
Boost brand recall and customer engagement post-purchase by 6x
Drive up to 12% repeat purchases
Improve conversion rates by up to 28%
Reduce return processing time by up to 95%
Retain revenue from over 30% of your returns

And so much more…

Still doubtful? Don’t take our word for it.

Listen to what fellow e-commerce brands have to say about implementing post-purchase strategies into their existing workflows and seeing huge results.

For even more extensive strategies, here’s a free and comprehensive downloadable guide equipped with the post-purchase actionable strategies needed to transform one-time holiday shoppers into devoted brand advocates. Dive into the world of customer retention and discover how to make your brand the go-to choice for every season.

The post Post-purchase Strategies to Turn One-Time Holiday Shoppers into Your Brand’s BFFs appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

E-Commerce Post-Purchase CX Playbook For The Up-And-Coming Holiday Season

Sashank Ravindranath — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 15:05:20 +0000

The Post-purchase CX Mandate

Knowing what’s coming and staying ahead of delivery and return-related issues is key to perfecting post-purchase.

However, e-commerce post-purchase issues are nothing out of the ordinary, especially during times like the Holiday Season. The impact they bring is catastrophic — wrecking customer experience, straining customer support teams, and ultimately threatening profit margins.

Regardless of who the shipping partner is, a leading carrier or a 3PL, some hard truths that you deal with are.

E-commerce post-purchase is a missed opportunity in the current state

The ‘post-purchase customer experience (CX)’ is an integral but often overlooked function in any e-commerce business. When done right, it has the potential to ensure your customers have a hassle-free ‘order delivery’ and ‘return’ experience. In the long run, this can help you boost customer loyalty, efficiency, as well as profits.

That said, let’s see why post-purchase is a huge missed opportunity for most businesses out there.

Up to 20% of shipments face issues such as late delivery, attempted-failed delivery, lost or damaged in transit
30% of customer support team’s time and effort is wasted handling repetitive delivery and return related inquiries
12% of revenue is lost because businesses don’t encourage repeat purchases during order and return tracking moments
35% of all products purchased online are returned

The link between Post-Purchase CX and Customer Loyalty

As mentioned earlier, post-purchase CX has everything to do with what happens after the customer makes a purchase.

To make things more familiar, shipping updates, order tracking, or in some cases returns and exchanges. Either way, this is the last thing your customers are going to remember about their experience with your brand. Therefore, you have to ensure that it stays memorable.

Remember, a positive post-purchase experience can lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, while a negative post-purchase experience can lead to customer churn.

78% of shoppers won’t buy from the brand again after just ONE bad delivery or return experience.

Now, one might ask: On whom does the onus of perfecting the post-purchase CX really fall?

The answer is: on everyone — from marketing to sales, to operations and customer service. By bringing all business functions together and working towards excelling in both, your post-purchase customer experience and operations at every stage of the process is vital.

To help you provide a great post-purchase experience and reap its benefits, we have developed a playbook covering everything you need to know about creating an e-commerce post-purchase strategy that will improve the customer experience and boost customer retention this Holiday Season and beyond.

6 Post-purchase Plays to Dominate Customer Experience During the Holiday Season

1. Enabling real-time tracking and delivery alerts

With unprecedented visibility into the status of their order in transit, you can stay in the know of all your packages at any given moment. This also gives you the ability to gain real-time alerts and be able to identify potential issues, such as delays much ahead of the customer.

You can leverage this data to proactively address problems, such as offering solutions or even just informing customers.

Such actions can ensure that customers’ frustration levels are significantly reduced and as a result, there is a positive brand perception.

2. Engaging in regular and personalized order status notifications

Even when things are going perfectly, you can keep your customers engaged with order updates and personalized conversations by making use of the customer and order information in your hand.

Send email and SMS shipping notifications at every stage of the post-purchase package journey, i.e., delivery and return status events such as in-transit, delivered, and returned, etc, to keep customers informed at all times. This makes them less prone to getting anxious regarding their parcels, reduces the volume of WISMO inquiries, and allows support teams to focus on more complex customer issues.

Such personalized conversations also let the customers know that you are committed to delivering them a positive post-purchase experience which leads to increased customer satisfaction.

3. Leveraging memorable tracking experiences

An extension of real-time tracking and proactive order communication is making use of a “branded” tracking page that is hosted on your website, from where your customers can track their orders whenever they want to.

Apart from tracking details, your tracking page can also include additional content such as an on-brand website design (color, font, etc), a complete order summary to let customers if they’ve entered the correct details, delivery satisfaction ratings to collect customer feedback, easy returns initiation and reaching out to customer support to provide hassle-free experiences, and so on.

