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

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

What is E-Commerce Automation And How It Works For Your Business

Sashank Ravindranath — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 09:22:56 +0000

Did you know that e-commerce sales are expected to grow to $6.3 trillion in 2024 and $7.9 trillion by 2027?

Verdict: E-commerce is growing. And the result — competing businesses, especially market leaders are keen to lean on innovation in order to stay relevant and at the top. If you’d like to be a part of these succeeding businesses, all you have to do is two things: streamline your operations and exceed your customers’ expectations.

If your goal is to achieve that and thrive in this highly competitive market, you don’t have to do anything new. The framework is already set. E-commerce is already undergoing a transformation trend through automation. All you need to do is to keep up. But what exactly is e-commerce automation, and how can it transform your business?

Understanding E-Commerce Automation

E-commerce automation refers to the use of technology to automate repetitive tasks of an e-commerce business. It works via APIs and plugins to sync with your store to automate tasks based on triggers or specific workflows.

In simple terms, as a small business, you might have the provision to manually handle tasks such as handling inventory or processing orders. However, as the business scales and order volumes go up, these tasks can become cumbersome and error-prone. This is where automation comes in — to take care of these time-consuming processes and allow merchants and respective teams to focus on more strategic aspects of the business.

Since e-commerce is a broad spectrum of activities, experts generally classify automating tasks into front-end automation (customer-front tasks such as email marketing and chatbots for customer support) and back-end automation (tasks to streamline operations such as inventory management).

Now that we’re clear on the basics, let’s move on to the other focus of this article, how does automation work for your e-commerce business?

How E-Commerce Automation Works For Your Business

A key component of e-commerce automation software is that it should integrate with your existing e-commerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, or any other). This is because your e-commerce store launched on a particular platform serves as the central hub for your business operations and contains data on customer orders, inventory levels, product catalogs, shipping details, and more.

If e-commerce automation has a purpose, it is to ensure that the business aligns with its goals more effectively — bring in additional revenue and keep existing revenue from getting lost. To achieve that, let’s take a look at some of the most important ways to enable automation in your e-commerce business.

Key processes that can be automated

1. Inventory Management

Issue: Running out of popular products, especially during peak seasons, can result in lost sales and missed opportunities. This can lead to a negative customer experience, lost revenue, and a permanently damaged brand reputation.

Task: Preventing stockouts

Actions:

Continuously monitor stock levels across multiple sales channels and provide a unified view of your inventory, ensuring that stock levels are always up to date in real time.
Set predefined inventory thresholds for each product. When stock levels fall below a certain point, the system triggers an automatic alert, notifying you that it’s time to restock.
Automatically place restock orders with your suppliers.
Forecast future inventory needs based on historical sales data and trends.
Provide detailed reporting and analytics on your inventory performance to easily track which products are selling the fastest, which are slow-moving, and where bottlenecks might occur.

Benefits:

This proactive approach ensures you never run out of best-selling products, allowing you to fulfill customer demand without interruptions.
For instance, items that have not sold for a long period — can be flagged, allowing you to take corrective action, such as discontinuing the product.

TLDR: Effective inventory management is crucial for e-commerce businesses to meet customer demand without overstocking or running into shortages. Automation tools can significantly streamline this process and can help you transform your e-commerce operations.

2. Order Management

Issue: Manually processing orders is a time-consuming task

Task:

Instantly generate shipping labels as soon as an order is ready for fulfillment.
Once the order is shipped, automation can intelligently route orders to the closest or most appropriate fulfillment center based on factors like customer location and shipping costs.
Eliminate manual record-keeping by beginning the fulfillment process as soon as orders are placed

Benefit: Ensures faster delivery times, reduces shipping costs, eliminates complexities, frees up time for your employees to focus on other tasks, and minimizes human error.

TLDR: Order management is an area that is best suited to be automated in e-commerce. As your business grows and orders pour in, automating order fulfillment-related tasks ensures reduced human errors and speeds up the fulfillment process.

3. Customer Support

Issue: Customers today want instant gratification and have very little patience and a low threshold for errors in the order tracking phase.

Task:

By integrating helpdesk software or using chatbots, businesses can respond to customer inquiries instantly
Automate email responses for common issues, further reducing customer wait times
Automated chatbots are programmed to handle frequently asked questions (FAQs) that customers often have, such as checking order status, delivery dates, return policies, or shipping costs. Rather than waiting for a customer service representative to respond, chatbots provide immediate answers 24/7, even outside of business hours
There will always be complex issues that require human intervention. In these cases, chatbots and helpdesk systems can be programmed to collect relevant information (such as order details or the nature of the problem) and escalate the issue to the support team, ensuring that the human agent is fully prepared to assist the customer.
Automated customer support tools can also be personalized based on customer data. For example, chatbots and automated email systems can greet customers by name, reference their order history, and offer relevant solutions based on previous interactions.

Benefit:

Especially useful for handling common questions like order status (WISMO – “Where is my order?”) or return policies.
Significantly reduces the customer service team’s workload and customer wait times, especially during high-volume periods like the holiday season.
A personalized touch makes customers feel valued and ensures that their issues are addressed more efficiently.

TLDR: Automation works across multiple channels, including website chat, email, social media, and SMS. Many businesses use omnichannel customer support strategies, and integrating automated chatbots and helpdesk software ensures that no matter where the customer reaches out from, they receive a consistent and immediate response.

4. Marketing Automation

Issue: On average, nearly 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned before a purchase is completed.

Task:

Automated marketing tools can detect when a customer leaves the site without completing their purchase and trigger a series of follow-up emails to encourage them to return and complete their transaction.
Personalization is key to successful marketing. By analyzing customer behavior, such as browsing history, past purchases, and interactions with your site, these platforms can generate automated emails that suggest products tailored to the individual’s preferences. For instance, if a customer frequently purchases skincare products, the system can automatically send personalized recommendations for complementary products, such as moisturizers or serums
Send triggered email sequences based on specific customer actions or milestones. These actions might include signing up for a newsletter, making a first purchase, or leaving a review.

Benefits:

This increases the likelihood of repeat purchases by enhancing the customer experience by providing value through relevant product suggestions.
Engage customers at every stage of their journey, providing timely and relevant communication that keeps them connected to your brand
Fosters emotional connections with your brand, leading to long-term loyalty

TLDR: Automated marketing campaigns are essential for e-commerce businesses looking to nurture customer relationships, increase engagement, and drive sales by setting up highly targeted, data-driven campaigns that are triggered by specific customer actions or behaviors.

5. Post-Purchase Experience

Issue: The post-purchase experience is a critical, yet often overlooked, phase in the customer journey.

Task:

One of the biggest concerns for customers after making a purchase is knowing when their order will arrive. Automated delivery notifications can keep customers informed every step of the way. From the moment the order is shipped to when it’s out for delivery and finally delivered, automated tools can send timely updates via email, SMS, or even in-app notifications.
By monitoring shipment statuses and tracking potential issues like late deliveries, automation tools can trigger proactive responses to affected customers. For example, if a customer’s order is delayed, the system can automatically send an apology email along with an updated delivery estimate, a discount for future purchases, or free shipping on the next order as a goodwill gesture.
When a customer decides to return an item, the system can generate a return label automatically and send it to the customer via email or set up a portal to provide step-by-step instructions on how to return the product. Automation tools can also track the returned item with real-time updates on their refund status.

Benefit:

Reduce customer anxiety and minimize the volume of WISMO (Where Is My Order) inquiries, common during the post-purchase phase to make sure that customers no longer need to reach out to ask for updates.
Resolve delivery issues such as late deliveries and lost and damaged packages before they escalate into customer complaints.
Make the returns processes can be made effortless, transparent, and customer-friendly.

