In recent years, logistics has become a key factor in optimizing the customer experience. According to a recent study, 98% of consumers are likely to order again from a website if the delivery experience went well. The logistics process extends from the moment the purchase payment is made to the eventual return of the package. In order to make this process prolific; you can not only make this stage of the journey a pleasant experience for the customer, but you can also gain additional sales from it. In this article, we will share with you 9 elements of e-commerce logistics that will help you boost your sales and optimize your customer experience.
1. The delivery Policy
The delivery policy can be a real selling point for your customers and is an important point to improve their experience. This can be done by setting up a clear policy on your site including the essential elements: available payment methods, delivery times, choice of carriers, and delivery options.
It is also possible for you to exploit it as a selling point by proposing offers, for example, "Free delivery", "Guaranteed delivery within 24 hours", which would be materialized by a banner on the header of your site or within your product sheets.
2. The return policy
It is important to make the return policy explicit (return times, return conditions, rates if you decide not to make it free) in order to improve the customer's experience and make him feel that his purchase is risk-free.
A clear and concise return policy is a real selling point. 55% of Internet users have already abandoned a purchase because the return policy was not clear enough. So it is necessary that you create a specialized page to detail the whole return process. You can present:
- The return period: In France, in e-commerce, the legal return period is 14 days, but brands allow 30 days and this can be extended depending on events (Covid, Christmas, Black Friday, etc...).
- The return rate: It is necessary to explain the return rate, communicate to your customers if the return is free or not or if you have an offer for example one item free and the second one paying.
- The conditions of return: For example, that there is always the label on the product.
3. Delivery options
E-commerce delivery to optimize your customer experience
It is essential to think about your persona and offer a panel of delivery options that meet all its needs. The delivery method is a real selection criterion for some buyers: - The classic delivery option: delivery in front of the door by a courier or the post office Disadvantage: the customer is often absent which leads to a delivery failure
- The relay points: delivery in stores approved "Point Relay" Advantage: allows greater mobility, for example: to be delivered near his work or near his home. There will be no delivery failures and the customer will be able to pick up his parcel whenever he wants. Disadvantage: generally, the relay points also have office hours between 9am and 6pm.
There are solutions that allow you to reduce these slots. For example, Weeship or Mr. Pasha offer a way to take an appointment to receive your package. Advantage: allows for greater mobility. The customer can choose a time slot late in the evening when he is available. Disadvantage: there is often an additional cost
to this type of option.
4. Delivery times
Delivery times are very important information for the customer to know. It is also a main factor of conversion. It is therefore important not to promise unrealistic delivery times (too short), but if you have the means to ensure delivery within a short time, it is favorable to use them as a commercial element.
Several elements can be exploited in order to highlight your means and delivery times:
- Put forward that you work with partners who allow express delivery: Chronopost, UPS, Weeship…
- Highlight trusted partners such as Chronopost that allows delivery against signature in a reasonable time.
- Put the information in bulk on the website (insert, pop-up, delivery policy).
You will have understood, communicating upstream on delivery times can help you win a sale, but communicating on the tracking of packages after a sale can also save you time. In this sense, the automation offered by Botmind can be relevant to save you time and money while providing a better customer experience.
5. Returns
Returns can be an integral part of your business if you work in the fashion world for example. Making the returns process easy and efficient will improve your customers' experience. This will help you increase retention of your current customers, acquire new customers through positive reviews posted on your site and improve brand image through word of mouth.
6. Inventory
Inventory is an essential part of your e-shop and logistics. The consequences of a product being out of stock are important: loss of time for your support team, frustration or even loss of the customer, bad experience, etc... Having a very accurate inventory tracking allows you to improve sales, avoid stock mismatches, save time for other tasks and make the customer experience more fluid. So to facilitate this process, it is very helpful for you to take a logistician connected to your CMS.
7. Follow-up emails
Follow-up emails are those that allow your customer to know the exact location of his package and more or less when it will be delivered. This allows you to reassure your customers by updating the status of the order, whether it is in preparation, en route, or delivered. To take advantage of the high open rate of tracking emails, you can add commercial elements to keep your customers coming back such as discount codes, cross-selling, or your social networks.
8. Packaging
The packaging is the only real physical contact with your customer, so you might as well make the unboxing experience memorable. This can be achieved through:
- Inner packaging: this is the time to make the customer experience unforgettable with logos, designs, illustrations, slogans, funny phrases, etc.
- The additional elements: Add elements to your packaging to make the experience quasi-personalized: flyers, goodies, cards...
- The commercial elements: re-engage your customers by giving them an "excuse" to come back and order on your website: private sales invitations, promotional codes, sponsorship codes....
All these elements will allow you to surprise your customers and leave them with an excellent memory of your brand.
9. Take on an expert in logistics
Logistics is a profession in itself. Hiring a logistician will allow you to focus on your core business. If you want to implement all of the above points easily, there are logisticians like Bigblue who can help you. They will take care of all the different aspects of your logistics: carrier management, delivery bugs, returns and follow-up emails. You will see the beneficial results of saving time internally, speeding up delivery, tracking better quality deliveries, and better communication with carriers.
Conclusion
Logistics is a major pillar of the e-commerce customer experience. Optimizing your logistics is an important factor for the success of your brand. In order to retain your customers and attract new ones, it is important to optimize your processes at different levels: delivery, packaging, returns, etc... You can also opt for a logistician to accompany you and take charge of your logistics management.
Article written in partnership with Julie RIBEIRO, Marketing Manager at Bigblue.