Shipping can make or break your business. Even if your product is mind blowing, a bad shipping experience can affect your business.
A good shipping policy has competitive prices and realistic delivery dates, while having room to surprise customers by over performing, so don’t over promise and under delivery.
Word your policy carefully.
There is no room for miscommunication when it comes to letting your customers know what to expect in your shipping policy. Have accurate descriptions and only make promises you can keep. The mantra with shipping is that you are better off under-promising and over-delivering than vice versa. Remember all overnight carriers only offer a first time success rate of between 92-98%, so there will always be a percentage of delays or misroutes. None achieve 100%
While promising a 24 hour delivery sounds impressive, it might be tough to service all customers who order. Even if one in 10 packages leaves late, or is misrouted, a tenth of all customers will be disappointed. A simple change in shipping policy can matter so much. But on the other hand, promising delivery in 2 working days AND delivering within a day will delight your customer. It is important to remind customers that the weekends are not working days. Where do you want to be?
Don’t try to lie when it comes to shipping costs.
Whether you admit it or not, shipping is a real cost for businesses and for customers. You might want to sound competitive in your eCommerce sector by under playing shipping costs or offering free shipping, but it can seriously affect your bottom line!
Customers hate to learn of charges at the last minute. However little it is, they have no qualms abandoning the cart. And that’s business psychology. So, consider letting the customer know of shipping charges early in the buying process.
Seek out feedback and act on it.
After the product is received, call and ask the customer if they are happy with the purchase, the shipping and everything else. Take the blame when you deserve it. Don’t always blame the shipping partner! If the customer deserves a replacement (even if it’s a shipping fault), consider it seriously. You win loyalty that way. Great customer service can smooth over mishaps, no matter where the blame truly belongs. Remember, people rarely praise or post up about good service, but they are happy to post and rant about a poor experience.
A clear shipping policy makes sense. Spend time and effort in writing one. You will see that it can make a huge difference to your business on the whole. Similarly, an online business is not all about your great product. Shipping matters equally along with great customer service and a willing service partner.
You can start your great service offering with crafting the right shipping policy and working on delivering delight to the customer.
Word your policy carefully.
There is no room for miscommunication when it comes to letting your customers know what to expect in your shipping policy. Have accurate descriptions and only make promises you can keep. The mantra with shipping is that you are better off under-promising and over-delivering than vice versa. Remember all overnight carriers only offer a first time success rate of between 92-98%, so there will always be a percentage of delays or misroutes. None achieve 100%
While promising a 24 hour delivery sounds impressive, it might be tough to service all customers who order. Even if one in 10 packages leaves late, or is misrouted, a tenth of all customers will be disappointed. A simple change in shipping policy can matter so much. But on the other hand, promising delivery in 2 working days AND delivering within a day will delight your customer. It is important to remind customers that the weekends are not working days. Where do you want to be?
Don’t try to lie when it comes to shipping costs.
Whether you admit it or not, shipping is a real cost for businesses and for customers. You might want to sound competitive in your eCommerce sector by under playing shipping costs or offering free shipping, but it can seriously affect your bottom line!
Customers hate to learn of charges at the last minute. However little it is, they have no qualms abandoning the cart. And that’s business psychology. So, consider letting the customer know of shipping charges early in the buying process.
Seek out feedback and act on it.
After the product is received, call and ask the customer if they are happy with the purchase, the shipping and everything else. Take the blame when you deserve it. Don’t always blame the shipping partner! If the customer deserves a replacement (even if it’s a shipping fault), consider it seriously. You win loyalty that way. Great customer service can smooth over mishaps, no matter where the blame truly belongs. Remember, people rarely praise or post up about good service, but they are happy to post and rant about a poor experience.
A clear shipping policy makes sense. Spend time and effort in writing one. You will see that it can make a huge difference to your business on the whole. Similarly, an online business is not all about your great product. Shipping matters equally along with great customer service and a willing service partner.
You can start your great service offering with crafting the right shipping policy and working on delivering delight to the customer.