While you can control everything about your product, the fact is that you cannot control Delivery. It is impossible to manage shipping on your own, especially if you ship outside your region. So, the larger your network, the more you have to depend on a third party vendor.

Generally, when we run quality audits and analyse customer satisfaction, we tend to look only at what is within our control. A shipment Delay messes with customer experience. And from the customer’s perspective, if his shipment arrives later than promised, he blames the brand and not the Shipper. Quick delivery and transparent shipping operations greatly influences customer’s perception of the brand.

Let’s say a customer orders swimming gear before vacation, but the shipping delay causes him to leave for his vacation before receiving his purchase. However good your site is, however good your product is, however much your customer likes the product, one thing remains. His customer experience is ruined by the shipper. And however much you apologise and show him that you shipped the order on time, he’s not going to come back for another purchase.

More importantly, the unhappy customer might take to social media and let other potential customers know about the poor service. For no fault of yours, your brand suffers a bad reputation. And this is after you have spent time, effort and money acquiring a customer. All thanks to a shipper goof up of your shipment, your customer loses trust and turns to your competitor.

In case of delivery issues where the product arrives damaged or is lost, some companies will dismiss all responsibility and will refer the customer to the shipping company for resolution. But even then, the customer doesn’t blame the shipper.

So how can a shipper salvage the situation and save their brand image.

1. Make an attempt to join forces with the customer to make sure the shipper pays for his fault. As far as the customer is concerned, it should be the seller’s task to track the shipping details and resolve shipping issues. By holding your shipping carrier accountable, the incidence of late deliveries can be considerably reduced.

2. If you ship considerable volume regularly, it is impossible to keep track of every shipment you send out. Automated tracking software alerts you the moment there is a detour in the shipment’s path to destination. The shipper can immediately notify the customer of the possible delay in the shipment thereby offering a complete transparency to his package information.

3. Freebies and discounts could be added to appease a customer who is miffed about delay in package delivery. This is likely to pacify an angry customer and deter him from tarnishing your brand image in social media platforms.

4. By integrating with real time tracker like LateShipment Pulse, you could dispatch a replacement as soon as you are notified of a suspected lost packages. Your business could craft an amazing customer experience by giving him the first hand knowledge of the package location and proactively making smarter logistic decisions.

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