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7 Best Delivery Route Apps for Small Businesses in 2024

Exploring the best routing software for small businesses, underscoring the need for features beyond just maps and navigation.

Your all-in-one local delivery app for Shopify

There is a plethora of routing software on the market that provides optimized routes. Businesses, on the other hand, require more than just route maps and navigation. Small businesses want delivery route apps with cutting-edge features like geofencing for defining geographical boundaries, driver tracking, proof of delivery, and comprehensive customer support.

This article will look at some of the best small business routing software. We’ll also go over important features for small business owners, as well as how routing software can help them with those features.

Table of Contents

  • What does a Delivery Route App do?
  • Top 7 Routing Apps For Small Businesses Doing Deliveries
  • Delivery Route App Features Small Businesses Need
  • The Benefits of using A Delivery Route App for your Business
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
  • Let a Delivery Route App Do the Heavy-Lifting for You

What does a Delivery Route App do?

Routing software is a delivery planning and optimization tool used by companies with sales representatives, field service workers, or companies that provide goods delivery services. It aids in delivery route planning, dispatching, fleet management, and daily delivery schedules.

Routing software is also known as delivery management software or route optimization software. Offers you optimized routes and manages delivery operations with the help of advanced algorithms and digital mapping.

Top 7 Delivery Route Apps For Small Businesses Doing Deliveries

The best routing software for small businesses that provide delivery services are listed below:

EasyRoutes

EasyRoutes is a cloud-based route planning software for Shopify that allows businesses to quickly and seamlessly create efficient delivery routes they can deliver themselves or share with drivers. EasyRoutes is built with a human-centered design approach that prioritizes your experience and ease-of-use.

Advantages

  • A user interface with a human-centric design that is extremely simple to use.
  • A cost-effective pricing plan for small and medium-sized businesses

Drawbacks

  • No text notifications are sent to users (but this is coming soon!)

Badger Maps

Badger Maps is a delivery route app designed to assist sales reps in the field and help them perform their jobs more efficiently. It creates a mapping solution that connects customer accounts and sales routes. It has some useful features that you’d look for in field service management software or a field sales and service platform.

Advantages

  • It was created specifically for field sales reps and assists the sales team in staying in touch with them.
  • Good UI

Drawbacks

  • Badger Maps is expensive software with no drag-and-drop scheduling.

WorkWave Route Manager

WorkWave Route Manager is a web-based route planning tool that allows you to create the most efficient and fastest routes in minutes. Planning, routing, and GPS are made easier with features like violation alerts, drag-and-drop scheduling, and assigning last-minute orders.

Advantages

  • The process of importing and exporting data is simple.
  • It recognizes barcodes, which is a crucial feature for many delivery companies.

Drawbacks

  • The optimization speed, as well as the filtering options, could be improved.
  • For those who aren’t as tech-savvy, it’s difficult to use.

OptimoRoute

Service technicians can use OptimoRoute, a cloud-based route planning software, to plan efficient routes and manage work orders. It includes features such as Live Tracking and ETA, RealTime Order Tracking, and Proof of Delivery.

Advantages

  • After the route has been created, it is simple to manually adjust delivery points.
  • Customers should be notified via email when the driver arrives for support and communication purposes.

Drawbacks

  • The software’s user interface appears to be old and outdated.
  • For proof of delivery, there are no SMS notifications or customer signature capture.

Circuit

Circuit Route Planner is a multi-stop route planning and optimization software that allows you to take control of your delivery operations by providing best-in-class route optimization, accurate ETAs, and driver tracking. Circuit is a single platform that includes video, voice messaging, screen sharing, and file sharing.

Advantages

  • Screen sharing, video conferencing, and Outlook integration are all useful features.
  • A good software solution for a team that is geographically dispersed.

Drawbacks

  • Circuit is a costly piece of software.
  • There is no way to remove conversations from the system. This can often result in a cluttered dashboard.

OnFleet

Onfleet is a cutting-edge delivery management system that aids in the planning and execution of local delivery tasks. It provides a real-time web dashboard for drivers, as well as an intuitive mobile app with features such as automated SMS notifications and driver tracking.

Advantages

  • The web dashboard has a fresh look and provides a wealth of information.
  • Real-time delivery tracking allows a company to keep track of drivers and tasks.

Drawbacks

  • A driver has no way of cancelling or rejecting a task.
  • You won’t be able to look for a specific driver or recipient.

Route4Me

Route4Me is a simple route planning software that assists small and mid-sized businesses in managing delivery drivers and creating daily delivery schedules. Every day, Route4Me saves time and money for the field sales team, service technicians, and delivery drivers.

Advantages

  • Route4Me is a good user experience that accurately locates stops and provides weekly reports for deliveries and service calls.
  • Users can export mapping results to their database with Route4Me.

Drawbacks

  • For route sequencing, users must click through a number of screens.
  • Completed stops for the day are sometimes erased. It leads to the incorrect data being recorded.

