Cost Optimization Archives | Lateshipment.com

How to File UPS Claims for Service Failures

Deepa Shankar — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 07:37:22 +0000

Despite a massive fleet, state-of-the-art tracking systems, and delivery procedures, your customers’ parcels shipped through United Parcel Service (UPS) can be delayed, lost, or damaged in transit.

Behemoths such as UPS strive to provide an impeccable service every time. This is what leads them to provide a money-back guarantee for most services under their Service Guarantee.

Shippers who have faced service failures and billing errors at the hands of UPS can request a refund on their shipping costs. But before submitting UPS claims, here’s something to understand UPS’ Service Guarantee even better, so that we can get better at claiming UPS refunds.

Understanding UPS’ Service Guarantee and Refund Options

UPS’ Service Guarantee exists for orders that are delivered later than the scheduled delivery time/ date, then UPS owes the shipper a refund on the shipping cost. In simple terms, it is a ‘delivery will arrive on time or free’ guarantee made by UPS.

Service Guarantee (previously Guaranteed Service Refunds or GSR) is part of the shipping contract that stipulates that UPS will refund 100% of shipping charges if parcel delivery is delayed by even 60 seconds except in exceptional circumstances (natural disasters, weather delays, etc).

UPS offers Service Guarantee for most of its services, including UPS Ground, UPS Next Day Air, UPS 2nd Day Air, UPS 3 Day Select, and UPS Freight.

Apart from the Service Guarantee, UPS also offers a provision to file refund claims for issues such as lost or damaged shipments and billing errors that result in overcharges.

Now that we’re familiar with the basics of Service Guarantee and UPS refunds for service failures and billing errors, it’s time to explore things further.

Things to keep in mind before filing UPS refund claims

Filing claims through UPS and getting refunds might look really straightforward but there can be occurrences where your refund claim may get rejected (not quality for a refund).

For instance,

Not all UPS services (UPS SurePost, etc) are eligible for the Service Guarantee. Check if the shipment service you’ve opted for is eligible under Service Guarantee
Your agreement with the carrier can prevent you from claiming credits. Make sure you haven’t signed a Service Guarantee waiver and given up your right to claim refunds
The delivery issue has happened outside of UPS’s control (weather-related delays, customs issues, etc.)
The shipment is sent around the holidays when there are peak season exclusions (UPS temporarily turns off Service Guarantee due to high shipping volume that strains their performance).

If you’ve ticked all these boxes and are sure that your shipment qualifies for a UPS refund, then let’s move on to how you can submit claims via UPS.

How to File UPS Claims for Service Failures

Filing refund claims is a step-by-step process that can be really easy if you’re familiar with the basics:

1.Prepare required information

Have all the necessary information ready that streamlines the start of this process. This includes gathering the following details such as tracking number, date of shipment, shipment weight, details of the package content, value of the goods (if filing for loss or damage), invoices or proof of the product’s value, etc,.

2. Initiate the claim

Once you have all the required information, you can proceed with the to file a claim.

Go to the UPS site and choose “File a Claim” under the “Support Resources” section. You can also find one under the “Quick Links” tab in the homepage
Log into your UPS account to file a claim (you can also file claims as a guest)
Fill out the details requested such as tracking number, your status (shipper, receiver, third-party, etc)
Select the reason for the claim — late delivery, lost package, etc
Upload any documentation or other evidence to support your claim (photos, payment receipts, product descriptions, etc)
Submit your claim

Or, you can also contact the number of UPS claims support at 1-800-PICK-UPS (1-800-742-5877) and say “Refund.”. Plus direct numbers are available for more load-specific claims.

3. Monitor your claim

After submitting, you can monitor the status of your claim in your UPS account under the Claims History section. UPS typically takes up to 10 business days to process claims and at this point, they may request additional information if necessary.

4. Receive your compensation

If your claim is approved, UPS will compensate you for the service failure by refunding the shipping costs.

While this looks relatively simple, however, it is not always the case. The process for manually filing UPS claims is a hassle to claim refunds, especially for businesses that ship frequently.

What Makes Manually Filing UPS Claims a Hassle

The problem with manually filing UPS claims is simply the conditions that come along in the Service Guarantee that make it intentionally hard to get successful refunds.

The Service Guarantee is filled with fine-print clauses that you have to strictly meet or else your claims can get rejected.

First and foremost, check if you have signed a Service Guarantee waiver. This straightaway prevents you from claiming UPS refunds and is also not an efficient move.
Wait 24 hours from the expected delivery time to claim refunds for lost packages. There are chances for your package to be delivered to you. However, you can straightaway submit refunds for late deliveries (for select services).
Refund requests must be submitted within 15 calendar days of the scheduled delivery date or the date listed in the tracking details or your proof of delivery, whichever is later.
In the case of lost packages (after ruling out incidents of misplaced packages in your garage with your neighbor or porch pirates) you have less than 60 days from the delivery date to file a claim.
While manually filing refund claims, you have to make sure to enter the correct information such as the recipient’s name, address, date of shipment, package weight, tracking number, etc. Which can be tiresome and time-consuming.
The claim process itself can sometimes take up to 10 days to be completed.
The Service Guarantee does not apply to all services and destinations that UPS undertakes. Check for the validity of your claim!
You need to submit all shipping documentation including labels according to “UPS’s Guide to Labeling”.
In case of international shipments, you have to submit documentation required by the country of origin or destination to support your case.
If the parcel involves a Saturday delivery route label, that must be included as well.
The parcel must be tendered to UPS before the stipulated collection time. Check the timestamps to ensure that.
If the parcel requires additional handling, you are not eligible for a refund.

That’s not all! Your UPS claim can still be rejected with finer-print terms and conditions.

The process of manually submitting UPS claims is doable IF you only ship a parcel or two a month.

But if your volume is something i.e just remotely more than that, you need A SOLUTION THAT CAN ACTUALLY SCALE!

It is not that carriers such as UPS do not have all the documentation for them to make the process efficient. They intentionally don’t make the claim process easy so it puts people off from claiming the refund money they are rightfully eligible for.

How to Successfully File UPS Claims

Many business owners do not realize that unclaimed UPS refunds are just money left on the table. This money runs to the tune of over 3 billion dollars annually. But what should matter more to you is this: Experts say that you can bring your shipping budget down by up to 20% if you claim every single refund you are eligible for.

Market leaders have their own processes in place to automate the refund process. But what does every other business do?

Most SMBs do not have the bandwidth or money to invest in an in-house team to handle refunds. This is where LateShipment.com has your solution.

If you were probably not aware of this before, we have an automated parcel audit and shipping refunds tool.

All you need to do is integrate this tool into your existing shipping operations while you focus on your core business functions.

How LateShipment.com Can Help You Claim UPS Refunds [and Save up to 20% of Your Shipping Costs]

LateShipment.com exists to help businesses like yours hold your shipping carrier accountable and ensure that you do not lose money that is rightfully yours.

Our parcel audit and shipping refunds solution automatically audits your shipping invoices and identifies 50+ carrier errors from UPS such as lost or damaged packages, incorrect surcharges, etc to ensure maximum refund recovery.

Also, by monitoring and claiming refunds regularly on your claims dashboard, you can ensure better performance from your shipping carrier and result in more successful last-mile deliveries.

Not just UPS, LateShipment.com also helps you file claims and recover refunds from all major carriers such as DHL, FedEx, Purolator, and Canada Post… to name a few.

The value we add to businesses is most evident when experienced first-hand.

Talk to our product experts today to get started with this incredibly simple way of recovering refunds for late deliveries, lost and damaged parcels, and more. Make UPS pay what is rightfully yours.

Frequently Asked Questions about UPS Refund Claims

1. Can I get a refund if UPS is late?

Yes, UPS promises on-time delivery for various service types including late, damaged, lost and 50 other. If your package is late by even 60 seconds you are eligible for a complete refund.

2. How long does it take to get a refund from UPS?

The UPS claim process might take an average of 10-15 days depending on the service error.

3. How do I file a claim with UPS?

Check out for manual claims here. To have an automated claim process Sign Up with LateShipment.com and automatically file refundclaims for eligible packages.

4. Why didn’t I get a refund for my UPS late package?

There are multiple reasons why you might not have received a refund for a late UPS package, that includes:

Force majeure: The package gets delayed due to events beyond UPS’s control, such as weather or customs.
Service type: The type of service used may not have been guaranteed, such as UPS SurePost.
Shipping agreement: The shipping agreement (you signing a refund waiver) may have prevented you from claiming a refund, etc.

5. How can I make filing UPS refund claims easy?

Manually filing refund claims is always a hassle. To make things easy, it is best to make use of an automated parcel audit solution such as LateShipment.com that files claims on your behalf and also goes to the extent of depositing the refund money directly into your account.

The post How to File UPS Claims for Service Failures appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

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.

Yes, Shipping Insurance Is Worth It

Sashank Ravindranath — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 12:32:04 +0000

Shipping insurance costs a small percentage of your shipment value, but when things go wrong, they cover the entire value to compensate for the loss or damage of your packages.

But do I have to insure my packages? Is not insuring my packages worth it? Some questions are probably in your mind when you’re considering shipment protection. It is absolutely valid to have these questions. However, the potential savings far outweigh the cost. Consider this: without insurance, you’re taking a gamble with every package you send. If something goes wrong, you’re responsible for the entire loss. Shipping insurance transfers that risk to the insurer, providing you with peace of mind and financial protection.

Ultimately, the decision to purchase shipping insurance depends on you. However, in this article, we have highlighted the importance of insurance and when it is best to use shipping insurance.

Where to Get Your Packages Insured

There are two different types of shipping insurance:

Carrier Insurance; is offered by shipping carriers like FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc.
Third-party insurance; is offered by third-party insurance providers specializing in shipping coverage.

While most shipping carriers promote their shipping insurance service to you when shipping with them, carrier insurance may not always be preferable as they have limitations in terms of coverage and reimbursement.

With third-party shipping insurance, you can get more flexibility, as they often provide broader coverage options than carrier-provided insurance. They may also be cost-effective for businesses with frequent shipments.

The question now is: Do you need to use shipping insurance for every shipment?

Short answer: No (that really depends on your needs)

When Do You Need Shipping Insurance

Shipping insurance is a worthy investment based on the products, quantities, or conditions you’re shipping:

1. High-Value Items

When shipping goods such as electronics, jewellery, artwork, or any luxury items, it is worth investing in shipping insurance for these shipments. Due to their high financial value, any damage or loss of parcels will lead to a significant loss for your business.

2. Fragile Goods

Despite packaging and efficient handling, there is still a possibility of having fragile products broken during transit. If you’re a shipper of goods like glassware, ceramics, or instruments, you should be insured to cover the potential losses on that front.

3. Bulk Shipments

Shipping goods in bulk can be cost effective but the cumulative cost of the entire goods is substantial enough that it shouldn’t be left uninsured. When dealing with large amounts of parcels in transit, ensure they are insured.

4. Peak Shipping Seasons

During the holidays or special seasons, the volume of shipped goods increases dramatically due to heightened consumer purchases.

With numerous goods in transit during these seasons, shipments experience various challenges like carrier strains that lead to damage or loss. Using shipping insurance is necessary at this phase.

When Shipping Insurance May Not Be Necessary

If you ship low-value shipments, the cumulative cost of insurance might be higher than the occasional loss you experience as a business. In these cases, the financial loss from damage or loss of a parcel is something your business can manage without insurance, so investing in insurance may not be necessary.

But does this mean you have to stop making use of a shipping insurance provider? Absolutely not.

With a third-party shipping insurance provider like LateShipment.com, you can make insurance cost-effective by enabling customizable rules that allow selective insurance.

That is, insure just the shipments you want, be it high-value shipments, international deliveries, or any other high-risk orders.

Final Word

In conclusion, shipping insurance is a very reliable safety net that protects you from the financial burden of lost or damaged packages. While it might seem like an unnecessary expense, the peace of mind and potential savings on high-value shipments make it a worthwhile investment.

LateShipment.com simplifies the process of securing shipping insurance. With comprehensive coverage options that fit your specific needs and automated insurance, you can maximize cost savings on a large scale.

FAQs On Shipping Insurance

1. What is covered by shipping insurance?

Shipping insurance typically covers losses due to damage, loss, theft, etc. Specific coverage can vary by policy.

2. Is shipping insurance worth it?

The value of shipping insurance depends on the value of your shipment and your risk tolerance. Because, despite proper packaging techniques and precautionary measures, there are chances of packages getting lost or damaged while in transit. For high-value or fragile items, it’s often worth the investment.

