Retail Technology Archives | Lateshipment.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Leverage Email Marketing Tools for Post-Purchase Engagement

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One Simple Integration, a World of Retail Benefits

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

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

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

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

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

Still have questions? – Talk to our integration expert

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How Businesses Can Use Emerging Technology To Extract Value From Social Media

Sashank Ravindranath — Tue, 30 May 2023 08:45:50 +0000

While the COVID-19 pandemic did slow the economy down amidst a lot of problems, it also led to an e-commerce surge and accelerated digital transformation by 5 years. What was considered futuristic is now being experienced in the present and businesses who haven’t implemented them are considered outdated. This is because, with growing advancements, comes increasing competition that keeps brands on their toes to constantly adapt to this ever-changing playing field.

Even if your products are the best in the market with minimal competition, there are things that are needed from your end to make your products reach your target audience. And one such channel that can be the best choice for you in the current scenario is your social media game. But if you’re wondering “There are a lot of options like email and SMS marketing, why particularly focus on social media?” Here are some stats that should convince you.

Now that it’s clear why social media is important, let’s move on to how businesses can use social media not just for the sake of it but for its utmost potential. This is where the impact of digital transformation comes into play. With technological advancements happening throughout the e-commerce space, there are also several up-and-coming innovations in social media that businesses can take up to stay competitive. Here are some of them that are currently in the trend.

5 Ways Businesses Can Use Emerging Technology To Extract Value From Social Media

Businesses can leverage emerging technologies to extract value from social media in several ways:

1. Social Listening and Sentiment Analysis

In general terms, social listening is an extension of brand monitoring (where you can keep track of every social mention of your brand), along with each and every necessary social media conversation that includes products that you sell and competing brands.

Primarily insights from social listening are used to identify trends, customer pain points, and sentiment analysis on similar topics, all of which can be used to make data-driven decisions for improvement.

Sentiment analysis is a subset of social listening. While social listening monitors related mentions, sentiment analysis gives insights into the emotions surrounding those mentions and helps you pick the right context for your customers’ conversations.

For example, by understanding customer sentiments, trends, and feedback, you can work on identifying customer needs, improving products and services, and enhancing the overall customer experience.

If you’re wondering where to start, there are several social listening tools such as Hootsuite that you can make use of to do the research on your behalf.

2. Social Media Advertising

Social media ads are a really straightforward but great way for businesses to reach their target audience with relevant messages. With proper research and techniques, ads can be your most efficient option to generate leads, drive sales, and increase brand awareness.

But advertising isn’t just posting about your brand on social media, it has several depths to it that make it relevant. To help you understand things better, let’s look at the two trending forms of social media advertising for now.

Influencer Marketing: The lockdown phase was a blessing in disguise for a lot of individuals who began their careers as ‘content creators’, spending time on social media doing what they enjoy the most. With a fanbase growing for them, they grew into influencers relevant to particular industries. By collaborating with influencers, businesses can reach a wider audience, increase brand awareness, and drive customer engagement.

Personalized Marketing: With insights such as customer preferences, behavior, and interests, you can send out personalized messaging that caters to specific customers. With recent technological advancements and increased customer expectations, you have no option but to embrace personalization in your social media marketing tactics. Advertising campaigns that are tailored to the right customers help you create individualized experiences and spur more sales.

3. Social Commerce

Not just for advertising purposes, recent integrations have enabled social commerce, where shoppers can not just view but browse and shop directly from social media platforms.

Social commerce retail earnings are predicted to reach nearly $80 billion by 2025 in the U.S.

With shoppers spending a lot of time on social media for their personal stuff or for looking at brands, social commerce can be seen as the best option for businesses to enable seamless shopping experiences (where shoppers can directly purchase from social media sites without having to visit your website).

Not just direct selling, social commerce also enables:

Social sharing – Leverage user-generated content to drive conversions and sales
Customer engagement – Easy support interactions and insights into brand content performance, etc.

4. Chatbots

Social media has come a long way from just content sharing to AI-powered chatbots to engage with their customers across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp.

The purpose of these chatbots covers three essential parts of your business’ needs — customer service, customer engagement, and social media marketing. But using conventional techniques is just the bare minimum. With the help of automation, you can extend the capabilities of chatbots by a huge margin.

Let’s start with the most persistent problem of an e-commerce business, post-purchase issues, and customer queries around their order status. With over 40% of support tickets created around the post-purchase, it is understandable that customers are worried about their orders going haywire during the shipping and delivery phase.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Instead of waiting for your customers to take the first step, you can take a proactive approach to engage with them regarding their order details from time to time. This simple action just stands to provide multiple benefits for your business by improving customer relationships and brand loyalty while reducing costs and the time taken.

5. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)

Thanks to technological development over the past few years, VR and AR, classic science-fiction tools can be experienced today, in our lifetime. With fierce competition from multiple directors, e-commerce brands too couldn’t stay far from such technology and have started to use VR and AR primarily in advertising to create immersive experiences that can help businesses connect with customers in new ways.

Virtual product try-on tools and augmented previews can be extremely beneficial for the apparel and accessories industry to convince customers who are sitting on the fence over the doubt of the product working out for them to go for the buy,
Brands can partner with social media applications like Instagram to create filters that users can use for fun in their content. This can really boost your efforts to spread the word about your brand and increase engagement rates.

Overall, integrating VR and AR into social media platforms helps in engaging users, driving conversions, and providing unique and interactive shopping experiences.

Final Word

With growing technology, social media will continue to evolve. To keep up with the ever-changing conditions, you will need to adapt your strategies in order to consistently stay ahead of the curve.

In conclusion, by using techniques such as social listening, sentiment analysis, social media advertising, social commerce, VR and AR, etc, you can extract valuable insights, enhance customer engagement, optimize marketing efforts, reach new markets, and drive business growth in the digital landscape.

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3 Ways To Boost Post-Purchase Customer Experience And Loyalty With Yotpo And Lateshipment.com

Sashank Ravindranath — Sat, 06 May 2023 11:09:20 +0000

Are you up for a simple exercise that will predict how successful your business will be? If yes, answer the following question. What measures do you consciously take to improve your customer’s purchase journey once they’ve hit the buy button?

Before we get to the context of things, remember that the post-purchase phase takes up 50% of the overall customer experience. But most eCommerce brands, who take a top effort to convert prospects into customers, unwillingly neglect to do the same for what comes after. This creates a situation where you have unsatisfied customers who are prone to leave your brand, leading to multiple unnecessary costs in the form of churn rates and acquisition costs.

So, if you’re an eCommerce retailer who is looking for ways to optimize your post-purchase phase, here are some insights on how you can provide integrated experiences that come in handy in improving customer satisfaction after the ‘buy’ button. But first, here’s a look into what great post-purchase experiences can do for your brand, particularly from a customer standpoint.

The Impact of Great Post-Purchase Experiences on Customer Loyalty

1) Strengthened customer relationships – The post-purchase phase is the last thing your customers are going to remember about your brand. Thus, it is important to make things memorable in a positive sense and build stronger customer relationships. This also leads to additional revenue for your business as loyal customers are worth up to 10 times the value of their first purchase.

2) Reduced customer service inquiries – Increased anxiety levels of shoppers in the post-purchase phase, lead to higher “Where Is My Order” (WISMO) calls and shipping-related support ticket volume. On the other hand, by keeping customers informed about their orders regularly, you can witness a reduction in support inquiries tickets, and ultimately the costs associated with it.

3) Increased repeat purchase rates – Positive delivery experiences are a sure-shot way of ensuring your customers are satisfied and will keep shopping with you. Rather than leaving it idle, you can leverage this opportunity to send out targeted cross-sell campaigns and double your chances of driving repeat purchases.

How To Optimize Post-Purchase Customer Experiences With Yotpo And Lateshipment.com

Now that you know the benefits of post-purchase CX, here are 3 ways to optimize them and use them to improve loyalty with the Yotpo – LateShipment.com integration.

1) Proactively communicate order delivery status to improve customer convenience

Over 40% of the support inquiries received are order delivery and returns status related. This shows that customers are highly anxious as they are awaiting their orders, so it’s non-optional to keep your customers in the loop of their orders via proactive communication. This allows you to mitigate your customers’ anticipation and ensures that they have a great post-purchase experience.

Yotpo helps eCommerce businesses trigger shipping updates via SMS notifications. With order-tracking information from LateShipment.com, you can set up a total of 13 custom events like Shipped, In-transit with delays, Failed deliveries, Delivered, Return initiated, etc. The best part about these bumps is the fact that the triggers are completely customizable and can be modified end-to-end. Live tracking links can also be sent with these shipping updates to endlessly engage customers.

Also, with custom-built floating pop-ups via the Yotpo SMS bump on LateShipment.com’s branded tracking page, you can capture SMS subscribers for marketing purposes such as notifying them about membership programs, etc, and gain valuable engagement opportunities.

2) Incentivize customers for order delivery mishaps and improve customer retention

Over 10% of e-commerce shipments, irrespective of the shipping carrier or partner you use, face issues such as delivery delays, lost order, damaged parcels and more. The worst part is that your customers are unforgiving of these issues and won’t shop with you again even after just one incident. In such cases, an effective compensation for their patience in the form of loyalty points, in addition to an empathetic response and acknowledgment of the incident, can come in handy.

Via LateShipment.com’s integration with Yotpo Loyalty, eCommerce businesses can reward customers with completely customizable loyalty points, when their orders are facing delivery issues. With data from LateShipment.com retrieved in real-time, you can take up the opportunity to drive a quick solution and mitigate customer frustration as early as possible.

3) Understand customer satisfaction levels with delivery experience feedback and product reviews

70% of consumers are likely to purchase exclusively from brands that understand them and their needs. A great way to understand how your customers feel about your brand is to simply ask them for feedback. Using these insights, you can take action to make regular improvements and promote brand credibility.

Yotpo Reviews help eCommerce businesses collect reviews with smart prompts. With real-time tracking information from LateShipment.com, you can now get both faster and more accurate feedback. The Yotpo review widget can also be added to your branded tracking pages. This will display the star ratings of the products ordered by customers each time they track their package.

Thus, it is clear that integrated experiences are the way to go when it comes to making your post-purchase customer-centric. The Yotpo X LateShipment.com helps you go the extra mile in delivering an integrated experience for your customers while also helping you keep track of your performance to make informed decisions.

TL;DR - How the Yotpo - LateShipment.com integration works for your business

Trigger flows for shipment events (13 events throughout the order delivery and returns stages along with existing transactional SMS) to help you make proactive communication your selling point.
Set up post-purchase triggers for loyalty points to reward customers and gain engagement where you can.
Add the Yotpo Star Rating to the LateShipment.com tracking page builder to display reviews on your Branded Tracking Page.

