This is how customer-oriented Christmas logistics works

Even in the run-up to Christmas, online retailers need to shine with excellent fulfillment. Continuous process monitoring on the part of the retailer and detailed shipping communication to the customer ensure relaxation - for customers and hotline staff. How this succeeds even in the stressful pre-Christmas period, explains the shipping communication service provider parcelLab.

Customers want to be informed about the shipping process

Online retailers should also convince with first-class service when it comes to customer communication. After all, especially in the last week before Christmas, customers get nervous and follow the shipment status of their last-minute orders very closely. On December 21, for example, logistics provider DHL recorded 40 million hits on its online shipment tracking system. That is twice as many as on normal days, when the figure is 20 million. However, many customers can't always make heads or tails of the logistics jargon used in shipment tracking and subsequently call the retailer, perplexed. Intensive post-purchase communication is recommended to relieve the hotline at this point and give customers the secure feeling after their purchase that the package will arrive on time.

For example, after the order is received, customers should receive an e-mail confirming that the product they ordered is in stock and informing them when the package is expected to arrive. This order receipt confirmation, which usually records extremely high open rates, can also be used by retailers for cross-selling and upselling and recommending suitable supplementary products to customers, for example batteries for the remote-controlled car or a chic scarf for the new cashmere sweater. Retailers should also respond with an information e-mail at the first sign of a delivery delay and possibly suggest alternative products of equal value to their customers. Once the goods have left the shipping center, a message to the customer ensures a more relaxed wait for the package. And on the day of delivery, the delivery rate can be increased if the customer is told in as much detail as possible when the courier will ring his doorbell.

Relieved hotline - satisfied customers

Company experience shows: Those who accompany the customer so closely during shipping can reduce shipping inquiries on the hotline by about a quarter and at the same time avoid frustration among customers and their own employees. If you want to set yourself apart from the competition a little more, you can design your status e-mails not in standard official German, but with a touch of Christmas folklore. Then, for example, Christmas elves work in the logistics centers and the DHL messengers become delivery angels. Retailers can sweeten the wait for the package with a little storytelling. Links to the store staff's favorite cookie recipes, the Spotify playlist of the best Christmas songs, or even just a funny Christmas YouTube video put a smile on stressed-out customers' faces - and ensure that retailers are rated well and remembered again the next time they shop.

Seven tips for customer-oriented Christmas logistics