In the eye of your customers, the delivery plays a significant role in their perception of your brand, even if you outsource your delivery to a partner. As a result, a poor experience can affect your brand reputation. A customer who complains about their delivery is a customer who is likely to buy from your competitors next time. As a result, you need to take complaints seriously and ensure that you can provide high-quality service, from the moment they order to the moment they receive their goods. Here are the main factors of delay and dissatisfaction that can lead to a negative impression of your brand:
Don’t pile too much on your drivers
It’s understandable: You want to tackle as many deliveries as possible in the shortest time possible. However, you need to be realistic. Your drivers need regular breaks to stay alert on the road. While the occasional busy day is not uncommon in the delivery sector, businesses need to refrain from making it a habit. Exhausted drivers are likely to put your goods and other vehicles at risk. Experts such as Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers are the first to warn companies about the dangers of overworked drivers. Indeed, your drivers could cause a collision with disastrous consequences, which affects your reputation, your delivery time, and your customers.
Rely on trustworthy solutions to track deliveries
Waiting for delivery is unpleasant. But spending an entire day chasing delivery tracking online is a lot worse. Your customers want to know when they can expect the driver to be at their home. When choosing a tracking solution for your delivery, do make sure you opt for a software model that enables secure and authorized data access. Indeed, too many customers have discovered too late that the tracking system shared their confidential data publicly.
Keep your processes clear
In an ideal world, your courier should leave a card notifying the customer of a delivery attempt when nobody is at home. However, the real world is far from ideal at times! Mistakes happen, and when they do, you want your customers to be able to get their goods easily. A customer who has not received a notification card can be left struggling to recover their parcel. You need to ensure that there is a plan B in place, for when an absent-minded driver forgets the card. Your warehouse system could be set to identify customers using name, address, and customer number, for instance, to track failed deliveries and allow parcel collection.
Have trained drivers for special needs
In the industry of home deliveries, it’s fair to say that your drivers will get to meet a variety of people. Not every homeowner is the same, and as such, it’s important to train drivers to handle special needs as best as possible. Senior customers or people with reduced mobility could need help to carry and arrange parcels indoors, for instance. Some individuals suffer from high anxiety – which can be exacerbated in a crisis situation such as the COVID-19 outbreak – and your drivers will need to manage people’s behaviours.
It’s time to wave goodbye to delivery complaints.
No more unexpectedly late delivery, no more rude drivers.
With the appropriate tools, work schedule, and training, you can revolutionize your delivery process – or encourage your delivery partner to do so.