TLDR: While most businesses unwittingly miss out on their efforts, providing exceptional post-purchase experiences can help build long-term loyalty, encourage repeat business, and improve customer satisfaction. Automation plays a vital role in enhancing the post-purchase experience by ensuring that every aspect—delivery notifications, customer feedback collection, and returns — is handled efficiently and seamlessly.

Benefits of E-Commerce Automation for Your Business

Increased Efficiency and Productivity – By automating repetitive tasks, businesses can free up valuable time that can be spent on more strategic areas like product development or marketing. Automation reduces the need for manual intervention, allowing employees to focus on growth initiatives.

Cost Savings – Automation reduces the need for large teams handling manual tasks like order management, inventory tracking, or customer support. This translates into significant cost savings in labor and resources, allowing businesses to scale without proportionally increasing operational costs.

Improved Customer Experience – Via proactive order status updates and issue resolution, automation helps businesses deliver a better CX, particularly in the post-purchase phase. Automation also ensures faster response times and personalized customer support experiences.

Scalability – As your business grows, manual processes can become bottlenecks. Automation ensures that your e-commerce operations can scale seamlessly to handle more orders, customers, and queries without needing additional resources.
Error Reduction – Human errors, such as incorrect order fulfillment or missed inventory restocks, can cost businesses both time and money. Automation minimizes the chances of these mistakes, leading to more accurate operations and happier customers.

Time To Automate Your E-Commerce Business’ Processes

As sales increase and operations scale, e-commerce businesses must keep up with the pace of change.

Maintaining high customer satisfaction can sometimes seem nearly impossible. However, by implementing well-designed automation strategies, merchants can reduce the burden of manual processes while prioritizing the customer experience.

Automation can consolidate sales channels, manage inventory across those channels, and coordinate shipping. Automation is the key to connecting your business to customers where they already spend their time, in a way that provides them a seamless experience, so that they will return again and again.

The post What is E-Commerce Automation And How It Works For Your Business appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

What Does “Out for Delivery” Really Mean?

Sashank Ravindranath — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 06:31:54 +0000

“Get ready to jump with joy as your order is out for delivery”.

A message that all online shoppers can’t wait to see on their device, as this is a sign that their package is nearing them and is about to be delivered soon.

From your (the merchant’s) perspective, while the emotions might differ, seeing the message on the carrier’s page and sharing these notifications with your customers holds the same importance because,

The package has successfully evaded almost 80% of all delivery issues (barring cases of delivery exceptions, order returns, or package theft) and
This is the only thing between your customers and their most exciting orders, the time when you are rewarded for your product and service via customer satisfaction and loyalty

This makes the out for delivery notification special compared to other transactional shipping notifications sent during the post-purchase, order delivery phase of e-commerce.

But what makes this delivery stage so special? To know that we’ll start with what being out for delivery means and where it sits in the e-commerce last-mile order delivery process.

What Does Out for Delivery Mean?

Let’s split ‘out for delivery’ into two perspectives where you stand between. From the shipping carrier’s perspective, this indicates that the package has left the shipping facility and is in transit to the customer’s address. From the customer’s perspective, on the other hand, this implies that the package’s arrival on the specified delivery date is almost confirmed.

Packages that are marked “out for delivery”, will reach their destination on the same day or the next day, given the distance and situation between the carrier’s transportation hub or fulfillment center and the customer’s doorstep.

To get a better context, let’s look at where it sits in the e-commerce order delivery process

a) Where out for delivery sits in the e-commerce delivery process

The traditional last-mile delivery process usually consists of 4 simple events or transactional notifications that are sent to the customer whenever there is an update on their orders.

Shipped – When the order is “shipped”, it implies that the carrier has picked up the package.
In transit – The order is in transit when it leaves the first hub and is on its way to reaching the carrier’s hub at the delivery city.
Out of delivery – Out for delivery indicates the order is now in its final stretch. The package has left the carrier facility and is on its way to the customer.
Delivered – The order is marked “delivered” when the order sits on the customer’s doorstep

Apart from these frequent transactional notifications front, there can also be several uncommon instances such as delivery attempts, in-transit with delays, loss/damage, etc. E-commerce brands such as yours can leverage these events to send shipping notifications that alleviate your customers’ worries and also come with a great deal of benefits for you.

Going back to the context, there can still be some questions like what to do when the package has been out for delivery for 3 or more days? or where is my package that is out for delivery but has not been delivered yet?

In your mind, you need clear answers before you can communicate the same with your customers. And that brings us to dissect out for delivery as an event further.

b) Why does an out for delivery event matter to an e-commerce merchant?

The “out for delivery” event is a critical touchpoint in the e-commerce customer journey. It holds significant importance for merchants due to several reasons.

Apart from minimizing customer support inquiries and improving customer satisfaction by reducing anxiety and uncertainty, this event also comes up with a great scope for marketing opportunities.

Instead of sending your customers to the carrier’s tracking page, you can create your own branded order tracking pages that can be used to promote complementary products or services.

You can also use real estate on your tracking pages to collect customer feedback on their post-purchase purchase experience, thereby gaining valuable insights into identifying areas for improvement.

c) What happens when a package out for delivery doesn’t get delivered

In most cases, a package marked as “out for delivery,” is expected to be delivered on the same day. However, there can be instances where it takes forever to arrive and there can be multiple reasons for such delivery exceptions.

Location – The distance between the distribution center and the delivery address (i.e. the delivery address’s proximity to the distribution center)
Delivery Schedule – Carriers have specific delivery routes and schedules that they target in a day. Multiple delivery locations (stops) and complex routes can impact the delivery timeline of the other packages
Traffic Conditions – Traffic congestion, accidents, or adverse weather conditions on a particular can delay the delivery process
Volume – High shipping volume is a rare instance but probable scenario where the package volume handled by the delivery person gets too much for a single day

Out for delivery vs delivered: The final hurdle

In most cases, when an out for delivery doesn’t get updated to delivered, it means your carrier, be it FedEx, UPS, USPS, or Amazon is attempting re-delivery, dropping off the package at a nearby pickup point, etc.

However, unlike you, customers who shop with you don’t have the patience to uncover all of this. What matters to them is their package reaching on time and when they get slightly anxious about that happening, their actions can go a long way, complicating the problem further.

1. Support reps are bombarded with a huge volume of WISMO inquiries

Even when there are no issues regarding customers’ parcels, their anxiety at the last mile stage leads them to bombard support reps with order status notifications (WISMO inquiries).

Such calls negatively impact your customer satisfaction metrics by consuming all of the support reps’ time and preventing them from dealing with other important queries.

Over 30% of customer support tickets created are SHIPPING and DELIVERY-related

2. Disgruntled customers negatively impact your brand’s online reputation

Delivery issues must be resolved proactively and addressed at the earliest because the first thing irate customers do is take such issues to social media and tarnish the brand’s reputation online.

During such events, every negative review from your customers causes irreversible damage to the brand image and far worse, demotivates their close ones from shopping with the said brand.

93% of the customers say that they read online reviews before buying a product.

3. Higher costs associated with returns and customer acquisition

E-commerce businesses run the risk of losing even their most loyal customer to a competitor after just one bad delivery experience.

Trying to replace these existing customers may not be the best idea because it is 5x more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.

Over 55% of customers won’t return to a brand or retailer after one bad experience, indicating that today’s consumer has nearly zero thresholds for delivery failures.

Even if they choose to stick with you, they can simply refuse to collect their orders, leading to unwanted returns and related expenses.

The saying prevention is better than cure might sound cliche but it holds true in this context. While these issues, the reasons they happen, and how to approach them depend on the shipping carrier and the circumstances — there are actions that you can take to mitigate this from becoming a serious problem.

