Delivery services should provide utmost convenience for customers, but some businesses have persistent issues that instead cause endless frustration to consumers. Despite offering a grand product, your brand reputation will suffer if you give a terrible shipping and delivery service.
Apparently, the disappointment brought about by bad customer experience overshadows great products.
Between 2016 and 2017, Australians spent $22.23 billion on online retail, and more than 50% reported problems with the shipping and delivery of their purchases.
Aside from a damaged brand reputation, businesses stand to lose revenue from return customers. A recent survey found that:
59% of consumers are turned off from shopping with a retailer again after a bad delivery experience.
Although delivery is a crucial aspect of the online shopping journey, many brands and retailers continue to get it wrong.
If you haven’t done same day delivery service in Sydney or anywhere else in Australia, you might want to consider it to ensure that your products are getting where they need to be on time for a truly seamless customer experience.
Here are some of the most common delivery issues that annoy customers and how you can solve them.
1. Damaged Packaging or Damaged Products
There have been a significant number of cases where couriers leave parcels in vulnerable positions outside homes, resulting in damaged packaging or products. Complaints have been received where customers found their parcels left out in the rain or in view of the neighbors.
What to do: When packing your items for delivery, be sure they’re well-protected regardless if they’re fragile or not. You can also ask your courier service about additional packaging services. Some online retailers even have their own branded boxes to keep items safe during transit.
Be sure to partner up with a delivery service that will handle your packages with ultimate care.
2. Delivery Card Left in Mailbox Even When There’s Someone at Home
Despite the national ‘Knock and call out’ process that requires posties and drivers to knock on customers’ doors and call out their names before leaving a card, there are still a lot of customers (24%) who reported finding a delivery card in their letterbox even when they’re at home during the time of delivery.
What to do: Make sure that your posties are properly oriented to make sure that they hand over the packages to the customer indicated on the delivery slip. If the specific person is not home, but there’s a family member or friend who can receive the package in their behalf, ask them to present identification and sign the receipt.
3. Unreasonable Delays
Delayed delivery is among the top complaints among online shoppers (44%). A lot of online retailers provide customers a timeframe as to when they can expect the product, but their couriers often fail to meet expectations. Some couriers may promise same day delivery in Sydney, but the parcels will still arrive the following day.
What to do: Australia has a large geographic area with a dispersed population. Getting your packages from your warehouse to your customers’ doorsteps should take utmost priority. Offer multiple delivery options and track your packages in real time. Use on-demand delivery services to see where your runner is at all times.
Go People offers a full refund for deliveries that are late for 60 minutes or more. This gives our customers the confidence and peace of mind. They know their products will arrive on time, or they’ll get a full refund for their items.
4. Missing Parcel or Failure to Deliver
14% of online shoppers in Australia complain about missing parcels. It’s a big headache for both you and your customer.
Tracking numbers can sometimes be inaccurate. Customers complain that they still don’t have the item, yet the tracking information shows that it has been successfully delivered.
What do you do? Resending them a replacement of their lost package will cost your business, and it’s not even your fault!
What to do: Be sure that your courier service provides instant notifications of proof of delivery and a reliable tracking system where you can see where your packages are currently at. No, that doesn’t mean you need to resort to attaching a GPS device to each one of your parcels.
Your delivery service should already provide this GPS tracking like Go People. We offer a live tracking system through the app that allows you to see where your runner is in real time. When your packages are successfully delivered, you can get instant SMS notifications or proof of delivery on your smartphone or mobile device.
Products and goods are also automatically covered by our warranty so that customers can rest assured that their protected against damage or loss.
5. Expensive Shipping and Delivery Fees
Expensive shipping and delivery charges is another deterrent for online shoppers in Australia. If a product is priced at $30 and shipping fee is also at $30, would your customer buy from you? Unlikely.
What to do: These days, you can partner with on-demand delivery services and couriers that offer reasonable and affordable delivery services. You’re not just stuck with the Australia Post anymore. Explore your options. For bulk deliveries, we can drive down the rates to as low as $5 per delivery.
6. Wrong Product or Parcels Delivered to the Wrong Address
You have tens or even hundreds of products to pack and hand over to your courier, so it’s only natural for you to get confused. Implement a tracking system with a friendly interface that allows you to manage your orders in one place.
What to do: Efficiently package and label your customers’ orders to make sure that your customers are getting the right items delivered to their homes.
Bottom Line
Online shopping is poised to get much bigger in the coming years. Avoid delivery issues at all costs to make your customers happy.
Customer experience doesn’t begin and end on your e-commerce website. It continues through until after the customer receives the products they ordered. At Go People, our goal is to alleviate friction between retailers and their customers, while eliminating delivery issues that have been plaguing the whole nation.
Partner up with a same-day delivery service like Go People that provides game-changing solutions to online shopping delivery systems.