The Yotpo – LateShipment.com integration stands to help you collect reviews, provide shipping updates, promote your products, and manage everything seamlessly. To get started with things right away, you need to set up the integration, which is designed to be easy to connect and use.

If you haven’t already, sign up for LateShipment.com and Yotpo Reviews
Connect your LateShipment.com to Yotpo Reviews from the Yotpo Marketplace
Pick the Shopify store connected to your Yotpo account and log in to your LateShipment.com account to complete the authentication.
Once you have configured the integration settings, click “Enable” to start the integration.

That’s all from us! It is now your time to make use of LateShipment.com’s integration with Yotpo to initiate customer reviews, send proactive SMS notifications, offer loyalty points, and do so much more to improve key metrics such as Customer Retention Rate (CRR) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) in the post-purchase phase.

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How to Increase E-commerce Conversion Rates Through Video Marketing

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 14:20:10 +0000

Not getting enough conversions despite getting more visitors? It’s time to include quality video content in your e-commerce website and marketing process. Also, videos can help you attract more potential customers and build your brand apart from encouraging them to shop.

Ready to get started? Here are ways you can use videos in your existing practices and maximize conversions as a result.

But why videos, you ask? Simple, site visitors prefer video over photos and text.

Since their inception and rise, videos have surpassed other content formats in terms of consumer consumption as they’re both educational and entertaining.

That’s not all! We have curated a list of points to make our case for why video marketing is no longer an option but rather, a necessity for brands in today’s e-commerce space.

Why Is Video Marketing so Crucial to Digital Marketing?

Helps you increase visitor engagement – Not only video surpasses other content formats but also complements and goes hand-in-hand with many information-delivery modes, such as narrative, text, graphics, etc.
Helps you capture the customer’s short attention span – Anything that requires more than 500 words or 10 slides to explain can be done through a simple video under a minute or so before the customer switches tabs.
Helps you clearly explain the product’s features – Videos can help you reduce customer doubts to a great extent by enabling you to effectively communicate and market your offerings.
Helps you attract leads – Unlike other content formats, videos have the power to instantly attract your target audience and turn them into potential leads.
Helps you Increase consumer confidence – Videos provide more information about your brand, method of operation, and the entire line of items. By doing this, you gain your customers’ trust and subsequently their business.

But just randomly adding videos doesn’t help.

Without a strategy in place, videos would simply take up valuable space on your website without bringing in any revenue. In such cases, the right video marketing techniques with strategically placed video content can come in handy.

Also, your target audience has a wide range of options on the internet. Thus, It’s crucial to stand out in order to draw viewers in and persuade them to subscribe and make purchases.

Here are some strategies to help you optimize video conversion to the fullest.

9 Really Effective Video Marketing Strategies to Optimize Conversions

1. Improve video positioning

Let’s start with the most basic idea. Pick the right channel or platform. Be it a landing page, your YouTube channel, social profiles, or your website’s product page — the right kind of video and position is necessary for maximum optimization.

For example, videos on landing pages are most effective for subscription-based businesses, while videos on product pages are best used by e-commerce businesses.

2. Optimize video specs

You post a wide range of video content like product tutorials, corporate culture videos, customer testimonials, instructional videos, and promotional movies across platforms. Not all these videos can be effective in the traditional aspect ratio or dimension.

In such cases, you can make use of an online video editor to edit your videos based on the appropriate spec. Such tools can be the best option for small businesses without an organized marketing team, as it saves both time and effort.

3. A/B testing aids in the development of video CRO strategies

If you’re new to the whole video marketing game, you can try out A/B testing or split testing by having two or more options or variants with your video content (copy and thumbnail), placement, dimension, etc.

In case, if plan A doesn’t work, you don’t have to scratch your heads and go back to the drawing board to start afresh. A simple backup plan will ‘B’ of assistance.

4. Add links to your videos

Your target audience consumes the video content and is impressed by it. What next? A lack of direction here simply puts all your CRO efforts to waste.

Here’s where you can try including links to select sections of the video to guide the viewer to your website or add a signup form to give them the chance to subscribe or to receive further updates from your business.

5. Consult an expert

In case, if you’re unclear on where to start when it comes to videos, you can employ the services of a video-creating company like InVideo that can help you provide the necessary technical knowledge on video marketing.

6. Create unique thumbnails

Consider selecting a smiling person for the thumbnails because a grin communicates friendliness and openness. You may find tools online that will help you make captivating video thumbnails.

7. Create short, interesting, and enjoyable videos

Users tend to lose interest in your promotions over time, so keep them short and simple. Keep your videos under a minute, include content that is understood by all, and don’t be too preachy with your promotions, to make them immediately engaged and entertained.

8. Supply product details

Present your product offerings from several perspectives and provide as much information as you can about them. This includes, but is not limited to, ease of use, durability, product features, advantages, etc. You can also include non-product information such as shipping and returns to improve credibility.

9. Establish the audience's trust

Follow a certain style guide when it comes to your videos. You can put a face to your brand, have similar color and font schemes, etc, to make your target audience more approachable to your e-commerce business and enhance conversion rates by developing trust.

Conclusion

Knowing the best way to provide information to your target audience ensures conversion.

With the digital marketing success of your e-commerce business dependent on offering proper high-conversion videos, it pays off to create effective video marketing strategies using qualified services to boost conversions and hasten sales.

This article is a guest contribution from Larry Gibbs.

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4 Tips to Provide Great Customer Service in E-commerce

Sashank Ravindranath — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 10:20:55 +0000

Creating a positive experience via great customer service impacts how your audience perceives your business. It not only impacts your existing customers but influences your prospective customers as well.

Many consumers do brand research and read online reviews before committing to a business. Negative comments from dissatisfied customers could drive potential customers to your competition.Therefore, an exceptional customer experience should be a top priority for e-commerce businesses.

Here are some practical tips to help optimize your customer service using the limited touchpoints available in a digital ecosystem.

1. Invest in the Right Tools

One of the biggest customer experience challenges e-commerce brands face is a lack of personal interaction with the customer. As a customer can’t come into a store to discuss an issue or try on an outfit, there’s an increased likelihood of customer dissatisfaction.

Investing in the right tools can help minimize negative interactions and reduce friction in the sales process. Here are some must-have tools to enhance communication with customers.

1.1 Automated Chatbots

Many consumers would answer negatively when asked about robotic process automation in the sales process. However, they can’t deny the convenience of chatbots when looking for simple information about an online offering.

Programming automated chatbots enhance the customer experience in several ways. The main benefit is that someone can quickly collect information from the website without having to scour through the navigation menu to find it. Furthermore, they can continue to go about their life while waiting for a response rather than waiting on hold.

Having automated chatbots for quick, repetitive inquiries also keeps customer service lines free, reducing response times and time spent on hold. As such, automated chatbots benefit those who use them and those who contact the business through other channels.

1.2 Omnichannel Access and Centralization

Accessibility is everything in e-commerce. As the customer can’t call a local store or stop in on their way home from work, having different channels through which to contact the business is a must. Some customers will feel more comfortable communicating through email, while others prefer speaking to someone on the phone.

Incorporating digital customer experience software allows omnichannel access and is essential for an improved customer experience, but that’s not all. Data centralization is also a key consideration when taking this approach. An agent or representative should be able to quickly pull up customer information, whether they’ve called, emailed, or used social media as their point of contact.

Having channels that speak to one another and share data can minimize time spent on hold and improve the time to resolution.

1.3 Voice Analysis Software

Voice analysis software is an AI-driven technology that helps customer service agents control a conversation. This tool analyzes tones in real-time to offer valuable insights and suggestions.

Voice analysis software reads both the agent and the customer and offers suggestions for improvement. An agent can use this real-time feedback to direct the conversation toward a resolution that leaves the customer satisfied. This tool also helps with employee engagement. If the voice analysis software picks up on a negative tone from employees, it can notify them that it might be time for a break after this call.

We no longer live in a society where the customer is always right. Taking care of employees and ensuring they have time for a reset after a difficult customer can protect their mental health and wellbeing, minimize turnover, and create a consistent customer-centric experience.

1.4 Cybersecurity

Investing in cybersecurity is often overlooked as an aspect of the customer experience. However, minimizing the risk of their personal or financial data getting hacked ultimately impacts their overall experience with a company. Ensure that your e-commerce business is secure and that every transaction has minimal risk.

2. Empower Your Customers

Empowering your customers to take control of their experience will help improve wait times, time to resolution, and overall satisfaction. Here are some key considerations for customer empowerment.

2.1 Value Their Time

Valuing your customers’ time is the top priority in providing an exceptional customer experience. If your customer has a problem with the product they’ve received or has a question about your product, you should provide what they need in as little time as possible. Tools like automation and centralization can help with this effort.

2.2 Provide Self-Service Tools

Providing self-service tools is another effective way to show customers that you value their time while taking the burden off customer service agents. For example, including a shipping tracking portal on your website will minimize customer service inquiries.

2.3 Ask for Feedback

Asking for feedback after a customer goes through the transaction process or receives their product will benefit both the business and the consumer. Your customer will feel valued and heard, and your business can use the feedback to refine processes and improve the customer journey.

3. Practice Proactive Customer Service

Customer service has historically been reactive rather than proactive. Now, e-commerce brands are shifting toward an actionable, proactive approach. Here are some initial steps to take to embrace this shift.

3.1 Create an Onboarding Flow

So your customer has purchased a product. Now what? Before you start asking for positive reviews, ensure the customer knows what they’re doing and how to get the best possible results from their purchase.

Creating an onboarding flow that seeks to educate a customer will minimize the learning curve and improve early adoption rates. With an omnichannel approach to customer service, you can incorporate extra training and support needs into your onboarding flow.

3.2 Get Ahead of Problems

Let customers know of potential challenges before they bring them to you. Transparency and authenticity go a long way to building customer trust. Consider using social media monitoring to see what people are saying online and use feedback constructively. When you receive negative feedback, own your mistakes and make them right.

4. Track Your Metrics

It should come as no surprise that data is king in the e-commerce world. Tracking your metrics will help you set tangible goals and create actionable steps for improvement throughout the customer journey.

Some key metrics to track include:

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
Average Resolution Time (ART)
Peak Times
First Contact Resolution
Customer Effort Score (CES)
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Churn Rates
Bounce rates

When in doubt, outline your customer journey and look for friction points. e-commerce businesses should also look into the cause of customer friction by evaluating website metrics through Google Analytics, such as page load times, potential bottlenecks, etc.

Final Thoughts

Improving the customer experience isn’t as simple as looking at data and adjusting your online store; it requires a cultural mindset shift. Audit and update your tools, invest in employee training and morale, and take a proactive approach to customer service for success.

This is a guest contribution by Ashley Lipman, Content Marketing Specialist at AltitudeBranding.

