The one thing that is out of the control of many ecommerce businesses is delivery. You can manage website usability and customer service, but if you use Royal Mail and/or couriers to deliver your orders, then it’s very difficult to control quality of service once the parcels have left your business.
A recent Which? survey highlighted the issues concerned and noted that 7% of customers are unhappy with deliveries. Sadly, poor delivery service will most likely reflect on the ecommerce website that supplied the goods rather than the courier itself.
Here are some tips to help you manage the quality of your delivery service:
- Choose your courier company carefully, there’s lots of them out there and quality is variable. Our experience with ecommerce website clients is that they typically go through several until they find a good one. To avoid this, do your research, ask lots of questions and ensure that your choice deals with similar goods. Don’t just choose the cheapest!
- Consider using two companies; one local (which can offer a cost-effective option) and one non local operator for nationwide deliveries. If you deliver overseas, you may need a third carrier!
- At your checkout give clients the option to complete special instructions that indicate where a parcel can be left if there is noone in, for eg. ‘leave with neighbour at no 17′ or ‘place behind coal bunker’. This will reduce the number of failed deliveries.
Special Instructions
- Offer delivery to a work address where there is always someone to receive a parcel.
- If you sell high value goods then use a proof of delivery service although this will be more expensive.
- If you have a customer complaining about delivery and this is valid, deal with it by refunding the delivery charge or offering a discount. Addressing customer issues effectively may mean this customer comes back to you. Think long term customer value……
- If you use Royal Mail and don’t already have a back-up delivery service, think seriously about this for 2010 as more strikes seem to be on the cards.
- Consider using Collect Plus which is operated by Home Delivery Network. This allows goods to be delivered to a local newsagent/general store (returns can also be handled via this network).
Collect Plus
