Tips To Meet Customer Shipping Expectations

If your products need to be shipped to your customers, you need to keep it in mind that customers have high expectations with the process which involves shipping of their orders. So, it is worth knowing what customer demands are and whether you are meeting those demands.

In this article, we have compiled a list of expectations which the customers associate with the process of shipping of their orders.

Fast delivery

Yes, your customers have the right to expect the shipping process to be as faster as possible. And so, you have to make sure that your products are delivered within the time which is mentioned on your website. When you mention the time, you set expectations. Make sure that your products are delivered even sooner than that set limit.

Easy product tracking

There is surely the tracking system in place for the shipments that are on their way. The biggest challenge with such systems is their usability, which is difficult specifically for the users. Therefore, you can consider automating the product tracking system if it is a manual process. The main purpose of automating this system is to update product tracking information on a frequent basis. This process can also involve emailing or texting the customers or creating landing pages where customers can view information about the product status.

Multiple shipping options

Customers are the busy people. This is what you have to keep in mind. When they have the expensive parcels to collect, they want more control over the arrival time and day.

In this scenario, the best thing you can do is to offer multiple shipping options. This way, the customers will be able to pick the option which suits them according to their requirements.

Free return policy

Returns are a part of every business. No matter how good quality the product is and how well you have packed the product, there are certain scenarios in which the product gets damaged and, so, the return becomes inevitable. Here, you can consider making the return easy. And if possible, you can offer free return. Research shows that customers are willing to pay extra when they know that they have the option of returning the product for free.

Free shipping

Free shipping is a very pleasant term for the customers. But it doesn’t mean that you can make it free for every product. Nevertheless, you can offer free shipping on certain pricy products. There are certain other ways you can offer free shipping without losing money.

Making E-Commerce Website Ready for Holiday Rush

The term ‘holiday season’ sounds pretty relaxing but it means serious business for a number of specific industries. Customers rush to make orders for the items they want to send to the others as gifts. In this scenario, it remains very important for the businesses to be ready to deal with the influx of orders.

An important aspect of this readiness is a fully optimized e-commerce website. Since customers now prefer ordering for the items online, it has become very important for the businesses to make sure that they have worked well on their websites to facilitate their customers in the best ways possible. Keeping in view these requirements, we are going to talk about the ways to make the e-commerce website ready for the holiday rush.

Get to know about the peak shopping sessions

This is where you are going to have to dive deep into the website data. A brief overview of the data of few years will help you know when your business season really starts. Looking at this data, you can notice the patterns. The data will help you know when you get a spike in traffic and sales. And you can notice the factors that brought people to your website during those peak times. Based on this data, you can make necessary adjustments in your website.

Plan sales strategically

After you know about the peak trends, now you need to create a strategy for sales and promotions. You can do a little experiment here by offering sales on historically busy days in order to see response from your customers. You can do this by offering deals or discounts on those days.

Start marketing early

Since you are going to have to market your business to get your sales enhanced, you can start with the marketing work earlier. It means that you can start promoting your holiday version of the website when the holidays are around the corner. For this purpose, you can start giving previews about the holiday promotions. You can also create content about the promotions that you are going to offer during holidays.

Upgrade your systems

Upgrading your system is very important if you want to ensure smooth workflow during the holiday rush. For this purpose, you are going to have to see what parts of your shipping process can be automated. You may also need to update the photos and descriptions of your products. You will also need to bring automation in the social media marketing so that you will be able to focus on other things.

Make it easy for the customers

Holiday can be hectic for the shoppers. And so, they are not going to like navigating through a website which is difficult to use. Make sure that you have optimized website navigation in a better way so that it remains easy for the users.

Optimize checkout

Make sure that the checkout process on your website is easy. Test the coupon codes to make sure that system is responding right according to what is required. Perform an analysis regarding how many steps are required for the customers to go through in order to make a purchase. Remember, your goal should be to make the process easy for the customers.