Ashley Lipman is an award-winning writer who discovered her passion for providing knowledge to readers worldwide on topics closest to her heart – all things digital. Since her first high school award in Creative Writing, she continues to deliver awesome content through various niches touching the digital sphere.

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Ecommerce Returns Management Process: Best Practices

Sashank Ravindranath — Thu, 19 May 2022 10:35:43 +0000

Returns are an integral part of every ecommerce business. 20% of all ecommerce orders are returned. And this number increased up to three-fold during times like the holiday season.

However, they become a logistical nightmare and a cost center only when they get out of hand in the absence of a proper returns management system.

Therefore, you need to put in your best efforts to manage returns and make them a growth driver for your business. But first, let’s get to the basics.

What is Ecommerce Returns Management?

Returns management is the process of ensuring a smooth returns experience for your customers. This covers the end-to-end of returns — from the moment the customer initiates to fulfilling a replacement if they had requested an exchange.

Ecommerce returns management sits at the very center of reverse logistics, inventory management, and post-purchase customer experience.

Proper returns management helps you boost your bottom line and create loyal customers for life. To help understand it better, let’s take a deeper look at the customer touchpoints in ecommerce returns.

Returns management customer touchpoints

There are several touchpoints or points of interaction between the customer and the ecommerce business in the returns management process. But as we mentioned, it all starts from the moment the customer wants to initiate a return.

1. Customer requests a return on their order

Returns happen for a lot of reasons, some of which have no logical explanation and are simply based on the customer’s emotion.

But in this case, let’s take the example of the customer being unhappy with their order. The customer selects the item they wish to return along with the valid reason (as requested by you).

2. The return request is rejected or approved from your end

When return requests do not meet the conditions you’ve provided, the return request can be rejected and interaction with the customers for this particular order ends here.

On the other hand, if the reason for the return is valid it can be approved from your end and the process for initiating the return gets started.

3. When the order return is in transit

Order returns are in transit from the moment it is scheduled to be collected to the moment it reaches back to your store. These moments are usually leveraged by ecommerce brands to share return status updates.

4. When the product is returned to the store

Once the product makes its way back to your store, you can start collecting the customers’ feedback on their shopping experience with your brand. If the feedback is positive, you can also try convincing the customer to shop for a replacement (if they hadn’t chosen one already).

That’s all from the experience front. In terms of business operations, the product is then sent for inspection. If there’s no sign of damage, the product is re-stocked in the inventory and sold to another customer.

Now that we’ve got better context, here are some of the best practices related to returns management that you can implement for your ecommerce business.

Ecommerce Returns Management Process: Best Practices

1. Have a shopper-friendly returns policy

67% of shoppers check the returns policy before making a purchase

The first thing a shopper checks while wanting to return an item is your store’s return policy. Therefore, make it friendly enough to attract them and encourage repeat shopping.

The best ploy with a returns policy is:

Making it flexible enough in terms of conditions and deadlines
Having it mention your objectives and the customers’ needs clearly
Not encouraging fraudulent returns and wardrobing

This way, there is a win-win situation, and you can still manage to increase conversions without spending too much on acquisition and other unwanted return-related expenses.

Also, make sure your returns policy is easy to find for the customer and display it in areas of clear visibility such as the home page, product pages, checkout page, FAQ section, etc.

2.Promise a hassle-free returns experience

Your customers return their purchase because they were unhappy with something around it, such as fitting, color, damages, etc. They have been excited to get the product on their hands the second they hit ‘buy’. Therefore, mitigate their frustrations by making your returns process seamless.

You can take the hassle out of product returns by enabling your customers to initiate returns directly from the order tracking page instead of spending time searching for it. This helps in improving the return experience and in turn, delights your customers.

You can also extend the seamless returns experience by enabling the customers to print automated and prepaid return labels and get done with their order return quickly.

3. Make the returns process fast and easy for your customers

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

Apart from prepaid return labels, you can also enable customers to initiate returns easily and fast with the help of a returns portal.

Your customers can pull up their orders, select the item they would like to return, provide a reason, select the return method, and voila! Get their returns initiated in less than a few minutes.

Such an experience would give your customers all the more reason to keep shopping with you.

4.Keep your customers in the loop of their returns

Just like order delivery, your customers would like to stay in the know of their return status as well.

Look forward to sending proactive updates on return requests, via automated email and SMS notifications and providing a tracking page that provides complete transparency around return status.

This can keep your customers in the loop effortlessly and eliminate their anxiety about the whereabouts of their returning package.

5. Get smart with your returns

70% of all returns are size and fitting related.

Imagine refunding all these returns and taking a hit on your profit margins amidst the already sky-rocketing shipping costs.

Now, this is where you can get smart with your returns and encourage customers to opt for alternative and efficient return methods such as exchanges or store credits options to ensure revenue retention for your ecommerce business.

You can incentivize your customers to choose these alternatives with prepaid labels, free shipping, bonus credit, etc, and increase revenue retained.

6. Automate your returns management process

25% of ecommerce sites don’t support non-product search queries, like returns or tracking.

This can lead your customers to bombard your support reps and turn out to be tedious for your support team as well as expensive for your business.

You can consider making your returns management process self-service by automating them to prevent such problems.

Automating your returns process can help you:

Free up your support agents to address more pressing issues
Drastically reduce time spent per return request and inbound conversation volume.

FAQs about Returns Management

1. How do ecommerce businesses manage returns?

Ecommerce businesses can manage returns on their own by optimizing their returns policy, setting up flexible return methods, enabling customers to print prepaid return shipping labels, providing proactive updates on return status requests, offering easy variant exchanges instead of refunds, etc or they can make use of a returns management solution like LateShipment.com, that does all the heavy lifting for them.

2. What is the return management process?

3. How can ecommerce businesses reduce return rates?

Apart from following a proper returns management process such as making the returns process seamless and promoting exchanges instead of returns, ecommerce businesses can also reduce returns by optimizing their product pages, engaging customers with product usage information, etc.

4. What percentage of ecommerce orders are returned?

The average ecommerce return rate hovers around 20-30%. Most of them are due to size and fitting issues, purchase of wrong quantity, unclear or lack of usage information, wardrobing, etc.

5. How does a returns experience management software work?

A returns experience management solution such as LateShipment.com helps you delight your customers with:

An easy-to-use return portal
Real-time return tracking and automated notifications
Providing options to predefine rules
Enabling multiple return methods and supporting prepaid labels, etc.

All of this can help you uncomplicate returns for you and your teams.

Bottom Line

Ecommerce businesses must start realizing the fact that returns on their own are not necessarily a bad thing. It is when they’re left unattended they become too much to handle.

On the other hand, 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 Ecommerce Returns Management Process: Best Practices appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

5 Ways AI Can Transform the Retail Industry: Examples and Benefits

Sashank Ravindranath — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 11:54:25 +0000

The retail industry has been undergoing a digital transformation for years. It has improved in speed, efficiency, and accuracy, thanks, in large part, to improved data and predictive analytics technologies that allow firms to make data-driven business decisions. None of these insights would be possible without the internet of things (IoT) and, more importantly, artificial intelligence (AI).

Retailers now have access to high-level data and information, which they can utilize to improve operations and open up new business opportunities. In fact, AI in retail is expected to create $40 billion in additional income over the next three years. Many industries use the term artificial intelligence, yet many people don’t fully get what it means.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning refer to the technology that can collect, process, and analyze large volumes of data to predict, forecast, inform, and support retailers in making reliable, data-driven business decisions. These technologies can even work on their own, transforming raw data from IoT and other sources into actionable insights with the help of advanced analytics.

AI Applications in Retail

AI has a significant impact on the retail industry, accelerating and automating a handful of functionalities. Below, we’ll discuss a list of AI applications in retail to give you a headstart:

Provides valuable data to keep track of Inventory

In the retail industry, artificial intelligence is improving demand forecasts.

AI business intelligence systems foresee industry movements and make proactive changes to a company’s marketing, merchandising, and business strategies by mining insights from the marketplace, customer, and competition data. This has ramifications for supply chain planning, pricing, and promotional planning.

Creating interactive chat programs in the retail business is a fantastic way to employ AI technologies while improving customer service and engagement. These bots use AI and machine learning to engage with customers, answer common questions, and direct them to useful answers and outcomes. As a result, these bots collect crucial client data and then label the data that can be used to inform future business decisions.

Maintaining appropriate stocks is a major concern for retailers. By connecting more aspects of their business and using AI to help with inventory management, retailers may get a holistic view of their stores, customers, and merchandise.

Helps you understand customer behavior

The more you understand customer behavior and trends, the more you’ll be able to meet demand and provide the best products possible.

AI might help retailers improve demand forecasting, pricing, and product positioning. As a result, customers have access to the right products at the right time and in the right place.

Predictive analytics can help you order the right amount of inventory, ensuring that shops don’t have too much or too little on hand. AI may be able to track data from online channels, enabling better e-commerce activities.

New kinds of AI can help you understand customer intent and personalize the shopper’s journey accordingly at the retail edge. One instance is marking some areas in stores using heat mapping. Cameras and computer vision combine to indicate which items are picked up, returned, and where the customer goes after leaving the shelf.

Empowers you to offer stellar customer support

Whether it’s a little boutique or a worldwide behemoth, businesses strive to deliver quick, customized, and delightful shopping experiences.

Customers should be able to locate what they’re searching for easily, obtain assistance when needed, and check out swiftly. These operations are streamlined by AI to help generate more fulfilling client experiences.

Customers are being recognized by mobile and digital portals, which are personalizing the e-commerce experience to reflect their current environment, previous purchases, and buying activity.

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are continually evolving a user’s digital experience to develop hyper-relevant displays for each interaction. Customer engagement may be measured using digital signage with computer vision, and real-time advertising tailored to the audience can be served. AI gives additional opportunities to tailor experiences, from the retail edge to the cloud.

Manages fluctuating pricing

AI applications in retail outlets might aid in the pricing of items by showing the anticipated results of various pricing schemes.

Systems collect information on other items, promotional efforts, sales numbers, and other data in order to carry out this task.

Business owners can showcase the greatest deals to attract new clients and increase revenue. eBay and Kroger both use Artificial Intelligence to optimize their pricing and remain flexible in their capacity to modify rates and promotions based on the data they collect.

The price of a product is forecasted based on demand, seasonal trends, attributes, the release date of new versions of the same item, and other factors. Its most obvious application is in the travel business, but it might also be utilized in retail.

Consider an app or service that allows your consumers to see how the price of a product will change in advance. This is doable and simple to accomplish using Artificial Intelligence.

Improve shopping experience

During the buying process, Artificial Intelligence (AI) may also help in the detection and segmentation of your customers’ emotions. Walmart has already employed face recognition technology for this reason.