The best part, you can add elements such as sale announcements and personalized product recommendations to ensure an increase in cross-selling. All of this helps in reinforcing your brand identity, leaving a lasting experience, improving your brand reputation, and ultimately driving more sales.

4. Enhancing packaging and unboxing experience

Receiving their orders might be the moment your customers have been expecting since they hit that ‘buy’ button. Make that moment etched into their memories with the right packaging and unboxing techniques.

Packaging plays a much bigger role than just covering your product. Firstly, a great-looking package creates a positive first impression, setting the stage for a great post-purchase experience. Following these are the branded elements that reinforce identity, good quality that ensures lower chances of damage and frustration, and sustainable materials used to improve brand image.

Following packaging, there comes the relatively new trend of unwrapping/ unboxing experience being capitalized by e-commerce brands. Ensure customers share their unboxing videos on social media as user-generated content to create larger brand awareness and attract new customers.

5. Handling returns and exchanges effectively

Your efforts to provide a positive post-purchase experience do not end with the delivery being made, as there are always chances of your customers returning their purchase.

But remember, customers don’t always look forward to returning their purchases — so, don’t make the experience frustrating for them. Keep things as seamless as you can via easy and quick returns, multiple return options (exchanges and store credits), clear returns policy, transparent return status communications, etc.

When handled effectively, returns can be an opportunity to demonstrate customer-centricity, resolve issues efficiently, build trust and loyalty, and enhance customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

6. Encouraging reviews and ratings

A great post-purchase experience is one that is constantly evolving. So, give room for it to grow and fasten the process by encouraging your customers to provide feedback on the post-purchase experience that they received.

You can start by making it easier for customers to leave their feedback — probably in the order delivered/ returned email or on the order tracking page, once the progress is completed. In case there’s a review and a place where you don’t want them leaving one, try to reach out to them at the earliest and offer a solution that they expect in order to change the emotion of the feedback from negative to positive. You can also take a step ahead and reward customers via incentives for their feedback to ensure that they leave more and spread good word-of-mouth.

By resolving their negative comments or displaying their positive review on your website or social media, you are conveying that their feedback matters and as a result builds strong customer relationships. Either way, reviews and ratings from customers provide an opportunity to make regular improvements and reach a wider audience.

How LateShipment.com Can Help Power your Post-purchase Success

LateShipment.com is the ultimate all-in-one post-purchase success platform for e-commerce retailers, D2C brands, and businesses shipping small parcels, regardless of their size or shipping volume.

Our Post-Purchase Success platform includes:

Delivery Experience Management (DEM): To build memorable order delivery experiences and boost recurring revenue during order tracking moments.
Returns Experience Management (REM): To make returns hassle-free with flexible return options and smart automations to help retain revenue.
Parcel Audit and Shipping Refunds: To save big on shipping costs through automated shipping refunds and drive supply-chain optimization with in-depth shipping analytics and insights.

Also, LateShipment.com seamlessly integrates with 600+ Shipping Carriers and Business Tools that include E-commerce platforms, Order Management Systems, Helpdesks, and Marketing Automation tools to help you drive post-purchase experiences and shipping cost savings at scale.

The post E-Commerce Post-Purchase CX Playbook For The Up-And-Coming Holiday Season appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

[Gorgias X Lateshipment.Com] Strengthening Customer Relationships With Post-Purchase Automation For 11 Key Events

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 19:20:47 +0000

Customer service in the post-purchase phase is really a hectic time for support teams. It is their time and opportunity to become sales agents, offering discounts to encourage repeat purchases, etc.

However, due to the unpredictable nature of the post-purchase phase, support teams are often forced to spend most of their time resolving customer issues. In fact, up to 30% of a customer support team’s time and effort is wasted handling repetitive delivery and return related inquiries.

Thus, the need for post-purchase customer support automation and proactive delivery issue resolution is very evident. This is where Gorgias and LateShipment.com come together to arm your support reps with the capability to strengthen customer relationships.

For those of you who are here and unaware of what we do, Gorgias is a powerful customer service helpdesk software that strives to help e-commerce merchants provide exceptional customer service and turn your customer service into a profit center. LateShipment.com is an automation platform specializing in providing solutions for e-commerce businesses to enhance their post-purchase customer experience.

Together, our integration helps businesses deliver a superior customer experience and build customer trust and loyalty in the competitive e-commerce landscape.

We developed this guide (along with a downloadable handbook!) to set up LateShipment.com with Gorgias and equip your support team to get better at understanding and responding to different post-purchase events and have meaningful conversations that drive quality experiences and ultimately impact your revenue.

