Put yourself in an online shoppers shoes: They place an order but you don’t have real-time tracking. All the customer receives is an alert to say the order is being processed.
The customer has no idea if the items were shipped, where the order is located, or even if it’s out for delivery. You need to change this.
No matter if you are a restaurant, e-commerce business, or courier service, your customers want to know where their order is.
You can imagine their excitement when placing their order, they’ll pracktically want to stalk the item until it arrives.
If you’re not providing customers with real-time tracking, you may just be losing their trust. I say this because if they don’t know where their order is, chances are they are:
- Frustrated at the lack of communication.Â
- Don’t trust your brand to actually deliver on time.Â
- Impatient and don’t enjoy the shopping experience with your business.Â
How did I operate my business without real-time tracking?
When I worked in logistics, our company imported and exported goods. We operated some big shipments of high-value cargo, and managed more than ten drivers on any given day.
Our biggest issue was visibility.
One of our clients was a car dealership that imported vehicles from overseas. Once we received the car consignment at port, they were offloaded onto car carriers and transported across the country.
These cars altogether were worth a good couple of thousand dollars. Naturally, the dealership would want updates on each car carrier. But we didn’t use real-time tracking.
Giving updates on car carrier locations was an endless struggle. Our company then decided to invest in real-time tracking software.Â
What does real-time tracking do for my logistics business?
Okay, so I get that you may be nervous to take that first step towards delivery technology. But here’s why you won’t regret ditching maps and constant phone calls.
- You get live location updates: Our team could see where each car carrier was at any time.Â
- Better communication: We could keep customers informed all through the delivery process.Â
- Route optimization: We identified inefficient routes so our team could cut down on delivery times.
- Fewer customer complaints: Our car dealership client was impressed because we had all their shipments under control.Â
Why I decided to use real-time tracking in my logistics business
Think like a customer for a second: If you know where your order is, you will enjoy the shopping experience. Chances are you will trust the brand even more.
Here’s why I decided to use delivery technology in my logistics business.
- I didn’t want constant phone calls for updates.Â
- My team wanted to have the capability of updating customers immediately.Â
- Our company researched our market and found our competitors were already using real-time tracking.Â
Let’s recap: Give customers visibility over their orders
Once an order is placed, a customer will want to be updated on where their order is locfated. Put yourself in their shoes: A message alert doesn’t add to the customer experience either.
But with a real-time tracking link, they can follow their order and know that indeed will arrive.
This software changed our logistics operations for good, and helped our company deliver better.
About the author
Sharl is a qualified journalist. He has over 10 years’ experience in the media industry, including positions as an editor of a magazine and Business Editor of a daily newspaper. Sharl also has experience in logistics specifically operations, where he worked with global food aid organisations distributing food into Africa. Sharl enjoys writing business stories and human interest pieces.