3. Can I get shipping insurance from my shipping carrier?

Yes, many shipping carriers offer insurance options. However, it’s wise to compare prices and coverage with third-party providers, who might offer better coverage options and claim process, have better customer reviews, etc,.

4. How do I choose a shipping insurance provider?

Weigh the pros and cons of carrier insurance, third-party, and self-insurance, and understand what’s usually covered, and how you can get the best out of it. Here’s a guide that covers all the information you need to choose a shipping insurance provider.

This is a guest post by Jeremiah Obikoya

The post Yes, Shipping Insurance Is Worth It appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Meet Carbon Surcharge: The newest addition to your shipping invoices

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 05:31:31 +0000

Major carriers all around the world increase the rates of their services at an average of 4 – 6% YoY.

While carriers transfer this burden of inflation to shippers via increased merchants, most merchants do not do the same to their customers but instead absorb shipping costs as a marketing technique to attract customers.

Returning to rate increases, carriers often cite reasons such as inflation around fuel surcharges and worker demand (particularly around the holiday season), and with the shipper on the onus of these increased rates, shipping is becoming costlier yearly!

If you’re an e-commerce merchant looking to cut down on shipping costs that are eating into your profits, this article is for you. Because not just the usual reasons, but there are instances where unexpected actions can create a domino effect that affects the entire supply chain and causes an increase in shipping rates (remember the surge that happened because of COVID-19?).

One such reason has taken shape in the last year and that is the rate increase in ‘Carbon surcharge’, which while looking trivial, has a role to play in making your shipping bills expensive.

Introducing Carbon Surcharge

Before meeting the carbon surcharge, it is important to understand where it comes from: Carbon taxes.

Multiple industries throughout the globe contribute significantly to emissions, and the shipping industry is no exception. But as the world is increasingly becoming aware of the environmental impacts of carbon emissions, they are indeed taking steps to reduce their carbon footprints.

One of the latest measures introduced to address this issue is the Carbon Tax, one levied on fossil fuel purchases, which is intended to encourage Canadians to reduce their consumption of polluting fuels.

In Canada, the carbon tax, also referred to as the price on carbon, first came into effect at $20 per tonne in October 2019. It has gone up since then, and reached $80 per tonne on April 1, 2024, up $15, from its previous cost of $65 per tonne.

While the carbon tax is set to impact every Canadian, it is set to impact shippers like you even more as carriers such as Canpar, have found a way to levy and increase the rate of ‘carbon surcharge’ for packages shipped through them.

In Canpar’s press release, they highlight that this surcharge affects multiple aspects of the economy and impacts costs across their entire network ranging from transportation costs to energy costs for heating, to equipment purchases and maintenance and hence, the rate increase.

Additionally, they mention that it has become necessary for them to apply a Carbon Surcharge of 2.5% effective from September 1st, 2023, for all shipments handled by them.

How is the Carbon Surcharge Calculated?

The Carbon Surcharge is typically calculated based on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions produced during the shipping process. Factors influencing the surcharge include:

Distance Traveled: Longer shipping distances generally result in higher CO2 emissions.
Mode of Transport: Different transportation methods have varying emission levels. For instance, air freight has a higher carbon footprint compared to sea or rail freight.
Weight and Volume: Heavier and bulkier shipments require more energy to transport, leading to higher emissions and, consequently, a higher surcharge.

Shipping companies may use carbon calculators or partner with environmental organizations to accurately assess and apply the surcharge.

What Does The Increase In Carbon Surcharge Mean For Businesses?

While Canpar has announced an increase in its carbon surcharge, citing financial and operational considerations, this move brings in specific challenges and opportunities for businesses that ship parcels with Canpar.

Increased Shipping Costs

For the elephant in the room, i,e, the most immediate impact of the increased carbon surcharge is the rise in shipping costs. If you’re a shipper that relies on Canpar for your logistics, you will see an uptick in their operational expenses that may affect your profit margins and force you to reevaluate your pricing strategies to accommodate the additional costs.

Additionally, you will need to adjust their budgets to account for the higher costs associated with the increased surcharge. This might require reallocating resources from other areas or finding ways to optimize operations to absorb this additional expense.

Supply Chain Optimization

The increase in the carbon surcharge by Canpar also encourages you to take a closer look at your supply chain and logistics operations.

For instance, you can:

Find the most efficient routes to reduce travel distance and time can help mitigate the impact of higher surcharges.
Combine shipments to reduce the number of trips can lead to reduced surcharge’s impact
Explore different shipping methods that may have lower carbon footprints compared to those with a higher surcharge, as a strategic move.

How Businesses Can Lower Their Shipping Costs And Make Profits

Carriers can afford to increase their surcharges and transfer the burden of inflation on you. But in most cases, you cannot afford to do that. Given that customers are picky with shipping costs and often go to the extent of expecting free shipping from the businesses they shop with, you are set to face the brunt of it.

So, what can do if you’re looking to cut down costs and reduce the impact of these surcharges? Of course, you can always settle with the option of reallocating budgets and optimizing supply chain routes. But what if I told you that there are even better options?

And that is to audit your shipping invoice, check for incorrect surcharges and overcharges, and claim full refunds for them. You can do this manually, exhausting all your time and resources or make use of an automated solution like LateShipment.com that eases your job.

How LateShipment.com’s automated shipping audit and refunds work

LateShipment.com automatically audits your invoices end-to-end (every invoice goes through a rigorous 160 data-point check, validating each charge against your shipping transactions, payment terms, and waivers) to identify service failures and billing discrepancies eligible for refunds.

The best part is that our automated systems promptly submit refund claims, in compliance with the carrier’s terms and conditions, securing all eligible refund credits, and ensuring that no surcharge is left out.

Also, our systems come with a surcharge spend analytics that helps you Understand surcharge patterns and their impact on shipping costs to keep you better positioned while negotiating parcel contract rates that work in your favor.

There’s a lot more you can do with LateShipment.com. Make sure you check it and ensure that you can try to cut down your shipping costs by as much as 20%.

Conclusion

Surcharges like the carbon surcharge represent a pivotal shift in the shipping industry. They are here to stay, increase, and take new forms as time passes. Of course, they reflect a growing environmental commitment and promote sustainability. But from the perspective of shipping carriers, the carbon tax is just an additional expenditure they’d like to pass on to shippers like you.

Again, there’s no blaming carriers for increasing surcharges to meet their ends, they work on your behalf after all. But that doesn’t mean you simply keep paying shipping carriers more than you ought to. Keep your invoices in check, claim refunds wherever you can, and ultimately ensure better performances from them for the costs that you pay.

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FedEx & UPS Rate Increase for 2024

Rohan Rinaldo Felix — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 12:25:53 +0000

Introduction To The Rate Increase By Fedex And Ups In 2024

Counterparts, rivals, competitors — call them what you want. Shipping behemoths FedEx and UPS follow almost identical practices when it comes to services or rate increases by an average of 5.9% YoY. The rates have been identically increasing for 7 years in a row but somehow, they still have the potential to impact e-commerce businesses, particularly SMBs, who operate on a limited bandwidth.

If you’re a part of an SMB business, being aware of this spike by shipping carriers can help you plan out your shipping strategy in advance and put you ahead in your last-mile game. To save you time, we’ve charted out the data for you!

Make sure to read till the end for ways to save on shipping in 2024 and reduce the impact of FedEx & UPS’ General Rate Increase on your business.

Why Are FedEx and UPS Rates Increasing YoY?

A question on the minds of all regular shippers at some point — why do these behemoths, who dominate the U.S. carrier market, with a combined market share of around 70% by revenue keep increasing the rate of their services YoY and burdening several growing e-commerce businesses?

The answer is a no-brainer and it is not just one particular reason but several factors that lead FedEx and UPS to increase the rates of their services each year.

Inflation – The supply chain and logistics is a very uncertain space that constantly needs fixes and improvements in order to run smoothly and efficiently. A major hindrance to the smooth running of the supply chain is the ever-rising inflation that impacts labor costs, fuel prices, cost of materials and equipment used in shipping operations, leading to higher overall expenses for shipping carriers. To cover these costs and maintain profitability, FedEx and UPS have no choice but to directly pass on these increased costs to customers.
Increase in demand – While the growth rate has slowed down since the pandemic, e-commerce is still growing. This means, the number of packages being sent out for delivery is on the rise — leading to an increase in demand for infrastructure and resources and thereby impacting costs.
Strategic investments = There are also frequent investments being done in technology innovations such as fleet maintenance and other areas. Not to forget, as competing businesses, they are prone to focus on profitability and shareholder value and anticipate potential economic fluctuations.

Also, it is important to note that while the average YoY increase is around 5.9%, the actual impact on individual shipments can vary based on service type, destination, and other factors. A breakdown of each carrier’s rate increases will give us a better understanding. Let’s start with the increased rates of FedEx in 2024.

FedEx Rate Increase Details for 2024

Amidst all these rate increases, shippers who opt for FedEx can be slightly relieved due to the fact that the General Rate Increase (GRI) for 2024 is at an average of 5.9%, which is 1% lower than last year’s rate increase.

However, for most shippers, the increase will be more than just 5.9%. For instance, additional handling on oversized packages will increase by about 20%. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how rate increases impact your spending with FedEx. While it’s impossible to take a deep dive on every rate increase, we have managed to cover some key takeaways for all shippers.

Domestic Express services will see an average increase of 6.25%, with packages shipped through FedEx 2 Day, will see an increase of 6.83%, followed by 2 Day AM at 6.65% and 6.39%. FedEx First Overnight sees lowest increase at 5.46%
Domestic Ground services as always have different classifications based on different zones and weights, where without surprise — packages shipped to longer distances (zones 5-8) or are heavier (11 pounds or more) see the highest increase at an average of more than 6%.
FedEx Home Delivery packages are almost similar to Ground packages but will see an additional $5.55 residential surcharge and a rate increase of 6.36%.
Another often overlooked part of the GRI is the minimum charges that you’ll be paying for the shipment regardless of the weight, distance, and other factors. These minimums ensure profitability for the carriers, especially for smaller packages or shipments to remote areas. Faster shipments such as FedEx Priority Overnight will see an increase of 7.88%, followed by Standard Overnight at 7.50%.

The following FedEx Express and FedEx Ground surcharges will also take effect on January 2024:

Effective January 1, 2024, FedEx will be increasing customs clearance service fees on imports.
Effective January 15, 2024, FedEx will assess the Additional Handling Surcharge and Oversize Charge per eligible package for international multi-piece shipments, instead of per shipment. The affected surcharges are the Additional Handling Surcharge (Dimensions, Weight, Packaging, Freight, and Non-Stackable) and the Oversize Charge.

UPS Rate Increase Details for 2024

UPS has followed suit with FedEx almost similarly across the table, starting with dropping the GRI from 6.9% last year.

Similar to FedEx, UPS has kept the shorter Zones (2-4) lower than the 5.9% increase, while shipping options such as 2nd Day Air and 3 Day Select rates in Zones 5-8 have an increase rate of nearly 8%.
On the other hand, when it comes to rate increases based on weight, lighter packages (falling below the 1-10 lbs mark) have a maximum increase of 6.65%
For minimum charges, faster shipping options such as Next Day Air and Next Day Air Saver see the highest increase at 7.91% and 7.51% respectively.

The following UPS surcharges have also been effective since December 26, 2023:

UPS also introduced an increase in rates for specific Value-Added services and other charges like additional handling rates for both weight and dimension-based packages. For instance, in Zone 2 the Additional Weight Handling rate will go from $29.00 to $34.50, and the Dimensions (Length, Width, Length+Girth) will increase from $18.50 to $22.00 (a rise of 16% in each case).
Additional Handling fees will also be imposed on international shipments weighing 55 pounds or more. UPS has also stated that when a commercial fee is submitted in connection with a shipment, a fee of up to $5.00 per shipment will be applied to the shipper if the commercial invoice is not provided in digital form using UPS Paperless Invoice services before the processing of the commercial invoice by UPS.

How E-commerce Businesses Can Prepare for the Rate Increase

It is without a doubt that the service rate hikes by FedEx and UPS will definitely impact the spending threshold of all businesses that ship. However, it’s no time to panic! There are definite ways to help mitigate the impact and even turn this tide into an opportunity to reduce shipping costs.