11 Post-Purchase Events That You Can Automate With Lateshipment.Com And Gorgias

One of the biggest challenges e-commerce merchants face when it comes to resolving post-purchase issues and queries is the lack of information that prevents quick and efficient issue resolution.

Automation takes care of the management of these areas. With the help of Tags to organize and Rules to automate within Gorgias, LateShipment.com helps you extend automation for 11 order delivery and returns events and extend your efforts to provide high-quality customer support to the most critical part of the customer journey — the post-purchase phase.

Event 1: Packages delivered with delays

Rule: Priority: Delayed Delivery

Rule description: Set a higher priority for tickets with the “Delayed Delivery” tag to ensure quicker resolution.

Rule benefit:

Set priority based on delay severity
Add internal notes for future reference
Automatically adjust the priority based on tags, allowing the team to focus on higher-priority tickets first

Suggested automations and actions:

Set up tags to automatically assigns a higher priority to tickets with the “Delayed Delivery” tag. This will ensure quicker resolution and put tickets on priority at the top of the queue..
Set up macros to notify customers when their order has been delivered late and apologize for the delay to reduce customer frustration.
Include solutions such as offering a discount or a gift card on your next purchase to compensate them for upcoming purchases in your macros to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction despite the delay.

Event 2: In transit with delays

Rule: Priority: In-Transit Delayed

Rule description: Auto-assign based on tags “In-Transit Delayed, Priority Medium”

Rule benefit:

Set response time SLA based on delay
Assign to specific agent/team based on delay
Automatically assign tickets to specific agents or teams based on tags to streamline handling

Suggested automations and actions:

Set up macros to proactively notify customers when their shipment is in transit with delays.
In your pre-made reponses, ensure you apologize for the delay and provide an updated estimated delivery date.
Set up tags that assign in-transit delay tickets to the right support agents or teams for faster and more effective resolution.
Automatically follow up with customers about the status of their in-transit shipments.

Such actions can help you keep customers updated and reduce the number of tickets you receive about the status of in-transit shipments.

Event 3: Failed Deliveries

Rule: Escalate to Tier 2 Support

Rule description: Escalate the ticket to a higher support level if delivery retries fail, ensuring faster issue resolution.

Rule benefit:

Escalate to a higher support level if retries fail
Trigger notifications to relevant parties for failed deliveries
Notify supervisors when tickets with failed deliveries are encountered, ensuring prompt attention

Suggested automations and actions:

Automate macros with potential solutions, such as scheduling a re-delivery, requesting updated delivery information, etc based on the reason behind the failed delivery
Create tags for escalating the ticket to a higher level support agent if delivery retries fail, ensuring faster issue resolution and prevention of unnecessary returns.
Guide customers through the resolution process by sending them order updates or allowing them to track their parcels

Event 4: Predicted Delays

Rule: Priority: Predicted Delay

Rule description: Assign a lower priority for predicted delay tickets to ensure timely resolution while managing expectations.

Rule benefit:

Update order status with predicted delay
Notify customers about the delay via email
Automatically send an email to customers to alert them about potential delays and offer support options

Suggested automations and actions:

Proactively communicate macros to the customer, informing them about the predicted delay, the reasons for it, and the new estimated delivery date.
Provide the customer with options in your macros to mitigate the impact of the predicted delay. This may include offering expedited shipping, issuing a partial refund, or allowing the customer to cancel their order.

Event 5: Packages Suspected Lost

Rule: Escalate for Lost Package Investigation

Rule description: Escalate tickets with “Lost Package” and “Investigation” tags to the team responsible for investigations.

Rule benefit:

Create tasks for agents to follow up on investigation
Update customer profile with lost package status
Automatically assign tickets with the “Lost Package” tag to the team handling package investigations

Suggested automations and actions:

Set up macros that acknowledge the issue and lets the customer know when they can expect to receive an update.
Assure customers of the investigation process and provide updates regularly to explain that you are actively investigating the situation.

Event 6: Lost/Damaged shipments

Rule: Send Survey After Resolution

Rule description: Automatically send a survey to customers after resolution of lost/damaged shipment tickets to gather feedback.

Rule benefit:

Auto-send satisfaction survey
Add the satisfaction score to the ticket

Suggested automations and actions:

Start by acknowledging and apologizing for the incident and assure the customer that you are actively working to fix the situation.
Offer and explain the detailed steps for compensation through detailed steps for resolution, including returns, replacements, or refunding their purchase.

