Discussing the importance of a high-quality delivery service for businesses, detailing common last-mile delivery complaints from customers such as unclear delivery times and long delays.
Whether you provide home delivery as a your main area of business or just as an additional service to your customers, the quality of your delivery service will have an impact on your bottom line. Meeting or exceeding your consumers’ last-mile delivery expectations will keep them coming back for more and, hopefully, will attract new customers to order from you. A bad delivery experience, on the other hand, can cost you the receiving customer’s business as well as the business of their family and friends.
In this post, you’ll learn about four of the most common last-mile delivery pet peeves, as well as strategies you can take to keep your delivery clients pleased.
Delivering a great customer experience is critical to success in today’s world. Customers now have access to a wide range of merchants both locally and online, giving them plenty of options when deciding who they want to to buy from. Local companies and internet merchants are no longer competing just on the availability and price of their products. Instead, today’s shopper considers a number of aspects when selecting a purchase. Every company’s customer experience has become a significant differentiator.
Every touchpoint matters, from the simplicity with which customers can locate the things they want to buy to the level of customer support they receive. One of those important touchpoints for many customers is their last-mile delivery experience.
Customers who are satisfied with their delivery experience are more inclined to spend more money with that company. Customers who are happy with their delivery experience will tell their family and friends 82% of the time.
The delivery options and quality of delivery services offered by a store have an impact on whether or not a consumer will make a first purchase and whether or not they will return. The delivery experience of your consumers can have a big impact on your company’s profitability.
By meeting and exceeding your customers’ expectations, you may avoid customer delivery complaints and provide a better experience.
In today’s economy, meeting customers’ expectations entails more than just delivering the things they’ve requested. The last-mile delivery landscape has changed due to a growth in online purchase options and consumers’ knowledge with their options, as well as Amazon’s drive to shorten consumer delivery cycles. While low-cost or no-cost delivery is a must, it isn’t enough to impress buyers. Providing rudimentary last-mile delivery services does not delight or amaze. Your delivery service must provide more to keep existing clients and acquire new business.
So what can you do to keep up with the growing demands of your customers? They expect convenience and reliability from you, whether you provide independent last-mile delivery services or provide delivery as a purchase incentive. Transparency and flexibility are important to them. Customers are willing to pay more and buy more frequently with firms who meet or exceed their delivery expectations, as opposed to businesses that do not.
Now, let’s take a look at some of the things that clients dislike the most about last-mile delivery.
Consumers don’t want to have to wait all day for a delivery or be concerned that their things will arrive on a day when they aren’t available to receive them. When asked to name their top three last-mile delivery wishes, 48 percent of consumers stated they wanted a choice of delivery slots, making this the most popular feature in the poll.
When a consumer makes a purchase, they don’t want to have to wait long for it to arrive. According to a consumer poll in the United States, 40% of people anticipate local retailers to deliver home goods the same day. According to a separate survey, 55% of customers stated they would move to a competitor if it offered faster delivery choices.
Uncertainty is unpleasant for most individuals, especially when it concerns the status of something they’ve previously paid for. Did the order go through without a problem? Is the shipment still missing? How much longer will I have to wait for it? When a last-mile delivery driver is late or a problem with their package emerges, they want to know what is going on, how the problem will be resolved, and when it will be resolved. Unanswered questions cause unnecessary stress for your customers.
Deliveries made to the incorrect address. Packages that have gone missing. Pirate theft on the porch. Customers that get last-mile deliveries are not happy in these instances. Package theft is a major concern for delivery customers, and they want to know what you’ll do to avoid it. According to a 2019 survey on package theft, 36 percent of American customers have had at least one box stolen, and 56 percent know someone who has been a victim of porch pirate. When they are expecting a delivery, half of the consumers polled indicated they avoid the danger of theft by staying at home.
When your delivery service focuses on the issues that matter most to your consumers, both you and the customer benefit.
Our list of the most common consumer delivery complaints how to minimize the issues and exceed your customers’ expectations. Customers demand more control over when their deliveries arrive, as well as greater transparency throughout the process. Flexibility and transparency are important to them. With route management technology, you can give them exactly what they want.
So, how might a route management program help you provide a better delivery experience?
Attempting to manually adapt for variable delivery schedules takes too much effort, and the results are frequently unsatisfactory for you or the consumer.
Instead of telling your clients that their product will come on Friday or next week, you can delight them by allowing them to book their delivery for a specific time block on the day of their choice, and use a route management application to schedule those routes.
Traditional route planning approaches do not necessarily produce the most efficient and cost-effective results. Inefficient routes waste time and money, limiting the amount of same-day deliveries you can provide.
You may increase the number of customers you can service while lowering delivery costs by arranging your routes to maximize the capacity and reach of each vehicle in your fleet. This is a win-win situation for both you and your customers.
A single hiccup in a driver’s route can result in products being delivered later than expected, leaving consumers wondering what went wrong. Remember how much delivery customers despise the unknown? You can reduce the impact of last-mile delivery disruptions on your clients by using a route management solution that allows you to notice traffic delays and other difficulties and make real-time adjustments.
You must also inform your consumers when there is fresh information about their product or its expected delivery date. Provide self-service options for your consumers, such as a dedicated delivery status website for checking their items’ progress. Then, if there’s a change in plans for their delivery, keep them informed via notifications. Customers who order last-mile delivery services expect to be kept informed.
For a better customer experience, 66.5 percent of consumers believe retailers should give a delivery tracking website. If there is a problem with their delivery, 98.8% of shoppers would prefer to be notified.
Consumers do not want to sit at home all day waiting for their delivery to arrive. The less time your consumers have to wait and watch, the more satisfied they will be with their last-mile delivery experience. Giving your customers the option of different delivery windows, package tracking, delivery notifications and photo and signature proof of delivery, gives them the tools they need to avoid theft.
Use a route management application that allows you to collect signatures from your drivers and even include images and timestamps as proof of delivery.
With a comprehensive route management solution like EasyRoutes, you can give your consumers additional options and improve communication. It also provides you with the data and tools you need to better your services and run them more efficiently.
Try EasyRoutes free for 14 days to see for yourself how route management technology solution can help you produce better results.
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.
