In our previous article – ‘Making delivery promises that stick‘ – we discussed how to make reliable delivery promises. Now comes the difficult part: keeping control once parcels enter the carrier network. WISMO (‘Where is my order?’) enquiries for customer service teams begin to have an impact on operational costs and team morale. When delivery issues arise, support teams must manage increased contact volumes while maintaining first-contact resolution rates.
According to the Descartes-Sapio study, as mentioned in our previous article, delivery issues have an impact on customer trust and future purchasing decisions. However, retailers who manage their deliveries proactively turn potential issues into opportunities to improve customer relationships.
A unified, transparent view of every shipment is necessary for modern delivery management. Consider it your delivery mission control, where you can see, track and manage the journey of each package. Proactive monitoring systems that combine tracking information from various carriers have revolutionised delivery management for major retailers like Asda, M&S and musicMagpie.
Three essential capabilities are required by your control centre. It should first compile tracking information from every carrier into a uniform format. Second, it needs to spot possible issues before they have an impact on clients. Third, when problems occur, it ought to automatically initiate the appropriate responses.
Spotting problems early
The most effective delivery management systems do more than just track parcels – they also predict problems. The key is to understand normal delivery patterns for each service and region. When a parcel deviates from these patterns, your system should generate an alert.
Consider how musicMagpie improved delivery management. By implementing intelligent exception monitoring, potential delays were identified 24 hours earlier than previously. This extra time allowed the musicMagpie team to either resolve the problem or proactively contact affected customers. This reduced the number of WISMO calls by 63%.
The art of timely communication
Remember that friend who either floods you with messages or disappears for weeks? Neither extreme works in relationships, and the same is true for delivery communications. It’s better to send the right message at the right time. Smart retailers understand the importance of striking a balance. They keep customers informed about key milestones without overwhelming them. When multiple parcels are sent to the same address, they combine updates to avoid notification fatigue. This technology-driven approach has helped many retailers maintain high customer satisfaction scores while lowering contact rates.
Robust technology underpins every successful delivery management operation. Your system must handle millions of tracking events, process them in real time and convert them into actionable intelligence. It must integrate seamlessly with your customer service platforms and automatically initiate appropriate communications.
But technology isn’t enough. Your team requires clear procedures for handling exceptions and escalations. When problems arise, everyone should understand what to do and when to do it.
Measuring and improving performance
Success in delivery management is determined by tracking the appropriate metrics. Track your WISMO and WISMR (‘Where is my return?’) contact rates, exception resolution times and customer satisfaction levels. For customer service teams, these metrics have a direct impact on critical KPIs such as first-contact resolution, average ticket time and customer satisfaction score (CSAT). Each improvement in these metrics results in cost savings and a better customer experience.
Begin by reviewing your current delivery management approach. Can your team view all shipments in one place? How quickly can you identify potential problems? Are your customer communications striking the appropriate balance?
In our final article, we’ll look at how to leverage successful deliveries to build long-term customer relationships. While this article focused on maintaining control during delivery, the true magic occurs when you turn dependable delivery into customer loyalty.