Not just for delivery incidents, with the LateShipment.com and Gorgias integration, you can extend performing necessary actions in the order returns stage as well and display your commitment towards offering a superior post-purchase customer experience.

Event 7: Return Initiated

Rule: Set Reminders for Return Processing Milestones

Rule description: Automatically set reminders for key return processing milestones to ensure timely handling and communication.

Rule benefit: Automatically update inventory levels when a return is initiated to maintain accurate stock information.

Suggested automations and actions:

Macros that highlight the successful initiation of the return process and outline the next steps.
Update your FAQ or knowledge base with information on what customers need to know during the return process.
If your policy includes providing return shipping labels, automate the process of generating and sending a return label to the customer.

Event 8: Return Canceled

Rule: Remove Tags and Actions for Canceled Returns

Rule description: Automatically remove specific tags and actions when a return is canceled to keep the ticket organized.

Rule benefit:

Trigger re-approval process once the return is reactivated
Adjust return processing timeline based on delay
Automatically assign tickets for return reactivation cases to the team handling return approvals.

Suggested automations and actions:

Start your pre-made response by acknowledging the ticket and informing the customer that there has been a return cancellation request from their end.
Follow up with the message that the return has been successfully canceled.
Customize this rule to meet your specific needs. For example, add information about how customers can contact you if they have any questions or concerns.

Event 9: Return Received

Rule: Notify Warehouse for Return Receipt

Rule description: Automatically notify the warehouse or inventory team when items are received as part of a return

Rule benefit: Automatically update your order history with return receipt status to maintain accurate records

Suggested automations and actions:

Inform the customer that their return has been received and is being processed.
Follow up by letting them know that the resolution is in progress.
Provide an estimated timeframe for processing their return.

Event 10: Return Approved

Rule: Create Tasks for Refund/Exchange Initiation

Rule description: Automatically create follow-up tasks to initiate the refund or exchange process after return approval.

Rule benefit: Automatically assign tickets for refund/exchange initiation to the team handling these processes.

Suggested automations and actions:

Notify the customer that their return request has been approved and is being processed.
Update them with the next course of action (the process of initiating refunds or replacement) once the product inspection is complete.

Event 11: Return Rejected

Rule: Offer Alternatives for Rejected Returns

Rule description: Automatically offer alternative solutions to customers if their return request is rejected.

Rule benefit: Automatically offer alternative solutions to customers if their return request is rejected.

Suggested automations and actions:

Inform the customer that their return has been rejected.
Provide a clear and detailed explanation to the customer regarding why their return was rejected. Include any relevant policy information to support your statement.
Be sure to provide the customer with clear instructions on how to proceed, get their doubts or questions cleared, etc.

Overall, you can use automation to resolve post-purchase issues and queries with the LateShipment.com-Gorgias integration to improve their customer experience, reduce customer churn, and ultimately build customer relationships.

To take even quicker actions, here’s a free downloadable cheat sheet filled with different post-purchase events, suggested macros, appropriate actions that you need to take, etc.

Why Using Automation To Resolve Post-Purchase Issues And Queries Is A Good Idea

Post-purchase issues and queries can be a major pain point for businesses and customers. Customers want their orders delivered on time and in good condition, and businesses want to avoid customer churn. Using automation to resolve post-purchase issues and queries can help both parties.

Here are several benefits of using automation with the LateShipment.com-Gorgias integration:

Prioritize post-purchase issues and queries based on their severity and impact on the customer. This can help businesses resolve the most important issues first, which can improve customer satisfaction and reduce customer churn.
Automatically route tickets to the appropriate support team to automate customer notifications during each resolution process and improve workflow.
Provide customers with self-service options or to automatically escalate tickets to a higher support level if needed. This is a faster and more efficient way to resolve issues and ultimately helps to improve the customer experience.
Gain better visibility into their post-purchase issues and queries. This information can be used to identify trends and patterns, which can help businesses improve their delivery process and reduce the risk of future problems.
Automating repetitive tasks such as responding to common customer inquiries or sending order status updates. This can free up support representatives to focus on more complex issues and improve efficiency.

Macro Templates for Post-Purchase Events

Inside Gorgias, macros are pre-made responses you can use to respond to your customers faster. They can be customized with specific information, such as the customer’s name, order number, and product information.

Macros are useful if a lot of your customers tend to ask similar things or comment on similar topics and can help agents decrease response times by eliminating the need to repeatedly respond to customer inquiries and complaints.

Here are some macro templates formulated by the LateShipment.com and Gorgias integration to help you automate proactive responses to delivery issues and regular post-purchase communication such as delivery status notifications and return status emails.

