Every e-commerce retailer, customer, or supply chain professional will have queries about the location of their order, it’s shipping, the duration until it arrives, and more. While customers have to stress about missing a delivery or the item being left outside, the retailer will be concerned about such factors that would hamper the customer experience. 

Shipment tracking isn’t new, but the adoption of delivery tracking is not universal, especially when it comes to multiple shipping partners. In such cases, tracking updates becomes a challenge, and customers will have to check between the company website and the courier website for order shipping status. This is why proactive order tracking is a boon for bringing visibility to the delivery process and helps track and trace shipments.

Here, we will cover the aspects of proactive order tracking and how it helps customers track any shipment throughout the delivery process.

Significance Of The Order Tracking Updates Feature

Automation of package tracking and status notifications can mitigate anxiety for both the store and the customer by a great deal. Proactively sending customers updates will relieve them from having to input several complicated alpha-numeric tracking numbers into different interfaces.

Proactive Order Tracking Updates Feature

These updates can be customized according to the customer and sent over an SMS or an email as chosen by the customer. This will prevent doubt in the customer’s mind about where their package is at any given time. 

Store owners can tap into API automation and know the number of packages that will reach the customer during the day and the number that will probably be delayed. With this information used for shipment tracking, you can proactively undertake steps to keep the customer in the loop after the purchase. 

The next step would be to reach out to the customers via their preferred communication channel to inform them of the order status proactively. This will greatly reduce the number of calls inquiring about the order status and boost the customer satisfaction metric in the post-purchase customer experience.

How Proactive Order Tracking Helps Build Transparency Between Buyers & Brands

Proactive order tracking includes shipment tracking at every transit point, followed by sharing the status with the customer. Here, we will cover how this helps build transparency between buyers and brands.

Visibility Into Order Status

The most apparent advantage is providing enhanced visibility of its customers’ package location. This will give the customers a better idea of when their package will likely arrive and is especially useful concerning costly or delicate shipments.

Mitigated Customer Complaints

Customers are anxious and await their packages eagerly when it comes to their packages.  When there is a delay in this process, angry customers might contact the enterprise support team, leading to issues such as exceeding the customer support capacity. Proactive order updates help reduce customer complaints by helping them easily track and trace shipments.

Seamless Brand Experience

E-Commerce retailers have to ensure that their buyers feel they matter and are central to their business. They can do this by enhancing the customer experience offered and boosting customer engagement, by staying in touch with them until the package is in their hands. This will ensure the buyers remember the retailer brand for a long time.

Enhanced Delivery Exception Management

Proactive order tracking allows enterprises to deal with and solve any delivery problems before the customer complains. This is made possible with shipment tracking insights that can be used to better customer satisfaction.

Gain Customer Loyalty

Once you establish complete transparency through proactive order tracking, customers will get used to the efficiency of the process. This means happier customers who can see when and where their package is and can count on the retailer’s consistency. Such service quality leads to undying customer loyalty.

Enhanced Returns Management

The pandemic has led to an unexpected rise in the rate of product returns across online store platforms. This is not just due to the customer but also because of the mismatch between the service expected from the customer and the various issues they face. Most returns are due to damaged, missing, or delayed shipments. Proactive order updates coupled with exchanges founded on order history can lead to lower return rates.

Returning Customer

It is known that a new customer’s acquisition cost is several times more than required to retain an existing customer. The amount that a returning customer spends is also several times that compared to what a new customer buys. This is due to the trust established by the impeccable service of the store. This is made possible with the help of proactive order tracking.

Mitigating Refunds & Cancellations

When a customer is unhappy with any part of the buying or delivery process, they can ask for a cancellation or a refund according to their current need. Proactive order tracking can help retailers track any shipment in real-time and initiate returns or refunds before the customer even thinks about doing the same. The customer will surely appreciate this gesture, leading to mitigation of refunds and cancellations, which eat into the bottom line.

How Does Inaccurate/Complicated Tracking Affect Buyers’ Experience?

The buyer or customer is someone who would have chosen a retailer’s product online while overlooking several other competing brands. This decision means they have placed their faith in the e-Commerce store to fulfill their requirements. After placing the order online, the buyer will expect the order to arrive on time and a reasonable means to be informed of the order status. 

Proactive Order Tracking

The alert can be in the form of social media alerts such as Whatsapp, an email, or a mobile number SMS. Such an alert will be even more valuable in the case of multiple couriers or shipment companies, as discussed above. A single source of truth for all order updates will increase customer confidence in the retailer and reduce any possible mismatch in delivery expectations.

One can imagine how confusing and possibly annoying it can get when you get a message saying that delivery was attempted without anyone there to receive it. This can be prevented by using smart technology to automate shipping data and documents along with order invoices to streamline the process of tracking any shipment. 

Proactive order tracking can also go beyond just helping customers track any shipment. This can help the e-Commerce retailer in marketing their brand with the help of company branding that includes copy and visuals. It will help brand recognition and create a lasting impression in the user’s mind about their sellers. 

Enterprise can go from “How Do I Track My Shipment” to using the opportunity afforded by the added customer engagement to measure different KPIs and metrics. By accumulating sufficient data, one can assess the carrier performance within each region.

Shiprocket Post-Purchase Services

Shiprocket’s Postship is a unique post-purchase experience designed to be seamless for customers by Shiprocket, making post-purchase services pleasurable. It has the following features that make it unbeatable:

• Tracking page that includes all information ranging product details, name, phone number, and order id.
• Order tracking in real-time lets buyers know when their order is on the move with all details given. 
• The estimated delivery date is given to customers aided by Machine Learning technology. 
• Regular SMS and email updates that keep the buyer informed about their order
• Customization of the tracking page with various branding features from logo to name using our white-labeled tracking pages.

At The End

Not only can proactive order tracking resolve major customer pain points such as query resolution and prevention of customer complaints, but it also leads to better customer engagement and retention. Overall, this leads to a superior buyer experience that makes them return for more!