Each checkout line is equipped with cameras, and if a customer becomes agitated, a business employee will talk with him or her. Mood tracking will surely contribute to the formation of stronger client relationships. Business owners may utilize behavioral economics to build a customized strategy for each consumer using Artificial Intelligence technologies.

Wrapping up

AI’s role in the retail industry is increasing exponentially all the time.

Applications in retail are not only bound to a software end but several other fields such as Internet-of-things and robotics also play an important role in the development of such systems so this process includes most of the major engineering disciplines and because of such facts, any company that fails to focus on such developments might struggle to stay contemporary or compete internationally.

Such innovation not only increases the overall working skills but also eliminates the requirement for traditional or antiquated systems with intelligent automation, such as inventory management.

AI is simply changing the way stores function for the better. You can put your shop in a better position to make better decisions, increase sales, and eventually improve customer retention by implementing AI. So, there’s no better time than now to start incorporating AI into your daily operations.

As you consider how to include AI into your retail organization, keep in mind the several advantages listed above. You may be well on your way to attaining a whole new level of business growth in the months and years ahead with the correct AI technologies.

This article is a contribution by Melanie Johnson.

Melanie Johnson is an AI and computer vision enthusiast with a wealth of experience in technical writing. Passionate about innovation and AI-powered solutions. Loves sharing expert insights and educating individuals on tech.

The post 5 Ways AI Can Transform the Retail Industry: Examples and Benefits 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.

15 Shipping Notifications to Enhance Post-Purchase CX

Sashank Ravindranath — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 13:07:41 +0000

Today’s customers are no longer just interested in shopping with you and collecting their orders after simply waiting for them. They expect you to engage with them throughout the order delivery lifecycle via transactional shipping notifications.

However, if you’re anything like most e-commerce businesses, you are unwillingly neglecting the post-purchase, creating a big post-purchase CX gap.

Therefore, all you need to do is exceed your customers’ expectations and meaningfully engage with them via seamless shipping notifications at every step of the way.

There are 15 such critical shipping notifications that e-commerce businesses can send to meaningfully engage with customers.

Let’s look at what they are and how you can benefit from them.

15 Shipping Notifications (with examples) to Effectively Engage with Your Customers

1. When the order has been shipped

Shipping Event: Shipped

Action: Trigger automatic customer notifications via email or SMS when an order is marked “Shipped”. A shipment is assigned this status when it is picked up by the shipping carrier.

As soon as the order gets shipped out, you can send out an order shipped notification with a realistic estimated delivery date for their delivery (considering all external factors) so that they keep their expectations in check and refrain from blaming you in case the delivery timeline gets extended by a day or two.

Pro tip: This is the most anticipated shipping notification as this sets up the conversation towards all the other touchpoints of the post-purchase journey. Therefore you can make sure this is sent at the earliest in order to ensure the customer that you take the onus of keeping them informed about their order delivery status.

Example:

2. When the order is out for delivery

Shipping Event: Out for delivery

Action: Trigger notifications when an order is marked “Out for Delivery”.

Once you send out an order shipped mail, you can follow up with an “out for delivery” notification. The order out for delivery mail can contain a tracking button, which the customer can use to track their orders periodically.

Pro tip: All this time, you might’ve been sending your customer to the carrier’s tracking page, which is good but it can be better. You can consider adding a ‘tracking button’ or sending them a ‘tracking link’ and make order tracking ‘self-serve’ with your OWN branded order tracking pages.

Example:

3. When the order is delivered

Shipping Event: Delivered

Action: Trigger notifications when an order is marked “Order Delivered”.

When the delivery process goes smooth and the order is delivered, you can send out a mail where you thank the customer for their order and encourage them to make more purchases in the future.

Pro tip: Make additions to this email in the form of

Suggesting similar products
Sharing product care tips and how-to guides
Adding them to your loyalty program to provide them rewards and offers

This will make sure that you stay on top of your customers’ minds and ergo they choose to be more than just one-time shoppers and spend more with you.

Example:

4. When the order is delivered with delays

Shipping Event: Delivered with delays

Action: Trigger notifications when an order is marked “Delivered with delays”. A shipment is assigned this status when it is delivered late.

Just like informing your customers of their order status, you can also send out delivery notifications even when their order is delivered with delays. You must keep in mind that the chances of customers forgiving you is more when the delay is acknowledged from your end.

Pro tip: Make it better by adding a little apology note along with a discount coupon on their next purchase, so that they feel less impacted by the issue and may choose to shop with you once again.

Example:

5. When the order is in transit with delays

Shipping Event: In transit with delays

Action: Trigger notifications when an order is marked “In transit with delays”.

While informing the customers about the delay might be enough to mitigate the issue, it doesn’t really offer a solution, especially when the issue is still in effect.

Pro tip: Make use of a solution that helps you proactively identify and resolve these issues before your customer is impacted by them.

You can go a step further and send out replacements via an expedited shipping option so that your customers don’t miss out on an important delivery.

This way, you can:

Exceed your customers’ expectations
Show how much you value them, and
Turn unhappy customers into brand advocates

Example:

6. When there is a failed delivery attempt

Shipping Event: Failed delivery

Action: Trigger notifications when an order is marked “Failed delivery” by the shipping carrier. A shipment is assigned this status when there was a failed delivery attempt.

In the case when a delivery attempt is made and yet the order does not reach the customer’s hands, the onus of handling the issue is still on you. Therefore, during such incidents, you can start by communicating with the customer regarding it.

When you have brought forth the issue to the customer, they get a sense of assurance that you might as well handle it and offer a solution.

Whenever a delivery is re-attempted the retailer has to shell out a few extra dollars as re-delivery charges.

Protip: You can use effectively engage with your customers with shipping notifications up until this touchpoint to keep them on top of their orders (by checking on their availability, etc) – this ensures that you don’t pay up extra for delivery.

Example:

7. When there is a possibility of a delay

Shipping Event: Delay predicted

Action: Trigger notifications when an order is marked “Delay predicted”. A shipment is assigned this status when it is expected to face a delivery delay.

Just like you when you engage when the order is delivered with delays, you might as well keep the customer informed when there is a possibility of a delay (which might turn out resolved on its own) to stay on the safe side.

This ensures that the customer knows that you are on top of their order and will be less anxious regarding it reaching them on time.

Pro tip: Make use of post-purchase success tools such as LateShipment.com and get predictive alerts for shipments facing delays and resolve them proactively. Even if you are unable to resolve it, just over-communicating with customers when their facing critical delivery issues would do the trick of easing their anxiety.

Example:

8. When the order is suspected to be lost

Shipping Event: Suspected Lost

Action: Trigger notifications when an order is marked “Suspected lost”.

Despite state-of-the-art tracking systems, packages can still end up somewhere else than the required destination. When you suspect a package to be lost, the first thing that you must do is notify your customers at the earliest.

Pro tip: Customers can be under severe stress when their important orders are on the verge of getting lost, therefore you can offer multiple solutions to let them know that the issue can be resolved.

While assuring to locate the package, you as well offer a counter solution of refunding the package cost or sending out a free replacement for the same and let the customer choose for themselves.

Example:

9. When the order is lost or damaged

Shipping Event: Lost/Damaged

Action: Trigger notifications when an order is marked “Lost/Damaged by the shipping carrier”. A shipment is assigned this status when it is lost or damaged in transit.

In case your worry turns out to be true and the package ends up lost in transit/ damaged upon being received, you must prioritize notifying customers at the earliest and try to offer a prompt resolution.

Pro tip: Post notifying, you can provide exceptional customer service to delight your otherwise disappointed customers in the form of:

Taking full responsibility for the issue
Bearing the cost of returns and sending out a replacement at your own cost
Provide discounts or coupons for future orders.

Example:

Similar to the delivery phase, you can as well send shipping notifications for select touchpoints in the order returns phase. We’ll take a good look at some of them as well.

10. When the order is returned due to a failed delivery attempt

Shipping Event: Returned due to failed delivery

Action: Trigger notifications when an order is marked “Returned” by the shipping carrier. A shipment is assigned this status when it is returned to the sender (due to a failed delivery attempt over a wrong address or the customer not being available at the location during delivery etc).

When there is a failed delivery attempt, the carrier returns the product to you. You can as well use this touchpoint and let the customer know that their order is now in your possession after a failed delivery attempt.

Pro tip: In cases such as this you can enable your customer support team to acquire accurate information from them such as the address and the date & time of rescheduling etc and effectively follow up with them. This way, you can save on additional shipping costs

Example:

11. When a returns request is rejected

Shipping Event: Returns rejected

Action: Trigger notifications when the returns requested from the customer get “rejected” from your end. A shipment is assigned this status when the reason for the return is invalid or the doesn’t meet all of the conditions required for approval.

Pro tip: Most of the returns are size and fit-related. But there can be cases of fraudulent returns and wardrobing, etc. Therefore, it is wise to include conditions to reduce them in your returns policy.

When the customer requests a return, you can add selective conditions and cross-verify them for inspection. This makes sure that the order return request is indeed valid and saves unnecessary shipping costs.

Example:

12. When a returns request is approved

Shipping Event: Returns approved

Action: Trigger notifications when the returns requested from the customer get “approved” from your end. A shipment is assigned this status when the reason for the return is valid and hence, approved from your end.

Pro tip: The returns approved notification is the ‘order confirmation’ equivalent of the returns shipping notifications. This is because customers who have requested returns are already in the angst of returning their order (which they most expected).

The best thing you can do for them in this stage is to make the returns process as seamless as possible and reduce their frustration.

Example:

13. When a return is initiated

Shipping Event: Returns initiated

Action: Trigger notifications when the “return is initiated” from your end. A shipment is assigned this status when the customer requests a return on their product and the process for initiating it has started after getting approved from your end.

Pro tip: Requesting returns via a designated portal might be new for customers. Therefore, you can include information on what they need to do next to be prepared. You can also include options in your shipping notification to exclude label generation if the customer has pre-printed return labels already.

Example:

14. When the returned order is in-transit

Shipping Event: Returns in-transit

Action: Trigger notifications when an order return is making its way back to your store.

Similar to delivery, you can as well send return status updates on orders that are on their way to your store.

Pro tip: Orders that are returning too can face delays and hindrances while in transit. Therefore, it is wise to offer proactive updates on returns requests, via shipping notifications and keep customers in the loop effortlessly.

This not only provides transparency around return status but eliminates customer anxiety about the whereabouts of their package

Example:

15. When the returned order is received

Shipping Event: Returns received

Action: Trigger notifications when the “return is received” at your end. A shipment is assigned this status when the order returned by the customer just arrived at your store.

Just like the order getting delivered, returns received are not the ending but rather the beginning of another end. Once the order is successfully returned, you can proceed to take the next steps to strengthen your customer relationships.

