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E-commerce sales increase considerably around the holidays. With their busy schedules, people don’t always have time to go shopping for their Christmas gifts, and many prefer to order online from the comfort of their own homes.
Many companies offer delivery, which makes ordering gifts online easier. However, because people expect to receive their packages before Christmas, they are less tolerant of any disruption or delay to their order and won’t care that you have a large volume of deliveries. For them, you have to be ready to provide good service.
This is why it is important to make the experience of Christmas online shopping easy for customers in order to increase satisfaction and also trust in your brand. Here are the different steps you should follow if you wish to offer a seamless experience to your customers:
Step 1: Make online shopping as simple as possible
There are many elements along the customer’s buying journey that can dissuade them from purchasing your products. And you need to make sure that none of those issues come up while they are shopping online.
Improve your website’s UX. A slow website speed, glitches, error pages, long information forms, non-visible CTAs, and so on — the user experience is an important factor to consider if you want people to buy your products.
Make sure everything makes sense. Customers should be able to easily find the products they are interested in. They should be able to use filters to narrow down their search, speeding up the process. Your site shouldn’t ask for too much information, and it should offer customers different ways to purchase. Ensure your website loads fast enough so that customers don’t have to wonder what they should do next if they want to proceed to place an order.
Provide as much information about the product as possible. When people purchase something online, there is a fear that the product will not meet their expectations as they haven’t seen it. To reduce this fear, you will have to give as much information as you can about your products. Download as many photos as possible, give details about materials, dimensions, and security, and make suggestions on how they can use them.
Make it easy to return or exchange orders. When shopping for Christmas gifts, people will sometimes pick the wrong size product and will ask to exchange it or be reimbursed. The return policy should be not only simple but also visible when customers are about to purchase a product on your website, as it could considerably reduce the anxiety of buying online. Customers are usually worried about the product meeting their expectations, and 70% of online shoppers check the return policy before ordering something online. Therefore, make sure that they know they can return or exchange products to make the buying decision easier for them.
Step 2: Plan ahead of time and optimize delivery routes
Once your customers have ordered online, you will have to make sure they keep the good impression you most likely gave them when they purchased your product.
Customers will expect their order to arrive quickly, and they won’t be pleased with delays. That’s why it is important to ensure that your delivery process is well-organized in order to keep everything in order and deliver packages efficiently.
Build routes and dispatch drivers intelligently. Time spent on road planning can be very time-consuming and stressful, especially if you do it manually. You are more likely to make mistakes with customers’ packages when you have high volumes of orders.
This is why many companies have chosen to automate their deliveries with a delivery software. Some are equipped with a powerful route builder that allows them to go from two hours to a few seconds to build your routes. Not only will you be able to save time on route planning, but you will also be able to plan ahead so that you have fewer things to do at the last minute.
Optimize your routes. Route builders will also optimize your drivers’ routes in real-time, considering traffic, and your customers will receive an update to inform them of any delays, meaning they won’t have to call customer service to find out where their package is.
Communicate with your drivers. If you have a delivery software, you will be able to keep track of your deliveries and give your drivers instructions in real-time. This could be useful if you notice a mistake has been made (wrong delivery time slot, missing item, etc.), but it is also for them to advise you of any disturbance, such as a truck that has broken down or a missed delivery.
Step 3: Provide your customers with real-time tracking
While customers tend to feel anxious before they receive their package, they are likely to have even more anxiety if it’s a Christmas gift. Customers want to get their package before Christmas as they’ve ordered presents to give to their loved ones, and as time goes by, they will become more and more worried about when their order will be delivered.
Give them more visibility into their delivery status in order to provide the best delivery experience and differentiate yourself from competitors. One of the most efficient ways to do so is by allowing customers to track their order. Choose a delivery software that offers live tracking, showing your customers where their parcel is in real-time. This will greatly reduce their anxiety as well as the number of calls your customer service receives. Customers will likely appreciate your transparency and the ability to plan their day ahead accordingly.
Step 4: Get proof of delivery once the parcel is delivered
With high volumes of deliveries, you will have to ensure that all the packages have been properly delivered if you don’t want to deal with angry customers calling to complain about not receiving their parcel.
This is why it is necessary to request proof of delivery when a parcel is delivered. That way, you will have proof that customers received the product, and you will be able to keep track of missed deliveries. When customers are not there to receive packages, you can ask your driver to take a photo of the door with the app as proof that they attempted delivery at a specific time.
Step 5: Report any damaged deliveries as soon as possible
As people order presents for their loved ones around the holiday season, they will be even more upset than usual with a damaged delivery. Therefore, it is essential for your company to be reactive and offer solutions quickly to fix the issue. Make sure your delivery software allows your drivers to snap photos of damaged orders in the app so that you can be notified immediately with all the customers’ information.
This will prevent your drivers from wasting time and being late with their deliveries as you will be able to give them instructions on what to do. It might also reassure your customers to see your reactivity, and they will certainly appreciate that you care about fixing the problem and making sure that they get their replacement.
Step 6: Collect feedback on your social media platforms
With more and more e-commerce companies flourishing and offering products that customers can’t see before they purchase them, customer reviews have become an important part of the buying journey. As customers might be worried about the quality of your product, they will look for feedback from other customers that have purchased it.
There are some easy ways to gather good reviews. One of the easiest ways is to send a feedback request. But timing is essential, and you want to send it when customers are most likely to do it and write positive things about your brand.
Some delivery software has a review system that sends a request as soon as the delivery is completed. Your driver delivers the package, and a few minutes later, your customers receive an email or SMS asking them what they thought of their experience with your brand. If the buying and delivery processes went relatively smoothly, customers would be more likely to give you a positive review. You will get a notification if you receive a negative review, which will allow you to respond quickly and possibly help a dissatisfied customer.
Looking for the right delivery software to automate your Christmas deliveries? Meet Cigo Tracker
CIGO Tracker is a best-in-class, cloud-based platform to increase deliveries, service calls, and pick-ups for your business. It scales as you need it and provides a state-of-the-art, “last mile” delivery experience that will thrill your customers.
Driven by innovation, an unwavering commitment to customer service, honesty, and trust, CIGO delivers the best, most flexible delivery tracking software in the industry.
At CIGO, we are always on the lookout for new features that we can add to our delivery software to improve your daily operations. If you would like to learn more about our delivery software.