Use these macros to bring in efficiency to your purchase communication and provide customers with a more consistent and personalized experience.

How You Can Set Up LateShipment.com and Gorgias Integration

Connecting your Gorgias account to your LateShipment.com account lets you seamlessly stay on top of delivery events that may require your attention. With the Gorgias integration, you can have tickets automatically created for delivery events that you select.

Any updates on the delivery status for a shipment in-transit for which a ticket has already been created, are made available on the same ticket. This ensures that support agents have all the information they need around a shipment in one place.

Getting started with connecting LateShipment.com with Gorgias can be done with simple steps.

‍ Login to your LateShipment.com account.

Click on the Settings icon.
Select Connect Helpdesk
On the “Select your Helpdesk” dropdown, pick “Gorgias”
Enter the email ID that you’ve connected with your Gorgias account.
Against the events for which you would like tickets created, turn the toggle “ON”
Hit Submit to complete the setup.

The post [Gorgias X Lateshipment.Com] Strengthening Customer Relationships With Post-Purchase Automation For 11 Key Events appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

The Ultimate Handbook to Achieve Post-purchase Success with LateShipment.com and Zoho Desk

Sashank Ravindranath — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 08:41:06 +0000

Customer service is an extremely critical function for any business and Zoho Desk is a powerful tool to help you orchestrate customer support flows of the highest quality to ensure standout customer experiences that inspire fierce loyalty.

If you’re familiar with LateShipment.com’s Delivery Experience Management and Returns Experience Management platforms you might be aware of our commitment to helping leading e-commerce brands like Princess Polly, SlumberPod, 1st Phorm, and much more to craft superior order delivery and returns experiences (all, while optimizing shipping costs with our Parcel Audit and Shipping Refunds solution) during the most critical part of the customer journey — the post-purchase phase.

Now, here’s the deal. While you might be using Zoho Desk and LateShipment.com separately, together they are a powerful combination of tools to elevate post-purchase customer experience, at scale.

If you’re wondering what can be achieved when both tools come together, here’s a gist of it.

Improve customer satisfaction: Resolve order delivery issues at 3x faster speed
Offer proactive post-purchase support: Proactively reach out and mitigate the impact of delivery issues
Reduce customer support costs: Automate tasks such as order status and delivery exception notifications
Increase customer loyalty: Provide seamless post-purchase customer experience

But First, Why Should You Focus On Your Post-Purchase?

While many things contribute to improving customer experiences, the one area that deserves to be under the spotlight is the “post-purchase” phase.

The post-purchase phase is something that has been unwillingly neglected by most e-commerce businesses, as they consider the package to be the onus of third-party shipping carriers, once the order is marked “shipped”.

If you too are someone with the same stance, you might want to change that as not tending to your post-purchase can do more harm than good.

This is because there is a high possibility of errors that can occur post-order dispatch, which has the power to put your customer experience efforts at risk.

For instance, here are some issues that every business with a lack of effective post-purchase strategy is prone to face:

1-in-5 parcels face delivery issues such as late shipments, order status queries, failed deliveries, lost or damaged shipments, etc.
Over 40% of customer support inquiries are shipping or delivery related, indicating the extent of post-purchase issues customers face with their orders.
Shipping and delivery issues can potentially cause high customer frustration, the spread of negative reviews on social media, and ultimately customer churn.

Not to worry. While post-purchase issues may be inevitable, there are actions you can perform to mitigate customer frustrations and let them enjoy a positive experience despite facing an issue.

To help you do just that, we have come up with this guide where we will explore the different actions (use cases) that you can undertake with LateShipment.com, in conjunction with Zoho Desk to empower your support team to handle post-purchase automations efficiently, provide an exceptional customer experience, and ultimately ensure higher retention rates.

[LateShipment.com x Zoho Desk]: 5 Use Cases And Tips On How To Creative Effective Post-Purchase Experiences

Use Case 1: Dealing with Delivery Delays or Errors on High-Value Customer Orders

The Problem: Delivery issues are frequent and have the potential to drive your customers away — over 90% of the users say they will not shop again after just one bad delivery incident.

The Fix: Resolve critical shipping incidents before they happen.

While you do not have control over delivery issues, you can step in before your customers become aware of them and raise their complaints by proactively addressing them. Here’s how the integration helps you do that:

LateShipment.com tracks your shipments and automatically flags potential delays or delivery issues such as misrouted packages and customs clearance problems.
Each time an issue is flagged, tickets are automatically triggered to Zoho Desk in real time.
This provides the customer support team with all relevant information about the order and the identified issue and enables them to act proactively.