Delivery Route App Features Small Businesses Need

Dynamic Multi-Stop Route Planning

One of the major features that every small business can expect from routing software is multi-stop route planning. Users can easily adjust and add changes to routes with dynamic multi-stop route planning without having to recreate the entire route.

ETAS & Scheduling

Scheduling and ETAs are features that make it easier to create delivery routes and change delivery schedules. As a result, the entire process of route planning and optimization becomes more interactive.

Proof of Delivery

A useful feature is proof of delivery in the form of images, customer signatures, driver notes, and so on. It informs the company about a product’s successful completion or delivery. It can be saved and accessed at any time in the backend.

Customer Notifications

Customer notifications are crucial for enhancing customer service and the overall customer experience with your company. With customer notifications, the software provides regular updates to customers on the status of their orders, including whether they have left for delivery, are in transit, or have arrived at their final destination.

Syncing Across Multiple Platforms

It’s critical to have an app that works across multiple platforms, such as the web, Android, and Apple devices. This is all about convenience and adaptability. Various companies employ various systems. The software must be capable of working on all popular platforms and adaptable enough to do so.

The Benefits of using A Delivery Route App for your Business

Route Optimization Management

By filling more work orders and making more deliveries per route, a small business will perform better when they use a delivery route app. Small businesses will save time and money on operations by using accurate route optimization, and they will be able to redirect that time and money to business functions that require immediate attention.

Automated Delivery Planning Process

Manual delivery planning necessitates a significant amount of time and attention. Within minutes, routing software performs all of the complex calculations and adjustments automatically. One of the most valuable assets we have is our time. Businesses cannot afford to waste time on tasks that can easily be completed by an algorithm. You can use the time you save to place more orders or respond to customer inquiries.

More Orders Can Be Accommodated

Drivers will be able to fill the time saved with more work orders if routes are properly optimized. Drivers will be able to easily manage new work orders or even urgent additions to work orders if routes are properly planned using a delivery route app. Business managers can keep track of how long it takes to complete a delivery, and if there is any spare time on the drivers’ schedule, it can be filled.

Reduced Operating Costs

The drivers are better managed with routing or delivery fleet management software. It results in significant cost savings in terms of operations, fuel, and payroll. Not only will routing software lower operating costs, but it will also increase revenue per driver. Route optimization aids small businesses in reducing high operational costs without sacrificing service quality.

Manage Delivery Constraints

Delivery route apps make it simple to accommodate and manage routes based on delivery constraints such as the number of vehicles, the maximum number of stops per route, the maximum distance per vehicle, and the route duration. Your routes are optimized by routing software based on the delivery constraints you specify for each route plan.

Increased Productivity

Unproductive drivers or routes can be identified using routing software. There is a close watch on how the drivers perform and complete their daily deliveries thanks to the application of delivery constraints to the routes and better planning and organization of the stops. It is made possible by real-time driver tracking. The driver’s overall productivity improves as a result of this.

Increased Customer Satisfaction

Customer reviews and excellent customer service are not exclusive to delivery behemoths such as Amazon. Small businesses must realize that a positive or negative customer experience has an impact on their bottom line. Customer experience is formed by features such as email notifications, SMS notifications, real-time ETAs, instantly solving customer queries, synchronizing mapping data with customer data, and timely deliveries.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do delivery route apps work?

An advanced algorithm is used by a delivery route app to create an optimal order of routes that covers all specified stops in the shortest amount of time.

How do you make a delivery route more efficient?

Finding the shortest distance between two points is only part of the equation when it comes to route optimization. When planning a route, keep in mind factors such as speed, real-time traffic, and time windows.

What’s the best way to route multiple locations?

Route planning software that considers real-time data to find the shortest distance between stops and helps you save time and money is the best way to create an efficient route with multiple locations.

Let a Delivery Route App Do the Heavy-Lifting for You

Having the right delivery route app will allow small business owners to capture a significant portion of the local market. Small to mid-sized businesses that perform logistics functions will undoubtedly benefit from routing software’s route management and optimization features, whether they are involved in e-commerce, food delivery, or field sales.

We hope this article has assisted you in determining which tools appear to be more appropriate for your business and how they meet your specific needs.

Get EasyRoutes on the Shopify App Store

Learn more about EasyRoutes at Roundtrip.ai.

About Roundtrip

Roundtrip's mission is to equip every business with the software tools they need to deliver products to their customers in a delightful way. Thousands of Shopify merchants worldwide choose EasyRoutes to power their local deliveries across dozens of product categories, from meal kits and groceries to coffee, cupcakes, kibble, and so much more. Our easy-to-use route planning and delivery optimization app is certified Built for Shopify, a two-time Shopify staff pick, and the top rated local delivery app on the Shopify App Store.

"The app has simplified our delivery workflow significantly and allows us to be significantly more efficient in our delivery and also reduce human error thanks to its direct integration with our Shopify Store. We deliver to a large geographical area and the routing works well with our large list of delivery locations. The drive app that pairs with this is simple, clean and easy to use. Our customers have already expressed how much they love having tracking information and estimated arrival times."
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