Sashank RavindranathThe holiday season is a time when the e-commerce and retail space is busier than usual with customers looking to get their list of items at the best rates possible.
But there are hundreds of brands out there and the competition only gets fierce year-on-year.
As an e-commerce merchant, if you’re looking to get into a better position than your competitors, then the holiday season is the perfect opportunity to do that.
We’re not going to beat the bush, here’s the trick — create memorable experiences that turn one-time holiday shoppers into lifetime customers.
One of the best ways to do that is to keep customers engaged about their orders through branded tracking pages and notifications. Let’s explore some inspiring examples, along with templates you can customize to create the ultimate branded tracking experience this holiday season.
The Importance of Branded Tracking Pages and Notifications
Shipping notifications are not the same as marketing emails. In fact, they have an open rate of more than 3.2x. This is because the post-purchase stage is when customers are anxious about their orders and can’t wait to see updates and track them periodically.
You can get your A-game here by sending shipping transactional notifications to customers at various stages of the order fulfillment process without being asked for and following up with ‘branded’ tracking pages with real-time order updates.
While we’ll look in-depth into tracking pages and notifications, let’s start with the impact of these post-purchase assets, serving multiple purposes, and how all of these are particularly valuable during times like the holiday season.
Enhanced Customer Experience
Keeping your customers informed through shipping notifications and tracking pages, allows you to leverage additional touchpoints to enhance customer experience, which usually consists of just “order confirmed” and “order delivered” in traditional methods. Not just benefits for you, customers also appreciate your efforts to provide real-time updates on their orders, especially during the holiday season.
Brand Recognition
Customers are highly anxious in the post-purchase phase. Sending your customers to the carrier’s tracking page and not sharing order status updates, creates a disconnected brand experience, where your carrier’s brand is the last thing your customers will remember about your brand. On the other hand, through effective post-purchase engagement, you can leverage every touchpoint to reinforce your brand identity and build a stronger connection with your customers.
Opportunities for Upselling
Customers track their orders 6-8 times during order delivery and 6-8 additional marketing touchpoints with customers post-checkout. Boost repeat sales with product recommendations on order tracking pages, while also providing relevant product usage information to reduce returns.
Thus, it is clear what role branded tracking pages and shipping notifications play in the growth of your business. To make things easier, here are some guidelines that you can follow while creating these branded tracking assets.
Best Practices for Creating Branded Order Tracking Pages and Shipping Notifications
A branded tracking page is not just a tracking page hosted on your domain instead of the carrier’s. Multiple elements make it unique and beneficial for your post-purchase, in terms of CX and marketing efforts. Here are some of the ‘must-haves’, if you’re looking to build a customized tracking page for your e-commerce brand.
Elements of a branded tracking page
1. Provide complete delivery information
Customers often visit tracking pages to stay updated on their orders, especially during peak seasons or after big sales. Providing clear, accurate, and detailed delivery information reduces anxiety and minimizes customer service (WISMO) inquiries.
What to Include:
- Order summary: List items ordered, quantities, and relevant details (e.g., color, size)
- Detailed tracking info: Clear order history with details such as shipment date and location updates
- Live order status timeline: Show the package journey (e.g., Ordered, In Transit, Out for Delivery, Delivered) with a timeline or progress bar for visual clarity
- Expected Delivery Date (EDD): Set realistic expectations with accurate delivery dates. If there are delays, update this information promptly to maintain transparency
2. Replicate brand identity
Consistency reinforces brand recognition and loyalty. When the tracking page matches the brand’s aesthetic (colors, logo, typography), it feels like a seamless part of the brand experience rather than being boring, generic, dull, etc.
What to Include:
- Logo: Place your logo prominently at the top to remind customers they’re still within your brand ecosystem.
- Brand Colors and Fonts: Use the same fonts and colors from your main website to create a cohesive look and feel.
3. Feature relevant support channels
Even with detailed order tracking, issues can arise and customers can have queries. Providing easy access to customer support channels directly on the tracking page reassures customers that help is just a click away if they need it.
What to Include:
- Contact Options: Display multiple ways for customers to reach you (e.g., live chat, email, phone). Some brands even offer a “track or modify my order” button that leads directly to support.