Pro tip: In times of a successful return, the customer choosing a refund on their order means shelling out dollars out of your pocket. During such times, you can promote exchanges or store credit to ensure revenue retention.

Example:

Push Visually Rich Shipping Notifications [Email and SMS] with LateShipment.com

With LateShipment.com’s two-way integrations you can send automated delivery and returns related shipping notifications via email and SMS to reduce your customers’ anxiety.

LateShipment.com’s Delivery Experience Management and Returns Experience Management platforms seamlessly integrate with shipping carriers and business tools that include Order Management Systems, Email Marketing Tools, Help Desks, and CRM systems.

Order Management System – GoShippo, ShipStation
Email Marketing Tools – Klaviyo, Mailchimp
Help Desks – Gorgias, Freshdesk
CRM – Freshsales, Zoho CRM

That’s all from us for now. It’s now your turn to send shipping notifications that delight with LateShipment.com.

We’re ready when you are.

Or still have questions? We’re all ears.

The post 15 Shipping Notifications to Enhance Post-Purchase CX appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

SportStop – Meet the Pioneers of Online Selling Turned Multimillion-dollar Online Sports Brand Mogul

Hemalatha Sekar — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 05:32:53 +0000

Have you ever thought about the pioneers in e-commerce, the businesses who thought of e-commerce and kickstarted the model before all the current hype it has now?

Well, you don’t have to ponder over it and imagine, as we have one of the first e-commerce businesses ever to exist, narrating their story to the journey of success in this episode.

SportStop is an online sports store specializing in lacrosse goods for athletes. Started in 2001, this family-owned brand has adorned multiple accolades in its 20+ year-long online journey.

We spoke to the President of SportStop, Paul Dell, to know more about how they grew to become a differentiator in the lacrosse industry in the US, and what it means to be in e-commerce to make it big. Here’s what Paul had to say about it.

Hey Paul, It’s great connecting with you. Could you give us a brief introduction about yourself and we’d like to hear about the story of SportStop in your words?

We launched SportStop in 2001 with an online selling platform, it was actually my second e-commerce venture. I started my first online sporting goods auction site back in 1996.

Initially, we sold sporting goods for ten or so different sports, and over time, kept focusing down and eliminating categories of work.

So for the last ten years, we’ve mainly focused only on selling lacrosse, since that’s the area we had the most success in. Though we had the bandwidth to later expand to other sporting goods, we stayed focused on lacrosse since we wanted to stay a meaningful player in a smaller market and deliver value through our goods.

We do much of the stuff in the house, from fulfillment to customer support.

That’s really interesting to hear. You’ve been in the e-commerce space from a very early stage as you mentioned earlier. What prompted you to take on the digital world? How was the market back then?

My interest in sporting goods and sales started early on, given my father had a bicycle shop and I spent most of my summer holidays there.

By the time I was in college majoring in physics and math and going to computer school simultaneously, I witnessed the world adapting to the world wide web and the reception of the idea of the internet exploding. I mean I remember back when I downloaded the browser onto my Unix computer in the mid-90s when it was launched.

Eventually, I thought of selling my goods online and also managed to raise angel investment for it. But the problem with the auction website was that there might be a great deal for a customer once, maybe left-handed golf gloves or something, but then, once you acquire that customer and you sell them that thing, you’d end up not having anything of interest for them for weeks or even months.

So we were constantly acquiring new customers without actually providing them a second touchpoint of interest. We eventually ended up having to file bankruptcy for the business and never got to the second venture round. Because, because we scaled rapidly, to about 30 employees, we were making just a couple million dollars in sales.

SportStop was my second venture, launched in 2001, which addressed all the shortcomings of my initial venture. We ended up making the same profits for 1/10th of the acquisition cost of the auction site within three years.

I was still selling some things, but on other auction sites like Amazon and eBay. We also had our store. Over time it took over more and more of the business and thus we decided to focus on what really worked well- lacrosse.

That’s one of the most interesting stories in the world of e-commerce. Being in e-commerce for over 20 years, you’d have witnessed all the evolution of the internet and business online. What are some tips you’d give for people starting out in the E-commerce space?

My number one advice would be to get started. It’s easy and inexpensive to get started on something.

Open a little store, sell a few things, maybe just do it on the side while keeping your other day job for a while. But there are just so many options you can look into without needing a huge infrastructure anymore.

Get a 3rd party warehouse if your business handles big and bulky items, outsource customer support if you need it 24/7. You can do so much for so little nowadays to get started.

One thing even we as a business might have to put more effort into is in social media, be active, and get the right influences.

In case you’re someone looking to open a physical store, it’s really important to make a great online presence.

That's great advice. Having said that though, one of the elephants in the room, especially over the past year and a half has been COVID. One of the hardest-hit Industries has been the sporting goods space, as people were mandated to stay indoors. What were the strategies you had in place to survive that? And how effective were those?

We had the highest sales ever, just before COVID hit. The sales were up 10-20% and things were looking great.

When COVID hit, the sales dropped about 90%; and then we had a flooded return. It was pretty dramatic. I still remember it was a Wednesday when our sales abruptly tanked. We ended up laying off half our staff. The rest of us took pay cuts to cut costs as much as possible. We cut back on everything.

Eventually, sales recovered, since everybody was stuck at home, there was a bit of a sales bump in some of the things that people could do at home, like a goal in your backyard or a rebounder and things like that.

Meanwhile, we rethought all our processes to accommodate this change.

We switched to Shopify, we also switched off our back-end system, our accounting system, we changed everything to new systems that both function better and cost less than what we were doing before. Today we’re more efficient, we’re able to do more with fewer people, and the technology costs half of what it used to.

Also read: Enhance Holiday Post-Purchase Experience with Existing Tools

We were asking our readers what they’d want to hear from you, and one of the things that came up was your positioning. How did you narrow down on a niche area like lacrosse? And what were the parameters that led you to focus specifically on this market?

Basically, finding out the best product-market fit for you is the answer.

What worked the best for us was trial and error. I initially launched the site, tried 10 to 12 different sports products, and kept narrowing it down to what worked best for us.

We also tried to build up and do more, but things were either declining in sales or not growing fast enough, so we ended up eliminating them.

For example, before going exclusively to lacrosse, we did focus on snowboarding. So snowboarding, you know, we also sell snowboards. But everything from shipping, setting up the warehouse, to dealing with vendors were entirely different from selling lacrosse.

Thus, though it gave us 20% of our overall business, it was only right to increase our knowledge and range by focusing on lacrosse goods. Focus on the stuff that’s working, and make that better and better.

Sporting goods happens to be one of the hardest industries to be in, especially when you're online as athletes can be particular about what they want. How are you able to offer a great customer experience on the website, and make sure they stick with the decision to purchase equipment online?

Firstly, our return rates are lower than the average online sporting goods businesses because people are a little bit more knowledgeable about what the product is, and what it’s gonna be like. The only factor returns boils down to is the sizing issue, but that’s expected.

Being responsive to customer queries cuts all the loose ends in general. When a customer says “Oh, I thought I was getting this, but I got that”, it all boils down to how you respond to such customers as a business

We once also faced discrepancies in sizing charts that the brand sent us to what the products were actually sized. We mentioned that on our website to avoid customer confusion. This is one major differentiator between shopping at big marketplaces like Amazon.

The customer support team there might not know about any products they sell and the only solution they’d provide might be to return the product. That’s one benefit of being a niche player online for us.

Most importantly, make it easy to buy, return, and use your e-commerce website in general.

Something we’ve consistently heard about when you're doing background research is that people speak very highly of the customer experience they received. What should the brands start out doing to get the customer experience right?

Attending to people on time and providing clear ways for people to communicate. For example, if you’re going to have online chat support, have it live for a reasonable number of hours and promptly respond during that window. This would set the right expectations for your customers and also help your business be efficient.

People could still contact you through email during the rest period if it’s an emergency. Making sure all your touchpoints are reasonably responsive in such cases and not leave customers feeling like they’re screaming into the void would work wonders.

Listening enough to what that question is to really answer the question they’re asking and not assuming you know also makes a ton of difference and saves both your time and the customers’.

I sometimes skim through our support tickets just to see how things are and more than once I’ve been in situations where I’ve felt “you didn’t really answer the question they asked”.

People also tend to have more than one question. You’ve got to take a moment to prioritize their asks and address all of them.

Oftentimes, support teams keep getting the same question and end up assuming the fourth person dealing with the same products as the previous ones would have the same queries too. In such cases, we need to focus on listening to customers’ queries and addressing them.

In some cases, tickets might take weeks to be resolved and have external dependencies. Being consistently responsive is also a crucial factor in providing a good customer experience. Follow up when you promised to, and keep tabs on new queries at the same time.

Investing in a good help desk would be a great option to keep up your service in such cases.

Those are simple but effective pointers!

We make sure to get the basics right and stay true to the ground. Do the basics and do them right, and keep doing it day after day after day and be super reliable.

There have been days we’ve been out there with headlamps, picking products out of the warehouse, and running extension cords, tethering the internet with our cell phone if the internet’s down, and making things work.

With such an emphasis on getting basics, I think a perfect follow-up question to that is we are approaching the busiest part of the year for businesses - the holiday season; where not only names go up, but the associated issues like delivery delays, shipping delays also creep up. What is your strategy for planning and executing things?

We try to prepare and plan a lot, and get our inexperienced staff prepped up with basics and what to expect.

The second thing is to make sure we have all the required supplies in check. Do we have all the boxes we need? Is all the equipment working? Is the whole team equipped with their assigned responsibilities? Do we have enough paper for the printers? Do we have enough tape? Do we have enough labels? Do we have enough stationary guns, etc.,

Keep a checklist of miscellaneous items like iPads and scanners. Make sure everything’s numbered and everything’s in a location with a barcode.

Make sure all minor hindrances that occur once or twice a month, restricting your productivity get addressed prior as it’s too risky to take chances during the busiest part of the year.

We also, at times, hire for the holiday rush, and we have a clear-cut process for such holiday hires and a training program in place.

One final question to round up. Tell us about how you found out about Lateshipment.com

I remember finding it on the Shopify app store, I was using another tracking software with a lot of features that were not useful for me and was looking for a better product. I wanted to be able to automate filing for claims and provide a better experience for my customers where they can track their orders and see what’s going on.

Since we’ve started using it, we found even more easter eggs like offbeat notifications on shipping status like delivery delays, and delivery failures. Before that, we were playing the catch-up game where the customer would raise a support ticket and we’d respond. Now it’s all proactive and automated, making our overall CX better.

That’s why I’m currently excited about your returns management suite. I can see how beneficial it would be for our business if we could track and support through our returns process and have visibility in that phase.