What to Do if Your Package is "Out for Delivery" for an Extended Period

When a package has been marked as “out for delivery” for three or more days without arriving, it’s understandable to be concerned.

First things first, customers are often anxious regarding the status of orders during the last mile. So, constantly stay in touch by keeping them in the loop of their orders

Integrate your existing email and SMS marketing tools with your delivery management system and send ‘out for delivery’ notifications in the last mile. This way, the customer can stay at the location to collect the delivery or request a change to avoid last-minute delivery exceptions.

Second, it’s better to be the bearer of bad news than to be confronted by the customer on hiding things

In case you see things going wrong, proactively reach out to the customer to inform them of the delay and assure them that you’re investigating the issue.

Tracking your customers’ parcels in real-time gives you complete visibility of your shipments in transit but foresight as well for shipments that are likely to face delays.

Once you gain control over your in-transit shipments facing issues, you can step in before they impact your customers and resolve them. In cases with uncommon issues such as weather delays and roadblocks, a simple preemptive acknowledgment can work in your favor as equal as resolving issues.

Keeping a close eye on the package’s tracking information for progress can help you see if the situation gets better. If not, be prepared to offer solutions like discounts or store credits to compensate for the inconvenience. P.S. Be empathetic and offer sincere apologies (even when the issue is not your fault).

Thirdly, there can be a worst-case scenario with the package getting lost or the customer simply refusing to accept the package owing to the delay

In such cases, you need to be prepared to offer solutions like reshipping or refunds. Don’t worry about these costs because you no longer have to bear the blame and shell out dollars for failures and billing errors by carriers. If the reason for the delayed delivery is due to a carrier error, then you can easily recover refunds from shipping carriers.

You don’t have to do it manually. Make use of an automated parcel audit system like LateShipment.com that identifies 50+ carrier failures including late deliveries and lost packages, thus helping you save up to 20% on shipping costs. Also, regularly claiming shipping refunds can in turn enable your shipping carriers to perform better and prevent such incidents from occurring in the first place.

Bottom Line

Implementing all these last mile best practices by yourself can be difficult. To make it easier, you can make use of a post-purchase solution such as LateShipment.com that does all the heavy lifting on your behalf.

LateShipment.com is specifically built for ecommerce retailers such as yourself to deliver phenomenal post-purchase CX and measurable results, all while effortlessly recovering refund claims from your shipping carriers.

Interested? We at LateShipment.com can’t wait to help you grow your fanbase, savings, and business.

Get in touch with our expert or write to us.

The post What Does “Out for Delivery” Really Mean? appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

The Importance of Product Returns Intelligence For E-commerce

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 24 May 2024 09:52:59 +0000

Not all e-commerce orders are successful with the delivery being made. Some products have issues that are revealed only when the package is opened, some customers often end up becoming unhappy with the product or delivery, etc.

Mind you, these are not isolated incidents, 30% of all e-commerce orders are returned by consumers (2x -3x more than brick-and-mortar rates).

Product returns are an inevitable and frequent part of e-commerce. But not all merchants see them the same way. Some merchants feel returns as a cost-center, a logistical nightmare, and detrimental to shopper experience and customer loyalty.

However, the truth is far. Easier said than done, but when handled correctly, returns offer great scope to improve the overall CX and increase repeat purchase rates. One of the best and simplest ways to optimize your return experience is to understand why things happen the way they do. In short, gain returns intelligence around your product returns.

What is Return Intelligence?

Product returns intelligence refers to the systematic analysis and utilization of data related to product returns to gain insights that can improve business operations, customer satisfaction, and profitability.

To give you better context, product returns intelligence is nothing but tracking returns for an extended period and understanding the reasons behind customer returns, the patterns and trends in return behavior, and the impact of returns on the e-commerce business.

On the surface level, tracking returns inside out is the way to gain product returns intelligence, but when you go in-depth, the question of “what exactly are you looking for?” comes into the picture.

This is where specific valuable return metrics or return KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) like return rate, reason for return, frequently returned products, etc, come in to help you measure the success of your e-commerce business’s returns experience.

Just tracking these KPIs would let you know whether your strategies have been successful, in terms of both competitive advantage and profitability.

The Importance of Product Returns Intelligence For Your E-commerce Business

Gaining intelligence around product returns is one half of that, the other and the most important half involves leveraging insights from the findings to streamline operations, optimize customer experience, and reduce costs.

Here are some key things that your business can achieve by employing intelligence in your returns strategy.

Reduce return-related costs

Although returns are not a cost-center as many believe, returns are expensive. In fact, US retailers spend over $100 billion each year on return-related logistics.

While these costs come from very valid reasons such as inventory, processing, and damaged products, returns intelligence can come in handy here to identify the root causes of returns.

With the most common reasons for returns identified, you can make your returns processing more efficient and thereby reduce labor and operational costs. Example: If the reason for return is said to be poor product quality, you can negotiate with suppliers to improve product designs or even discontinue problematic items.

Also, returns intelligence helps businesses better understand which products are returned frequently and why. This can guide better-informed decisions regarding inventory levels, reducing the costs associated with manufacturing and overstocking.

Reduce unwanted returns

Returns are a major issue in the apparel industry and 70% of these returns are considered size and fit-related.

Returns intelligence can help you understand why customers return their products and if they’re because of reasons such as wrong size, product not living up to expectations, etc — they don’t have to be reasons to initiate a return anymore.

With mismatches between product descriptions and customer expectations highlighted, you can take actions to fix them such as offering better product descriptions and sizing guides, etc, you can improve accuracy and clarity in product listings, and significantly reduce return rates.

Optimizing Customer Experience (CX)

A smooth returns process is crucial for customer satisfaction.

One key to a smooth returns process is collecting customer feedback on their returns experiences with your brand. Returns data provides direct feedback from customers about what works and what doesn’t. By addressing their concerns at the source, you can make returns easier and turn a potentially negative experience into a positive one.

For instance, return methods. If more customers are picking exchanges and store credits over refunds, it means they’re willing to give you an additional chance to set things right. For these customers, you can come up with more personalized marketing strategies, such as offers and products better suited to their needs.

Returns feedback can also suggest whether your post-purchase customer support can be improved. Here, you can make efforts such as providing clear return instructions and keeping customers updated on the status of their return to enhance their return journey.

How Lateshipment.com Can Help You Gain Intelligence Around Product Returns

Returns intelligence is a powerful tool that can help businesses save money, improve customer satisfaction, and gain a competitive edge.

By investing in a system that helps you gather and analyze returns data, businesses can achieve greater operational efficiency, and enhance customer satisfaction, all of which contribute to a stronger, more resilient business model.

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

The Returns Analytics Dashboard breaks down returns into simple, actionable metrics that you can keep track of, see if these return-related metrics work in your favor, and ultimately spell out the success of your e-commerce business via better business strategies.

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

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

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

The post The Importance of Product Returns Intelligence For E-commerce appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Fix: Resolve critical shipping incidents before they happen.

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

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

Proactive delivery exception alerts for high-order value shipments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Use Case 3: Managing Failed Deliveries and Avoiding Returned Shipments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

How to get repeat customers in 2023?

Raksna Anand — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 14:33:44 +0000

Is your business future ready?

The e-commerce industry is continuously changing, so being up to date is crucial. In order to provide a seamless and engaging consumer experience across all touchpoints, including mobile commerce, beacon technology, and CTV advertising, the future of commerce must be fully omnichannel. Businesses must adopt a pipeline strategy, relying on data analytics and dynamic creative optimisation to boost conversions and produce an easy-to-use website experience.

The era of transactional e-commerce is no more; today’s consumers demand relational e-commerce that fosters creativity and discovery. Customers have the choice to begin their journey online and end up in physical stores, or vice versa, thanks to Google Lens and other tools.

