The logistics industry can seem confusing, with little visibility and oversight over your whole supply chain. It can often feel like you’re running a magnifying glass up and down the chain, but never having a handle on the whole picture. Furthermore, by having many disjointed parts, this can inevitably lead to errors. And with so many links in the supply chain its difficult to know whose accountable to help you resolve an issue.
According to a report by SOTI Inc., more than 61% of logistics companies agree that last-mile delivery is the most inefficient process in the entire supply chain. And it’s because of these inefficiencies that shipping errors occur.
Shipping errors, despite sometimes feeling like minor inconveniences, are actually pivotal in customer retention. More than three quarters (76%) of consumers said that an unacceptable delivery experience would strongly or somewhat affect their decision to order from that company again. This number rises for each passing generation, with more than 81% of millennials responding they would think twice after a single poor delivery, and 86% of Generation Z shoppers saying bad delivery would have a negative impact on placing a repeat order.
It’s impossible to reduce all shipping errors, and that’s why your customer support is imperative in making lemonade out of lemons. Your support team however, is only as good as the information they’re able to track down. If your logistics provider isn’t forthcoming when it comes to shipping errors, your support team may be having to send countless “we’re working hard to resolve this issue, we’ll have to get back to you” messages, which won’t cut it for the modern e-commerce customer. When it comes to making a purchase, 64% of customers find customer experience more important than price.
It’s more important than ever to ensure a smooth customer experience, and that begins with your relationship with your logistics provider. If they’re responsive and easy to get a hold of, communicating with your customer will be a piece of cake. If you’re having to constantly email, call or use online chatbots to try to get in touch with someone, it’s your customers that ultimately suffer. Like in any relationship, being ghosted, hurts.
By working with a provider who puts communication first, you’ll be able to easily keep your customer informed and even be able to pre-empt issues before they happen.
A provider may promise you the world and be great at building rapport, but all of that starts tallying up to zero when they fail to deliver.
Logistics is a complex industry, so it's important to have a provider that's open and honest, helping you cut through the noise and have full visibility.
How do you ensure this? Make sure you work with a provider that is upfront about their SLAs (Service Level Agreements).
A service-level agreement (SLA) defines the level of service you expect from a provider, laying out the metrics by which services are measured, as well as remedies or penalties should agreed-on service levels not be achieved. It is a critical component of any technology vendor contract.
Borderless360 is fully transparent about their SLAs, allowing clients to track them in real time within the analytics section of the app. This helps ensure there are no unmet expectations and that promised performance is being achieved.
Borderless360 uses an in-app ticketing system that can be accessed within the platform. Instead of keeping track of pesky email threads and phone calls, retailers can manage all open enquiries from one place.
Through the ticketing system retailers can:
Furthermore, to help pre-empt issues, Borderless360 publishes a weekly Logistics Market Update, which sheds light on the global logistics landscape at large- where geopolitical events cause disruption before and as they are happening.
Borderless360 Team Take:
“We at Borderless360 know that when retailers have full visibility of their supply chain, can easily get in touch with customer support at any time of day, can keep track of enquiries simply, and can easily collaborate with their teams on the same platform, magic things happen for their business.
We know that when retailers have ambitions to scale globally, disconnected email and telephone support just doesn't cut it. Losing email threads and keeping track of phone calls is a headache no one needs. With our veteran experience in the industry and constant feedback loops with our clients, we have developed support tools that ensure the smoothest experience for you and your customer.”
Iden Nissan,
Client Success Manager at Borderless360