1. Strategies for Mitigating the Impact on Shipping Costs

Make use of multiple shipping carriers: If you’re a regular shipper with a mid to high shipping volume, don’t just use a single carrier for your shipping needs. Explore alternative carriers and regional shipping providers for competitive rates and service options.
Negotiate Volume Discounts: Shipping through multiple carriers also creates a bargaining opportunity to negotiate lower rates or better terms with your existing carriers and cut down costs.
Offer Free Shipping with Minimum Order Thresholds: Encourage customers to ship more by offering free shipping for purchases exceeding a specific amount or multiple products.
Implement a Flat-Rate Shipping Model: For certain product categories or domestic shipments, consider a flat-rate shipping charge to simplify and potentially control costs.
Consolidate Shipments: Combine multiple orders into a single shipment whenever possible. This reduces the number of parcels, lowering shipping expenses.
Explore Cost-Effective Shipping Options: Investigate alternative shipping methods, such as regional carriers or third-party logistics providers (3PLs). These options may offer competitive rates and service quality.
Understand Dimensional (DIM) Weight Pricing: Familiarize yourself with dimensional weight pricing, which factors in package size. Adjust your packaging and shipping strategies accordingly to avoid unnecessary charges.

2. Considerations for renegotiating shipping contracts

Evaluate Current Contracts: Carefully review your existing contracts with FedEx and UPS. Identify areas where you can negotiate for improved rates, discounts, and service levels.
Gather Data and Analysis: Before entering negotiations, prepare data on your shipping volume, service usage, etc to strengthen your bargaining position.
Contract Flexibility: Seek flexibility in your contracts to adapt to changing needs. Consider shorter contract terms and options to adjust rates as market conditions evolve.

3. Optimizing shipping practices to minimize expenses

Invest in Shipping Software: Explore shipping software solutions that provide real-time rate comparisons, print labels, and manage orders.
Leverage Automation: Automate repetitive tasks, such as order processing to not only save time but to minimize labor costs, streamline processes, and reduce manual errors.
Real-Time Tracking: Implement real-time tracking and monitoring of shipments to identify potential issues early and proactively resolve them, thereby reducing the risk of costly delays or returns.
Utilize Fulfillment Centers: Strategically locate fulfillment centers closer to major customer bases to reduce shipping distances and potentially qualify for lower zone rates.
Offer Pick-up Options: Allow customers to pick up their orders at local stores or designated locations to eliminate shipping costs.

How LateShipment.com can help in Navigating the Rate Increase

Check your contract with your shipping carrier, be it FedEx or UPS, and ensure that you haven’t signed any money-back guarantee waiver — as there are a lot more pitfalls than benefits in signing them.

For instance, you may overpay shipping bills by up to 20% by not claiming refunds from shipping carriers for service failures and billing errors.

The Money Back Guarantee policy of shipping carriers promises 100% refunds on shipping charges if a parcel is delayed even by 60 seconds. You can claim refunds for carrier service failures and billing errors.

However, manually claiming refunds from carriers can be both exhaustive and expensive, making it extremely challenging to recover refunds for valid claims before their eligibility window expires.

On the other hand, LateShipment.com automates the process of auditing your shipping invoices regularly and claims refunds for 50+ carrier errors that include late deliveries, incorrect surcharges, lost or damaged packages, and more. By regularly claiming refunds and holding your carrier accountable for your service failures, you can ensure better quality service from them, and save up to 20% on shipping expenses.

That’s not all! LateShipment.com also helps you analyze your carrier’s performance and getting insights on performance lapses such as delays or lost parcels. This will put you in control of shipping rates and help you negotiate for better rates.

You can also take note of our data-rich shipping reports and conclude which carrier works best for which type of delivery/destination/cost/customer/product.

Conclusion

The logistics landscape is dynamic, and the 2024 FedEx and UPS rate increases are just one wave in its constant flow. By proactively planning, making informed decisions, and embracing a culture of continuous optimization, businesses can navigate these changes with confidence, turning every tide into a springboard for growth and success.

Remember, the key lies in flexibility, strategic foresight, and a commitment to delivering exceptional value to your customers. So, raise your sails, adjust your course, and confidently sail towards a prosperous future in the ever-evolving world of shipping.

The post FedEx & UPS Rate Increase for 2024 appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Introducing LateShipment.com’s E-commerce Shipping Insurance — Smart, Simplified, and Automated

Sashank Ravindranath — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 10:54:01 +0000

E-commerce Shipping: Everything That Is In Control And That Isn't

As an e-commerce merchant, you put in a lot of effort to meticulously curate the stage of the customer journey that is under your control to motivate them to click that “BUY” button, make a successful sale, and bring in profits.

However, at this critical juncture, the reins of control slip from your grasp.

This part of the customer journey that follows: from dispatch to delivery or, in some cases, returns — known as “the post-purchase phase”, is filled with uncertainties and challenges.

To make things worse, these challenges have the potential to hurt your business and undo all your efforts till that point.

Inevitable Post-purchase Issues and Their Impact on Your Business

The post-purchase phase is highly error-prone. Once shipped, your customers’ packages inevitably encounter unforeseen issues such as getting lost and damaged while in transit.

32% of customers say that they have not received at least one package they ordered in the past six months because their packages were lost in the mail.
7% to 11% of customers’ online orders arrive broken or damaged
$500K is the estimated loss for e-commerce businesses just from lost and damaged packages in a year

Over time, businesses that consistently face lost and damaged package issues have a competitive disadvantage and face a negative impact when it comes to growth.

So, what is it that you can do to ensure that your bottom line stays protected, each time lost or damaged package incidents happen?

This is where shipping insurance steps in to save the day.

What is Shipping Insurance And Why Is It Important For Your Business?

Shipping insurance is a safety net that is designed to protect e-commerce shipments, particularly against loss and damage.

If an insured parcel gets lost or damaged while being shipped or the contents in the package go missing, then you are entitled to a financial compensation of the package value or the insured value from the insurance service provider.

There are multiple reasons why shipping insurance is necessary for your e-commerce business:

Peace of mind from the assurance of financial security and thereby having reduced concerns about potential delivery incidents.
Protection, especially against high-value goods such as jewelry and electronic items going missing and packages getting lost or damaged during transit.

In short, with parcels insured, you will no longer have to worry about losing money due to delivery issues.

Instead, you can both confidently approach customers who’ve faced delivery issues with your repeat purchase efforts, as well as direct the expenses towards growing your business and stay ahead of the competition.

If you’re unaccustomed to shipping insurance — we’ll get right to how you can get started with choosing the right service provider for your needs.

On the other hand, if you’re someone who’s been insuring your packages via old-school techniques, here’s why it may not be the best option for you in the current state of e-commerce and package deliveries.

Why Old-School Shipping Insurance Techniques Might Not Make The Cut in Today’s Post-Purchase Landscape

Generic shipping insurance options can provide a certain level of protection. But in the current state, where lost, damaged, and missing package incidents are repetitive in occurrence, they may not always be sufficient for your business for several reasons:

Limited Coverage: Generic shipping insurance options often come with limitations on what they cover. They may not fully cover the value of high-ticket items or certain types of products, leaving you exposed to dealing with potential financial losses.
Complex Claims Process: Filing a claim for lost or damaged goods through generic options can be complex and time-consuming. Customers may need to file manual claims, provide extensive documentation, follow up regularly, navigate through a bureaucratic system, and wait for an extended period to receive their compensation. This can be too much of a hassle.
Lack of Customization: Generic insurance options typically offer just one type of solution for all needs, thereby preventing you from tailoring rules and coverage options based on specific preferences.

This brings us to address the need for specialized shipping insurance solutions that are well-integrated into your post-purchase efforts and offer diverse benefits that make things easier for you.

For specialized solutions that are designed to help you stay ahead of shipping losses and damages, meet LateShipment.com’s E-commerce Shipping Insurance.

Introducing LateShipment.com's E-commerce Shipping Insurance — Smart, Simplified, and Automated

Generic shipping insurance has always been rigid and unreachable for the average e-commerce merchant and we at LateShipment.com wanted to change that status quo and make things accessible and convenient.

With claims backed by “A” rated U.S. insurance company Shipsurance, we are bringing shipping insurance into our existing post-purchase suite to offer comprehensive insurance coverage that brings substantial savings compared to carrier-provided insurance and expedited claim payments.

Here are the specific ways LateShipment.com’s Shipping Insurance stands apart while being beneficial to you.

LateShipment.com: the (Revolutionary) New Way of Insuring Your Parcels

What’s Covered?

Comprehensive shipment protection – With every incident of lost, damaged, or missing items being claimed for coverage of up to $2000 per package across the globe, involving a majority of shipping carriers, LateShipment.com offers highly comprehensive shipment protection that you can ship out on every order with peace of mind.

Read coverage terms and conditions to learn more.

What’s new?

Forget the hassle of opting to insure with every order – Seamlessly include insurance into your order fulfillment workflow, with automation that begins as soon as the label is generated.
Your insurance, your rules – Tailor your rules just to insure the shipments that align with your unique insurance needs.
Ensure you are never over or under-insured – Flexible coverage options to help you avoid overpaying for insurance. Opt for a full shipment value cover or set your preferred rate and include shipping costs if needed.
Add insurance on-demand – Small business or occasional shippers? We’ve got your back. Effortlessly add insurance on your own just when you need it, in one click.
Centralized claims management – With all things insurance happening inside a unified portal, you have access to a centralized view of submitting claims, tracking statuses, and everything else.
Quick claims from the Help desk – Enable your support agents to address lost/damaged tickets instantly with a claim portal right inside the helpdesk.

What’s better?

Following and managing claims being a hectic task is a thing of the past. With our automated claims management in place, manage Insurance claims effortlessly.

Effortless claims handling – As our claim management is an automated process, it only takes 2-steps from your end to select the shipment and upload your proofs. Automation will handle the rest.
Lightning-fast claims approval – The best part, your claims are resolved in a very short time of less than 5 days, so you can gladly skip the waiting period.

Discontent due to package losses and damages is a thing of the past.

With comprehensive risk coverage, intelligent automation and claims easier than ever, LateShipment.com’s Shipping Insurance is the smarter way to protect your bottom line.

The post Introducing LateShipment.com’s E-commerce Shipping Insurance — Smart, Simplified, and Automated appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Tips for a Great eCommerce Returns Process

Sashank Ravindranath — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 04:57:12 +0000

What a journey has it been for e-commerce returns — From terrifying businesses with the presumption of being customer repulsive and a cost-center to becoming one of the most sought after services from a business.

However, even today, most businesses consider the order experience to end with delivery and see returns as just something trivial instead of a feature that they definitely should embrace.

But is just providing returns enough? Well, not so much in 2023 at least.

Today’s customers have increased expectations when it comes to returns experiences from brands.

Meeting, or rather exceeding these expectations, can lead to a smooth and hassle-free returns process that increases their satisfaction levels and helps you turn a potentially negative experience into an opportunity to win loyal customers.

Thus, without further ado, here are some tips to help you optimize your returns process to create happier customers and enjoy success.

Tips for Improving Your E-Commerce Returns Process

1. Simplify handling returns requests

The first step to make your returns a breeze starts with the first action that takes place when there’s a need to make a return arises from the customer’s end — initiation.

Returns initiation is nothing but the customer having a product that they’d like to return at hand and notifying you of it.

Under legacy methods, this usually involves the customer contacting the support team with a query, which becomes a ticket that needs to be followed up and acted upon.

However, this may not be the best ploy as support interactions may take time and a long initiation process can frustrate customers who may drop off without initiating AND doing business with you.

Up to 40% of customers will stop doing business with a company if the process for initiating returns is complicated.

Worry not! There’s a better way to do this.

Have a clear returns policy

Tailor your returns policy in a way that it meets your objectives as well as is clear enough for your customers to understand.

When customers know what to do and what to expect there is less friction in the initiation process, thus leading to:

Happy customers due to increased satisfaction and reduces frustration levels
Reduced workload on customer service reps
Increased savings on shipping and processing costs, thanks to lower number of returns

Make the returns initiation process as simple and straightforward as possible

Ensure that doing returns with you, comes with a host of benefits such as:

Multiple channels to request returns, such as a dedicated returns portal on your website, or even a chatbot – to display your commitment to providing customers with a great returns process
Flexible return methods such as exchanges and store credits – to make the process more convenient and encourage repeat purchases
Automated and prepaid return labels – to retain control over return-related costs

All of this can make the returns initiation process quicker and easier, and ultimately reduce the chances of your customers giving up on doing returns by enhancing their satisfaction.

2. Deliver a great returns experience

A seamless returns initiation process to begin helps you improve customer satisfaction among other things.

Riding high on that wave, your next action is to provide a great returns experience that boosts loyalty.

