Why retailers should manage their own shipping communications

The logistics provider takes over the shipping - and the dealers say goodbye

.

"Dear customer, the order is on its way to you. It will be shipped via XY. This is the shipment number and you can track it here." This, or something like it, is the typical last message that online retailers use to say goodbye, so to speak, to their customers after a purchase. If you're lucky, the tracking link will point you directly to your own package on the logistics provider's website - if you're unlucky, you'll have to enter the long shipment number yourself. It could hardly be more impersonal.

As a result, the customer then receives further messages about his parcel from DHL, UPS, Hermes or others - the online retailer, on the other hand, no longer appears in connection with the eagerly awaited delivery. If you order from several stores at the same time that use the same logistics service provider, confusion is inevitable. This is because the parcel delivery companies only ever communicate the parcel number - and not exactly which delivery it is. Why should they?

Shipping messages are often impersonal and also confusing when several packages are suddenly delivered at the same time

The typical shipping message: impersonal and difficult to understand

.

The typical logistics communication then is not particularly customer-focused, innovative or interestingly written. Instead, the customer tends to get cryptic messages like "Your package has now been loaded onto the delivery vehicle" or announcements like "Your package has been delivered" - even though the letter carrier may have just rushed to check off the task on his way out the door and then not encountered anyone after all. Either the customer is confused because he does not interpret the dry logistician-speak correctly, or annoyed because he is looking forward to his package and then has to join the queue at the postal station the next day despite positive delivery confirmation.

And it's usually not (just) the parcel services that get the aggravation, but also the online retailers, who are usually not at all responsible for these incidents. From the customer's point of view, however, this last step in the buying process can seriously diminish the good impression of a store or retailer - or, in the worst case, even ruin it altogether.

Those who take shipping communications into their own hands can seamlessly continue their customers' shopping experience and close the "experience gap"

The solution: take post-purchase communication into your own hands 

.

We've listed for you which 4 points make up a good post-purchase experience in our next post.