Proactive delivery exception alerts for high-order value shipments

The integration is designed to recognize high-value orders and customers. These orders are given priority in terms of support and resolution, thereby ensuring that the most valuable customers receive special attention and prompt assistance in case of delivery delays or errors.

In cases where delivery delays or errors are detected, the integration enables proactive actions to be taken in two main approaches:

Rush Replacements: If a high-value order is at risk of being delayed, the support team can initiate a rush replacement process to send a new shipment as quickly as possible. This helps in minimizing the impact of the delay on the customer.
Offer Compensation: For cases where the delay has already occurred, the integration allows the support team to offer compensation or concessions to the customer. This gesture can help mitigate the negative experience caused by the delay and maintain customer satisfaction.

Use Case 2: Reducing Ticket Volumes Pertaining to Order Status Requests (WISMO Queries)

The Problem: Nearly 25% of Zoho Desk tickets are related to customers asking for updates on their shipments. These tickets consume time and attention, preventing your team from addressing more critical issues.

The Fix: Reduce delivery inquiries by 70% with real-time updates.

Customers appreciate accurate and up-to-date information regarding the status and location of their orders. Here’s what you can do to keep them in the loop about their orders, allowing them to easily find the information they need without unnecessary hassle, and ultimately exceed their expectations:

Instead of waiting for customers to inquire about their order status, you can set up automation rules that address common WISMO queries and send out proactive alerts in the form of automated notifications at various stages of the shipping process (order shipped, out for delivery, delayed, etc.)
This approach keeps customers informed at all times and reduces the likelihood of WISMO-related inquiries.
With reduced need to contact customer support for order status inquiries, your customers’ satisfaction levels are largely improved, leading to greater loyalty and repeat purchases.

Use Case 3: Managing Failed Deliveries and Avoiding Returned Shipments

The Problem: Failed deliveries resulting in returns can cost your business significantly in terms of negative customer experience and lower profit margins.

The Fix: Empower support reps to easily spot and resolve failed deliveries.

Promptly recognize failed deliveries and take proactive steps to address the issue and prevent unnecessary return shipments. Here’s what happens:

LateShipment.com’s real-time tracking capabilities allow businesses to quickly identify failed delivery attempts that usually occur due to various reasons such as incorrect addresses, missed delivery windows, or customer unavailability.
When a failed delivery is detected, the automation triggers the creation of support tickets in Zoho Desk (these tickets contain comprehensive information about the failed delivery, enabling the support team to understand the situation without any delay).
The support team can now leverage the information provided in the support tickets to swiftly address the failed delivery issue, whether it’s correcting an address, rescheduling the delivery, or communicating with the carrier for resolution.

Use Case 4: Avoiding Low Customer Satisfaction Scores on Late Order Deliveries

The Problem: Data suggests that delivery issues or delays lead to an average CSAT score of only 30%, despite your efforts to improve CX in the pre-purchase and purchase phases.

The Fix: Proactively address delivery issues before customer impact and revive customers’ trust in the brand.

By reaching out with the possibility of delays proactively, businesses can manage customers’ expectations of on-time deliveries and minimize the negative impact on CSAT scores. Here’s how the integration comes to help:

LateShipment.com employs data analysis (of historical shipping data, carrier performance, etc) and extends it to predictive algorithms that identify potential delays and empower businesses to take preventive measures and communicate proactively with customers.
The integration between LateShipment.com and Zoho Desk ensures that when a potential delay is detected, a support ticket is automatically generated — allowing the support team to intervene before customers become aware of the delay in the first place.
In cases where a delay does occur despite these proactive measures, the support team can offer apologies and demonstrate care through compensatory gestures that involve offering a sincere apology for the inconvenience caused by the late delivery.
Additionally, you can consider providing a discount on a future purchase, showcasing their commitment to customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Use Case 5: Handling Lost and Damaged Shipments Inside Zoho Desk

The Problem: Lost and damaged incidents lead to dissatisfaction and erode customers’ trust in your brand, as they fail to meet customers’ primary expectation of timely and intact deliveries.

The Fix: Identify shipments facing issues at a glance and initiate contextual communication.

Occasional package losses or damage are inevitable, but having a proactive response can make a significant difference to your customers. Here’s how you can do that:

LateShipment.com’s tracking capabilities allow for the proactive identification of potential shipment losses.
By closely monitoring shipment progress and comparing it to expected delivery milestones, you can constantly stay on alert for shipments that may be at risk of being lost.
The integration between LateShipment.com and Zoho Desk ensures that if a potential loss or damage is detected, a support ticket is generated and given priority in the support queue, thus recognizing the urgency of addressing lost or damaged shipments.
This empowers your support team to report instances of lost or damaged orders directly within Zoho Desk and eliminates the need to switch between platforms, ensuring that all relevant information is captured accurately in the support ticket.