- FAQ Links: Include links to common questions related to shipping, returns, or delays. This can save customers time by addressing their concerns immediately.
P.S. Ensure that these support channels and contact information are strategically positioned in an easy-to-find spot on the page.
4.Get customer feedback around the delivery experience and take appropriate actions
Collecting customer feedback on the delivery process provides valuable insights to improve logistics and fulfillment. It also shows customers that their opinions matter, enhancing brand loyalty.
What to Include:
- Simple Rating System: A 5-star rating or thumbs-up/thumbs-down option lets customers quickly share their experience.
- Optional Comments Section: Allow customers to leave specific feedback about what they liked or disliked about the delivery, such as packaging, speed, or condition of items.
5. Include product recommendations and promotions
Tracking pages are an often-overlooked opportunity to engage customers post-purchase. Suggesting related products or upcoming promotions can drive repeat visits and boost sales.
What to Include:
- Personalized Product Recommendations: Use data from past purchases to suggest relevant items or complementary products. For example, if the customer purchased a camera, you can suggest accessories such as a lens, tripod, etc.
- Special Offers and Discounts: Show exclusive discounts for returning customers or advertise upcoming sales. You could even offer a discount on their next purchase if they refer a friend.
- New Arrivals or Best Sellers: Showcase popular products or new collections, encouraging customers to explore other offerings in your store.
6. BONUS: Capture the spirit of the season
- Create a holiday-themed tracking page. Use festive colors, seasonal icons, and a joyful design that reflects the season’s magic. Add playful touches, like snowfall animations or holiday-themed order milestones, deadlines until the holiday offer gets over, etc, to make the page feel interactive.
- Include a holiday-specific ‘updates’ section mentioning holiday order deadlines, extended holiday shipping timelines, and changes to your holiday return policy.
Engaging shipping transactional notifications that you can send
Shipping notifications are nothing but the transactional updates of the customers’ orders getting shared with them via email, SMS, or in-app push notifications.
The purpose of a shipping notification is really simple.
Customers are frequently engaged up until the purchase to ensure that they hit that ‘buy’ button. But as they’re awaiting their parcels, the communication between the two parties becomes almost non-existent.
Due to this ‘post-purchase communication gap’, all your efforts to keep your customers engaged get lost along with any chance of retention.
This is where proactive communication with customers about their order delivery status in the form of shipping notifications comes into play to offer customers a memorable post-purchase experience.
Here’s how it works. There are multiple shipping events that occur throughout the post-purchase phase, particularly in the order delivery lifecycle. Each of these events can be leveraged to ensure that your brand remains on the top of the customers’ minds even after delivery. Additionally, times like the holiday season also make room for new and uncommon events as well.
1. Setting Expectations: Your order might get delivered late
In the spirit of transparency, start by sharing potentially less joyful news—some orders may arrive later than expected.
The holiday season is a time when shipping carriers are straining capacity to deliver huge volumes of shipments on time. This often creates a situation where delivery issues such as delays are common in occurrence.
By proactively communicating this possibility during the holiday shopping rush, you help customers adjust their delivery expectations, ensuring their holiday celebrations go off without a hitch.
2. The Exciting Beginning: Your order is shipped
The ‘Order Shipped’ notification during the holiday season takes on a special significance. It’s the first glimmer of hope for customers eagerly awaiting their holiday surprises.
Along with the tracking number, you can include an estimated delivery date and important order-related information such as contents of the package, delivery address, etc. to avoid last-minute confusion.
‘Order shipped’ or the shipping confirmation notification is one of the most anticipated ones as this sets up the conversation towards all the other touchpoints of the post-purchase journey. Therefore, make sure this is sent at the earliest in order to ensure the customer that you take the onus of keeping them informed about their order delivery status.
3. On the Way: Your order is out for delivery
Following the ‘Order Shipped’ notification, the ‘Out for Delivery’ update becomes an eagerly anticipated message. It signifies that the holiday magic is en route to the customer’s doorstep.
Enhance this notification by attaching a link to a branded order tracking page, empowering customers to monitor them on their own. This self-service approach drastically reduces frequent order status inquiries and thereby allows your support teams to focus on priority tasks at hand.