Thank you so much, Paul, again, it’s been a pleasure working with you. And at the same time, looking at the larger picture that we had, especially coming from somebody who has such rich experience in the E-commerce space.

I’m sure it’s going to benefit every business that is part of a community. Right. So, thank you so much for your insights and look forward to continuing to work with you.

Interview with LateShipment.com CEO, Sriram Sridhar. Transcripted by Hemalatha Sekar.

The post SportStop – Meet the Pioneers of Online Selling Turned Multimillion-dollar Online Sports Brand Mogul appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Supply Chain Crisis in the US: Causes, Effects, and Corrective Measures

Sashank Ravindranath — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 05:58:15 +0000

If you have happened to follow the news in the recent past, you might be aware of the global supply chain crisis that is happening:

The number of container ships around ports has doubled since April
Dwelling times of containers has reached 6-10 days, way above the average 4-5 days
Railyards have also been clogged, with trains at one point backed up 25 miles outside a key Chicago facility.

All of this can threaten to spoil the Holiday season joy for e-commerce retail businesses such as yours by eating into your profits.

There are more negative consequences of this supply chain crisis but before we look at them, let us find the answer to the question, what really is causing these logjams?

What is Causing This Supply Chain Crisis?

“There are going to be disruptions and shocks to the system as long as the pandemic persists and could last into 2022” – Pete Buttigieg

Americans who chose to stay home and came outside after feeling trapped at home for a long time have been equally spending dollars on shopping goods such as laptops and at places such as restaurants, triggering an unprecedented increase in demand that the nation’s unprepared logistics system was unable to handle.

Consumer goods demand is overall 22% higher compared with pre-pandemic levels (comparing February 2020 with August 2021). – BBC

This sudden increase in demand doubled with the negative consequences of the pandemic such as workers getting affected by the virus, nationwide lockdowns, shutting down of operations, etc., resulted in lower production and distribution businesses and thus businesses ended up not being able to handle the demand.

This demand > supply factor doubled down with external factors such as shortage of workers and effects of climate change, etc is said to have caused this crisis in the supply chain.

E-commerce activity has witnessed major gains and has subsequently impacted warehousing and importing, straining logistics and supply chain networks. – White House media release

Large businesses have the bandwidth to double down on their logistics operations and make sure they are least affected by this global phenomenon. But what about small businesses?

What Does This Supply Chain Crisis Mean for E-commerce Businesses?

Industry experts see momentary changes between the situation getting worse and staying at a standstill. Either way, it doesn’t look like it’s normalizing.

As the customer demand doesn’t seem to be going down anytime soon, you can expect the situation to continue into 2022 (beyond the Holiday season).

This naturally conveys that your customers’ Holiday season orders could hit a slump and would lead to a big blow on your revenue. Everything from Halloween costumes, to tech products such as computers and printers for Black Friday, Christmas decors and lights are all set to reach your customers late due to the current crisis.

The commercial pipeline that each year brings $1 trillion worth of toys, clothing, electronics, and furniture from Asia to the United States is clogged and no one knows how to unclog it. – Washington Post

If these disruptions don’t seem enough to lose revenue, your shipping and freight costs are known to increase, leading to a cut down on your customers’ discounts in order to meet ends.

Moreover, you can as well anticipate lower purchases from customers, who will shop less due to the sudden inflation.

But don’t let your hopes down. There are measures simultaneously being taken and which you can take to counter the crisis. Understand what they are and make sure that you are least affected by them.

Corrective Measures Being Undertaken and What E-commerce Merchants Can Do to Ease the Supply Chain Crisis

Even though the crisis doesn’t look to get any better, the White House primarily and others who have been affected by it have been taking appropriate measures to rectify the situation and reduce considerable damage, if not already done.

Following President Joe Biden’s urge, The White House has issued orders for congested ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to work 24/7 and keep containers out of ports by doing doubling trips
Biden also said he’s considering deploying National Guard to help ease the stress on the US supply chain as it prompts growing concern about the economy
Retail giants such as Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Samsung, etc and shipping carriers such as FedEx and UPS have all considered committing to increase usage of nighttime hours.

Similarly, experts have some suggestions for growing businesses such as yours to overcome this disruption:

Now that road and sea cargo costs have risen considerably and the fulfillment time difference being huge, businesses can consider aircargo as a better option
This year the holiday battleground is not only the CX you provide but unexpectedly the availability of your products. Therefore, look for ways to keep your inventories stocked
Encourage customers to start shopping early as 3-4 weeks during the Holiday season days, especially right before Thanksgiving and Black Friday to avoid last-minute delays on their orders
Provide a realistic estimated delivery date of delivery even before customers make their purchase so that they become aware of the crisis and refrain from blaming you in case the delivery timeline gets extended
Keep your customers in the loop of their orders via tracking information across post-purchase touchpoints to avoid getting blamed for delays that are no fault of yours.

Bottom Line

From the experts’ point of view, the past stands for an unprecedented issue, the present stands at the situation getting worse before it gets better, and the future is the calling out of the existing logistics operations model.

The supply chain and logistics system will not and should not revert to the original model that existed during the pre-pandemic times as the current scenario calls for desperate measures in the form of modernization.

While increasing operations, availability of products, getting help from everyone possible would indeed help businesses and the economy itself circumnavigate past the Holiday season, the actual transformation of the supply chain model is the key for long-term benefits.

From your customers’ point of view, it looks like they’re indeed aware of what’s happening with their parcels as they would’ve been affected by the delay during the past few weeks. This is what led their work on permutations and combinations to understand where exactly the demand is cropping up.

They will also start shopping earlier this year and not wait for discounts during times like Black Friday. This is because they are well aware that higher demand, labor, and shipping costs will result in businesses, especially smaller ones, providing fewer discounts to meet ends. They will not risk their order getting stuck somewhere for some bargain, which would obviously be an awful gamble.

And as of now, follow the experts’ advice, understand the consumers’ buying behavior, and hope for the situation to get better or ‘normalize’ if there were such a thing.

The post Supply Chain Crisis in the US: Causes, Effects, and Corrective Measures appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Nexbelt’s Secret Sauce to Building a Successful E-commerce Brand

Hemalatha Sekar — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 11:13:15 +0000

How do you go from owning a trailer business in the 90s to reinventing premium belts for adventure seekers and building a successful online brand that shares the space with the likes of Nordstrom, Nike, and Gucci?

Nexbelt would have the answers for it, as they’ve done exactly that.

Nexbelt is a seven-year-old brand selling premium ratchet belts across the USA and Canada. Though the ratchet system originated in Asia, Nexbelt had it re-engineered and made it upscale by creating exclusive designs, molds, and tools. Today, the brand has three US patents and is a global leader in selling premium belts.

We spoke to the CEO of Nexbelt, Tom Hunsucker to know more about how they grew to become a differentiator in the adventure apparel industry in the US, and what it means to be in e-commerce to make it big. Here’s what Tom had to say about it.

Hey Tom, It’s great connecting with you. Could you give us a brief introduction about yourself and we’d like to hear about the story of nexbelt in your words?

Hey all, I’m Tom Hudsucker. I am one of the co-owners of Nexbelt. It’s a family-owned business with my sister Francis, and her husband, Eddie.

We started as a boat trailer company about 25 years ago and became the largest custom boat trailer manufacturer in the United States when we sold it in 2007.

As we made good money and were thinking of early retirement, my sister and her husband happened to vacation in Vietnam, and encountered the ratchet technology belt; a system popular in Asia, and wanted to introduce it here in the US.

Once we started researching the existing ratchet technology in Asia, we found a bunch of flaws that needed to be addressed to make it a better product and market it to the golfing community.

For example, we sell styles and not sizes as our belts can be customized on all fronts from the buckle, to the hidden ball marker, which eventually led us to be nicknamed the James Bond belt.

How did you kick start your business?

We started by approaching salesmen who specialized in selling goods by brick and mortar shop-hopping.

We wanted to push our business a bit further, given the larger market we can cater to, and thus, created a website. This was about ten years ago.

Today, we have about 40 players on the PGA tour representing our belts, and they love it.

Though we’re still a comparatively small company on the operations front, from southern California with 30 employees, we are competing with big names such as Nike, NordStrom, etc.

At present, we have diversified our styles, ventured into golf dress, we also do a lot of EDC or gundogs for the police officers and people who do concealed carry.

What made us unique was that we had got the patent on the scaling system.

Right now we have the largest collection of ratchet belts in the world with all the designs we have. And that’s just been our philosophy, give, be creative, be innovative, and don’t copy what other people are doing.

What’s intriguing in your story is that you transformed something as ubiquitous as a belt and created an entirely new outlook on it. What would be your advice to businesses starting to build a success story like yours?

The first, and most important of all, I would say, don’t have a lifestyle that can’t support the business. Because you’re inevitably going to go through hurdles and downtimes and end up not being able to afford to pay for yourself.

We applied this even in our trailer business, where we borrowed $26,000 from my mom, and we had a dull start, we paid her off by the end of the year.

Also, the starting stage of the business is the hardest. Your business might demand ungodly hours, with little profit, but once you make it sustainable, there’s no turning back.

And though Nexbelt was well padded from the profit of our trailer business, we went into the venture with the same “hey, look, let’s pretend that this is a startup, and we work ourselves out of the garage again.” mindset to help ourselves be mindful of our decisions.

Speaking of downtimes, what did you do to sustain your business during the pandemic? Did your business have to go through difficult times during that phase? And how did you manage to overcome it?

We came across a situation where we had to shut down our unit in California during the mandated shutdown. We ran our operations with a very small crew of family members and two employees following social distancing.

Honestly, I’ve never worked so hard in my life since I had to handle all the stuff from marketing to assembling the belts as we were still selling like we did pre-pandemic.

The pandemic also worked in our favor in a way as a group of people started to buy more firearms in a panic and those firearms needed belts. Meanwhile, the restrictions were slowly relaxed and we could bring back our employees.

We could also claim a covid relief fund and expand our operations with the fund. We’re also fortunate to have a great team working for us. I enjoy coming to work with my team who are passionate about their jobs.

As you mentioned, you’re a team of 30; how do logistically operate in all major marketplaces?

None of this would be possible without the mobility that tech innovations like yours provide.

SaaS startups like LateShipment.com identify a problem, and say, hey, I can solve this problem for you.

So you’re having these issues, this is how you solve it, making it possible for a smaller team of people to manage all operations and provide the quality of service that only the big names could afford to provide a decade ago.

For example, with Shopify, all these apps come in and enable businesses like ours with shipping management, customer experience, returns, etc.

Sometimes it can get overwhelming, but it’s easy to land on great products to assist your e-commerce as no matter the marketing efforts, the products speak for themselves.

We loved hearing that from you. Moving on to tackling high business traffic season like the holiday season, how do you handle the upsurge of orders and order volumes? Do you have specific tips?

