A successful business is built on customer satisfaction, and this includes product arrival in time and in the best condition. With this basic business hack, there are reasons why you will need to make sure your customers are pleased with your delivery services.
These could be the following:
- The urgency with which your customers need their goods delivered to them
- Confidential documents which can’t afford to be mishandled
- Gift items which have to be delivered right in-time of celebration
For these reasons, we’ve detailed the top 6 tips that business owners need to follow to guarantee that customers get their products right in-time and in good condition.
Tip #1. Online Parcel Tracking
One of the ways in getting your customers satisfied with your delivery process would mean that they are given an open-source to track their items and make real-time predictions on the product arrival time.
To achieve this you will need a multi-functional package tracking app, there are many out there. One example is Parcel Arrive that can give real-time information on the status of your item in delivery.
Tracking applications like Parcel Arrive can give your customers even more data and guarantee them a safe and easy product delivery with features like its ability to forecast delivery time, current state and location of packages, and links to the official courier website with pre- tracking code
These extra layers of support and virtual access to their products will drive brand loyalty, and also aid them to detect any issues with their delivery right in time, or get their delivery when due if no hassle is experienced.
Tip #2. Securely Package Items Before Delivery
Assuming delivery companies will take care of packaging might be the first and early mistake you might fall prey to.
It’s always advisable that products are packaged in four-cornered cardboard boxes that can withstand impacts, no matter how hard these items impact with each other during delivery.
This is an extra layer of precaution not minding that top-ranked delivery companies handle packages with extreme carefulness.
Taking into consideration the channels that these products might go through before finally getting to your customer is very vital in taking early precautions in packaging items with well-protected boxes.
Items are being handled by machines alongside humans, so 100% parcel safety isn’t guaranteed, always take early precaution before the product leaves your warehouse.
Tip #3. Label Items Properly
Most companies label products with tapes.
While this is a good precaution to take in delivering the right product to the right customer, these tapes could lose its ability to stay stuck to the product boxes, this is why it’s more effective to label products on the body of the product packages.
Use permanent markers to label customers’ ID on the product boxes. With this, you’re guaranteed that each product box will not be mistakenly delivered to the wrong audience.
Tip #4. Use Your Customers’ Most-preferred Courrier, or Provide a Better Option.
Some customers have had tons of great experiences with so many courier companies and will love to get their products handled by these trusted courier companies.
Sending out a simple Google form asking your customers to list their most-preferred couriers or indicate if they would want you to make a professional recommendation is a way to fill them in on the process of delivery, and get them to make a choice.
If they choose to get a professional recommendation from you, then you have more work to do in making in-depth research on the courier to use.
This is a list of what to look out for in a courier company to guarantee the safe delivery of products to your customers.
- Immediate availability
- Limitations on package sizes
- 24/7 active customer service
- At least, ⅘ Clients and customer reviews
- Cost of package handling
- Insurance
Tip #5. Crosscheck Customers’ Information
One of the most spelled-out steps in packaging customers’ items for delivery is to write down customers’ information. But mistakes in this step have led to much-delayed delivery or delivering products to the wrong customer.
In this light, it is only precautionary to crosscheck customers’ information before these packages leave your warehouse.
For the last-minute check, make sure you have a second look at this information:
- Customers’ name
- Address
- Phone numbers
- Alternative phone numbers provided by customers
- Item numbers
- Order numbers
These are the basic information that can guarantee that the right products are being shipped to the right customers, and this has to be done right before the packages leave your warehouse to avoid a later mistake.
Tip #6. Correctly Fill Out a Customs Form For International Shipping
Wrongly providing the information of your packages or not properly filling the customs form will result in really delayed delivery.
According to Customs’ procedure, you must list the items in your package and their worth. It is required that you take your time to fill this form as your shipment will be passing through customs’ clearance if it’s being delivered outside your country.
Secondly, it is important to note that you can’t offer to ship illegal products or contrabands, as customs will certainly get hold of these items, and they will never make it to your customers.
These are the common mistakes to avoid when filing a customs form.
Incorrect information about package value
If the product value you provided while filling out your form is detected to be wrong, you could face delay in delivery or total cease of the package, as this information is used to determine the worth of the package and corresponding tax value and custom duties.
The wrong sender or receiver information
Providing the wrong sender or receiver information could result in package delivery to the wrong address. And if the address and receiver’s name is wrong, your item could be returned and dumped at the custom cite.
In this case, most goods never make it back to the sender or the receiver.
Incorrect goods classification
In classifying your packages, do not forget to use the right product numbers and detail the quantities, sizes, and other necessary information in your form. Any mistake made in this process might result in your packages being rejected by the Automated Export System.
Wrong product description
Product description could be listing classified items as hazardous or easily breakable. This will help during shipment handling and if not listed, could trigger customs to delay its delivery
Take Away
When handling customer shipments, neglecting to tick these boxes could result in delayed delivery, which will certainly affect the trust your customers have on your brand.
It’s most important to provide your customers with a tracking application so that they can have a real-time update of their package, and have forecasts of delivery time.