92% of shoppers say they will buy again if the returns process is easy.

This means your chance to redefine returns as a growth driver and not customer repulsive is here and well-defined.

Proactively Process Returns

Once returns are received, process them promptly and efficiently to ensure that your customers don’t get any second thoughts regarding continuing business with you.

Aim to issue refunds or exchanges as quickly as possible, demonstrating your commitment to resolving any issues proactively.

You can also employ automation to manage inventory, track the status of returned items, and ensure that items are returned to the correct location and that they are available for sale again.

Provide seamless returns status tracking

Providing customers with real-time updates on the status of their returns builds trust and transparency.

Send proactive updates on returns requests, via automated email and SMS status notifications and provide a live tracking page, to allow customers to stay in the whereabouts of their package. This works in reducing support inquiries and enhancing customer experience, thereby leading to increased customer confidence.

Being proactive with returns also helps in reducing the time taken on handling returns and frees up your support agents and warehouse operators time.

3. Reduce the number of returns

Almost all returns are valid but not all of them have to be refunded or initiated as returns. This is because almost 70% of all returns are size and fit related.

These returns, if not cut down, can prove to be a costly problem for e-commerce businesses, and lead to lost revenue and increased shipping costs.

Lucky for you, there are a number of things that e-commerce businesses can do to reduce unwanted returns.

Implement return reason analysis

Analyze the reasons for returns to identify patterns and potential areas for improvement.

If the data suggests that there are recurring issues with product quality, size discrepancies, or incorrect descriptions, etc, you can take efforts to address the problem at its root cause and implement corrective actions to reduce future returns.

Understanding return reasons can also guide product development and improve product descriptions, leading to a better shopping experience for your customers.

Leverage returns data for business insights

Returns data can offer valuable insights into your business in the form of specific products or categories, seasonality trends, and the impact of marketing campaigns on returns.

This data-driven approach allows you to make informed decisions and fine-tune your inventory, marketing and customer service strategies.

Final word

Improving your returns process is not only crucial for customer satisfaction but also an opportunity to gain a competitive edge in the e-commerce industry.

By offering a clear and user-friendly returns policy, simplifying returns initiation, and efficiently processing returns, you can create a positive post-purchase experience for your customers.

Leverage returns data to make informed business decisions and continuously improve your operations.

Remember, a seamless returns process can turn dissatisfied customers into loyal advocates for your brand. Invest in enhancing your returns process, and watch your e-commerce business thrive.

The post Tips for a Great eCommerce Returns Process appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

15 Shipping Strategies for SMBs to Reduce Costs

Sashank Ravindranath — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 09:24:15 +0000

Shipping is an Inevitable Cost-Center of The E-Commerce Industry

Shipping in e-commerce holds a higher priority for two reasons: One, it plays a huge role in the CX, and two, it is the second most expensive area of a business, only next to product costs.

Product costs can be cut down by making executive decisions. However, shipping, on the other hand, is one of the primary areas where merchants don’t directly take up things but outsource things to a third-party shipping carrier.

Making the shipping process effective requires merchants to invest more and more as technology advances. Also, with the risks of shipping being frequent given the events that happen outside anyone’s control, cutting down shipping costs is a real challenge.

Shipping involves substantial logistics and fulfillment expenses, including packaging, warehousing, and transportation.
With the rise of giants like Amazon, customer expectations for fast and free shipping have skyrocketed. SMBs too are forced to meet these expectations to remain competitive
Shipping is closely tied to customer service. Delays, lost packages, and damaged goods can harm a brand’s reputation
Managing returns is a complex aspect of e-commerce. Handling reverse logistics efficiently is costly but necessary to maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty

All of these processes incur significant costs that cannot be avoided. However, while shipping comes with financial challenges, investments in it are crucial for e-commerce businesses aiming for sustainable growth.

Large businesses always have tricks up their sleeves to make profits but SMBs? Each time their shipping budget goes a bit high, they are forced to go back to the drawing board and relook things, cut down budgets for other areas to make room for an effective shipping process, etc.

How SMBs find it harder to manage things compared to large businesses

Luckily, time-tested strategies work for all e-commerce businesses, small and large, as cost-cutting measures. And the purpose of this guide is exactly that.

This guide is specifically designed for SMBs, particularly new merchants looking for ways to cut down on their expensive shipping bills and make profits akin to market leaders.

If you’re an SMB owner, leveraging these strategies allows you to manage your shipping costs better and stay ahead of the competition.

15 Shipping Strategies to Reduce Costs

1. Packaging effectively

Smart packaging can help reduce your shipping costs, especially if you’re sending out multiple packages in a single day.

You can start with repurposed boxes and packing materials whenever possible, reusing shipping labels is also a perfect norm in the shipping industry. Bulk buying packaging supplies can also lead to significant discounts.

As much as the packaging matters, the content within it matters too. Don’t miss out on secure packaging while cutting costs.

On an average, 1-in-10 e-commerce packages arrive damaged

Remember, damages to your packages can prove to be costly when they happen frequently in the long run. Thus, keep in mind to use proper materials like bubble wrap, packing peanuts, crinkled kraft paper, etc.

2. Adjusting based on DIM weight

Dimensional weight (or volumetric weight) was introduced because lightweight, low-density packages had become unprofitable for shipping carriers due to the amount of space they occupy in relation to their weight. So, for each shipment, carriers charge you based on the dimensional weight or actual weight of the package—whichever is greater.

DIM weight is calculated based on the formula:

Dimensional Weight = (Length x Height x Width) / DIM factor (traditionally 139)

If you’re a merchant, who deals with odd-sized packages frequently, then DIM weight would make shipping packages more expensive. It is therefore important for you to ensure that you use the right packaging techniques to save on costs.

In this case, the key is to use the right size of box that can comfortably hold your odd-shaped item without taking too much excess space.

3. Making the right shipping carrier choices

Making the right carrier choice for your shipping needs is like a falling pile of dominoes where one thing leads to another and ultimately you end up saving a lot or paying more than you ought to depending on your choice.

As a priority, you can understand your needs by asking yourself these questions:

Is my shipping volume higher than usual so that it might require frequent services?
Am I selling products that are based on urgency and require faster shipping options?
What are my most frequent shipping destinations?

Following up, you can check if your carrier offers any value-added services that can help you avoid unnecessary cost inflation.

4. Claiming refunds for carrier service failures

Order deliveries aren’t always 100% successful.

Shipping carriers are prone to mess up on deliveries and billing from time to time. In fact, there are over 50 types of carrier errors such as late deliveries, products damaged on delivery, lost packages, etc.

Unless you audit your shipments, you will never know how much you’re actually overpaying your shipping carrier.

Thus, regularly auditing your shipping invoices helps you hold your carriers accountable for their mistakes by claiming refunds for service failures. This can help you get your carrier to improve the quality of their service and also be a negotiating tool.

Auditing can be a pain if done manually, but there are automated options to make your life easier.

LateShipment.com is one of them. Check us out. We’re waiting.

5. Not falling prey to money-back guarantee waivers

Out of all service failures, the most frequent and damaging in the current e-commerce delivery scenario is the ‘late delivery’.

Around 8-12% of shipments are delivered late

Customers are already blaming the brand (you) for delivering their parcels late. So, why bear the brunt of the costs as well? Carriers too are aware of this and have their policy titled ‘money-back guarantee’ or ‘guaranteed service refunds’ that allow you to file refund claims and ensure you are rightly compensated for each late delivery incident.

However, here comes the catch. Carriers also have ‘waivers’, a small clause in the money-back guarantee policy that once signed, discourages you from claiming refunds. Of course, it is suggested under the guise of discounts and other benefits but these waivers often come with a series of pitfalls.

Therefore, ensure that you haven’t signed a money-back guarantee waiver and file refund claims for late deliveries.

6. Negotiating with your carrier

Many new SMBs fail to realize that shipping rates are negotiable.

Don’t just settle for the rate your carrier charges you. Do a thorough comparison of the rates various carriers offer before settling on a carrier, and then negotiate.

The carrier needs your business as much as you need their service. Inform the carrier representative of the rates other carriers offer. Tell them your options are still open. You will probably end up getting a sweet deal!

Also auditing your shipping invoices gives you insights into your carrier performance that you can leverage to gain an upper hand while negotiating.

7. Using multiple carriers for your shipping needs

As mentioned, each carrier has their own set of pros and cons.

One might offer superior speed for urgent deliveries, while another excels in cost-effective ground shipping. By having access to multiple options, you can choose the carrier that best suits the specific needs of each shipment.

Also, if the performance of one carrier isn’t keeping up with your expectations and is frequent with delays or service disruptions, you can still fulfill your shipping needs by seamlessly switching to another provider with minimal impact on your customers.

8. Including the cost of shipping in the final bill

This is something many small businesses overlook.

Explicitly state and include the cost of shipping on the billing page. If you don’t, the burden of paying for shipping will fall on you.

Another thing that is possible is that the customer will be required to pay for shipping on delivery. This can lead to a bad delivery experience, and the customer may choose to not buy from you again.

Also, if the shipping price varies from region to region or you plan on shipping internationally, make sure you include the relevant rates on the billing page.

P.S. On that note, absorbing shipping costs entirely might be too expensive at times and on the other hand, not offering free shipping can be a factor for the customer to avoid your business. Thus, the key is to offer ‘free shipping’ only for customers in the loyalty program or have an item/spend threshold.

9. Choosing multiple delivery options

As a shipper, you have the advantage of choosing a list of delivery options that work best for your business needs at that point. For instance,

Invest in flat rate shipping to optimize costs if your business frequently ships packages to select locations
Encourage options such as BOPIS (Buy Online Pickup In-Store) for shoppers at close distances to prevent shipping in the first place
Offer options like standard, expedited, and even same-day delivery to cater to a wide range of customers. P.S. Allow customers to see the exact cost of different delivery options upfront, empowering them to make informed choices

10. Setting up delivery areas

Creating designated delivery warehouses or hubs within your city, region, or where your shoppers frequent can significantly save last-mile delivery costs, which are often the most expensive part of the shipping process. Here’s how:

Firstly, optimized delivery routes and consolidated multiple deliveries, mean fewer stops for your carriers, thereby minimizing travel time and fuel consumption.

Secondly, reduced shipping distances and the number of individual trips needed also improve delivery speed and lower the chances of late delivery incidents.

Remember, this strategy is most effective if you have a high volume of deliveries concentrated in specific geographic areas. Individual carrier pickups might be more efficient for a low volume of dispersed deliveries.

11. Preparing yourself for the peak season

The peak season is the perfect time for SMBs to boost sales.

However, amidst all your shipping strategies, things can still go out of control during peak season times like the holidays. This is because the shipping volume increases multifold during such times, forcing carriers to strain their capacity to deliver parcels on time.

With the probability of late deliveries becoming 2-3x, things get even worse with carriers temporarily suspending their money-back guarantee owing to the increased demand.

Here’s where you can bring your a-game to the table and draft special plans for the peak season like shipping out parcels early, letting customers know that delays are imminent once we get close to the holiday season, getting familiar with carrier service schedules for closing times and last day to ship, etc,. Such actions can ensure that a sudden surge in demand has less/ no damage to your shipping.

12. Tracking your orders

Tracking your shipments, especially in real-time, empowers you to stay on top of your customers’ orders. You can then extend the capabilities of ‘real-time tracking’ by communicating the same with your customer. With customers in the loop of their orders, they are less prone to contact your support team with WISMO inquiries. This frees up staff time and reduces costs associated with fielding inquiries.

Similar to order status information, tracking also allows you to identify exceptions like delays and lost packages promptly. This enables you to take proactive actions such as course-corrective measures to minimize delays and potential re-delivery costs.

Also, frequent tracking gives you detailed records of on-time deliveries and delays for each carrier you use. This data strengthens your position when negotiating with carriers for better rates. You can demonstrate your business value and hold them accountable for performance.

Tracking packages manually is an option that is not preferable, given that there’s no room to scale. Thus, you can always make use of a real-time tracking solution like LateShipment.com that:

Provides the most up-to-date order tracking information for your support team to intervene and proactively fix issues
Enables easy access to tracking information to customers through your website, emails, or SMS notifications.
Reports of trends or recurring issues to help you optimize your fulfillment process to minimize delays

All of which can contribute to significant cost savings.

13. Insuring your shipments

Unexpected damage or missing items during shipping can be a significant financial blow for you

In such cases, insuring your shipments provides peace of mind from the financial protection that you get while covering the cost of replacing the items.