We make sure we have more employees to handle the scaling. Last year, we did a distribution center for us to help us move products out. We’ve also run into a bunch of problems meanwhile.

The shipping company we partnered with really messed up, and we had to bear the brunt of their mishap. We then switched to another shipping company and also deployed a fulfillment center to prevent any such further discrepancies.

Using Lateshipment.com has given us a great deal of confidence in engaging with our customers. Not just that, your product also enables us to build our customers’ confidence in us.

We noticed your brand focuses on customer experience. How is your teamwork towards being an experienced focused brand?

I think it boils down to two things. The first thing is the product quality being a unique selling point.

When I worked in Nordstrom, I got to see how the brand focused on the service side of the business. I applied my learnings there in both my trailer business and Nexbelt.

We can just focus on the commodity, but when it’s just a commodity, there’s a lot to compete with. For example, you can go and get a belt for 20 to 30 $ at eBay or Amazon, but at the end of the day, the buyer wouldn’t get the quality we provide.

That’s why we design our molds, do everything from scratch, and never outsource any part of our manufacturing. The second one would be proactive resolutions. When a customer has a problem, make sure you address it even if they haven’t reached you yet.

Firstly, using Lateshipment.com has given us a great deal of confidence in engaging with our customers. Not just that, your product also enables us to build our customers’ confidence in us.

There are so many things that could go wrong in an online transaction from the moment they come to our website. Using Lateshipment.com has made us not worry about the post-purchase phase of communication and customer service and be assured that we’re doing our best in providing the context of the status of their orders regularly.

We adopted multiple automating software like Kalviyo, MailChimp, and Lateshipment.com; which helped us create loyalty programs and position ourselves as a brand that’s more than just a commodity

What do you think has been the biggest driver of an advantage there in terms of being able to attract customers?

Our website is our biggest point of sales, but I would be lying if I said I was sold on the point of going digital since the beginning.

We were a bit old school and were hesitant to adopt new-gen stuff. But at some point we could see there was a market online we could tap in and today, that’s our primary source of sales.

We hired an agency to work on the ads, and we saw our brand grow. We could channel selling to an audience interested in outdoor activities and golfing.

We eventually adopted multiple automating software like Kalviyo, MailChimp, and even Lateshipment.com; which helped us create loyalty programs and position ourselves as a brand more than a commodity.

The upward mobility software products like these have given is immense. We have seen about a 700% increase in sales by just being able to reach out to more audiences through our email campaigns and stay connected with them.

Do you have any advice for businesses, especially those who are primarily selling online, as far as the checkout experience in the post-purchase experience is concerned?

Providing your customers multiple options to make payments, and making the payment process short are some great ways to avoid last-minute cart abandonment. Beyond that, being mobile-friendly has been beneficial for us, given, 60% of our website traffic is through mobiles.

Interview with LateShipment.com CEO, Sriram Sridhar. Transcripted by Hemalatha Sekar.

The post Nexbelt’s Secret Sauce to Building a Successful E-commerce Brand 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.

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Damaged Packages: How to Handle Them

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 13:34:25 +0000

Why Do Packages Get Damaged in the First Place?

The packages you dearly send to your customers can get damaged for various reasons such as

Mishandling at the sorting facility – sorting your fragile package under other heavier packages
Wrong packaging – Haphazard packaging using cheap packing material for cutting costs
Damaged in-transit – Bad weather or road conditions too can weaken your packaging and damage the contents within.

What Happens When Your Customer Receives Packages That Are Damaged?

Here’s a short but not so sweet description of what would happen if such an event occurs:

Even if the order reaches on time with all its contents, when the customer finds it damaged there are still chances of them getting frustrated
It doesn’t matter if the carrier has caused the damage, the customer holds YOU responsible for damaged packages and decides not to shop with you
To make matters worse, they also tend to take the issue to social media and tarnish your reputation, demotivating others from shopping with you as well.

Is that distress I see in your face? There’s no need to worry…

Before you start to panic over what can be done, we’ll just spoil the ending for you.

Yes, just like late deliveries, lost packages, or even package theft – issues that arise from damaged packages can also be resolved and you can turn your frustrated customer into a happy one that shops with you again.

Stay tuned to learn how you can effectively handle damaged packages, so that you recover your lost dollars and your customers are no longer frustrated – that’s two birds with one stone.

How to Handle Damaged Packages

By making use of the right packaging material and technique you can reduce damage to an extent but despite all that, a package gets damaged and your customer informs you of it – What’s next?

First things first – Acknowledge your mistake even if you had nothing to do with it. The last thing your customer wants is you staying mum over the issue or a blame game between you and the carrier. Therefore, take this as an opportunity to communicate with your customer at the earliest and apologize. This makes sure that their frustration is mitigated to an extent.
Secondly – Ensure a fast resolution. Assure the customer that the issue will be resolved based on their requirement ASAP. This further elevates their satisfaction levels.
Last but not least – Make sure they receive a compensation offer to make it worth their while. This is kind of a bonus, pro-tip. But works to your advantage when it comes to changing your customer from a frustrated one to a happy one.

Also, you need to watch out for fraudulent claims made by certain customers over damaged packages. They might have damaged it themselves or simply fake damage for personal gain.

In such cases, you can follow the footsteps of other retailers who require proof of damage or cross-verify with the shipping carrier for a seamless issue resolution.

While acknowledging and providing a resolution works to your advantage to an extent, there are still certain hurdles you need to watch out for while handling damaged packages.

Handling damaged packages is an expensive process

Faux or not, either way, handling damaged package queries are expensive.

If the customer’s frustration doesn’t seem to reduce and they stop shopping with you – you have to spend on customer acquisition costs
If you’re looking to reduce their frustration, you’ve to spend on refunds, product returns, sending out replacements, providing special offers, etc.

Don’t you worry! There are time-tested ways for you to recover the costs you spent on damaged packages. For example, The shipping carrier indeed provides an option for you to claim refunds for damaged packages as compensation under their service guarantee.

How to File a Claim for Damaged Packages with the Shipping Carrier

Here are a few things you need to keep in mind if you’re going to file a claim for damaged packages:

If the contents of the package cost less than $100, you can complete the entire form online and request a refund without documentation.
In the event of the package costing anywhere above $100, proper documentation is necessary for the claim to get processed.
Documentation can include pickup records, photos of the damaged contents, and proof of value documentation.
The tracking number that was initially allocated to the package is vital to the process and has to be provided.

After a scheduled inspection, your claim will be processed and you can track its progress.

While these are the common things you should be aware of, here are more specific conditions that adhere to particular shipping carriers.

FedEx damaged packages claim – must be reported within 21 calendar days and all supporting documentation filed within 9 months of the delivery date.
UPS damaged packages claim – file within 5 months online, within 9 months through customer service, and within 45 days if it is an uncollected C.O.D
USPS damaged packages claim – file within 60 days for all services except Priority Mail Express, First class, and Surface Mail
DHL damaged packages claim – file within 30 days

If you think filing refund claims for damaged packages is as straightforward as it looks, caution! It isn’t.

Filing refund claims for damaged packages by yourself is a huge hassle

Apart from running your hectic business, manually submitting claims with shipping carriers by yourself is a huge hassle for more reasons than one:

So, what is the easy way out?

LateShipment.com’s Parcel Audit and Shipping Refunds solution effortlessly audits your invoices and helps save up to 20% on your shipping costs. The best part is that it takes less than 2 minutes to set up and seamlessly integrates with your existing workflow.

Our parcel audit and refunds solution:

Not only submits claims on your behalf but also constantly follows up till issue resolution.
Make sure that all claims are submitted within the timeframe of the carrier(s).
Not just damaged shipments, but also helps you recover refunds for 50+ service failures like late deliveries.
And best of all this, you don’t have to pay anything out of your pockets. We only charge 50% of the refunds you’ve received, that too only when it is successfully recovered.

Damaged Packages? Here's How to Make Them Right

Sure, refunds are great for your business.

But what about mitigating the pain of a loyal customer who has an important package such as an anniversary gift damaged in their hands?

That’s when our other feature Delivery Experience Management (DEM) platform can help. DEM is particularly helpful if you are a bulk shipper who uses multiple carriers and would prefer an efficient automated workflow.

DEM helps you track your parcels in real-time and lets you stay aware of packages that are damaged at the loading or sorting facility (when it is about to be sent out for delivery).

By letting you know well in advance if your packages are damaged, it gives you an edge when you get in touch with the carrier to resolve the issue or send a quick replacement in case of a time-sensitive delivery.

While damages are inevitable, handling them appropriately can really be the deciding factor between your customers being agitated and calm. It also ensures that your customers go to the extent of becoming advocates for your brand based on your commitment to handle issues.

Try LateShipment.com today and take your first step towards handling damaged packages or write to us at sales@lateshipment.com if you have any questions.

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[eCommerce 2021] 10 Expert Tips to Boost Your Website’s Engagement

Ian — Wed, 05 May 2021 09:40:56 +0000

New small business owners find it difficult to understand why their eCommerce businesses grow slowly. While there are numerous contributing, website engagement is among the most overlooked aspects.

Not only does website engagement keep your new visitors interested in learning about your company, but it also helps retain existing customers. Thus, optimizing the sales cycle.

During the course of this article, you’ll learn ten expert tips to boost your eCommerce store’s website engagement. From driving traffic to keeping your existing customers happy, we’ll look at each tip in detail. Let’s get started.

1. Design a Responsive Website

Responsive web design refers to a modern design approach that ensures a website’s pages adjust well on various screen sizes.

“Mobile devices have been consistently generating over half of the website traffic in the past five years.” – Statista.

Therefore, having a responsive website can’t be compromised. For that, you need to choose your theme wisely.

If you use a Content Management System (CMS), such as WordPress or Joomla, ensure that your chosen theme is responsive. As third-party developers can contribute to making website themes for these platforms, they won’t all be fluid.

The more convenient option is to utilize a website builder that guarantees mobile responsiveness, like the Zyro eCommerce builder. With this platform, you’ll get access to more than 80 responsive and attractive website templates, allowing you to focus on growth, rather than the minute details of your site on every different screen format.

2. Have a Clear Website Structure

Website structure refers to your website’s presentation. The four types of site structure include hierarchical, sequential, matrix, and database.

For eCommerce websites, the hierarchical model is the most suitable option. This tree structure starts from the big umbrella that narrows down to more specific topics. Thus, you can display parent product categories and utilize a drop-down menu to contain the child categories.

The best practice for this is to keep the hierarchical structure under three levels. Not only does the simple structure ease your potential customer journey, but it also helps Google index your site faster.

3. Run Social Media Ad Campaigns

Starting a social media ad campaign allows you to display advertisements for your eCommerce store on various social media platforms. It’s among the excellent strategies to help increase your online store’s traffic, as there are 4.2 billion social media users globally.

