Resource Center/Article • 11/21/2024
Driving Customer Loyalty with Seamless Delivery Experiences
Discover how parcel spend management and innovative parcel solutions can enhance delivery performance, optimize costs, and drive customer loyalty with seamless shipping experiences.
In a world of fast shipping expectations, consumers want to see consistent delivery performance to maintain loyalty to the brands they love. To stay competitive, companies must position themselves to meet those expectations and provide a seamless delivery experience every time. Let’s dive into a few key ways to elevate your customer experience and increase brand loyalty.
What Do Consumers Really Want?
The 2024 Green Mountain Benchmark Report reveals that on average:
- 38% of customers in the pharmaceutical industry expect same day delivery
- 76% of manufacturing customers expect one-to-two-day delivery
- 48% of retail customers expect purchases delivered one-to-two-days after the order date
Of course, speed is great, but what happens when a package is delayed? Real-time tracking is crucial to improving customer loyalty and creating that seamless experience. Customers have peace of mind that their product is still on the way. They also understand that the shipper is focused on providing them with complete end-to-end visibility of the order-to-delivery experience.
A streamlined returns process is also vital for strengthening customer loyalty. No buyer wants to have to call or email the company to determine how to return the product if they are not satisfied. So, it’s essential to have information regarding the returns process (including shipping cost) easily available online. Likewise, the overall return shipping process should be smooth and affordable for the consumer. Case in point: 53% of the shippers surveyed in the 2024 Benchmark Report use Postal or Postal Insertion for their returns, with another 34% using Ground services.
Technology as a Customer Experience Driver
Advancements in technology have transformed the way businesses approach shipping, allowing for seamless, consumer-focused experiences that drive repeat purchases. Tools that forecast delivery times for customers based on service commitments and the distance from order fulfillment centers give customers confidence in knowing exactly when their purchases will arrive. The transparency provided by these solutions is critical in turning one-time shoppers into loyal customers.
Likewise, providing additional delivery options like store pickup, pickup lockers, or picking up at partner stores provides customers with greater flexibility. These can be strategic options to implement into your network for brand loyalty and for cost savings.
Best Practices for Balancing Customer Experience with Cost Optimization
Now, a customer’s experience is indispensable to their loyalty to your brand, but you must be careful that you don’t always sacrifice cost at the expense of customer satisfaction. Some companies elect to pay more in freight costs to ensure they have a more engaged and satisfied customer. Here are some best practices for reducing costs without sacrificing the overall customer experience:
- Use a Transportation Management System (TMS) to optimally source the package from the best fulfillment center or origin location prior to shipping the package. This will help reduce unnecessary costs associated with shipping from a less optimal origin (such as across country) and allow for better utilization of inventory in each location. This strategy is especially important with a multi-DC network.
- Broaden your carrier selection to ensure you have the right carrier for the right package and delivery experience. While some carriers may offer faster service, there are others that have little to no additional surcharges. This can greatly increase your cost savings for an equivalent service. It will also ensure you have flexibility during peak season for any unexpected volume shifts or carrier pricing changes.
- Leverage strategic partnerships to navigate these decisions intentionally and proactively. Green Mountain’s Parcel Spend Management solution is designed to transform shipping into your competitive advantage through tailored strategy, unparalleled market intelligence, and a dedicated team of tenured experts.
- Ensure you have optimized box sizes. We have all received a shipment that had a large amount of empty space inside. This is a waste of money and can even delay the shipment if it is too big. Optimizing your box sizes can cut down on extra surcharges like Additional Handling and Oversize, as well as reduce the overall cost. When a carrier measures and weighs the package, if the dimensional weight (calculated by formula below) is greater than the actual weight of the package, this dimensional weight will become the billable weight from the carrier.
Achieving Optimal Results
Tapping into tailored insights and accessing expert strategists can transform your shipping operations. Our team works with the world’s top brands to improve costs and enhance the customer experience by tracking on-time delivery performance, uncovering blind spots in your network, and optimizing your delivery performance. By focusing on long-term value (not just immediate savings), we help ensure your shipping operations remain a competitive advantage and foster customer loyalty time and time again.
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