Expenses for eCommerce are on the rise across the board. Savvy shippers know that Premium Tracking is a way to deliver increased savings too.
Three terms dominate today’s retail landscape – eCommerce, logistics and last mile. The first is on a meteoric rise, with sales booming across the world’s major players. While eCommerce may “only” make up 10% of the U.S. economy, that’s still 96% of Americans shopping online, creating a $5.3 trillion market.
If only logistical costs were going in the opposite direction. Shipping expenses only got more expensive in 2018. UPS and FedEx hiked their rates by almost 5% (USPS averaged a 7.3% rate increase) at the end of last year, while post office events back in January could mean even more price increases on the way. As for the last mile, you can read our earlier blog for a refresher on how crucial that part is.
In short, it’s getting more expensive to ship and it’s a costly trend that looks set to continue. Your company needs to save on shipping now more than ever. Thankfully, Premium Tracking is available and is a great way to offset rising logistical costs.
How Premium Tracking helps your business save more
Time is money, and Premium Tracking puts time on the shipper’s side. No more customers ringing/emailing/faxing and taking up employees’ time by answering questions and chasing down carriers for progress information. These are known as WISMO calls (where is my order), and they can make up as much as 80% of customer inquiries during the holidays. Companies able to keep WISMOs to a minimum can save on customer service staffing and increase customer satisfaction.
Premium Tracking puts all the relevant shipping data on one easy-to-read, streamlined tracking page so customers can get the details they need without interrupting business operations or occupying customer service staff.
Premium Tracking can further offset eCommerce costs by helping to build return customer relationships. We all know that sometimes the carrier doesn’t perform as well as we’d like, but a tracking page can mitigate how much of a customer’s annoyance is aimed at you.
They’ll know you provided all the data you possibly could from your side and kept them informed and connected to their purchase. This can cause a customer’s attitude to change from “I’m never using that business again” to “It wasn’t their fault. I’ll give them another try.”
Where another business would lose out on a return sale, the transparent and accountable business with a great tracking page is far more likely to see customers come back even after a bad experience. That’s an important fact, because who knows how much a business potentially loses when a single customer abandons them? Retaining just one customer’s lifetime value can be a huge savings for a business.
“Save more” is a good solution to rising logistical costs, but if you can combine that with “sell more” your business will really be ahead of the curve.
How Premium Tracking helps a business sell more
Right off the bat, the fact that a business provides on-demand, constantly updated package-tracking data will mean more customers will want to use that business. Consumers want to know where their package is on every leg of its journey and will spend their money with the company ready to provide that information.
A Premium Tracking page isn’t just personalized to the business. It also allows for promotional space along with all that delivery data, making the page more personalized for the viewer. Every time a customer checks in on the progress of their order, it creates an opportunity to engage them with information and products/services that are relevant to their interests.
It’s called cross-selling or upselling, and it’s an effective sales approach. What’s more, customers are much more open to such sales promotions, since they’re not a hard sell; the seller is already providing the visitor with the shipping data they need, so they’re more receptive to other product information while they check on a package.
Cross-sold or upsold products have another advantage that makes them more attractive to customers – these products or services are typically supplemental/complementary to a purchase they’ve already made.
Businesses know the viewer is open to a certain type of sale and can tailor promotional material to those tastes. That’s a valuable piece of knowledge that boosts the chances of making the right sale at the right time.
See how Premium Tracking could make a business some money back after it just spent on ever-more-expensive shipping? It’s a great tool in the logistics war, but it isn’t the only way to save.
Another way to save: Consider renegotiating with your parcel carrier
71lbs can also help a business negotiate shipping contracts in a way that could save it some money while being careful not to harm its relationship with the carrier. We take a close look at the shipping volume and work out a deal that suits the company’s shipping needs best. On average, we save our customers 15% to 20% on their shipping costs.
That’s something to keep in mind the next time you read yet another article on how shipping just got more expensive. We’re reading those too, and we’re working hard to offset new costs and protect the interests and bottom line of our customers.
Contact with us for the bigger picture on Premium Tracking and a host of other services for shipping savings.
At 71lbs, we uncomplicate the shipping process for our customers, making it easier and faster for them to access refunds and reduce their expenses. Our automated platform gathers all your shipping information into one easy-to-use custom analytics dashboard. Drop by the contact page to get in touch.
