A few days ago, I was in a book store (shocking I know) and after perusing the science fiction and fantasy section, I could not find the book I was hoping to find there. When I asked an employee what could be done, they told me that they could order the book and I could pick it up in one to two weeks after paying for shipping. I ended up leaving empty-handed and without an order because I knew I could find the book online with free shipping that would get to me in 3 days.
Stories like this are what brick and mortar stores fear when it comes to competing with online businesses like yours. However, just because you’re online and offer competitive prices does not automatically mean you will get the sale. If you take two weeks to fulfill an order, you can bet a customer will be looking elsewhere to get that product. Join us for today’s post all about making sure your customers are delighted with the final steps of their interaction with your business: delivery.
Free shipping
The big question on every ecommerce site owner’s mind is whether to offer a free shipping option or not. It can get costly absorbing that cost for each transaction. However, the idea of free shipping has been documented as very important to consumers. In fact, comScore released a study noting that not only are 83% of customers willing to wait an additional two days for delivery if shipping is free, 58% of customers have added items to their shopping cart to qualify for free shipping.
Those statistics make sense when you think about it from a customer’s point of view. To customers, the price they want to pay is the number they see in their cart. If they don’t have to pay ten dollars in shipping, that’s another ten dollars they can spend for more stuff. But, this is good news for you as a business too! Because customers rank free shipping so highly, the cost of shipping can be mitigated by the price of the product. Instead of offering a 15% discount on the product, you can offer full price to offset the cost of shipping the product.
Speed
Everything moves fast these days and while you may think the same applies for shipping, you’d be only slightly wrong. Speedy shipping times are important, of course, but what customers expect is a reliable delivery window. If you offer a 3-5 day shipping option on your store, you better have that package to them in 3-5 days. Think about it, the customer has bought your product and the shipping option they select is essentially how long they are willing to wait before it gets to them. If they have to wait longer, they will find a business that will get their package to them on time.
It’s more than just a box
Finally, in the world of ecommerce, your customers rarely have interactions with you or your store in a physical space. The box that you send to your customers may be the only physical interaction they have with you at all. Make sure it’s a good experience. Admittedly, there is only so much you can do with a cardboard box, but a little bit of effort goes a long way. No one wants a box being held together by bits of scotch tape and with bits parts of their purchase hanging out. Having tasteful branding and being meaningful with how the item is packaged can leave your customer knowing that your products will get to them safely when they order from you again.
That’s a wrap!
In today’s world where quick and free shipping is expected, your business has big shoes to fill when it comes to getting products to your customer. In ecommerce, you’re not just competing with brick and mortar stores. You’re also competing with every other ecommerce store that carries a similar product as you and customers will take the path that has the least resistance between them ordering the product and it being in their hands. Take the time to make sure your business doesn’t stumble across the finish line getting your product to your customers.