Riddle: What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?
Answer: The future.
Yes, although it’s hard to predict what the future holds for the retail industry, there are several things we know for sure:
- Online shopping is here to stay.
- A lot of support questions are redundant and repetitive.
- Post-purchase anxiety is real.
In fact, a survey shows that nearly all consumers actively track their packages— more specifically 91% of respondents, whereas nearly 1/5 of them track their packages multiple times a day.
People are anxious and want to know exactly what happens to their packages the moment the order has shipped to the instant the items reach their doorstep.
If you’re like most people, the first thing you do when you get in your car is to fasten your seatbelt. But after that, where do your eyes go? Chances are that you’ll be looking at the dashboard. And for good reason: it’s full of information that can help you take off and keep moving toward your goal destination.
Besides, by keeping an eye on your fuel gauge, you can avoid costly trips to the gas station. By monitoring your speed, you can avoid costly tickets. By keeping an eye on the time, you can avoid being late for important appointments.
Similarly, a detailed dashboard can help you take care of business. Using an advanced order tracking solution enables you to manage your resources more efficiently, communicate potential delays to customers, and recognize and resolve problems with your shipments quickly.
Truth is that we’re all running out of time, and in such a competitive market, retailers and their customer care teams are on the edge at all times. They’re always (metaphorically) running around, answering WISMO (“Where Is My Order?”) calls, emails, and chats. Customer service reps are close to the point of burnout, and managers are always behind with revenue-producing activities like marketing and sales. The last thing they need is to make order tracking more complicated.
What makes advanced order tracking necessary?
When it comes to tracking shipments and orders, not using the most effective tools only makes the entire process seem like you’re making three right turns instead of one left, sending customers from one carrier’s website to another’s.
The lack of branded content on a third-party service provider makes customers even more skeptical and likely to constantly contact your support team for rudimentary information, such as the order status.
This leads to overwhelmed staff, and a significant increase in the number of escalated support inquiries, often managers having to step up and take care of these situations before something unfavorable happens to the brand’s reputation. After all, most consumers link the shipping experience to the brand itself.
What exactly does it involve?
It’s hard to keep track of online orders, especially when they come from different channels. Customers expect retailers to have a smooth and efficient order tracking process. Not being able to meet this expectation can lead to lost sales and negative reviews.
An advanced order tracking system helps retailers manage their online orders with ease. This online, often cloud-based solution offers a simple, user-friendly interface that makes it easy for customers to check the status of their order at any time.
What makes the difference between basic and advanced order tracking?
Basic order tracking often requires a lot of manual input. Staff members need to update order statuses manually, which can lead to unintentional human error. It can happen to the best of us. Besides, what’s the point of offering order tracking if most of your efforts are tedious and manual, and you’re not offering real-time information.
Moreover, most online order tracking tools and providers have a generic look and feel. Brands need to put their brand assets forward and re-engage with their audience to drive future purchases. Imagine being a customer clicking on a 3rd-party link that looks nothing like the brand you’re purchasing from, taking you to multiple pages, for example from the FedEx page after the order has shipped to the UPS one during the last-mile delivery.
On the other side, importing orders in WeSupply is just so much easier. Tracking all orders, regardless of the sales channel (e.g., online, physical stores, curbside pickup, social media, etc.) is simple, and intuitive, and it takes less time. Additionally, it comes with 3,000+ courier integrations to enable you to make the whole process much quicker and cost-effective.
WeSupply order tracking, for instance, enables retailers to level up the customer experience, improve their bottom line, and race all the way through to the finish line:
With WeSupply, customers can get relevant tracking information. learn about any shipment exceptions, and prevent package theft, by checking their orders in one centralized place— you’ll be offering them more than just a tracking number and a 3rd-party carrier link.
Conclusions
With the ever-increasing popularity of online shopping, order tracking has become crucial for merchants worldwide. Not only is it important to be able to deliver packages quickly, but it’s also essential to ensure that customers can stay on top of the status of their orders at all times.
An advanced online order tracking system is a must in this situation, offering retailers a multitude of benefits, both in terms of customer satisfaction and team performance. In addition to enhancing the customer experience, real-time order tracking also helps retailers by reducing the pressure on their support team.
Gone are the days of long phone wait times or unanswered emails— with an advanced order tracking system in place like WeSupply, employees can focus on more urgent tasks rather than chasing down shipment statuses for countless customers at once.