Businesses must provide the best value proposition, convenience, loyalty programmes, and other services in order to meet customers’ expectations in 2023 and get repeat customers.

Why do you need repeat customers in your business?

Getting new customers is expensive and time-consuming: Getting a new customer typically costs five times as much as keeping an existing one.

Repeat customers are receptive to more: They’re eager to test out new goods and services from a company they already know and respect. (repeat customers spend 35% more per purchase than first-time customers`)

Keeping loyal customers can improve a brand’s reputation because happy customers are more inclined to tell their friends and family about it.

Customer retention should be the top aim for any wise brand in the fiercely competitive industry of today

3 strategies to get repeat customers

1. Offer omnichannel customer support

The best wingman for both transactional and relational e-commerce is omnichannel customer support. Companies may design a seamless and “omni-awesome” client journey by swiping right on a variety of touchpoints, including calls, emails, social media, text messages, mobile apps, and more.

For example,

Lululemon, a retailer of athletic wear, offers customised video consultations with fitness professionals to assist customers in making purchase selections. A video can be scheduled by users with a fitness expert to get personalized recommendations and advice on which products to buy.

“According to research done by the Aberdeen Group, companies that provide a consistent service quality across multiple channels retain 89% of their customers.”

A seamless message approach that is cohesive is necessary to maintain consistency across channels. This strategy offers a customised message that matches the client journey across several channels, improving the potency of a business’ value offering and striking the proper chords with the target market.

In order to provide your customers with a complete omnichannel experience, you might begin with

Recognizing the platforms that your customers are most likely to use.
Providing a consolidated platform for customer assistance that integrates channels.
Communicating consistently to foster trust.
Providing opportunities for self-service, such a knowledge base or FAQ area.
Training customer service representatives to respond to inquiries from all channels.

2. Offer the most convenient experience

Online mattress and bedding retailer Casper is an example of an e-commerce company that puts its customers’ convenience first. Customers may test out their mattress at home with Casper’s 100-night sleep trial and return it for a full refund if they’re not satisfied. Also, they perform all of the labor-intensive lifting. When you place an online order, they bring the item to your home and pick it up if you decide to return the mattress. Customers may easily buy and return things thanks to their free shipping and returns policy. In addition, Casper offers a 24/7 chatbot on their website to assist users with any queries or worries they might have. Casper has been able to give customers a more seamless and delightful purchasing experience by putting convenience first. .

Convenience is king

Checkouts using a mobile wallet are another example of how businesses can make their consumers’ lives more convenient. Customers can quickly and securely conduct purchases without using physical payment methods by adopting this feature. In actuality, Apple Pay now accounts for 48% of mobile wallet checkouts in-store. For instance, Casper’s new one-click experience lets users purchase their favourite mattresses without first creating an account, substantially streamlining the purchasing process.

The new voice search e-commerce trend is another thing that e-commerce firms can accomplish. As more and more customers utilise virtual assistants like Alexa from Amazon and Google Home from Google, voice search is becoming more and more significant in e-commerce.

As you can see, advanced technology greatly contributes to convenience by streamlining the purchasing process, providing a variety of payment options, offering quick and free shipping, implementing a mobile-friendly design, customising the shopping experience, providing round-the-clock customer support, and integrating with voice assistants.

Customers must come first for businesses, and this means putting themselves in their shoes and foreseeing their demands. Companies may offer a more convenient and Personalised service that satisfies the constantly changing needs of modern clients by adopting a customer-first mentality.

3. Educate your customers where necessary

Customers are overwhelmed with options as internet buying expands, and trust is getting harder to come by. This is where taking on the role of a champion for a cause is useful.

Building trust with your customers can be accomplished by educating them about your product and the sustainability practices you employ (given that 75% of US consumers are concerned about the environmental impact of the products they purchase). Customers are more inclined to buy from you again and recommend your business when they have faith in you.

Educating your clients could boost your profitability while also fostering a sense of trust with them. Customers can make better selections if you educate them about your goods and services. Also, they are less likely to return the item.

How can you inform your audience? Consider utilizing cutting-edge methods like augmented reality to assist buyers in determining whether the product is a good fit for them. For instance, a stove manufacturer could utilize AR to check whether a customer’s kitchen will accommodate the stove perfectly.

Here are two actual companies that educated their clients while increasing profitability.

In order to ensure that customers discover the ideal fit and style, the eyewear firm Warby Parker uses a virtual try-on tool

The cosmetics company Lush has launched a “Naked Packaging” programme to lessen their usage of single-use plastics. With emails, social media posts, and in-store signage, customers are made aware of this programme. . Lush has been able to grow its customer base and revenue by informing their customers about the value of decreasing plastic waste.

(According to an Edelman study, two thirds of consumers buy based on beliefs. This means brands can no longer remain neutral, but you need to back up your values with action.)

Thus, remember to effectively inform your customers of whatever environmental good deeds you undertake going forward

Bottom Line

Too often, businesses that only concentrate on acquiring new customers miss out on the hidden revenue that exists within their current customer base. Yet, businesses may position themselves to gain from building and nurturing a return client base by putting a few strategies in place. Ultimately, maintaining and keeping your current clients is more efficient than acquiring new ones.

Crunch some numbers, see how your company is fairing, and update your retention strategy today.

The post How to get repeat customers in 2023? appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

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.

The post How to Increase E-commerce Conversion Rates Through Video Marketing appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

10 Eye-catching Ways to Gain Attention to Your E-commerce Store

Sashank Ravindranath — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 07:57:23 +0000

Just a couple of decades ago, the concept of having your own E-commerce store was considered fanciful, even a dream. How would it work? What would such a store provide? How will the store handle all of the sales, the purchases, and even the logistics of the goods? It was a pipe dream for some, and many at the time believed it to be just impossible. However, with the progression in technology and innovation, this has no longer been the case.

With so many E-Commerce stores sprouting up, brick-and-mortars would be left behind in the dust. However, it begs the question; if I were to open my E-commerce store, what would I need to do to ensure that potential customers are willing to go through my store? How do I set them apart from the rest?

Here are some ways which would certainly boost your rankings and give your competition a run for their money:

1. DYOR – Do your Research and Sell the Latest Products

By following the herd and offering the same products to the same class of customers, you will not be able to differentiate between yourself and the others.

You have to find out what the customer wants!

Do your research, find out what kinds of products have a higher selling potential, where you would be able to outsource them from, distinguish your products from theirs by offering the latest variants, and ensure that you are ahead of the curve by upgrading your industry research and discovering the latest trends.

Do not forget to add as many product details as possible so that the users have a clear idea of what they will get.

One of our best strategies to capture and keep our audience’s attention is to highlight our newest products. For example, in our online store, we highlight new arrivals at the top, above the rest of the store. – Matt Weidle, Business Development Manager at Buyer’s Guide; a website that helps people make smarter buying decisions

Doing this in an e-commerce store creates a sense of urgency in being the first thing a customer sees. Additionally, returning customers seeing any new product will see our continued momentum and may be excited to see what else we have to offer.

2. Breakout of the Traditional Mindset

It takes hardly a second nowadays for a potential customer to decide whether they should approach the website or move ahead to another one.

E-commerce stores nowadays need to be sharp, bright, and interactive, and there should always be something that sparks the interest of the consumer. If you are dealing with a B2B model, then the traditional model may work, but when you are targeting individual customers, every impression matters.

Suggestions? Keep it quirky, keep it interesting, but do not stray too far from the current trends.