Also, unlike the carrier’s tracking page, sending your customers to your own branded order tracking page, opens new opportunities like improving brand recall and doubling your chances at driving repeat sales through marketing campaigns on your tracking page’s real estate.
4. Mission Accomplished: Your order has been delivered
When the holiday order arrives on time, it’s a moment to celebrate.
Send a ‘Delivery Confirmation’ notification with a heartfelt thank you for choosing your brand for their holiday shopping.
Encourage them to make future holiday purchases and continue building joyful memories with your products.
5. Unexpected Delays: Your order is predicted to face delays
As mentioned, delivery issues such as shipping delays are inevitable and frequent during the holiday season.
But the real issue stands at customers finding that their parcels have been delayed and you not informing them about it.
To avoid this scenario, you can make use of a real-time tracking solution and send ‘Predicted Delay’ notifications for individual packages facing potential delays. This proactive step reassures customers that you’re on close watch of their orders and thereby makes them less prone to frustration.
6. Handling Delays Gracefully: Your order is in-transit with delays
If the predicted delay (or your customers’ worst fears) doesn’t get resolved automatically, then the follow-up shipping notification from your end comes in the form of ‘In-Transit with Delays’.
These notifications should be sent promptly to stay empathetic to your customers, as well as to take their decision on how they want the issue to be resolved.
You can consider sending replacements via expedited shipping options or offer them special coupons for their next purchase.
7. Acknowledging Hiccups: Your order was delivered with delays
Despite all your efforts and fixes, when the package is delivered late, it’s vital to acknowledge the issue, as the chances of customers forgiving you are higher when you do that.
To make it even better, you can add a heartfelt apology note along with a discount coupon for their next holiday purchase, so that they feel less impacted by the issue and may choose to shop with you once again.
8. Addressing Delivery Challenges: There was a failed delivery attempt
A ‘Failed Delivery Attempt’ notification is sent when the order is marked ‘failed delivery’ by the shipping carrier.
This usually happens when the delivery is not being made for reasons such as “no one at home to receive the package”, “wrong delivery address”, “package requiring adult signature”, etc.
In your failed delivery attempt notification, you can include details such as the date, time, and reason for the failure, along with clear instructions on how they can reschedule delivery or pick up their holiday package.
9. In Search of Lost Packages: Your holiday order is suspected to be lost
When a holiday package is suspected to be lost, you must waste no time and promptly send a ‘Suspected Lost’ notification.
Just like delays, customers can be under severe stress when their important orders are on the verge of getting lost, therefore you can offer multiple solutions to let them know that the issue can be resolved.
Keep customers informed about the situation, you can also offer solutions such as locating the package, refunding the cost, or sending a free replacement to mitigate their frustration greatly.
10. Handling the Unfortunate: Your holiday order is lost/damaged in transit
In the unfortunate event of a lost or damaged holiday package, send a ‘Lost/Damaged in Transit’ notification immediately.
Apart from just notifying, the best ploy is to take full responsibility, offer cost-free returns and replacements, and provide discounts or coupons for future holiday orders.
11. Rerouting Solutions: Your holiday order is returned
For holiday orders that are marked returned by the shipping carrier, use the ‘Order Returned’ notification to re-engage with customers.
This notification is primarily sent to let your customers know that their order is now in your possession after a failed delivery attempt.
Additionally, you can enable your customer support team to acquire accurate information from customers such as the address and the date & time of rescheduling etc and effectively follow up with them. This way, you can save on additional shipping costs.
Create Branded Tracking Experiences with LateShipment.com
As the holiday season approaches, use branded tracking experiences to create unforgettable holiday moments and make your customers’ celebrations truly magical.
With LateShipment.com’s you can create branded order tracking pages and send automated shipping notifications via email and SMS to reduce your customers’ anxiety, improve repeat purchases, and ensure that the CX you provide is on-brand. During times like the holiday season when each one-time shopper can be converted to a repeat customer, amplify the chances by offering a great experience via meaningful engagement.
That’s all from us for now. It’s now your turn to create customer experiences that delight with LateShipment.com.