Here are some ad campaign programs from three of the most popular social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok:

Facebook Ads – This service can automatically generate retargeting ads that feature the goods your visitors saw on your product page. It also lets you customize the advertising targeting options, like gender and age, to get your ads personalized.
Instagram Ads – Sign up for Instagram Ads from your business account and choose the various ad forms the platform offers, including photos, carousels, Instagram Stories, and IGTV.
TikTok Ads – Despite its limited availability, TikTok Ads has been spreading its wings across 20 countries, including the USA. Signing up for the service, you’ll be able to display pre-roll and in-feed ads, promote hashtag challenges, and create branded effects.

On a side note, define your target audience before deciding on a platform, as each social media has its own demographics.

4. Apply Cross-Selling and Upselling Techniques

Cross-selling is about offering more shopping options to complement what your potential buyers have on their carts. In comparison, upselling pretty much involves suggesting a better, more expensive option of the same product.

When done right, these strategies help increase your sales and reinforce your relationship with your customers. That said, let’s see how you can put these techniques into action:

Keep it easy – Being too promotional backfires. Keep the sales flow smooth by only referring to products or services that align with the customer’s needs
Offer benefits – Rewards, such as discounts and free shipping, motivate your potential customers to close the deal
Conduct follow-ups – Check-in on your past customers to find out if they’re happy with the purchase. This is to show that your company cares about its customers

5. Boost User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) refers to any content, such as reviews, photos, and testimonials, created by general users rather than affiliates or influencers.

“For eCommerce websites, UGC is vital as 87% of customers read local businesses’ online reviews before making a purchase.” – Brightlocal.

Besides proving your shop’s credibility, letting users add content encourages customers to have their say, thus improving your site’s engagement. When they do, don’t forget to leave a response so they’ll feel appreciated.

6. Personalize the Content

eCommerce content personalization is about integrating personal experiences along the customer journey by delivering relevant content based on users’ data, including purchase behavior, browsing patterns, and visited pages.

“91% of online shoppers are more likely to buy from a company with relevant offers.” – Accenture

As personalizing each customer’s experience can be challenging, utilize an e-commerce personalization tool to help with the process. Here’s what such tool can help you with:

Product recommendations. By looking at past searches and purchase history, an eCommerce personalization tool can generate relevant item suggestions
Dynamic pricing. This feature allows adjusting a product’s pricing based on changing market demand and tailoring different product pricing for different audiences
Personalized navigation. This practice is about prioritizing particular website pages for certain audience groups
Abandoned cart retargeting. Suppose an item has been in a visitor’s cart for too long, an e-commerce personalization tool will remind the potential buyer to proceed with the checkout process

7. Upload High-Quality Images

Your target customers can’t see or touch your products in real life before actually purchasing them. To make a decision, they rely heavily on your product images. That’s why having excellent product photography is essential for eCommerce websites.

Suppose you’re afraid the high-quality product photos will slow down your website. In that case, don’t forget to compress before uploading them. For this, use a lossless compression tool, like TinyPNG, as it can cut the image’s size without reducing its quality.

8. Offer Discounts and Sales Promotions

Offering promotions might seem like an ineffective way to generate interest. However, well-organized discount and sales promotion campaigns are excellent for attracting traffic, engaging new audiences, and driving sales quickly.

However, these practices aren’t for everyone. When conducted too often, discounts can diminish your product and service’s value. Read the tips below to structure effective discount and sales promotion campaigns:

Welcome new visitors with special offers – whether it’s a shopping coupon or a 15% discount for their first purchase, it won’t be a problem
Apply early-bird discounts for new products – this practice creates a feeling of scarcity about your goods, triggering purchases
Promote seasonal products with special gifts – suppose you launch Chinese New Year attire collections. In that case, a small hong bao pocket can be a great gift for each purchase of the collection
Reward loyal customers with personalized promotions – establishing a loyalty club is a great way to organize this program. For that, let’s dive deep into a loyalty program on the next tip.

9. Create a Loyalty Program

A customer loyalty program refers to a structured marketing solution focused on rewarding a customer who has engaged with a company repeatedly. Apart from improving relationships, implementing a reward program can encourage your customers to keep coming back to you.

When setting up a customer loyalty program, remember these four tips:

Give out free products – suppose your customers have spent a certain amount on your brand, you can probably send across for them to try

Set a timeframe – your loyalty members should be able to attain their rewards within three to six months after joining the program. This is to make sure they don’t lose their interests

Give birthday surprises – preparing a birthday treat for your loyal customers can be a pleasant and personalized reward. Not only does it show that your company cares about its customers, but it also keeps them happy.

10. Add CTAs Strategically

A call-to-action includes any phrase that encourages your eCommerce site’s visitors to take specific actions. Apart from driving more conversions, compelling CTAs can also serve as navigation that guides your potential customers through the marketing funnel.

To strategically place your CTAs, refrain from being too aggressive. For example, some shoppers may feel intimidated by a Buy Now button. In this case, use Add to Cart or Save as Favorite instead.

Also, emphasize the button with colors or boxes. That way, your CTA will catch your visitors’ attention and won’t get overlooked.

Conclusion

You’ve learned ten tips for boosting your website engagement. By implementing them, you’ll save your eCommerce website from getting stale. Additionally, responsiveness is the first thing you should take care of when developing your website. Make sure you don’t baffle your visitors with confusing navigation and website structure. Finally, good luck with your new eCommerce store!

This is a guest post by Lydia Steele

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[eCommerce 2021] Social Commerce for Businesses

Ian — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 09:35:46 +0000

Running an eCommerce business is hectic, no doubt. However, there are certain aspects that make it interesting. One such being the relatively new but growing trend of social commerce.

eCommerce business owners can greatly benefit from this trend. All you need to do is to increase your brand visibility and build an effective social commerce campaign.

But before that, let’s talk about social commerce in more detail.

What is Social Commerce?

Social commerce is the use of social media websites like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for marketing and sales purposes.

Social commerce campaigns aim to boost social interactions such as retweets, likes, link clicks, and shares and to drive sales.

Social commerce is the use of social media websites like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for marketing and sales purposes.

The Benefits of Social Commerce to eCommerce Businesses

If you craft an effective social commerce campaign, you will achieve the following goals:

Reach a wide audience
Improve brand awareness
Increase sales
Build customer loyalty

The Best Social Media Platforms for Social Commerce

There are three platforms that work perfectly for social commerce:

Instagram. This social media network has more than one billion users. It allows you to create a business account and sell your products directly from the app.

Facebook provides a set of tools necessary to design an effective social commerce campaign. If you create a Facebook Shop and build a smart Chatbot Messenger, you will engage your target audience and double your sales.

Pinterest is not as popular as Facebook and Instagram. But still, it provides great marketing opportunities for eCommerce businesses. You can use it to improve your brand discoverability and direct new visitors to your website.

Basically, any social media platform can be used for social commerce. If you want to maximize your efforts, you should choose a platform that is popular amongst your customers. For instance, if your target audience is millennial vegans, the best platform for you is Instagram. Or, if your target audience is Baby Boomers, Facebook is the best choice for you.

Social Commerce Best Practices

The vast majority of modern businesses leverage social commerce. Let’s take a look at the best examples.

Swatch

Swatch uses gamification to engage users and create buzz around a new product launch. The company has recently announced the start of a game “M.I.Q The Secret Mission” on Instagram to present Swatch X 007 Tribute Collection.

Every second day, Swatch publishes a new post and asks followers to complete a new task like “to find a part of a secret code.” In such a way, the brand motivates users to check new posts and visit the company’s website while also attracting more interest in new products.

Under Armour

Under Armour has more than 10.9 million followers on Facebook and for a good reason. This sports equipment company creates content that resonates with the target audience while also reflects the brand’s values.

Take a look at the following post – it was shared almost 2K times. It’s a great example of how one social media post can help the company to reach more customers than a paid ad.

Forever 21

If you don’t know how to use Instagram shopping features, take a look at Forever 21’s Instagram account – it’s a great example to follow.

Forever21 runs one of the most successful user-generated content strategies among fashion brands. The company encourages customers to share their photos and tag @forever21 for the chance to be featured. It motivates customers to buy more clothes and share more photos, which helps Forever21 increase reach and engagement.

4 Tips on How to Leverage Social Commerce for Your eCommerce Business

Finally, let’s talk about what steps you should take to build an effective social commerce campaign this holiday season.

1. Focus on quality

If you want to grab the attention of picky social media users, you should create high-quality content. All your photos and videos must have a high resolution. All your posts must include relevant, meaningful captions.

Why is content quality so important? Customers associate content quality with product quality. Therefore, if the quality of your content is not excellent, your prospective customers will doubt the quality of your products and the trustworthiness of your brand.

If you are not an expert in content creation, consider getting writing help. Check top rated sites and find professional writers who know how to craft outstanding social media posts.

2. Start a social media challenge

Modern users like to participate in different social media challenges. And today, when most people get bored in the houses because of the pandemic, social media challenges are getting even more popular. So why don’t you start a social media challenge to draw users’ attention to your brand?

The idea of a social media challenge should be relevant to your brand and appeal to your target audience.

Also, your challenge must have a name and a memorable hashtag. The use of hashtags will allow you to track posts created by your followers and analyze the effectiveness of your campaign.

3. Create Interactive Content

If ordinary social media posts don’t help you achieve the desired results, try to create interactive content. Invite your followers to participate in fun quizzes, polls, and Q&A sessions on Facebook and Instagram Stories.

The more users will interact with your content, the more likely they will buy from you. So use your creativity skills to come up with engaging content ideas. If you feel like you need help with this task, check the TopEssayWriting review, and find creative writers and content creators who can help you.

4. Collaborate with influencers

Social commerce goes hand in hand with influencer marketing. So if you want to get your brand noticed, reach out to the top influencers in your niche and offer them to promote your product.

Just keep in mind that top influencers get dozens of collaboration requests every day but accept only the best offers that include something more than just a paycheck. If you want to partner with influencers, you should provide a special reward, for instance, tickets to a big industry event or participation in an ambassadorship program.

In Conclusion

2021 has been a tough year, so far. And today, people are anticipating the rest of the year more than ever. They are ready to start shopping and enjoy the vibes while still staying at home or social distancing. And you should take this fact into account and adjust your marketing strategy.

Today is the perfect moment to start a social commerce campaign for boosting sales. Use this article for inspiration and create social media content that will take your eCommerce business to the next level.

This article is a contribution by Leona Henryson

About the author: Leona Henryson is a freelance blogger and marketing specialist at TopWritersReview, a website for top college writers’ reviews. She is constantly looking for new ways to improve customer experience and help businesses reach out to their target audience.

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