June 23, 2022
One of the top qualities customers consider when they shop online is the estimated time of delivery. In fact, this influences about 68% of customers’ decisions to purchase. A successful order fulfillment process makes it easier to meet those expectations. Any business brand needs to master order fulfillment. When order delivery is made at the right time without any lapses, the customer is bound to be happy. If that’s what you want, continue reading to discover some top-order fulfillment process tips for 2022 to guarantee the success and the flourishing of your ecommerce or dropshipping business.
Establish Communication
For a business to flourish, communication with customers is very important. During the product delivery, the customer would want to be kept abreast of its progress. When there is no communication, they’re likely to get worried. Ensure to build a connection with your customers. Communication influences and enhances their confidence in your order fulfillment process, which assures them that your supply chain is topnotch and can be highly leaned on.
Create a Customer Support System
In an e-commerce business, there may be cases where they’re missing products during delivery. When such happens, the typical response the customer makes is to lay a complaint to you. When there is a lack of customer service, there won’t be any room to receive customers’ complaints and this can be very bad for your business. Having representatives of customer service on the ground to receive and address order fulfillment issues is pivotal to having a happy and satisfied customer base.
Educate Customers about Delivery Costs
As an e-commerce retailer, you should make efforts to enlighten your customers on the delivery costs and criteria employed to determine them. Different e-commerce businesses take on different criteria, such as the weight of the product, to arrive at a delivery cost. When your customers know how the delivery price is determined, they will develop stronger confidence in your order fulfillment process. Also, ensure that you keep the shipping price at a pocket-friendly rate to avoid driving your customers away.
Build an Order Management System
As time goes on in an e-commerce business, the influx of orders will get overwhelming and when managed inappropriately, could initiate the downfall of a business. Establishing a distributed order management business is crucial to having an edge over your competitors. This management system allows you to monitor and manage orders instantaneously. It makes the location of the product ordered easy and organizes the order fulfillment process.
Improve Your Products Return Policy
The loss or damage of a product in an inventory of an e-commerce business might be bound to happen sometimes. When such occurs, replacement should begin regardless of the cost. In the delivery of a product to a customer, there should be a return policy as insurance for any product loss or damage. This should be done to ensure your customers of a quality order fulfillment process.
Collaborate With the Right Shipper
If your delivery time suffers some lapses because of your supplier, your e-commerce business is likely to suffer certain consequences. If your supplier underperforms, your customers are going to hold you responsible, not your shipper. To avoid that, you should partner up with an established, reputable, and reliable shipper. Ensure that they have an impressive track to avoid any order fulfillment process issues.
Double-Check the Products Before shipping
Can you imagine how frustrated you’d be if you received a parcel containing the wrong product? Not only would you be disappointed to have the incorrect item, but you would have to ship the product back and wait for a replacement. No one has time for that. An order picking strategy minimizes the risk of that happening to your customers. It’s a foolproof way of matching inventory with customer orders so that the wrong item is never shipped to your customer.
Enhance Transparency with Customers
Unfortunately, things can go wrong in the order fulfillment process, not all of them will be in your control. According to an e-commerce survey, 45% of shoppers are actively looking to shop from businesses that clearly show anticipated delivery times. However, 69.7% of customers would be less likely to shop with a retailer if their packages are delayed without a heads up.
Ensure to minimize the impact on customer satisfaction by informing them of the delay as soon as you realize it, apologizing for the delay, and giving a short explanation of why their parcel will be late. When you do this, you’ll gain an edge in replenishing them to meet the demand. In the long run, you’ll have an enviable order fulfillment process and keep your customers satisfied.
Conclusion
There you have it! These are the top order fulfillment process tips for 2022; you can likewise use these tips in the future. It will help you to establish a successful order fulfillment process vital for the growth of your ecommerce or dropshipping business. Establishing communication with customers, using a distributed order management system, being genuine, and more will help you create an excellent and successful order fulfillment process.