Like in any other situation, beauty attracts the eye, so to gain a customer, you must first start with basic principles of graphics and layout. As a founder, to increase traffic to our website, we used texture, movement, continuity, and consistency in the design, such as the texture, space, and styles. – Tanner Arnold, President & CEO at Revelation Machinery

Because of this, the design is uniform and much easier to read. The contrast provides an object or design with visible weight.

To minimize cluttered design, you must examine and limit the use of many aspects such as color, style, and font so that it is readable and it is connected to your main theme.

Another aspect is the unity and harmony of the elements when they are combined. The design’s elements must collaborate and agree on its meaning, topic, feeling, or atmosphere.

3. Advertisement Placement is Crucial

So, you find a product that you like. Great!

But, when you click on the link, you are transported to, you guessed it, yet another advert offering products you do not need.

What is the point? Are you interested in earning just from the ad revenue or from the actual products you are offering?

Make sure your e-commerce store is set up so that customers can buy without being bombarded with advertisements.

Secondly, try to obtain ads that are relevant to you and your customers! What is the point in offering the customer a pair of shoes when they are looking for the best restaurants to eat at?

4. Improve the Site Navigation

Keeping the previous point in mind, always pay attention to how easy it is for you i.e., your customers, to navigate throughout the site.

It is extremely easy to run checks, and the easier it is for your customer to move through from point A to point B, the greater their customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction is king, and this is one metric that would determine your long-term profitability. In short, do not let the customer scroll through the entire website for the information they need; let the information and its access come directly to them.

Whether it is through a search bar that runs algorithms to predict what the customer needs, or logging in with previous information using cookies to recover past purchases to suggest newer ones, it helps them navigate the site with ease.

Audiences stay longer when the landing pages are crisp and provide easy navigation. Make sure that your landing page describes what you offer.

People don’t solely use computers, because there are so many different gadgets to stay in the loop 24/7. To increase the number of customers of the specific platform, adaptive design should be considered. That’s how one will manage to make a site available to a wider audience. – Veronica Miller, Digital Marketing & Growth Director at VPNoverview

5. Establish a Brand Unique to You

Your online presence is extremely important in gaining traffic.

What is online presence, you ask?

Your message and the values that you portray to the rest of the customers and all those who visit the site. There can be many ways through which a brand can be built; including engaging graphic designs, smart advertisements, building a strong following on social media, and quality customer service, even though building a logo reflects a critical part of the identity.

Most importantly, it is the consistency through which the customer will remain engaged and, over time, will remember the name and the brand’s message whenever they think of a particular product or service. Create a positive space within their hearts, and they will remember you for a long time.

If you want to offer your customers an enhanced experience while they visit your eCommerce store, ensure your online store is designed with an attractive template. Adding enriching color schemes can grab the visitors’ attention and compel them to opt for buying products. – Jay Ehrenfeld, Chief Marketing Officer at EZContacts

6. Associate your Band with Philanthropy

Many customers find the products they like, fill up their e-shopping carts, and leave them as they are for a later purchase.

At times they even forget they had even filled them up in the first place, and this can lead to a potential sale that was lost. So why not add a philanthropic angle into the mix? There are many e-commerce sites and stores that are connected with welfare organizations and NGOs, but they do not portray this on their sites.

Well, they should! By doing so and encouraging the customer to purchase the product so that it can be connected to their philanthropic action of the day, customers will always be more likely to purchase from you than from another organization with a similar product.

7. Automation is your Best Friend

There is a lot of software that can be integrated with your E-Commerce platform to connect with the customer even when they are not active on your platform.

Some of the automation software are as follows:

Customer Relationship Management tools such as HubSpot power your customer support, sales, and marketing with easy-to-use features like live chat, meeting scheduling, and email tracking.
Automation Tools to trigger the workflows, which will help with communication with the customers.
Use email marketing automation tools to trigger emails to your customers.
There are plenty of invoicing and accounting tools available as well, for managing the store’s numbers and sales.
Tracking and rewarding your customers will increase their retention rates by offering them points based on their level of activity on your portal and store. Adding a gift and or even free delivery can help to engage the customer for the future even further.

To help them decide better, we make the whole shopping experience easier. We provide them with the specifications of every product and color availability, so they can picture out which product will suit them and not be disappointed with their orders. – Ellie Shippey, Digital Marketing Specialist at Lumina, an e-commerce store and leading innovative equipment, cosmetics storage, and lighting seller

8. Feedback, Feedback, and Feedback

There are multiple points throughout the entire process where the customer can be prompted to give some sort of feedback to you.

From the time the goods are in the cart, to the actual point where the customer purchases the goods, to when they can receive them, and after the delivery, the post-usage experience.

Engaging the customer at various points, allows the store to generate data throughout this time. For example, to encourage reviews, you can set up the automated mail flows after a certain period, where honest feedback and links can help guide them to where they would be able to post their reviews.

The importance of client reviews cannot be overemphasized.

Consider that almost 88% of buyers use reviews to make purchasing decisions and will not purchase a product if it lacks positive ratings. Potential clients want the same excellent outcomes that past satisfied customers have had.

9. Target with Product Recommendations

The product recommendations are an extremely useful addition to any e-commerce store.

If you are going to be a first-time visitor to a website, the use of cookies would start collecting data from your movements throughout the pages and screens.

Initially, it would use the data from other customers and provide “Best Sellers” from the store to gauge what kind of interest you show.

By creating an account, the homepage would start building personalized advice based on previous visits. This can be extremely useful in finding out what the current trends are and what kinds of products are coming into and moving out of fashion.

By optimizing the marketing strategies, the right kinds of products will always be recommended to recurring customers.

We recommend experimenting with different product recommendation tactics on various pages to find which ones are the most engaging for your target audience. You might find that sharing your best-selling things on the homepage isn’t getting you the conversions you want, and that recommending recently seen items or a personalized selection of products based on past browsing habits gets you more conversions. – Luke Lee, Founder of PalaLeather

10. Multiple Payment Methods

With so many payment alternatives available today, keeping track of all the ways customers can meet their payment responsibilities to online businesses can be tough.

Some of the most popular (and up-and-coming) options for shoppers to pay for goods and services online include:

Most common methods of payment, including debit and credit cards (like Visa, MasterCard, and Discover)
Buy Now, Pay Later Options (like Instalments and PayPal Credit)
Cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Solana)
Digital Wallets (like Venmo, PayPal, and Apple Pay)

Many online business owners believe that selecting a single payment gateway or payment provider is all they need to do to get their e-commerce store up and running.

E-commerce success, in my opinion, requires a variety of payment choices. For starters, it helps to broaden geographical reach, which leads to a better client experience. Customers would not be left out if one of their payment options failed. It enables the buyer to explore many options and select the easiest payment option. Multiple payment methods, in my opinion, provide for a more pleasant experience and boost online sales. – Kenny Kline, President & Financial Lead at BarBend

Summary

This list is by no means exhaustive.

There are more ways than you can imagine through which a new or existing e-commerce store would be able to build and grow beyond its comfort zone and move ahead of the curve in gaining and retaining new and old customers.

The time to create your own space in the e-commerce industry is now.

With constantly evolving strategies and techniques, these points will be extremely crucial in taking your store to the next level.

So, what are you waiting for?

Time waits for no one, and neither should you!

Go ahead and build your new empire by following these techniques for growing your e-commerce stores and taking them to greater heights!

This is a guest post by Kruti Shah

Kruti Shah is a content writer and marketer at The Marketing Drama. She loves to write about insights into current trends in Technology, Business, and Marketing. In her free time, she loves baking and watching Netflix. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.

The post 10 Eye-catching Ways to Gain Attention to Your E-commerce Store appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Last-mile Carrier Tracking: A Competitive Edge for Your Ecommerce Business

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 09:34:25 +0000

Last-mile carrier tracking can be the most expensive and time-consuming part of your ecommerce business’ shipping and delivery process.

