How to deliver packages on time, ensure they arrive in good condition, improve customer service, and so much more.
Many online resources can help you improve your delivery service. While this advice can help identify areas of delivery that need improvement, it fails to explain why these changes are essential, what tools you should use, and how they will impact the customer experience.
Advice on improving delivery services usually focuses on optimizing routes, prioritizing orders, and tracking drivers and deliveries. Drivers can also be consulted to get feedback on how they think the delivery process could be improved.
All this is excellent stuff. However, if you want your courier or delivery company to deliver better, you must consider your customers’ needs. Customer satisfaction is the ultimate measure of success.
Four ways to improve delivery services
Another Circuit survey conducted among 1,000 respondents found that 26% of those surveyed had received a late delivery, 13.6% had left their package unattended, and 13.4% had received damaged packages.
These numbers are consistent with our research on what makes a great delivery experience. They highlight the need to optimize delivery processes, increase customer experience, and retain customer loyalty.
We have four tips to help increase customer satisfaction and efficiency in your deliveries.
Improvement 1: Delivering packages promptly and on time every time
According to our survey, late deliveries have the most considerable negative effect on customer experience, with 31.6% of people reporting “delivery driver arrives late” as their biggest frustration.
A customer who’s kept waiting will quickly become upset. They may contact your customer service, who will try to reach your driver to find out where they are. This will slow delivery times even more and cause further delays along the delivery route.
Route optimization is a great way to improve your delivery process’s efficiency and ensure that packages arrive on time. Although you can optimize your routes manually, it isn’t easy to do correctly. You’ll need the following:
You will have a deep understanding of the streets and geographical areas that your deliveries reach.
Mentally determine which order you should place your deliveries to get the longest distance quickly.
Even then, it’s impossible to account for traffic changes. To minimize backtracking, you need to decide which driver should take which route if there are multiple drivers.
Circuit for Teams can help you deliver packages on time:
Circuit for Teams optimizes delivery routes using a list of addresses you import into our website app. It optimizes routes for multiple drivers. This allows you to choose the most efficient way across your entire team.
Circuit calculates all of your delivery routes in just a few seconds. Once it’s done, Circuit sends driving instructions to your team members. They can then follow the instructions on their favorite maps app.
Circuit for Teams automatically calculates the route if drivers encounter traffic on their way. This information determines the best way for drivers and ensures they get around any delays as quickly as possible. Circuit for Teams keeps drivers’ attention on the road, allowing them to drive safely and without worrying about finding the best route.
As you can see in the image above, Circuit for Teams also calculates estimated arrival times for each stop. It sends automated ETA notifications (by email or SMS) to recipients.
Customers can contact customer service without having to call them. They’re also kept up-to-date about when their package will arrive.
Circuit for Teams will notify customers if there is a delay. It will send them an updated, real-time ETA notification with a new delivery date. This allows them to know when they can expect it.
You can also track driver locations and get ETAs for the next stops. This makes it easier for dispatchers to locate drivers and predict when they will arrive at specific drop-off points.
Circuit for Teams allows you to assign priority stops to enable express or same-day delivery. This will ensure that orders from these customers are delivered first, even though they may be overridden at other stops.
Improvement 2: Delivering packages correctly and undamaged
Just behind driver lateness come problems with packages that never arrive, get delivered to the wrong address, or are left in an insecure location.
First, ensure you have the correct delivery address for every package. This is a given. Missed deliveries can also occur when someone isn’t home. You will need to return the item at a later date. You must be able to prove delivery to avoid this. This allows you to leave packages at your neighbors’ homes, in their gardens, or the doorway.
You can provide proof of delivery to the customer so that they can pick up their item when it is convenient.
Circuit for Teams can help you deliver packages precisely:
The spreadsheet import function is the first step to ensure Circuit for Teams has the correct addresses for route calculation. Instead of manually entering delivery addresses into the system, which can lead to errors, upload your spreadsheet.
If your delivery driver arrives at a house without anyone home, they can use digital proof of delivery to snap a picture of the location they left the package.
They can leave the package with someone they trust or store it safely. While collecting their electronic signature, they can also keep it at home.
This proof of delivery information can be accessed in the cloud so that it is easy to find the address and pick up your package.
Improvement 3: Clear communication with customers
Automation is a great way to automate a crucial part of your delivery process. Customers will be less likely to contact dispatchers and business owners to inquire about their items if they are kept up to date automatically.
Dispatchers and drivers will spend much more time if they have to inform customers about delivery delays or ETAs manually. It can be dangerous to answer phone calls or send text messages while driving. For the latter, drivers will need to pull over to type. This can lead to even more delays.
How Circuit for Teams provides you with helpful customer notifications
You can customize customer notifications. “/>Circuit for Teams lets your customers relax, knowing that the ETAs will be accurate and up-to-date in real time. Customers receive updates when their item leaves dispatch HQ and when their driver is near. These updates can be sent by SMS, email, or both. They don’t need to reach out to you.
Improvement 4: Make sure your drivers have a friendly attitude
Friendliness is not something you can control as a dispatcher or business owner. But you can.
It is essential to hire drivers with an optimistic outlook and a can-do attitude to their job. However, there are things you can do to make their job easier and reduce their stress.
It is possible to improve your drivers’ daily lives by setting up a reliable and efficient delivery system. It makes their lives so much easier.
People who feel valued by their employers will be happier at work. It is possible to make your drivers happier by making minor improvements. You can give them reliable equipment, fair wages, and comfortable vehicles. This makes it easier for them to smile at customers when they deliver their goods.
