In an age where customer loyalty is the difference between a business and a household brand, retailers cannot afford to ignore their customers once they’ve made their purchase. Implementing relevant post–purchase communications during the delivery process allows brands to keep their customers informed and in turn build brand loyalty.
The delivery process is the most emotional part of the customer journey for online customers. Every time you shop online, your goal is not only to look at great product images or to enjoy a smooth checkout. Customers want to receive their order as quickly and conveniently as possible.
But for many online retailers, after clicking on the order button, customer communication stops. Your customers want to know whether the order is already on it’s way, where the package is located and when it will be delivered. Most often your customer is being informed of these updates by your logistics provider – and usually these updates are hard to understand. This results in customers calling your customer service line and asking the same question: “When will my package arrive?”
Returns have the same issue: a small receipt from the post office is all the customers receive when they send their items back to the retailer. Whether the package has arrived back at the warehouse and when they will get their refund, remains a mystery for many customers.
Delivery messages score points with over 70 percent opening rates
An average of 70 percent of customers click on a retailer’s delivery message. This demonstrates how excited customers are about their purchase. Your customers want to know when their package is arriving. Marketers can only dream of open rates that high.
Retailers can proactively use this exceptional customer attention after the purchase – and in fact several times. Because every relevant step in the delivery process offers the chance of a new message and engaging your customers with new content. Retailers can say „thank you for your order” and suggest complementary products. They can excite their customers about the dispatch of the order by sending the tastiest steak recipes for the new electric barbecue.
Even if there are issues, retailers can proactively inform their customers and thus ease their irritation. Proactively informing your customers allows them to change their expectations and calms their anger. Shops who inform the customer that the parcel is at the neighbour’s or that a second delivery attempt is being made on the following day, do not need to rely on the message a carrier might leave in a mailbox or on a door.
“Three out of four customers can be retained with delivery communication”
Our data and experience show that three out of four customers can be brought back to your shop with delivery communications when your track & trace is within your domain. Additionally, calls to the call center are reduced by up to 30 percent.
The Munich–based specialist for post–purchase communication, parcelLab, closes the gap between retailers and their customers during shipping. The company provides an eCommerce solution for intelligent delivery monitoring and automated customer communication – regardless of logistics service provider. With this solution, retailers can identify customer–relevant events or delivery deviations and link them to automated customer communication via relevant channels such as e–mail, SMS, Facebook or the retailer app.
Headquartered in Munich, the company now serves more than 280 online shops in 32 countries with 17 languages.
