E-retailers: are you responsive enough when it comes to parcel tracking?
It is estimated that 91% of online consumers want to stay informed about the progress of their parcels throughout the delivery stages (Ifop 2016 study).
However, carriers attach little importance to the various interactions they can have with your customers. It is not a priority, since their activity is not linked to the messages sent, but only to the delivery of the products .
The challenge is not just to transmit information at the right time, but to use this opportunity to get closer to your customers, offering them personalised content that is relevant to the offers that are most likely to attract their attention.
Let's take a look at the advantages of bringing this type of communication in-house, with the help of tools that are adapted to the use of marketing automation.
1. Boost customer satisfaction
Sending regular messages about the progress of your parcels, at every stage, helps you to anticipate any questions or concerns your customers may have, and to build a relationship of trust.
It also underpins the improvement of customer satisfaction by focusing on four main areas: reducing the number of people you have to deal with, reducing the frustration associated with waiting for a response, avoiding unnecessary efforts to contact the carrier(s) or your support team and interacting via their preferred channel (text message, email, etc.).
For all these reasons, your customers will be more likely to order from your online shop again. And they'll remain loyal to your brand, because you've been able to reassure them and show that you' ve mastered every stage of the customer journey.
2. Increase your sales
The informative aspect of your messages is only one of the two sides of this form of communication. The commercial objective is to highlight additional and complementary products, i.e. suggest relevant offers based on past orders. But also the best sales and new products.
The aim is to build customer loyalty, by increasing their average basket and frequency of purchase.
Feedback from a number of SaaS marketing software applications demonstrates the positive sales momentum they generate. For example, transactional email and SMS software (email and SMS notifications) such as Wewmanager, Sendinblue, ExpertSender etc. show that the campaigns they run result in a 7% increase in additional sales. In fact, this sales approach takes advantage of consumers' prior interest in your emails, as demonstrated by the 67% open rate, again according to the same company.
3. Look after your (e)reputation
Improving customer satisfaction has a number of corollaries: they become ambassadors for your brand, you get less negative feedback on opinion sites or social networks (80% of e-buyers are more forgiving of delivery delays if they are given advance warning, according to a 2014 Ifop study). Your online reputation is therefore preserved.
You remain in customers' minds (with your logo, graphic charter, etc.), which acts as a bulwark against your competitors.
And it's also an opportunity to take care of your brand image with a specific narrative aimed at showing your credibility, generating support and positioning your e-commerce site.
4. Gain greater visibility
By centralising all your distributors on a single platform, you will gain a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in parcel delivery. Which carriers meet their delivery deadlines? For which types of product? Can you identify the pitfalls that lengthen delivery times? At what stages?
What's more, you can see the correlations between transport-related events (delays, damaged parcels, etc.) and customer satisfaction.
As a result, you'll be able to make better strategic decisions, such as choosing transport companies based on their performance or delivery options that don't put your visitors off: 50% of them abandon the shopping basket when it doesn't suit them (Toluna study). But also to establish relevant marketing campaigns based on observed behaviour.
5. Increase your productivity
Automated communication solutions make it easier to manage marketing campaigns according to pre-established scenarios. For example, promotional offers when parcels are late.
They require very little technical knowledge, and don 't need an entire team to ensure they run smoothly. One person trained in this type of platform is enough.
You send personalised messages across multiple channels, at the right time, with relevant information and suggestions.
The other advantage is that your after-sales team spends less time dealing with customer queries about delivery. You'll also reduce the cost of recruiting additional staff.
Conclusion
E-retailers have realised that they can generate additional sales and improve their customer relations and brand image by taking control of parcel tracking communications.
This approach enables them to enhance the customer experience by responding proactively to their expectations. To achieve these objectives, e-merchants use marketing automation tools, specifically designed to automatically send personalised messages.
Article translated from French