Adding fuel to the fire is your customers’ growing demands of wanting complete visibility into the last-mile process. However, meeting these demands is not as easy as it looks. This is primarily because ecommerce businesses hand over the reins of the last-mile and post-purchase to the shipping carrier.

Your shipping carrier on the other hand is already overwhelmed by their delivery volumes and has no interest nor commitment to your customer experiences (CX).

But before we take a look at how to get the best out of last-mile carriers and grow your business, let’s start from the basics.

What is a Last-mile Carrier?

A last-mile carrier is a shipping service provider that caters to your needs, particularly in the final leg of the delivery cycle.

The last-mile carrier can also constitute the other parts of the post-purchase customer journey, based on your requirements and their capacity.

The primary expectation of the last-mile carrier is to provide quicker delivery options such as same-day delivery and be cost-efficient. As an ecommerce business owner, you need to choose a carrier that brings out both. Here are some different last-mile carrier options to give you an idea.

Last-mile carrier options

There are multiple last-mile carrier options each with its pros and cons. You can pick one that best suits your business’ needs.

Single carrier method – Make use of major last-mile carrier providers such as FedEx, UPS, or DHL to fulfill your customers from end to end. Their experience and skill-sets can provide a guarantee for your packages to reach your customers’ doorsteps both quickly and safely. If your business is smaller, you can make use of smaller local or regional carriers.
Third-party logistics or 3PL – Make use of Third-party logistics (3PL) providers for complete solutions such as assembly, packaging, warehousing, and distribution. A reliable 3PL logistics process provider can maximize your profitability through their knowledge, expertise and resources.

Now that we’ve understood the basics of last-mile and carriers, it’s time to move on to how you can provide your customers with a great post-purchase experience, especially on the last mile.

For that, you’ll need to understand the challenges that arise due to the current state of last-mile delivery.

Challenges of last-mile deliveries

Increased costs – Last-mile deliveries aren’t always successful. 1-in-3 deliveries face issues such as shipping delays, delivery exceptions, failed deliveries, porch pirates, etc. This can lead to increased shipping costs in the form of unwanted returns, customer acquisition, and more.
Negative impact on your customer loyalty metrics – Over 55% of the customers won’t return to a brand after just one instance of a bad delivery experience. This can impact your customer loyalty metrics such as CRR (customer retention rate) and CLTV (customer lifetime value).

Don’t let these challenges worry you. There’s an easy way to handle them. All you have to do is to implement proper last-mile carrier tracking and gain a competitive edge for your business.

What is Last-mile Carrier Tracking and How Does it Provide a Competitive Edge?

Last-mile carrier tracking is nothing but gaining complete visibility into your last mile. It is the ability to track and trace the shipping carrier’s location and parcel status from the transportation hub to the designated destination.

93% of customers expect complete visibility while tracking their orders and viewing real-time shipping information and 47% of consumers will not shop again with a brand that does not provide order tracking visibility. Therefore, the importance of carrier tracking in the last mile is evident.

That’s not all! Last-mile carrier tracking also provides a multitude of benefits for your business and end-users.

Last-mile carrier tracking benefits for your customers

1. Complete transparency during order tracking

With the help of real-time visibility, make sure your customers can seamlessly track their orders via order tracking pages and know at a glance what’s happening with their orders in the last mile.

This gives them a sense of control of their orders and ergo, increases their CX during the order delivery phase.

2.Receive regular communication on order status updates and delivery events

Apart from enabling your customers to track their orders, you can as well send post-purchase transactional Emails and SMS notifications to keep your customers in the loop of their orders throughout the delivery lifecycle.

This can help in reducing your customers’ anticipations during the most anxious stage of their journey.

Last-mile carrier tracking benefits for your business

1. Resolve delivery issues proactively

Empower your support team to proactively resolve issues such as delivery delays, frequent WISMO calls, etc, and take preemptive action before such discrepancies impact your customers.

This can help in reviving customers’ trust in your brand.

2. Collect delivery feedback from customers

Get your customers’ feedback on their delivery experiences and understand customer satisfaction. You can then use this information to make better shipping decisions and optimize the experience as well.

This way, your customers will be impressed with your efforts and will prefer you to your competitors.

How Lateshipment.Com Can Help with Last-mile Carrier Tracking (and More!)

LateShipment.com is a unified cloud solution for everything post-purchase that helps you:

1. Identify shipments facing issues at a glance

View real-time shipping data across carriers, services, and delivery locations
Get predictive analytics of delivery delays identified for you

2. Resolve critical shipping incidents before they happen

Trigger automated tickets on your helpdesk
Easily spot shipments that may require attention in your dashboard
Send custom notifications tailored to specific situations

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

Send automated email and SMS shipping notifications
Seamlessly integrate with your email marketing tools

4. Leverage tracking moments to drive 25% repeat sales

Add an order tracking widget anywhere
Create custom branded tracking pages
Use tracking moments to drive sales via product recommendations, offers, marketing campaigns, etc

5. Decode customer sentiment and engagement

Measure how your customers are engaging with your brand post-purchase
Know from your customers the experience your brand delivered
Review carrier performance in the last mile and make better shipping choices

6. Audit shipping invoices and claim refunds

Effortlessly recover up to 20% of shipping costs through refund claims
Improve carrier performance by regularly collecting refunds

7. Manage returns effectively

Automate and make returns self-service to remove the hassle
Make returns profitable via exchanges and store credit options

Bottom Line

To make it easier for you to implement last-mile carrier tracking, you can make use of a post-purchase solution such as LateShipment.com that does all the heavy lifting on your behalf.

Interested? We at LateShipment.com can’t wait to help you grow your fanbase, savings, and business.

Get in touch with our expert or write to us.

Last-mile Carrier Tracking FAQs

What is a last-mile carrier?

A last-mile carrier is a shipping service provider that caters to your needs, particularly in the final leg of the delivery cycle. The last-mile carrier can also constitute the other parts of the post-purchase customer journey, based on your requirements and their capacity.

What is last mile tracking?

Last-mile carrier tracking is gaining complete visibility into your last mile by making use of your ability to track and trace the location and parcel status from the transportation hub to the designated destination.

What is last mile delivery management?

A last mile delivery platform or solution is a tool that helps in creating delightful delivery experiences for your ecommerce business in the last mile. With a last-mile delivery platform, you can not just meet but exceed your customers’ expectations. It helps you with a host of benefits such as real-time tracking, proactive communication, customer feedback recording, etc.

Why is carrier tracking in the last mile so important?

The last-mile is the most expensive and tedious part of the shipping and delivery process. Tracking your parcels in real-time and more can help you reduce costs and scale your business operations.

How to make the best use of last-mile carrier tracking

You can make the best use of last-mile carrier tracking by sharing real-time order updates with your customers via branded tracking pages and customer notifications. This can help you increase customer trust and make them repeat shoppers. Also, you can use last-mile tracking moments to collect customer feedback and know what they perceive of your brand.

The post Last-mile Carrier Tracking: A Competitive Edge for Your Ecommerce Business 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 Leverage Automation for Holiday Season Sales

Ian — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 07:46:16 +0000

The holiday sales season is often the most important for retailers. Researchers predict holiday ecommerce retail sales to make up 18.9% of total holiday sales this year, up from the year before. In 2020, retail ecommerce made up 17.5% of total holiday sales.

If retailers do not want to miss out on these sales, they must be in the selling channels where customers are spending their time.

It has never been more important for retailers and brands to be wherever the customer is, on their terms. Linnworks calls this Total Commerce.

Total Commerce means going to the customer rather than having the customer come to you. It means staying current on what channels customers are making their purchasing decisions. It’s difficult to constantly manage and keep up with these multiple sales channels. This is where automation comes in, putting Total Commerce control at the center of your business this holiday season.