Plus, with insurance absorbing the costs and potentially impacting your cash flow, you can confidently commit yourself to resolving any issues that might arise during shipping. This builds trust and confidence, potentially leading to repeat business.

Now, you can either insure shipments with carriers or pick a third-party insurance provider that offers custom insurance rules that allow you to decide on what gets insured and what doesn’t, thereby keeping insurance cost-effective.

14. Optimizing order returns and return shipping

Contrary to popular beliefs of being a cost center, when optimized, order returns can be a goldmine for cost savings for your business. Here’s how:

Returns are a necessary evil. Thus, they need to be kept to a minimum to display high customer satisfaction metrics. Start with high-quality product photos, detailed descriptions, and size charts to ensure customers receive what they expect. This minimizes the chance of unwanted returns due to size or feature mismatches
Apart from ensuring reasons for return and a nominal return window, you can also offer and incentivize customers to opt for exchanges/ store credits over refunds
Also, tracking and analyzing the reasons for returns can help identify recurring issues and areas for improvement in your product descriptions, packaging, or fulfillment process, etc, and can lead to fewer returns and lower costs in the long run.

Apart from cost-cutting, if you’re also a CX-obsessed brand, you can choose a tool like LateShipment.com that makes returns self-service and helps you boost buyer confidence.

With an easy returns portal, flexible return methods, seamless return shipping, automated and immersive returns tracking, LateShipment.com can be your one-stop solution to offer return experiences that your customers truly love.

15. Using a 3PL for your shipping needs

For SMBs fairly new to the market or ones struggling with managing shipping costs, a 3PL partnership can be a strategic decision.

Since 3PLs have expertise with shipping packages of multiple SMBs, they already have established relationships with major carriers and can leverage this buying power to negotiate significantly lower shipping rates.

Outsourcing warehousing to a 3PL eliminates the need for SMBs to lease or manage their own warehouse space, reducing overhead costs like rent, utilities, and equipment. Also, with shipping-related tasks now outsourced, your staff can now focus on core business activities, and you can reduce labor costs associated with in-house fulfillment.

How Lateshipment.Com Helps You Save On Shipping Costs

Want to make the right choice of shipping carrier?

Want to reduce your WISMO tickets-related costs?

Want to build return experiences that retain profits?

Want to reduce your shipping costs by up to 20%?

Look no further.

LateShipment.com is the ultimate all-in-one post-purchase success platform for e-commerce retailers, D2C brands, and businesses shipping small parcels, no matter their size or shipping volume.

Delivery Experience Management (DEM): To build memorable experiences that prevent bad delivery experiences and also 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.

Shipping Insurance: To simplify protecting your e-commerce parcels from lost and damaged packages via fully customizable and automated processes for maximum cost savings.

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 15 Shipping Strategies for SMBs to Reduce Costs appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

What to Do If a Package Arrives Damaged—or Not at All

Sashank Ravindranath — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 05:59:02 +0000

How many times have you sent out a customer’s package and stayed eager to know their feedback, only to learn from them that it was damaged or didn’t make it to them at all?

Truly a haunting experience, given that all your efforts to convert the customer have now taken heavy ‘damage’, thanks to no fault of yours.

But if you think about the scale of these issues, you can clearly see that it is not something trivial. In fact, 7% to 11% of customers’ online orders arrive broken or damaged and close to 50% of Americans had claimed that at least one of their packages was lost.

Not just the scale. Even the intensity of lost and damaged packages is high for e-commerce merchants such as yourself. Let’s take a look at the consequences to better understand the issues at stake.

Problems a Retailer Faces Due to Damaged and Lost Packages

To understand the seriousness of packages getting lost and damaged, put yourself in the shoes of your customers. They’ve anticipated long enough to collect their order, only to discover that it’s arrived broken or is missing.

While this is frustrating enough, the situation can turn out to be worse if their purchase is a gift for their loved ones. Such instances can instantly escalate things and infuriate your customers, who might make hasty decisions that can prove to be costly for you.

The first action a frustrated customer would take in such situations is simply choosing to quit shopping with you, as a result of the bad experience they faced. This in turn can lead to unnecessary costs for your business in the form of:

Low customer retention rate (CRR) – Your retention rate is a metric that shows whether your customers are happy doing business with you, to the extent of staying as your customer for an extended period. A good retention rate means to profit from repeat shopping, while a low rate is a harsh truth of you losing money to customer churn.
Low customer lifetime value (CLV) – An extension of the retention rate is the customer lifetime value. It is the total amount of money a customer is expected to spend with you during the span of your relationship. When package delivery issues lead to customers dropping out, your CLV can become low or negative, implying that you are spending more on a customer than what you’re getting back from them.
Increased damage to brand reputation – A customer who has decided to end ties with you might not always go unannounced. In most cases, they take their frustrations to social media and tarnish your brand’s online reputation, leading their friends and followers (who can be your potential customers) to avoid your business. On a related note, there are definitive ways to deal with such customer rants, that you can follow to mitigate their angst as well as paint a positive picture for others.
Increased costs from order returns and cancellations – When a customer’s order is lost or damaged, it is absolutely fair that they expect you to refund them. But such returns and cancellations which happen due to no fault of yours can lead to severe costs that can lower your profit margin.
Increased acquisition costs (CAC) – The last nail in this coffin is your pining over your efforts to convert the customer after they’ve simply dropped off. While you may briefly consider simply replacing one customer with another, keep in mind that acquiring customers is more expensive than retaining a customer.

It is natural to think why do you have to stand to lose so much, especially when such issues happen outside your control and cannot be directly linked to you. Know that each purchase made by your customer is for your brand and not for your shipping partner, who works in the background. This makes the onus on taking care of their deliveries, which plays a vital part in the overall customer experience, on you. Thus, you are inclined to take actions that can avoid all of the aforementioned problems.

5 Things to Do If a Package Gets Damaged or Lost

You don’t have to panic the instant the customer comes forward with a complaint of their package being broken, missing, or lost in transit. There are several approaches that you can take to mitigate their frustrations and attempt to change their bad delivery experience into a positive one.

1. Have an empathetic approach

As we mentioned before, these customers who may sound angry have been robbed of the opportunity to get delighted while opening their package. So, it is understandable that they are frustrated and want you, the retailer, to handle the situation before it gets worse.

In such cases, the first step is to always deal with the situation empathetically. Acknowledge the incident and apologize for it (despite there being no fault of yours).

Trust me, they don’t enjoy seeing you pointing your hands at the shipping carrier for delivery issues of any kind. Take ownership of the incident and assure them that things will be resolved at the earliest.

Personalize your conversations in such a way that your customers know that they’re being treated as important and not just as a random, faceless customer.

2. Ask the customer how would they like to get the issue resolved

Assuming what the customer wants might not be the best plan of action at all times. Especially, when the customers expect you to actively listen to their concerns.

In such cases, it is best to resolve the issue based on your customers’ requirements. Don’t hesitate to ask your customer how they would like you to rectify things.

Some customers who have still not been able to come out of the bad experience might settle for a refund on their purchase while customers who badly want the product so much, would like to replace their order.

The best ploy is to provide multiple options and let your customers choose what’s best for them. This way, your customers feel in control of their decisions and gain increased confidence while shopping with you.

3. Send out replacement packages via expedited shipping

A customer who is initiating a replacement for their damaged or lost product is someone who is giving a second chance to set things right. Thus, If a customer wants a replacement instead of a return — make sure you put maximum effort to convert their angst into delight.

You can do the same by offering free return on the damaged product and sending out a replacement via an expedited shipping option out of your own pockets.

This way you have a great opportunity to reverse the bad delivery experience and set customers on the path toward satisfaction.

4. Recover costs via shipping insurance and refunds

Focus on improving your customers’ delivery experience and leaving out the costs associated with them. Don’t worry about these out-of-pocket costs each time when there’s a delivery issue, there are ways for you to start saving on them.

One way is to insure your packages, especially the high-value ones with your shipping carriers or a third-party service provider to recover any unfortunate losses on a parcel that you shipped. To get the best out of shipping insurance, you need to get your hands dirty with all the relevant information such as product qualification, documentation required, rate comparison, etc.

The other way is to start claiming shipping refunds from your carriers for each delivery failure on their behalf. If you’ve not waived your rights to claim refunds, know that not only delays, lost and damaged packages but there are over 50 carrier errors that might be entitled to refunds.

Also, manually filing claims can be a tiresome task. Instead, you can make use of an automated parcel audit solution that takes care of auditing your shipping invoices and filing claims while saving you time, effort, and most importantly money.

BONUS: The damage is done but is the package really lost?

Damages to the package are visible. Either on the cover or on the inside, making it clear of an incident. But the case isn’t the same with lost packages.

There are instances where packages that turn up after being rerouted somewhere or the issue at hand might be due to either a wrong address or a weather-related one. Quite simply, it is not unheard of for a package to turn up a day or two late.

With customer disappointment inevitable in either case, there is a remote chance that their frustrations can be mitigated when the delivery arrives a couple of days late rather than getting lost. In such cases, you need to take a different approach and treat the incident as a late delivery.

There can also be instances where the package goes missing after getting delivered. In such cases, the issue needs to be treated as a stolen package incident.

Following these steps can definitely help you take control of the situation and handle it all. However, all of these are effective only when the issues have occurred. By the time then, it becomes a bit late to work on your CX efforts, given that your customers are now frustrated.

But what if there was a way to resolve such issues even before they’ve impacted the customer?

This is where you start taking a proactive approach to things rather than being reactive to not just lost and damaged packages but all the delivery issues.

Employ Proactive Techniques in Your ‘damage Control’ Measures with Lateshipment.com

With a post-purchase automation platform like LateShipment.com, you can track parcels in real-time and gain the ability to proactively step in to resolve issues when things seem like going wrong.

For example, with a complete view of your parcels in transit, you can:

Stay aware of packages that are damaged at the loading or sorting facility (when it is about to be sent out for delivery).
Set up alerts for specific parcels that seem to be facing an issue like lagging behind schedule or getting misrouted from the intended destination.

Once you have gained these insights, you can instantly get in touch with the carrier to resolve the issue or send a quick replacement in case of a time-sensitive delivery.

Even if you’re unable to resolve the issue completely, communicating the issue to your customer (and not the other way around) via automated and personalized notifications, helps in mitigating their anxiety, gives them the confidence that you’d resolve the issue, and ultimately revives customers’ trust in your brand.

Not just providing a great delivery experience, LateShipment.com also helps you go all out with our post-purchase excellence cloud. Provide stellar delivery experiences with easy, seamless returns – all while significantly reducing your shipping spend by auditing your invoices and recovering eligible refunds for late deliveries, lost and damaged packages, and much more from your carriers.

That’s all from us for now. It is time to grow your fanbase, savings, and business with LateShipment.com.

We’re ready when you are.

The post What to Do If a Package Arrives Damaged—or Not at All appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

5 Must Know Return KPIs for Every Modern E-commerce Businesss

Sashank Ravindranath — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 15:13:08 +0000

E-commerce returns have greatly evolved over the years.

Businesses initially saw returns as just a cost-center for their business and planned to save a few bucks by not offering returns to their customers.

Then e-commerce retailers began realizing that customers preferred to shop with businesses that offered returns and considered returns inevitable and a necessary evil that encouraged people to shop more.

Fast forward to today, we are seeing returns as a great opportunity to build strong relationships and increase repeat purchases.

A great returns experience helps you increase repeat purchase rates by 4x.

But how do you determine if your strategies are indeed successful and you are indeed providing a great returns experience?

That’s where specific valuable return metrics or return KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) come in to help you measure the success of your e-commerce business’s returns experience.

These metrics help you keep track of these metrics and have a data-driven approach

So, what are these metrics, and why are they important? Let’s take a look.

Side note: After much product development hours, we at LateShipment.com are launching our advanced Returns Analytics Dashboard. This will enable your teams to make better business decisions when it comes to product returns. You can read more about the product launch below.

Returns-related Metrics (Return KPIs) to Keep Track of

There are generally two kinds of metrics when it comes to e-commerce returns that tell you if your strategies have been successful. Metrics that show whether your returns are acting as a competitive advantage for your brand and if returns are indeed profitable for your business. Here’s a compiled breakdown of both for you.

1. Return Rate

The return rate is the rate of return as against the total products ordered. That is, if 25 out of 100 orders from your customers are returned, your return rate would stand at 25%.

Return rate as a metric blurs the lines between your products and returns efforts. For example, returns can happen due to issues with your product or if your returns policy is too lenient, so as to encourage frequent fraudulent returns in the form of wardrobing, etc.

