Most Common eCommerce Shipping Mistakes
Business owners put a lot of efforts into providing their customers with a great shopping experience. They ensure to upload high-quality images and informative descriptions, optimize the catalog, and having the latest and the most relevant marketing tools but when it comes to shipping, it feels like business owners have very limited experience and act blindly.
However, the shipping is a key part of any eCommerce business which is selling physical goods. It’s the final point of the customer experience and it is also one of the most expensive and complex parts of the eCommerce chain.
That’s why it’s so important to define a shipping strategy and consider all the challenges towards achieving the best customer experience. We’ll go over some of the most common shipping mistakes eCommerce businesses might face and their solutions.
Guessing Shipping Costs
Using approximate estimates to define shipping costs instead of calculating the exact costs is surefire recipe for failure. More likely it will end up losing a lot of money. It doesn’t matter whether you include a shipping fee in the product price, provide free shipping option or your customers pay for it while receiving a parcel – in all these cases you should simply do a little research before guessing costs. This way you can count any additional charges might be applied to the shipping like weekend deliveries, residential delivery charges etc.
Ignoring Importance of Packaging
Packaging is crucial because it is the face of your brand, the first contact your client has with the product when picks up the product. The proper packaging not only protects parcels but also helps your building the brand identity. Of course, packaging depends a lot on the product you sell but anyway it shouldn’t be cheap and untidy, and definitely, it shouldn’t harm the products inside.
Not Letting Customers Choose Delivery Date / Time
Every customer is unique, they have different lifestyle and follow different approaches to online shopping. There are many customers who don’t mind waiting for picking up the order, but there are also some who prefer the same day deliveries. It’s better to provide your customers with multiple shipping options so they can select what they need exactly – quick costly deliveries or slow but cheaper ones. It’s good to provide the delivery timeslots as well, your customers will be grateful for the opportunity to plan their time.
Not Automating Shipping Process
Efficiency is everything in eCommerce. If you spend hours on creating labels or printing invoices you just waste the precious time could be spent on evolving your online store.
The shipping software is already there, making everything, from retyping addresses, customizing invoices or packing slips. You can also use shipments automated audit to check the shippers and delivery companies you work with to figure out where you are losing money and how to improve this.
Not Tracking Shipping Companies
Shipping supplies send items to your customers, so you need to manage them the same way you manage your product inventory. You should always be aware where are all the parcels located, and be able to track every single order, the history of deliveries etc.