The Power of Automating Inventory Management for Peak Season

One of the challenges high-growth retailers face is managing logistics through ever-expanding complex channels. Retailers must manage the orders, inventory, and shipping in multiple selling channels. The risk of human error greatly increases the more selling channels a business has when managing commerce manually.

Automation takes care of the management of these areas. Automation is especially important when you have high order volumes during the holiday season. For example, automation helps to solve one of the biggest problems retailers face: inventory management.

Successful inventory management is key to navigating the high-demand holiday season. Inventory management prevents stock-outs.

Stock-outs occur when retailers oversell their inventory. This can lead to a negative customer experience, lost revenue, and a permanently damaged reputation. Stock-outs are most likely to occur during sales surges, which is a common occurrence during the holiday season. This is where automation can be an invaluable asset to manage the stock levels of your inventory across all selling channels.

Get Your Products to Customers Easier and Faster With Shipping Management Automation

A shipping management system helps retailers decide what fulfillment method to use, and designate carrier services based on filtered criteria such as location or product information.

A system also allows you to manage the delivery experience of all of your orders, including being able to identify any delivery issues well before they happen. When you have this kind of insight, it helps you build long-lasting relationships with your customers by providing a positive delivery experience.

Moreover, a good shipping management system integrates well with third-party logistics companies to provide an immersive overall experience. 3PLs can handle the distribution, warehousing, and fulfillment of products.

3PLs can be extremely valuable to retailers because these companies have multiple fulfillment centers that are close to your customers, therefore decreasing the amount of time it takes to ship your products to your customers. Being closer to customers provides a huge advantage for retailers because it allows retailers to get their products to customers faster. 3PLs also save you money because you do not need to buy or rent warehouse space.

Manage Multiple Sales Channels in One Place with Automation

Automation helps retailers implement a successful sales channels strategy. Marketplaces are one type of sales channel and include well-known names like Walmart, eBay, and Amazon in an ever-growing area.

According to Linnworks, 90% of customers start their search for a product on a marketplace. In a consumer market where the winning retailers are wherever their customers are, wherever may seem like everywhere.

Each new marketplace is a possible selling channel to consider for a retailer. Marketplaces can be great for sales and also for more customers to find out about your brand. Automation helps you sell on all possible channels where your customers are spending their time, like marketplaces.

Accomplishing Total Commerce, being where your customers are, on their terms, is difficult to manage without automation. It has never been more important for retailers to be wherever their customers are, such as marketplaces.

Leverage the Power of Automation for the Holiday Sales Surge

Automation helps with your commerce operations while also helping you create a seamless, convenient customer experience.

Automation can consolidate selling channels, manage inventory across those channels, and coordinate shipping. Automation is the key to connecting your business to customers where they already spend their time, in a way that provides them a seamless experience, so that they will return again and again.

This article is a guest contribution from Linnworks

The post How to Leverage Automation for Holiday Season Sales appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

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.

The post Damaged Packages: How to Handle Them appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

The BIG Picture: Think Beyond Shipping Refunds and Claims

Joelah James — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 15:31:52 +0000

If I were to ask you what is at the centre of your entire business model, the best answer would be ‘the customer’.

But somewhere along the way, even the best of us seem to get sidetracked by the nitty gritty of running a business. Focus on the customer gets distorted into a multitude of different things that seem to simultaneously require your attention.

If you plan on surviving the highly competitive retail space, the not- so- linear line between pre purchase and post purchase strategy needs to be revisited. The last mile has now become the ultimate hurdle to overcome for any retailer.

Image: marketoonist

Meeting customer expectations demands crafting a unique and handcrafted experience. In the age of Amazon’s one day delivery, creating an exceptional last mile experience is the way to a customer’s heart.

Technology could be the best way to do this. For when necessity arises, the gods of tech always step in.

When shipping turns crippling

One of the major areas where being customer centric becomes problematic is shipping. A third party shipping carrier takes over the shipment, and you basically lose control of it right then and there till it reaches the customer. The waiting period is made more painful if there are agitated customer phone calls demanding to know the whereabouts of a package that already seems to have been delivered according to your logs.

The only way to counter the effect of handing over the reins to a shipping carrier is to constantly monitor them and hold them accountable for their performance. Considering the fact that your interests do not align, ensuring a great last mile delivery to every customer is something that rests on the retailer’s shoulders.

Ensuring better carrier performance

Holding carriers accountable for their performance can be achieved by filing claims for all eligible service failures committed by the carrier. This makes it expensive for them to commit errors, and therefore brings better performance to the table.

A manual audit of your shipping invoice is a laborious task (you might still miss something), so an automated audit would be the best bet when it comes to shipping. This is partly due to the fact that there are over 50 carrier errors you need to be aware of, and surcharges to add to it! Any of these might have been miscalculated or mistakenly billed into your invoice.

Considering all this, it is certainly wise to opt for an automated shipping invoice audit.

The big picture: Refunds or the last mile?

Let’s say you have an automated audit process in place. You might be using internal resources or an online tool, depending on what your business needs. The great thing about the audit would be that you don’t have to lift a finger to get the refunds that are rightfully yours. At the end of every month, you get the report along with a chunk of cash you otherwise would not have noticed you were missing out on.

Despite shipping refunds making you feel great and saving you quite a bit of shipping costs at the end of the day, the other side of the story is not that good for your business.

At the tail end of every refund you receive for a shipping carrier error, is a frustrated and angry customer whose order didn’t make it on time. Or whose order was damaged upon arrival.

When you look at it from a customer centric perspective, the joy of receiving refunds does not really cut it when an unhappy customer is on the line. Over 50% of customers rarely choose to shop from the same retailer again after a bad delivery experience. Repeat shoppers are another story altogether.

Providing a memorable last mile experience to customers needs to top your list in order to earn the trust of repeat customers and entice new customers to keep coming back for more.

The key herein is to have an eye on the refunds while your focus is on the bigger picture- the customer.

Two birds. One stone. Happy customers.

When we at LateShipment realised that the big picture was going out of focus to several retailers, we decided to create a solution that would ensure

Proactive prevention and addressing of last mile issues
Automated refunds and
Carrier accountability

This is how (LateShipment.com) Pulse was born. As a service, LateShipment.com strives to bring more trust and transparency to the world of shipping. This helps businesses predict and fix delivery exceptions even before they happen, working around existing shipping strategies.

The value of predictive softwares can possibly be measured only in proportion with increased customer retention per se. What makes this a wonderful resource for any retail business is that it equips more than one team to handle both customers and revenue.

The customer support team for instance, could be on top of all the orders that require immediate attention, and notify customers when a delay becomes inevitable. Or even send in a replacement for time sensitive deliveries when the predictive software shows that a delivery is not going to make it on time for that party!

The fulfilment team benefits from a predictive tool too. The data collected on the shipping carrier becomes a valuable resource to analyse and compare performance rates between carriers. It also comes in handy when negotiating prices with your carrier.

As for customers, it will not turn into a case of blaming the retailer for the carrier’s error. If informed well in advance and kept in the loop, their brand loyalty only tends to increase. They can also time their availability to collect the package, so that multiple delivery attempts are avoided.

Your business gets those coveted repeat customers, along with extensive data on the shipping carrier you use, plus the refunds! I guess that’s technically three birds then.

How Pulse works:

Like I said before, Pulse is our real time tracking dashboard that keeps track of multiple shipments (it tracks over 25000 packages at any given point of time). The tool uses around 150 data points to predict the course of any package that might deviate from the set path. Some of the major features of Pulse include,

Real- time tracking across multiple carriers on a single dashboard
Predicting delays beforehand
Pinpointing orders that require immediate attention
Estimated number of returns at any given time
Notifying customers in advance regarding delivery exceptions

When the customer comes first, the customer will last.