Despite being a legacy method, you can constantly keep track of your return rates to introspect different components of returns and make important returns-related decisions such as product descriptions.

2. Return Spend

Return spend, also the ‘Cost per return’, tells you the cumulative value of the return shipping cost that businesses spend per return.

If you’re a business that bears the cost of return shipping, then your return spends tell you how much you spend on return-related logistics over time.

This can give you insights to cut costs and get smart with your returns. For example, if you feel your return shipping costs are burning a hole through your pockets, encourage customers to opt for alternative and efficient return methods such as exchanges or store credit options to ensure revenue retention.

3. Reason for return

This new metric is an extension of the return rate that is set to clear the lines between product-related returns and fraudulent ones.

Knowing the reason behind customers returning their items gives you better clarity on breaking down your return rate.

Customers who have mentioned reasons such as defective, damaged, or simply didn’t like the product would not likely return to shop with you again. Therefore, use this metric to make frequent quality checks with your product to reduce customer churn.

4. Frequently returned products

This is another new metric that comprehends the reason for return and ultimately the return rate.

Here’s a question on your mind: “I know why customers are returning their orders but what are they returning the most?”

Knowing the answer to this question helps you understand the collective issue behind a particular item category. If the percentage is higher than your worry threshold, you can take efforts to recall the particular item and do quality checks.

For example, if your Denim Jacket and Jean Pants are being returned higher than usual, maybe it’s time for you to reconsider where you source your denim raw materials from.

5. Preferred return methods

This metric defines the composition of refunds-exchanges and store credits in product returns over a course of time.

Identify the percentage of returns that end up being refunded, turned into an existing product, or simply have its value-added for a later purchase.

Keep in mind that refunds usually mean lost revenue and as an e-commerce business owner, you must promote exchanges and store credits to ensure healthy returns and revenue retention.

You can incentivize your customers to opt out of frequent refunds by providing them with better deals for the others.

How to Regularly Keep Track of Return KPIs

Now that you’re aware of why your business needs to be aware of these metrics, it is clear that you need to keep track of these metrics regularly.

To make things easier, you can make use of a solution that provides these metrics on a consistent and most importantly. a unified basis.

Meet LateShipment.com’s Returns Experience Management platform with the all-new Returns Analytics Dashboard, a.k.a the solution

LateShipment.com is a one-stop solution for everything post-purchase, whose Returns Experience Management platform is built to boost returns-related metrics that matter most to your business.

As an addition to the Returns Experience Management, comes the upgraded Returns Analytics Dashboard which breaks down returns into simple, actionable metrics to help your teams make better business decisions.

With the help of the Analytics Dashboard, keep track and see these returns-related metrics work in your favor and ultimately spell the success of your e-commerce business’ returns strategies.

To Learn more about the dashboard and Returns Experience Management – Click here to schedule a call with a product expert

Other ways the Returns Experience Management platform can help your business

Apart from specific returns-related metrics, Returns Experience Management also helps you make returns easy and profitable by increasing important CX metrics:

Conversion rate by extending a frictionless returns experience
Repeat purchases with easy returns and status tracking
Revenue retained with flexible return methods (seamless exchanges and store credit options).

Also, you can considerably reduce the time spent per return by making returns status tracking self-service.

Bottom Line

Remember, the returns experience you provide holds incredible power to boost your bottom line and create loyal customers for life. Therefore, it is time to redefine returns as a growth driver for your business.

To get all things done right before the significant returns season arrives in January, you can make use of a returns management solution such as LateShipment.com.

The post 5 Must Know Return KPIs for Every Modern E-commerce Businesss appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

How to Ensure Better Performance from Shipping Carriers

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 13:29:44 +0000

The Importance of On-time Delivery

On-time deliveries are a business’ best practice. Yet they do not captivate customers like same-day delivery or free shipping promises do. However, failing to make on-time deliveries gives you a bad reputation.

But..but…keeping deliveries on time is not so easy, given that on-time delivery is in the hands of your shipping partner.

In such situations, it is natural to ensure a better performance from the shipping carrier that you’re using.

To do that, we’ll have to first understand the role shipping carriers in ensuring on-time deliveries.

The Role of Shipping Carriers in Ensuring On-time Deliveries

Once the package has been handed over to the shipping carrier, they take control of your customers’ post-purchase experiences as well.

Despite carriers’ efforts to deliver your customers’ parcels on time, delays occur daily, largely because of carriers straining their capacity to meet on-time deliveries.

That’s not all! 7 out of 10 common causes of delays are because of the shipping carrier — ranging from poor warehouse management to failed delivery attempts.

And the worst part about these delays is the fact that the responsibility falls on you rather than the shipping carrier.

Customers who have faced a delay on packages that are most valuable to them will definitely not shop with you again. And if that’s not enough, frustrated former customers also end up posting negative reviews on social media and deter potential customers from choosing your business.

Thus, it is clear that your shipping carriers’ performance has a significant effect on your customer experience (and wallet!).

That said, you can make use of a solution such as LateShipment.com that helps you deliver phenomenal post-purchase CX and measurable results such as a better quality of service and an on-time delivery guarantee from your shipping partner.

How E-commerce Businessses Can Ensure On-time Deliveries and Better Performance from Shipping Carriers

1. Collect delivery feedback from customers to identify areas of improvement

Your customers are the ultimate end users when it comes to order deliveries.

If they are not satisfied with the delivery experience provided, they would not only show their frustration at the carrier but also at the business that is making use of the carrier as well. Therefore, it is wise to understand what they think of the delivery experiences they receive.

Collect your customers’ feedback on delivery experiences to know whether all that time, money, and effort you spent is working in your favor. You can then use this valuable data to make the right decisions when it comes to shipping and identify areas of improvement such as delivering on time.

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

Capture your customers’ Delivery Satisfaction (DSAT) rating after every order delivery and
Monitor the average DSAT scores of customers to optimize the shipping & delivery process

Consistently improving your customers’ post-purchase can help you promote your brand’s credibility.

2. Review carrier performance scores via comparison reports

Shipping takes a lot of effort, time, and most importantly money. It is only smart that you review and evaluate your choices and decisions with the help of good data

LateShipment.com provides you a detailed assessment of how your carrier’s delivery performance fares against service-specific delivery standards in the form of intuitive reports.

With this data at hand, you can get a single consolidated view of delivery performance metrics across carriers, services, and geographies. You can then dig deeper to uncover gaps in carrier performance and know where you’re seeing profits and review areas where you’re not.

That’s not all! You can now make informed decisions and efficient last-mile carrier choices that can inevitably increase the odds of on-time deliveries.

3. Hold your carriers accountable by regularly collecting refunds for their service failures

About one-third of customers won’t repurchase from a merchant after a late delivery.

So, why bear the brunt of delivery issues?

It’s only fair to hold your carriers accountable for their mistakes. And you can do that by regularly auditing your shipping invoices and claiming refunds.

Each package shipped through major carriers comes with a service guarantee. It’s an assurance that the package will be delivered within a committed time, failing which they offer a complete refund of the shipping cost.

There are more than 50 service failures, overcharges, and discrepancies that are eligible for refunds. When unclaimed, this money that you’re entitled to be just left on the table.

Keeping a close watch on delivery issues and claiming refunds where due, also ensures better service quality by your shipping carriers.

Bottom Line

Apart from helping you ensure a better performance from your shipping carriers, LateShipment.com also helps you do bigger things with your post-purchase by combining stellar delivery experiences with easy, seamless returns and not to forget, recovering eligible refunds from your carriers.

Try LateShipment.com for free now and grow your fanbase, savings, and business. We’re ready when you are. Ready to get started?

If you still have questions for us, we’re all ears.

The post How to Ensure Better Performance from Shipping Carriers appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

How to Handle Unused Shipping Labels

Sashank Ravindranath — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 13:20:57 +0000

Understanding Shipping Labels

Shipping labels are an important part of any business’ package delivery process because when they’re damaged or missing, your parcels can probably get lost and ultimately hurt your customers’ delivery experience.

In several instances e-commerce businesses, 3PLs, drop shippers, etc with huge shipping volume print ‘extra’ labels at times and use them on orders that more often than not get delivered.

Statistics show that labels are used on at least 10-15% of undelivered orders every month.

These labels attached to undelivered packages are referred to as unused shipping labels and can be an unexpected burden on your business. This is because shipping carriers such as FedEx and UPS charge money for all shipping labels created through your account (even if it was created by your 3PL provider or drop shipping partner).

It’s all cool if you use the label. But why pay for it when it goes unused? Therefore, it is important to handle unused labels to make your business operations even more efficient.

Here are some details on how e-commerce businesses can handle unused shipping labels billed to third parties and what LateShipment.com does to help streamline the process.

How to Handle Unused Shipping Labels

While the expenses from unused shipping labels are necessarily a worry for your business, there is still a way for you to have a sigh of relief. Almost all labels generated through FedEx, UPS, any other carrier, or shipping automation platforms, etc can be voided before they are charged in your invoice.

However, in most cases, this is not as easy as it looks due to the difficulty of manually voiding unused labels.

Stringent deadlines to void unused labels

Within 90 days of creating your shipping label on UPS’ website, you can void your shipment through your shipping history. This window is quite tight with FedEx as cancellation can be done only before midnight central time on the day it was created or on the date on the label (for future day shipments). Shipments with past shipping dates cannot be canceled.

The onus of voiding shipping labels is on you

With such a rigid deadline, voiding shipping labels is generally harder when you ship your packages through a third-party logistics provider or a drop shipper. When an unused label created by a third party needs to be voided, they have to notify you of it, and only then can you proceed with the claims process. This makes a majority of refunds for voiding unused labels go unclaimed.

Unused labels are hard to find

When you’re manually auditing your shipping invoice for checking out labels to be voided, you have to skim through all of the shipments manifested during that time. The process of finding and voiding unused items can be tedious and cumbersome, given your huge shipping volume.

Worry not! There’s some good news for you.

LateShipment.com’s automated parcel audit solution makes it easy for you to void unused shipping labels created by you or third-party shipping partners on your behalf. Here’s how we do it.

How LateShipment.Com Can Help You Handle Unused Shipping Labels

Like we said before, only you have the access to void unused labels. But what makes this fact worse is that you, the merchant, aren’t aware of it unless you are notified by customers (or others in case of third-party shipments).

Since an unused label is irrelevant for a shopper, LateShipment.com notifies you, customers, on your behalf under ‘Fulfillment delay’.

If a label remains unused 3 days after it has been created since that most likely indicates a delay in shipping. Therefore, your customers are now notified via email and SMS of the possibility of a delay. If the customer has canceled their order and the delay turns out to be an unused shipping label, you can then proceed to void it immediately.

That’s not all! You can also enable your support reps to set up trigger notifications under ‘Unused Shipping Label’ on their help desk platform. This makes it even easier to alert/inform their internal team if shipping labels remain unused.

The best part is, LateShipment.com monitors your shipping invoices regularly. If at all, your claim to void a shipping label hasn’t been refunded yet, we will recover them for you and deposit the money directly into your account. Our systems have escalation processes built in and we have an expert team to follow up and dispute any denied claims to ensure maximum refund recovery.

Bottom Line

It is high time you stopped overpaying your shipping carriers. Especially due to something as trivial as unused shipping labels.

Try LateShipment.com now and save 20% of your shipping costs by claiming refunds for not just unused labels but 50 other delivery failures and billing errors committed by shipping carriers.

Think of us as your advocates making sure you get your money back – only our process is quick and automated. And there are zero out-of-pocket costs. All you have to do is, say the word: “Audit”! ( And of course, follow it up with a 2 minute sign up process with LateShipment.com).

The post How to Handle Unused Shipping Labels appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

How to Deal With Shipping Delays

Rohan Rinaldo Felix — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 06:19:00 +0000

Shipping delays (also known as post-pickup delays) are inevitable even with the most efficient carriers (thanks to the growing consumer demand). And when they happen, they tend to drive your customers away.

That’s not all! The worst part about them is that you do not have control over such events and often feel helpless when they happen.

Worry not! Dealing with shipping delays is no rocket science but first, we’ll start with the basics.

What Are Shipping Delays?

A package picked up by the carrier is marked as ‘shipped’. There are instances where this package gets held up before getting into transit and when that happens, the shipment is considered delayed.

While looking trivial, they can be particularly frustrating because they create a sense of uncertainty and can disrupt plans (on-time deliveries and improving customer experiences).

When delays in shipping are left unattended, they lead to late deliveries or delivery delays and can have worse consequences on your business.

