The most valuable resource for every company is its customers; they are like a treasure that needs to be taken care of. Every time a customer places an order, they want their products to arrive on schedule. More than 46% of customers, according to recent statistics, are unwilling to make an online purchase from a store if a delivery is likely to be delayed. Of course, ensuring that deliveries are on time may occasionally be beyond the control of the company in question due to unanticipated circumstances.
How Late Delivery Can Affect Businesses
The success of your business depends on getting the right products to the right customers, both on schedule and in good shape. Customer satisfaction, brand perception, and cash flow can all be severely harmed by delivery mistakes, delays, and damages.
A late delivery can also affect many different aspects of a business’s operations. A delayed shipment can have an impact in the following areas:
Increased Cost of Penalty
Today’s customers may expect a discount or reimbursement of the shipping charges after a delayed delivery, and businesses may end up paying higher logistical costs.
Increased Operational Costs
Each missing delivery results in additional expenses for businesses, including:
- Increased fuel costs
- Increased labour costs
- Increased need for customer service due to the frequency of complaint calls
Retention Loss
Churn is a significant factor in delivery. Deliveries that are missed or delayed have a big influence on a business’s ability to keep customers because unhappy customers are much more likely to shop elsewhere. Thus, if a package isn’t received, it can be the last time the consumer makes a purchase and they may go elsewhere
Negative Reviews
Missed deliveries can damage the business’s brand reputation in addition to the financial situation. People who have a negative perception of your brand are less likely to use your services again and are less likely to recommend you to others.
Increased Customer Acquisition Cost
Customers that are loyal to you are more likely to make larger purchases from you and to recommend your company to others. People, however, quit making purchases from a company if delivery is absent or arrive late, and may tell others not to order from you as well. If your business has a history of making deliveries late, you should anticipate an increase in your customer acquisition cost (CAC) and you will have to work harder to entice new business through the door as it were.
Increased Greenhouse Emissions
More greenhouse gas emissions are emitted during redelivery or pick-ups by customers when deliveries are missed/lost.
How to Handle Late Deliveries
Ignoring consumer complaints and worries about delayed deliveries can make things worse. Since every customer who places an order is crucial to the success of the business, it is not something to be taken lightly.
Here are some strategies to deal with late deliveries and satisfy your consumers to make sure you don’t lose customers as a result.
Communicating with Customers
Unplanned and unavoidable circumstances like bad weather conditions or major traffic problems can cause late deliveries. Whatever the difficulty, keeping lines of communication open with clients goes a long way to limiting the damage. If you approach your operations with a client-focused mindset, you’ll be more likely to keep your customers even if there are shipping errors or delayed deliveries.
If you are experiencing delays due to backorders, clients may get increasingly impatient; therefore, you should take precautions to prevent cancellation.
Shipment Tracking
Try not to establish a reputation among your clients for making late deliveries. Putting a tracking solution in place will help, as customers will be able to track their deliveries and have an idea of delivery time even if the time is later than planned.
Of course, delivery earlier than anticipated is a desirable attribute that your clients will value but be truthful when shipping things regarding how quickly you can deliver them. If you can’t keep up with the delivery timescales, you risk damaging your relationship and reputation.
Provide Offers and Discounts
When a delivery is poor, clients may express their displeasure in negative reviews, which can be damaging to your reputation. When dealing with a late delivery, you can ease the problem by being quick to refund or provide credit if required, as well as going the extra step and provide things like discount codes on future orders to try and secure an ongoing relationship.
How to Avoid Late Deliveries
There are steps you may take to avoid future late deliveries:
- Overestimate the time required for shipping and under-promise, so customers are happy when they get their delivery on time or earlier than expected.
- Join forces with a trustworthy courier, check your deliveries, and ask for reimbursements for any missed deliveries
- For real-time cargo tracking, use a parcel tracking service or courier that offers this
- Inform clients in real time about any problems with delivery and package location
- Examine your shipments and take specific action to address the most frequent causes of delivery delays
Order tracking will be able to let you know if an item will be delayed. In some circumstances, you might be able to take prompt corrective action, such as arranging for a substitute to show up on time.
