While the concept of meal prep may be fairly new to some, countless people have rapidly adopted it. The pandemic impacted the need for meal prepping since people were mostly working from home and making their own food. But with people returning to work and to school, there will surely be a significant increase in the need for food delivery.
However, as the meal prep industry is becoming more competitive, you'll want to stand out from competition by offering impeccable service, from ordering to delivering. Customers are now used to being delivered to and have become less tolerant of delays or disturbances.
A Linnworks study recently revealed that 76% of shoppers said convenience is one of their top priorities, and 45% said they were more influenced by convenience than by price.
In this blog post, we will focus on the delivery experience, which is sometimes neglected by meal prep businesses but essential for increasing customer satisfaction. Here are some ways to improve your delivery service and leave a good impression on your customers:
Avoid traffic and increase daily deliveries
As a meal prep business, you are delivering something essential: food. Many people rely on your services to get their meals for the week. Therefore, it is important that your meals arrive on time so customers have their breakfasts, lunches or dinners ready for the week.
The reason people love meal prep is because it saves them time. However, if your meals arrive late, your customers will be forced to cook or buy something to eat, which is exactly what they hoped to avoid. Also, you don’t want the meals to be on the road for too long, especially when it’s hot outside. You’ll want to keep them as fresh as possible.
That being said, avoiding traffic and dispatching orders efficiently can be challenging and generate a lot of stress, especially if you’re doing everything yourself. This is why many meal prep businesses use delivery software that has a powerful route builder in order to create complex routes, dispatch orders efficiently, and increase daily delivery amounts.
Route builders make it very simple. Management operators will look at the orders scheduled for the day and select the areas where they have to dispatch drivers. In just a few clicks, they will be able to plan deliveries for the day and even beyond that. Because delivery software route builders use real-time data, your drivers will always be on the fastest route.
Allow customers to track their deliveries
As you’ve probably noticed, customers can get impatient while they are waiting for their food, especially if they depend on your services for all their meals of the week. They may want to take their meal prep to work the next day so they won’t have to make or buy lunch. As a result, they may be anxious when they order because they are unsure if their meal will arrive on time.
Some delivery software will offer your customers a live tracking option. That way, customers can track their meals in real time and know precisely when they will arrive, making their delivery experience more enjoyable. It is also beneficial for your drivers, as your customers are much more likely to be there to receive the meals.
This also allows customers to send instructions to the driver, such as where to put the package if they are not there, or to warn them of any disturbance, such as loud pets or broken doorbells. If they live in a building with a buzzer, they can also give the code to the driver so they won’t have to go downstairs to pick up their order.
Get more reviews on your social media and increase brand loyalty
Being in the meal prep industry, you’ve likely noticed that social media plays a huge role in your brand’s reputation and business growth. People appreciate seeing photos of the food and will check out your social media before they order from your company. If they see you have a high number of positive reviews, it can impact their decision to buy from you.
Therefore, it can be helpful to use social proof on those platforms. But how can you get more reviews? Some delivery software has an SMS/email review system that will allow you to accumulate more customer reviews. They send an SMS or email upon delivery completion to ask your customers what they thought about your service. It is important to ask for reviews at the right time, and doing so right after customers have received their order is most efficient.
You should now have a clearer understanding of the essential steps you need to take to automate your delivery operations. But the most important thing is to offer a seamless and outstanding delivery experience to stand out from the competition.
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, book a demo today.
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