Shipping delays are not only inevitable but frequent. They occur daily and it is somewhat true that they largely happen because of shipping carriers failing to keep up with their promises of on-time delivery despite their busy schedules.

But that’s not the only reason why parcels take time to reach their destination. Here are some of the other reasons why these delays happen.

Why Do Shipping Delays Occur

There are many reasons why the package is prevented from leaving the sorting facility or held by the carrier.

Severe weather conditions
Transportation issues like congestion, accidents, or equipment breakdowns
Peak seasons like holidays, where huge volumes of shipments overwhelm carrier networks
Issues within the carrier’s system, such as sorting errors, poor warehouse management, lack of coordination among the people involved, or labor shortages
For international shipments, customs inspections and clearance processes can take a little extra time

While shipping delays might be inevitable, they sure aren’t unavoidable. With the right course of action, you can mitigate or even prevent their impact on customers and your business.

What You Can Do About Shipping Delays (You Have the Power)

There are a whole lot of things you can do to avoid shipping delays from becoming late deliveries. Assuming that a delay has already happened. Here’s what you can do:

Effective communication with customers in handling their complaints

While customers are prone to get frustrated seeing that there has been a delay with their shipment before getting into transit, that shouldn’t prevent you from hiding this detail from them. This can cause more damage as customers always expect you to keep them informed about the status of their orders and estimated delivery times.

Firstly, it’s incredibly important that you communicate with your customer. The last thing a customer would want to see is that there has been a delay in shipping, and there’s no communication from the shipper. Make the effort to get in touch with the customer and let them know of the status of the parcel.

Secondly, Apologize if you should. Don’t fall to the misconception that this is the carrier’s fault. Your customers do not feel that way and are more inclined to hold you accountable. Therefore, take ownership and explain the whole situation.

Take ownership of the situation

This is probably easier said than done, but make sure you own up and face the ire of the customer if it comes to that. There’s no way you can skirt the issue — understand the customer’s frustration

Aside from giving consistent updates such as order status information, and offering empathy along with alternative shipping options or solutions they prefer.

This will actually show you in a good light and ensure that the expectations of your brand have been exceeded (thanks to your efforts to address their concerns efficiently and follow up to ensure satisfaction).

Proactive Measures to Minimize Delays

Here’s another killer tip for you. Sign up for a service that will help you track your shipments in real-time. This will allow you to identify potential delays early on and respond to issues preemptively. Regularly tracking your shipments also allows you to identify areas for improvement, such as insights into carrier performance.

If shipping delays are a regular occurrence with your carrier, using multiple carriers for different delivery requirements may well be the way to go. Multiple carrier options while being armed with data can help you to make necessary adjustments such as better carrier choices to prevent recurrence.

Final Word

Shipping delays are an inevitable part of the logistics industry. While they can be frustrating, proactive measures, effective communication, and a customer-centric approach can significantly mitigate their impact.

By following the steps mentioned here, you can minimize the impact of shipping delays and maintain customer satisfaction. Remember, effective communication and proactive measures are key to handling these challenges successfully.

The post How to Deal With Shipping Delays appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

How Support Reps Can Handle Failed Deliveries

Sashank Ravindranath — Sat, 26 Feb 2022 08:06:03 +0000

Running an e-commerce business is tough. Rather than just acquiring a customer, you need to make sure you repeat sales with them to run a profitable venture. Here’s where the customer experience (CX) you provide can come in handy to ensure retention and increase lifetime value. However, disruptions in your shipping such as delivery exceptions and failed deliveries, which happen out of your control can play spoilsport in your CX efforts.

Imagine doing everything in your power to provide your customers with a great experience, only to lose them to something trivial like failed deliveries. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to failed deliveries and handle them effectively. But first, let’s start with the basics.

What Are Failed Deliveries?

Failed deliveries, also known as failed delivery attempts, are a delivery issue that is marked when the delivery is unsuccessful, i.e the delivery person being unable to hand over the package to the concerned customer.

The shipping carrier marks at least three instances of failed delivery attempts, after which the package is returned to the seller.

A failed delivery attempt may happen for any of the following reasons but you’ll be shocked to know that the main reason is simply that no one was at home to receive the package.

The other common reasons for failed deliveries are:

Wrong or incomplete delivery address
Customers refusing to collect the order due to damage or simply because of not wanting it anymore
The package requires an adult signature and their unavailability at the moment resulting in requesting the delivery at a later time or date

While these reasons may look harmless, once they get marked as failed deliveries, their impact may be bigger than you think!

The Impact of Failed Deliveries on Your Business

Did you know the average cost of failed delivery attempts accounts for a collective $2 billion a year?

That looks expensive! Let’s break it down to understand better.

Firstly, after just one instance of a failed delivery attempt, the package is either rerouted to a different address, brought back to the facility, or is returned to the seller. In each case, there is a surcharge levied on your bill. Not to forget that there can be additional return shipping charges if the package makes its way back to you.

If shelling out dollars this way doesn’t seem to be enough, failed deliveries also damage your brand’s reputation and lead to 1-in-3 of your customers ditching your brand. Also, these customers who’ve faced bad delivery experiences will share negative reviews and further demotivate new customers.

Failed deliveries cause bad delivery experiences and further lead to lower CSAT and NPS scores.

Delivery issues like failed deliveries are inevitable. But you can definitely curb its impact to an extent that your customers are no longer frustrated by them but rather are satisfied with your commitment to resolving them.

Make use of a post-purchase success solution such as LateShipment.com to be awesome even when your carriers disappoint or when something out of your control goes wrong.

How Lateshipment.com Helps You Handle Failed Deliveries

LateShipment.com’s post-purchase action(able) plan for you to handle failed deliveries simply starts by empowering your support reps to take control of your package that has been handed over to the shipping carrier for delivery.

What follows are 3 simple steps that you need to follow to handle failed deliveries and change disappointment into delight.

1. Track your parcels in real-time

With the help of real-time tracking, you can keep a watch on your packages in transit and identify issues around package deliveries. To make it ridiculously easier for you, your packages across carriers are grouped by delivery events or exceptions (in this case failed deliveries), allowing you to dig deeper where needed.

With just a couple of clicks, you can simply access all shipments that have had failed delivery attempts and take your next course of action.

2. Set up automated ticket creation

Unlike delays or lost packages, failed delivery attempts cannot be resolved before they happen. But you can still take up faster action to considerably reduce their damage. And one way of doing that is by setting up automated ticket creation for 7 such delivery incidents (including failed deliveries) inside your helpdesk software.

3. Hyper engage with your customers

Once the ticket is created, you can set up processes to have a member of your support team reach out to your customer (in case the failed delivery attempt was due to their unavailability) and learn the reason for their unavailability.

In relevant cases such as the customer being on vacation, your support rep can now reach out to the shipping carrier to ask for a later delivery date, holding off the shipment, or routing to a different delivery address, based on the customer’s request.

By taking the above steps, you can simply prevent something trivial like failed deliveries from escalating to a larger problem.

However, that is not the end of it. If you feel you need to take the best action regarding failed deliveries, you need to reduce the chances of them occurring in the first place. Here’s how you can do that.

BONUS: 3 tips to prevent failed deliveries in the first place

Let’s start with the #1 reason behind a failed delivery attempt — the customer simply not being available when the delivery attempt is made.

To prevent such cases, you simply let your customers know that their order is ‘out for delivery’ and ask them to stay at the location to collect their orders. This gives you a slight chance to prevent a failed delivery attempt, in the circumstance of them leaving the location being avoidable.

#2 – To avoid issues such as wrong or incomplete delivery addresses, you can send out ‘order confirmation’ notifications with complete delivery information at the earliest.

In certain circumstances, customers might refuse to collect their orders due to product issues. In such cases, you can as well include product details such as size, color, etc, to rule out any confusion.

#3 – Proactively engage with your customers during critical delivery events such as delays, loss, or damages.

Once you’ve notified the customer of the issue, you can then follow up with the customer by offering solutions based on their requirement.

For example, you can either send out another package via an expedited shipping option to reach them at the earliest or provide them with discounts on their next purchase. This can help in avoiding failed delivery attempts and unwanted returns all while reviving the customers trust in your brand.

Conclusion

Remember delivery issues such as failed deliveries are inevitable in occurrence. However, resolving them quickly is possible, is easy, helps in reducing your customer’s frustration, and sets them on the course towards a positive delivery experience.

Seamlessly handling delivery exceptions can strengthen customer relationships. Try LateShipment.com today and start managing your delivery experiences with ease.

That’s all from us for now. It’s now your turn to grow your fanbase, savings, and business with LateShipment.com.

We’re ready when you are.

Or still have questions? We’re all ears.

The post How Support Reps Can Handle Failed Deliveries appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

How to File FedEx Claims for Late Deliveries

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 05:34:37 +0000

FedEx is one of the top-three behemoths in not just the US but in the worldwide shipping carrier and delivery services space (the other two being DHL and UPS).

Did you know that FedEx delivers more than 12 million packages per day? And in such cases, common delivery issues such as late deliveries are common and inevitable.

However, like all major carriers, FedEx too aims to provide top-notch service and reduce the frequency of such issues. In order to do so, FedEx has a Money-Back Guarantee option that customers can use to claim refunds for delivery failures.

Understanding FedEx’s Money-Back Guarantee before submitting Claims

FedEx’s Money-Back Guarantee is a part of your shipping contract that stipulates that FedEx will refund the shipping charges if parcel delivery is delivered late by even 60 seconds except in exceptional circumstances (natural disasters, weather delays, etc).

However, the Money-Back Guarantee has multiple limitations that you, as a shipper must understand before you start submitting FedEx claims. In most cases, your forms can end up getting rejected if the conditions are not met.

Important clauses from the Money-Back Guarantee to keep in mind when submitting FedEx claims:

Before you start reading down the clauses, make sure that you have not signed a money-back guarantee waiver in your shipping contract. This straightaway prevents you from claiming refunds and is also not an efficient move
Wait for 24 hours from the expected delivery time to claim your refund. There are chances for your lost package to end up getting delivered to your hands. However, you can straightaway submit claims for late deliveries (for select services)
Refund claims requests must be submitted within 15 calendar days of the scheduled delivery date or the date listed in the tracking details or your proof of delivery, whichever is later.

Keeping that in mind, let’s move on to how you can start claiming FedEx refunds by yourself.

How to File FedEx Claims

Login to your FedEx account and choose the ‘File a claim’ option from the support tab
Start a claim by entering your tracking/PRO number and selecting your claim type
Add the supporting documents necessary to validate your claim
Review your form and submit the claim
Check the status of your claim online or request email updates

However, manually submitting FedEx claims is not always as easy as this and can be a tedious process. Here’s why.

Why Manually Submitting Claims Can Be a Hassle

Like we mentioned earlier, manually submitting FedEx claims is a huge headache as there is a list of conditions to be met for them to accept your claim.

As we mentioned earlier, you are required to file the claim within 15 days from the date of the scheduled delivery with the receiver’s name, address, date of shipment, package weight, and tracking number
Your claim must include complete shipper and recipient information, as well as the FedEx tracking number, date of shipment, number of pieces, and shipment weight
The money-back guarantee does not apply to all services and destinations parcels that FedEx undertakes
In cases of international shipments, you have to submit documentation required by the country of origin or destination to support your case
The parcel must have been tendered to FedEx directly and before the stipulated collection time.

That’s not all. With the finer-print terms and conditions, FedEx can still reject your claim for a refund.

So, what’s the smart way out?

Make use of an automated refunds tool like LateShipment.com to claim your refunds. All you need to do is integrate this tool into your existing shipping operations while you focus on your core business functions.

How LateShipment.com Makes Filing Fedex Claims Easier

The money that goes unclaimed in shipping carrier refunds runs to the tune of over 3 billion dollars annually!

But what should matter more to you is this: Experts say that you can bring your shipping budget down by up to 20% if you claim every single refund you are eligible for.

LateShipment.com’s Parcel Audit and Shipping Refunds solution can help businesses like yours hold your shipping carrier accountable and ensure that you do not lose money that is rightfully yours.

Also, monitoring and claiming refunds regularly help you receive better performance from your shipping carrier resulting in more successful last-mile deliveries.

Apart from late deliveries, LateShipment.com also helps you recover refunds for more than 50 service failures such as lost and damaged packages, incorrect surcharges, etc.

Not just FedEx, LateShipment.com also helps you file claims and recover refunds from all major carriers such as DHL, UPS, Purolator… to name a few.