We realise that putting the customer first is vital to the success of any business (in theory). Bringing it to practice is an entirely new ball game. Not only does it require extensive strategic planning on your part, it also involves paying attention to the needs of a customer.

When it comes to shipping, around 60% of customers expect fast delivery options which they are willing to pay for. This makes it all the more critical for retailers to step up, proactively fix delivery issues, and explain the situation beforehand in case of unavoidable circumstances. Customers appreciate being informed and kept in the loop even if the there is a slight change in the schedule.

Your focus should therefore be on the trail of unhappy customers left behind each refund you retrieve, and not solely on the money. The revenue from returning customers will more than make up for the reduced number of shipping refunds you receive.

Minimizing the number of claims you dispute will automatically increase the number of repeat customers and help in building a loyal customer base.

The post The BIG Picture: Think Beyond Shipping Refunds and Claims appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Top 10 Shipping and Inventory Management Tools for SMBs

Ian — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 15:27:34 +0000

Retail has shifted significantly to online platforms today and there is no denying that. Amazon, Walmart and Alibaba have transformed retail in giant strides with some major help from technological aids. It is near impossible to stay afloat in the retail sector if your business doesn’t use the right tools to manage processes.

Larger retailers have their own custom built tools. For example, Walmart streamlines its internal processes and enhances customer experiences with its own technology incubator, Store No 8. Smaller retailers usually choose paid online tools that suit their needs.

Let’s take a look at retail tools that help with shipping and inventory in particular. 2018 has been witnessing some major trends in inventory management and shipping so far. People are confidently investing in these tools because they figure that it is an important area for optimization and enhanced customer experience. That’s not exactly surprising considering global retail E-commerce is estimated to hit $1800 billion this year. We’ve put together some of the tools that rule the roost with their multiple inventory management and fast shipping methods. With newer tools, retailers find that they can see use one platform/ tool to access all details on order fulfilment, barcode inventory and purchase management.

Top 5 tools for shipping

Fast delivery is a necessity to earn customer loyalty. Retailers have to work toward meeting this expectation using every tool in their arsenal, or signing up for an effective one. Several big retailers put a price tag on their custom built tools so that smaller players in the industry can make use of the tech. Amazon for instance, offers shipping help and all associated tools for the sellers listed on their site. Here are some of the most popular shipping tools making the rounds this year.

Ordoro

Ordoro tops most lists on retail tools. It is used by several small businesses to manage their shipping needs because of its affordability and efficiency. Pricing starts at $25 a month, and retailers get access to print shipping labels easily, audit, autofill shipping forms and select/compare shipping carriers suitable for their needs.

Image source: getapp

Why we love it

Affordably priced
Up to 67% discounted rates with USPS
Direct integration with shipping carriers
Drop shipping is available with select plans
Open API

FedEx Fulfilment

FedEx fulfilment is fairly new to the game having been introduced in early 2017. It helps smaller organizations with fulfilment needs by offering solutions for warehousing, packaging, fulfilment, transportation, and reverse logistics. The tracking facilities are excellent and all orders can be analysed in one place. FedEx makes it easy for retailers to not worry about competition with Amazon in FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon), and to fulfil international orders with ease in over 200 countries.

Why we love it

Full scale logistics services
Multiple channel order fulfilment
Suitable for ecommerce retailers of all sizes

Shippingeasy

Shippingeasy lives up to its name of making shipping easy, with its easy to avail automated shipping discounts and tracking service. Pricing begins at $29 per month for the basic version. Creating shipping labels takes no time with this app, and you can even customize your view of order details. Reviews of the app also boast an excellent support team who are available 24/7.

Image source: getapp

Why we love it

Seamless integration with major online marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, ebay, Squarespace, Shopify, etc.
The Autoship option
Absolute ease of use and customization

ShipBob

ShipBob offers order fulfilment services with same-day delivery in Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Dallas and Chicago. Anywhere else in the continental US, ShipBob can reach in 2 days. There is a free version of the software to manage inventory. ShipBob is the tool you should go for when you reach out to large cities for most of your orders. ShipBob also works out to be cheap when you ship large volumes, and provides analytics and extensive reporting that helps with business decisions.

Image source: getapp

Why we love it

Quick delivery within metropolitan areas
Easy integration with stores like ebay and amazon
Basic free version
Predictive data insights, optimized shipping

Fulfillify

Fulfillify is a tech platform that boasts several strategically placed smart warehouses and boasts an order accuracy of 99%. Fulfillify lets users track orders and manage inventory with any device, and is extremely mobile friendly. You get detailed reports warehouse locations, product arrivals, status and customer orders. Alerts are automatically generated when the inventory is running low.

Why we love it

Easy integration with existing carts and softwares
Full transparency over shipments
Mobile/Tablet Friendly

Top 5 tools for inventory management

Inventory Management involves well planned strategy, management and execution. Thankfully, there are some great tools available that can be of help. Inventory management tools usually handle shipping as well, so retailers can avail dual benefit. Investing in a good IM tool can help your ecommerce business (or other businesses where you need their services) function efficiently. Here are five of the best inventory management tools available in the market right now.

Unleashed

Unleashed is one of the best rated softwares for inventory management. Designed with small businesses in mind, Unleashed can be used from anywhere in the world. The system uses a cloud based dashboard that can provide the user with reports and details on revenue, stock, and profit. Moreover, the platform is very easy to use and is available from $85 a month.

Image source: getapp

Why we love it

Tracks stock in real time
Affordably priced

InFlow

InFlow effectively manages inventory by helping small businesses receive orders, reorder stock and manage products. Its ease of use is widely acknowledged, and the recent cloud based versions do not have the problem of integration that the earlier versions did. The best thing is the free version that is available for users who have just started a small business. So, one can make use of InFlow for free till they have requirements for the paid services.

Image source: getapp

Why we love it

Easy to learn and affordable
Basic free version

AdvancePro

If you are a small retailer using QuickBooks, you can go for AdvancePro without a second thought because you can integrate QuickBooks records with AdvancePro. AdvancePro boasts a set of tools that cater to high-performing inventory and warehouse management, which can be customized according to requirements. Integration with other platforms like EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is extremely simplified, and data can be exported to PDF files or Excel sheets. The pricing depends on the package you choose but it is definitely competitively priced.

Image source: getapp

Why we love it

High performance with QuickBooks
UPS/ FedEx shipping integration can be added

Goldenseal Accounting

Designed by Turtle Creek, Goldenseal Accounting features payable and receivable accounts along with billing, invoicing and inventory management. This tool’s specialty lies in cost job details. You can keep track of equipment hours, labor hours, materials purchased, leased contracts, etc, and even get notifications when you exceed your set budget. Multiple inventory accounts can be created and maintained with ease. Designed with construction firms and similar businesses in mind, Goldenseal inventories based on both cost and quantity. It is a little expensive, with the base version starting at $395.

Why we love it

Easy to use
Customizable depending on business needs
Easy import from Quickbooks

Zoho Inventory

Zoho Inventory is very well known as a go to inventory management application for small to midsize businesses. Its multi-channel versatility and inventory control make it one of the best tools for inventory management. Accuracy, efficiency and proficiency are guaranteed as zoho is one of the pioneers of outsourced inventory control. The price is affordable, beginning with a monthly fee of $29 for basic requirements, and $249 for professional packages.

Image source: getapp

Why we love it

Easily Customizable
Integrates with multiple ecommerce sites like ebay, etsy and amazon

The post Top 10 Shipping and Inventory Management Tools for SMBs appeared first on Lateshipment.com.