That’s not all! To help support teams better at resolving common post-purchase issues with LateShipment.com and Zoho Desk, we have come up with a downloadable cheat sheet filled with different scenarios and the appropriate action that support agents need to take in order to deal with the scenarios.

How You Can Set Up LateShipment.com and Zoho Desk Integration

Getting started with connecting LateShipment.com – Zoho Desk can be done in just three simple steps.

Login to your Zoho Desk Account
Accept consent to give OneAuth Scopes to access API’s.
After accepting the consent box, login to LateShipment.com to map your credentials to the corresponding account.

Also, what makes the integration really special are the added benefits that come along with it.

Seamless integration: The integration between Zoho Desk and LateShipment.com is seamless and easy to use. Once you have integrated the two systems, you can start using them together without any hassle in the form of complicated setups or manual data transfers.
Implementation: The integration is easy to implement. You can integrate Zoho Desk and LateShipment.com in just a few minutes.

Flexibility/control: The integration is flexible and gives you control over how you use it. You have the control to decide which post Purchase events you’d like tickets created within Zoho Desk.

Conclusion

By leveraging the power of LateShipment.com and the integration with Zoho Desk, you can transform your post-purchase support process and create exceptional customer experiences.

Proactive actions, timely updates, and efficient issue resolution will lead to higher customer satisfaction, increased loyalty, and ultimately, business growth.

Remember, investing in your post-purchase journey is key to winning lifelong relationships with your customers.

The post The Ultimate Handbook to Achieve Post-purchase Success with LateShipment.com and Zoho Desk appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

How To Handle The Holiday Rush With Post-Purchase Order Tracking

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 07:50:15 +0000

The holiday shopping season means an entirely different thing for shoppers and merchants. For the latter, it’s not just about festivities, gift-giving, and visiting places but the busiest time of year, when they have to work amidst the incoming rush if they’re looking to stay ahead of the competition and maximize sales.

In the case of physical stores, the customer collecting their purchase and leaving the store marks the end of a sales cycle. However, with order delivery and the other aspects that follow, the order getting accepted is only half the battle done for e-commerce merchants. Moreover, with a surge in orders and customer inquiries, thanks to the holiday rush, managing order deliveries during the holiday season gets tougher than usual.

If you’re an e-commerce merchant who is looking to navigate the holiday rush with ease and efficiency, this article is for you.

But first, let’s get to the basics to understand the magnitude of what we’re dealing with.

Understanding the Holiday Rush

The holiday rush as a concept is pretty simple.

Witnessing a spike in consumer spending towards the end of the year, particularly on days like Thanksgiving and Christmas, stores decided to create special offers to spur existing customers to spend even more and to bring in more customers. This soon created a norm where customers rushed to stores to get things at the lowest rates before they went out of stock — leading to the coining of the term.

With time and technological advancements, the shopping trend continued with e-commerce, bringing in a huge revenue opportunity in the form of consumer spending. However, there exists one small problem. Shoppers expect the same level of experience from physical stores to e-commerce. What they don’t realize is the fact that e-commerce businesses and shipping carriers strain their capacity and resources during the peak season to deliver orders properly and on time.

E-commerce brands too, with the goal of staying profitable during the holiday season, strive to provide shoppers with a great experience. Their only catch? Prone to face multiple hurdles that make their efforts to provide quality post-purchase experiences difficult.

Frequent post-purchase challenges e-commerce businesses face during the holiday rush

Increased shipping delays: Increased order volume during the holiday season amplifies the odds of shipping delays, which in turn have the capability to frustrate customers and damage the business’s reputation.
Increased customer support inquiries: The holiday season is also a time when customers are more likely to have questions or problems with their orders. This can lead to an increase in customer support inquiries and consume all of the customer support team’s time.
Increased returns and refunds: When things go wrong with their orders, customers don’t hesitate to expect returns and refund requests. Issues like this further put pressure on the already strained capacity of shipping carriers and cost you efforts and money.

While these challenges are concerning enough on their own, they can also have adverse effects on your business in the form of operational inefficiency and potentially harm long-term customer relationships and brand reputation.

Prevention is better than cure. An old saying but holds true to this context. All these issues can be easily prevented by making use of an order-tracking software from placement to delivery.

How An Order Tracking Software Can Help You Tackle Post-Purchase Challenges With Respect To The Holiday Rush

A post-purchase order tracking software can help e-commerce businesses during the holiday rush in a number of ways, which we’ll take a look at each of them in the form of problem statements.