LateShipment.com’s refund recovery process allows you to focus on your core business functions while it analyses every shipment you send, identifies late shipments that are eligible for refunds, and files FedEx claims with supporting documentation.

It also follows up with the procedure and ensures that a refund is credited to you as soon as possible.

The best part is, LateShipment.com has a simple signup process, which takes less than 2 minutes for you to get started on claiming refunds.

Create a LateShipment.com account
Add your shipping carrier credentials.

That’s it! All you have to do now is to sit back as refunds get credited to your account.

What Else You Can Do with LateShipment.com

While claiming refunds are great, they don’t always compensate for your customers’ bad experiences faced in the post-purchase phase. In such cases, the onus of crafting a delightful delivery and returns experiences falls on you.

Therefore, don’t stop with just claiming refunds. Go all out with our post-purchase excellence cloud. It combines stellar delivery experiences with easy, seamless returns – all while significantly reducing your shipping spend by auditing your invoices and recovering eligible refunds from your carriers.

Time to grow your fanbase, savings, and business with LateShipment.com. We’re ready when you are.

Or still have questions? We’re all ears.

The post How to File FedEx Claims for Late Deliveries appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Returns Experience Management for Shopify Users

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 14:55:30 +0000

Are you an online retailer who runs their business on Shopify and wants to provide their customers with a streamlined returns experience?

Then you’ve come to the right place. In this blog, we’ll cover…

The existing gap with returns in eCommerce retail
The need for a returns management solution to close the gap
FAQs from retailers when it comes to returns, etc

With this blog, be sure to get to know the ins and outs of returns management and how to optimize it for customer satisfaction.

One might wonder.

Why do I need to focus on my returns strategy in the first place, when return shipping isn’t a profit-yielding business strategy?.

Here’s why you should.

92% of the shoppers will buy again if the returns process is frictionless and user-friendly.

The Bottom line — returns should be as easy as shopping itself in your store.

However, is it not as easy as it looks due to the existing gaps in the way eCommerce stores handle returns.

But that doesn’t mean you avoid returns entirely as product returns are inevitable in eCommerce, particularly when you leverage free returns to acquire customers, and even the best businesses out there struggle to build a frictionless and profitable returns strategy.

Therefore, preparing your Shopify store to provide a seamless returns experience is key to your store’s success as it holds incredible power to improve your retention and repeat purchase rates.

Let’s see how Shopify users can manage and redefine their returns as a driver of growth.

Leveraging A Returns Experience Management Solution to Handle Shopify Returns

We’ve probably said it before, Investing in a returns experience management solution can help you fulfill the promise of a hassle-free Shopify returns experience by equipping you with a great returns strategy.

But first. what really makes up a great returns strategy?

Here’s a comprehensive checklist on the topic that you can gain access to by submitting a simple form.

How Lateshipment.Com’s Returns Experience Management Solution Is Built for Shopify and Makes Returns Easy and Profitable

LateShipment.com’s Returns Experience Management is a powerful, self-service returns platform that holds incredible power to boost your bottom line and create loyal customers for life

Apart from holding all the features of a complete returns management solution, Returns Experience Management hands you the reins to do more in the form of:

A customizable, on-demand returns portal makes the return experience fast and easy for your customers with close to zero interactions with your support agents
A purpose-built returns dashboard for merchants, support users, and warehouse operators to drive quick return request resolution and drastically reduce your team’s time tending to returns and thereby reduce support ticket volume.
A tracking page for returns that provides transparency around return status and eliminates customer anxiety about the whereabouts of their package.

One another way to optimize your returns management strategy is to understand your customer’s expectations when it comes to returns and take steps to meet or rather exceed them.

Here are some Frequently Asked Questions by merchants with respect to managing returns.

Common FAQs Merchants Have on Returns

Q: How do I handle eCommerce returns?

A: The best way to handle returns is to make returns easier for your customer. Informing your return policies beforehand, pre-printing return labels, offering multiple and flexible return methods, etc can all help you in making it as easy as shopping in your store.

Q: Are returns bad for my business?

A: Returns are a necessary evil and a cost-center only when you look at them that way. However, when returns are handled well, they become a retention and revenue opportunity.

Q: How do I reduce the impact of frequent returns and refund rates on my profits?

A: The best way to reduce return costs and refund rates is to do more than just returns. Incentivize customers to opt for exchanges or store credit to ensure revenue retention.

Q: My support team is often burdened with returns requests. Even more so after customers have initiated returns. Is there something I can do about that?

A: By making returns self-serve, i.e, easy returns initiation, exchanges, and more can help in reducing returns-related customer issues. Proactive and automated customer communications including real-time tracking of returns during the entire returns lifecycle will further reduce the load on support teams.

Q: How do I streamline my eCommerce business’ returns process?

A: The best way to streamline your eCommerce returns process and make your customers’ returns journey seamless is to invest in an automated returns management system that helps you with everything from initiating easy returns and printing labels to status tracking and a host of support-friendly features

Q: I’ve tried different Shopify returns apps, how is a returns management system for Shopify any different?

A: Returns applications on Shopify mostly help you with just initiating returns and creating labels. However, a returns experience management platform such as LateShipment.com comes up with all the features of the returns management system with the added benefits of

24/7 chat, email, and phone support to help you with any requirements
Stringent security of your data
Individualized onboarding and training
Dedicated customer success manager, etc.

Optimize Your Shopify Returns Process

Shopify helps you provide a great buying experience by optimizing your eCommerce website.

But returns are unique. That’s why an automated returns solution is at the need of the hour.

Manage your returns process to optimize the experience you provide. This holds incredible power to boost your bottom line and create loyal customers for life.

With the help of a returns experience management solution, redefine Shopify returns to a growth driver for your business not just in terms of customer loyalty and revenue retention but taking analytics and making improvements to reduce eCommerce return rates.

Get started with Returns Experience Management for Shopify.

The post Returns Experience Management for Shopify Users appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Handling E-commerce Returns: How to Make Returns Frictionless and Maintain Profitability

Ajith Srinivasan — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 04:48:36 +0000

Why E-commerce Businesses Must Not Overlook Their Customers' Returns Experience

Digital businesses today spend a lot of time, money and human resources acquiring new customers and retaining them; but customer journeys have evolved to become a lot more than the pre-purchase and purchase phase — and brands realizing that will win in the era of modern retail.

Your brand might have an amazing online shopping experience and seamless shipping and delivery experience, but like many other brands, you’ve overlooked your customers’ returns experience.

All that hard work you put into your customers’ pre-and-post purchase experience might as well be thrown away the moment your customer wants to return a product, while you do not have a proper return management strategy in place.

30% of products bought online end up being returned, and 65% of these products are returned as they are damaged or do not match their descriptions – which is not surprising considering that when customers buy something online, the product they receive may not be what they expected.

Let’s face the inevitable. You can be the best in your market and yet your products might be returned once in a while, no matter what you do.

Hence, preparing your business to face such hits once in a while, and formulating a strategy in place to equip your business while providing impeccable return service is the best approach to take.

This would in turn reward you with customer loyalty, given you addressed their distress at their most uncertain phase during the transaction.

Busted - 3 Popular Myths about Product Returns

#1 Returns are a cost-center

Most retailers look at returns as being a logistical nightmare apart from an unnecessary expense – US retailers spend over $100 billion each year in return-related logistics. However, statistics show that only one in every four customers who return products prefer a refund over exchange or store credit – which means that’s an opportunity for you to push repeat sales.

#2 Returns discourage customers from shopping with you again

It’s a common misconception that when customers return a product, they’re probably not going to buy from you again. But in reality, when your customers can return something as easily as they bought it – you’ve probably made a loyal customer out of them.

This means they might not want that refund just yet and that’s the perfect opportunity for you to incentivize them to take up an exchange or accept store credit instead (which is again the perfect opportunity to upsell).

#3 The post-purchase phase of a customer journey = Order Shipping & Delivery

Most businesses do not consider returns to be a part of their post-purchase strategy. But the hard truth is that the returns phase is one of the most important phases of the post-purchase customer experience.

That’s simply because a lot could go wrong just after you’ve done everything right to keep your customer happy.

Customers are going to throw their entire positive customer experience they had with your business away for a toss once they try to return a product for any reason and are faced with an excruciating return/exchange process.

E-commerce Returns - an Opportunity to Encourage Repeat Purchases?

As a business, it’s customary to try and cut costs wherever possible to save that extra buck, especially as an SMB.

But returns don’t always mean refunds – your customer might just want a size exchanged or ordered the wrong item and are trying their luck to land on their desired prize.

They’re just looking for that little incentive that’ll push them towards opting for an exchange or store credit. And when your returns process is as smooth as butter, you will be able to convert these customers into brand loyalists.

We’ve said it before – the future of e-commerce is customer service – it’s time to start looking at returns as an opportunity and not an expensive logistical nightmare!

E-commerce Returns Can Improve Overall CX

As a retailer, you’ve done everything right – you’ve given your customers the best possible shopping experience, you have even gone the extra mile to make sure your customers have a seamless shipping and delivery experience.

But, what happens when the product they’ve received is not what they expected?

The first thing your customer does is hit the return button on your e-commerce website.

You don’t want all that effort taken to keep your customers happy every step of the way to go in vain – and returns are the last connecting piece of the puzzle.

Returns are one of the most important stages of the customer journey – it’s what can differentiate you from your competitors.

Customers don’t love to return products that they’ve just spent days looking forward for it and the last thing they’d want to do is send it back.

That’s why, as a brand, offering consolation in the form of seamless returns to your customers at a moment of their vulnerability can demonstrate empathy and encourage fierce loyalty.

Hassle-free returns paired with a great pre-purchase experience and a seamless shipping & delivery experience is the formula to a winning CX strategy for every retail business out ther

What Makes a Seamless E-commerce Returns Experience

When returns are done right, they can mean a whole lot of repeat sales and long-lasting customer relationships. Here are some important tips to keep in mind for when you make returns an integral part of your post-purchase strategy.

Have a clear-cut returns policy

There may be no global guidelines set with regards to what a returns policy should consist of. As a brand, your returns policy must be transparent and should outline the most important queries regarding returns – these are the basics of what a good returns policy must cover :

What items can customers return?
What items are you willing to offer an exchange for?
What is the standard return period?
In what conditions can items be returned or exchanged?
How can a customer initiate an exchange or return?
Who pays for the return shipping costs?

Offer free and flexible returns

Returns are all about building trust and strengthening customer relationships and loyalty. Free returns are something that customers look for when they shop online, and when your brand offers just that, it’s just the right push your customers need to make that purchase.

No matter what, buying online will always have a certain risk factor – what if the size doesn’t fit? What if the product doesn’t match the description? What if you ordered the wrong product?

With all these factors in mind, give your customers just that extra room to return the products they’re not satisfied with – this is where some major brands such as Aldo, Sephora, Bloomingdale’s, and Nike have gone the extra mile to keep their customers with 60-day return windows.

Make product returns as easy as shopping

With eCommerce’s footprint increasing by the day, it’s inevitable that the numbers of returns are going to increase as well.

Make returns as easy as possible – your customers are already disappointed about having to return a product they spent days waiting for, why make that process even harder for them.

The easiest way to make your e-commerce returns process seamless is to invest in an automated returns management system that integrates with your website – ensuring that navigating through returns is hassle-free.

In addition to that, a returns management system can make returns self-serve for your customers with auto-generated shipping labels and return status tracking, all of which can enhance your customers’ returns experience with your brand.

Why Your Returns Solution Should Seamlessly Integrate with Your Entire Post-purchase Experience

When a product is returned, the status of the return is not fully transparent – that’s something that can frustrate your customers and cause unnecessary anxiety (like the anxiety of waiting for their product to reach them wasn’t enough!)

Impeccable customer experiences are the future of e-commerce. When customers keep products they’re not really happy with instead of returning them – it might seem economical for your business in the short term. But in reality, this can be quite damaging to your business.

When a customer keeps a product they don’t like, they’re more likely to never shop from your brand again.

And you know what’s worse?

They might even leave a bad review on various online forums and also deter potential customers in their circle of friends to not shop from you as well. You know we’re not lying when we emphasize how powerful word-of-mouth is, especially when it comes to negative experiences.

E-commerce returns are an integral part of your customers’ post-purchase experience, which can make or break how they feel about your brand – which is exactly why you should invest in a returns solution that integrates with all aspects of your brand’s post-purchase experience, from shipping to delivery to returns.

The post Handling E-commerce Returns: How to Make Returns Frictionless and Maintain Profitability appeared first on Lateshipment.com.