The delivery experience has become the new battleground for customer acquisition and customer experience, so it’s vital to create a positive delivery experience. Fierce competition and a Covid-accelerated shift to online shopping has created a new normal where customers expect positive delivery experiences every time, with immediate delivery and complete transparency.
Workit Spaces surveyed eCommerce businesses, shipping 50-1,000 orders per week, to uncover what eCommerce business owners really think about the delivery experience, from placing items in your cart, all the way through to receiving the final product.
Why Delivery Matters More Now
In a time when we can order almost anything at our fingertips, and in some cases watch on your mobile where it is at all times (Uber eats, anyone?) meeting sky-high customer expectations for delivery can seem further down the to-do-list.
But don’t skimp on delivery. It’s not only the “last mile” in your customer journey, it’s the latest battleground for winning customers and creating life-long customer relationships.
Impacts on Conversion
You work so hard to get customers to your website with a great offer, lead generating content, advertising and conversion optimisation, why risk losing a sale based on delivery options?
Crafting an outstanding delivery experience allows you to convert sales and create memorable, positive customer experiences that build loyalty over time.
Australia Post’s 2021 August eCommerce Report found customers are loyal to brands that create the right delivery experience.
Here are three ways to create positive delivery experiences:
1. Understand Customer Behaviour
Why do customers abandon carts?
One of the biggest challenges in eCommerce is shopping cart abandonment. On average, 70% of carts are abandoned before a purchase is completed. After surveying eCommerce founders and practitioners in our hubs, 100% of participants hadn’t completed a purchase process recently.
What were the main factors that caused these eCommerce practitioners to abandon their items?
- 44% said the ETA for delivery time was too long
- 38% said the shipping cost was too expensive
- 19% said it was because they couldn’t checkout as a guest
What do customers want from a service delivery model?
Digging deeper into the thought process behind each of the purchase-deciding factors, Workit Spaces research showed:
- 73% prefer free shipping as opposed to spending more to receive their package within 48 hours
- 67% would pay more for sustainable, eco-friendly packaging
- 56% will abandon their cart if they can’t checkout as a guest.
What must eCommerce businesses do based on this research? Firstly, make sure you are getting a great deal on your shipping costs.
Haider Bin Tahir, Manager of Mearth Electric Scooters gave some great advice. “If you are offering free delivery then the cost is really important”. It’s a fine line between offering good value and costs that eat into your profit margins.
Pssst… If you’re looking for a great deal on shipping, check out SKUTOPIA. You might be eligible to participate in current or future shipping product releases.
Adopt Sustainable Practices
There’s also never been a better time to adopt more sustainable practices in your supply chain. If you’re still using mountains of single-use plastic and bubble wrap to ship your products, consider looking into sustainable packaging. There are extremely reasonable options available, (check out Noissue’s recycled mailers) that could even save you money in the long run and drive repeat purchases by purpose-motivated customers.
People don’t want another login with a password they won’t remember! Give people the option to checkout as a guest, or if you really want your customers to create logins, find ways to offer them value. They’ll be more likely to jump on board if they feel they are getting something in return, read: discounts, access to relevant, insightful content or a loyalty program.
You can also use 28 day cookies to prefill forms – great for returning visitors – and browser based or social logins so you still get the information you need while your customer gets to use a login they already have.
So what’s more important: the cost of shipping or the time it takes to get to the customer? It depends on the product. For Stefan Muff, cofounder, and Alec Ramsey, COO, of online florist Floraly, at our Mandible Hub, time is paramount. They explained, “People usually order bouquets at the last minute with us and they want them delivered on the same day”.
2. Keep up with evolving customer expectations
Shipping expectations are changing eCommerce. According to Retail Dive, customers have come to expect speedy delivery but not all can keep up. When the first movers offered same or next day delivery, competitors were forced to revamp their shipping strategies, raising the bar for expectations and placing pressure on delivery networks.
Google Trends data shows searches for “same day delivery” have never been higher. The most searches in the last two years took place last month, during the week of 22-28 August. Victoria and New South Wales were the top searchers – which was closely related to the lockdowns in both states.
The products that were closely linked to the same day delivery searches included
- Alcohol delivery with searches currently up by 400%
- Cake delivery, searches up by 160%
- Flower delivery, with same day flower delivery up 50%
The key to keeping up with these ever evolving expectations is regular customer feedback.
Contact your clients through the channels they best respond to. Focus on listening and proactively communicating with your customers. Leverage your social media channels and email database. Learn how you can improve by asking what you could have done better.
After an order is completed, ask your customers what you could have done better.
3. Seal the deal with Delivery Experiences that wow
Another way to create positive delivery experiences is to give people options. Power Retail spoke to Lee Hardham, CEO and Founder of Brauz about the future of eCommerce deliveries and current disruption. He said “Now more than ever, it is vital for retailers to consider their ecommerce solutions to ensure they offer a variety of fulfilment options (such as flexible delivery times, postal-service courier alternatives, and click and collect) and payment methods, as more and more consumers hunt for the most convenient and cost-effective ways to shop online.
While there is increasing pressure to speed up delivery times and more products to be delivered, delivery drivers need to access safe working conditions now more than ever. That includes having attainable goals for parcel deliveries in specific windows and safe vehicles to facilitate those deliveries, regular breaks and avenues for constructive criticism. The delivery experience can sometimes be the only physical interaction your customers will have with your business so it’s important to facilitate the opportunities to create those positive experiences.
Ready to create those positive experiences? Don’t just return to the workplace, redesign it. Check out our range of eCommerce solutions that can supercharge your business.