1. "I’m an e-commerce merchant. Like every other business owner out there, I always look forward to the holiday season to make the most out of it and improve profits. But for the past few years, my profit margins have been really looking low — thanks to delays and other shipping issues, which are causing my customers to drop off".

This is a really frustrating situation for e-commerce merchants.

Imagine having to face the consequences of something that happens due to no fault of your own.

With shipping carriers straining capacity as a result of the holiday rush, coordinating shipping logistics can be complex and error-prone. Hence, delivery incidents like late deliveries can become frequent and result in dissatisfied customers.

What makes the situation even worse is that disgruntled customers are quick to blame you for delays and other delivery errors, leading to increased costs such as customer acquisition and service recovery.

On average, 1 in 5 parcels shipped face delivery issues resulting in high customer frustration and negative shopping experiences.

Now imagine the whole scenario with an order tracking system in place.

Thanks to real-time tracking, you now have the ability to receive alerts for critical delivery failures and proactively notify customers when there’s an issue with their order. This way, you can practically ensure that your customers’ frustration levels are mitigated and thereby achieve CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) scores of 80+ even when delivery issues occur.

2. "As a customer support representative, I’ve always felt most of my time is being spent on answering customer queries, mainly related to their order status (WISMO). This is taking away from my ability to handle other customer inquiries and tasks and at the end of the day, customers too want a quicker resolution and often get frustrated when things get late. If only there was a way for me to improve the way that I handle WISMO inquiries…"

Customers get increasingly anxious in the post-purchase phase when they are left in the dark regarding their orders, making them prone to bombard your support reps with WISMO requests.

So much so that WISMO requests that they make approx. 50% of customer inquiries and overloaded customer support teams. This number is only going to shoot up during the holiday rush when order volumes are high and orders hold high emotional value for customers.

To prevent this from happening, you need to empower your support reps to properly address customer issues and display your strong commitment to the high standards of customer service you offer. Here’s how you can do just that:

As an extension of tracking your orders in real time — provide proactive delivery status updates to keep your customers in the loop about the whereabouts of their orders and free up your support time to focus on more pressing issues. This can help you reduce WISMO requests by up to 70% and also revive customers’ trust in your brand.

You can also take it one step further and let customers check the status of their deliveries at any time they need to by embedding a 24×7 order lookup widget on your website and chat tool to make tracking self-service.

TLDR;

Enhanced Customer Experience – By determining the status and location of their orders in real-time, you can now be transparent with your customers regarding delivery issues thereby enhancing the overall customer experience. Even if there are no issues, you can still share proactive order updates and reduce customer inquiries.
Reduced Customer Support Workload – When they’re informed throughout the order delivery process, customers are less likely to contact customer support for order status inquiries. This frees up customer support teams to focus on resolving more complex issues and providing exceptional service.

How Lateshipment.Com’s DEM Platform Can Help You With Post-Purchase Order Tracking Needs

1. Identify shipments facing issues at a glance

LateShipment.com’s Delivery Experience Management (DEM) makes it ridiculously easy for you to keep a watch on your packages in transit and identify issues around package deliveries. With the help of real-time parcel data:

Know what’s happening with your parcels
Take preemptive action before customer impact where needed

2. Resolve critical shipping incidents before they happen

Delivery issues are inevitable but that doesn’t mean you just watch as they happen. Instead, you can step in before customer impact by proactively addressing them.

Automatically have tickets triggered to your helpdesk system and
Send timely and customized notifications

For critical delivery events and thereby instill confidence in your customers.

3. Reduce delivery inquiries by 70% with real-time updates

Keep customers in the loop of their orders via:

Automated email and SMS notifications
Self-serve order tracking widget anywhere on your website

And Replace angry WISMO calls with seamless order tracking experiences

BONUS:

4. Boost revenue from repeat purchases by up to 12%

DEM also helps you provide ‘branded’ tracking experiences via tracking pages and emails. Not just to provide complete order tracking information, you can also use your tracking assets as a real-estate for marketing campaigns to double your chances at driving repeat sales

Final Word

That’s all from us for now. Preparing for the holiday rush is critical. By investing in an order tracking software, you can streamline your operations, enhance customer satisfaction, and set yourself up for success during this busy season.

With real-time order monitoring and proactive customer communication, you can navigate the holiday rush with ease, turn customer frustration into delight, and make the holiday season an enjoyable time of the year for your business.

The post How To Handle The Holiday Rush With Post-Purchase Order Tracking appeared first on Lateshipment.com.