A successful fulfillment strategy is critical for the success of your e-commerce brand.
Fulfillment is what you present the most to your customers, so you must ensure everything goes well. It can change whether they view your brand positively.
So, you’ll want some tips for success in your fulfillment strategy. We’ve collected all of the best, so let’s keep reading!
1. Review Your KPIs Frequently
First, you’ll want to check in with your key performance indicators (KPIs). These metrics can give you insight into how your e-commerce business is performing. You can review order accuracy, customer satisfaction levels, and how many orders arrive on time.
Review these KPIs on a regular schedule so you can identify problems early and make improvements to your fulfillment process. The sooner you catch issues, the easier they are to fix. Some difficulties in fulfillment can become disastrous for your business.
Use your KPIs analytics to determine what areas need the most improvement and work on those first. Then, work on the process as a whole to make it as efficient as possible. After making these changes, occasionally review your KPIs to ensure nothing else crops up.
It also helps to listen to customer and staff feedback. They can provide insight and let you know of adjustments you could make that would improve fulfillment overall.
Tracking your KPIs will give you a standard metric to track your progress.
2. Improve Order Tracking
Next, you’ll want to work on order tracking. Most customers expect real-time tracking today, so make sure you offer it. Real-time tracking allows customers to monitor their orders, giving them more peace of mind and trust in your brand. Not every carrier offers it, so do your research.
Then, you must provide customers with open communication. They’ll expect automatic updates throughout the shipping process through SMS or email. They must receive messages when the order is shipped and out for delivery.
If they send you a message, ensure you respond quickly and answer their questions about the order. Offering multiple places for communication helps, too. For example, online chat, email, and phone calls are all great choices. The customer can reach out to you however they prefer that way.
Lastly, you’ll want to inform the customer about any delays, failed deliveries, or other problems during fulfillment. They’ll want to know what you’re doing to provide a solution.
3. Don’t Skip Post-Purchase Contact
You must also check in with the customer after the delivery. Reaching customers with post-purchase contact through surveys or emails is an excellent way to get feedback. You’ll get to see the customers’ experiences firsthand that way.
Additionally, you can use the post-purchase feedback to determine what areas of fulfillment need the most work. You can improve your tracking and delivery processes with what you find.
You can set up automatic emails and notifications to reach out to the customer for you when a delivery is completed. This strategy is the most efficient, and you won’t have to remember to do it.
4. Use Automation Tools
It’s also helpful to use automation wherever possible in your fulfillment process. It reduces the likelihood of human error. Plus, you can use it to optimize your inventory, keeping your products stocked without over or under-stocking them.
Automation tools track products and restock them as needed. They take into account seasonal demand, and they can be highly accurate. Using them takes a lot of the guesswork out of fulfillment. They’ll also alert you of delays, shortages, and more.
E-commerce automation tools can also track picking and packing while creating shipping labels as needed.
You can even use robots in the warehouse to increase efficiency further. For example, machines that fold and tape boxes. There are even robots that can pick orders for you.
Most importantly, there is software that optimizes shipping routes for you. They allow delivery drivers to get to the customer quickly based on real-time information. These programs can make changes en route, so you can trust that the order always arrives as soon as possible.
5. Prioritize Your Customers’ Experiences
If you want to see success in your e-commerce company, you need to focus on the customer. They’re the backbone of your business. So, ensure they have a positive experience. If you do, they’ll spread good word-of-mouth reviews for you, helping you to grow.
When customers have a negative experience with a company, the opposite happens, making it much harder to succeed.
There are a few ways that you can prioritize your customers’ experiences. First, make sure you offer frequent communication to them about their orders. They should never be left wondering where their packages are.
Second, ensure your e-commerce store is intuitive and easy to use. If your site doesn’t have a good, modern design, many customers will abandon it quickly.
6. Improve Your Picking and Packing
You’ll want to make your picking and packing more efficient next. Start with the warehouse layout. The products should be organized to reduce total picking time, so place items ordered together often near each other. It also helps to keep the most frequently requested things in one location.
Next, make sure that warehouse staff has the best training when it comes to picking and packing. Inform them of your standards and teach them to use RFID technology to improve efficiency.
Continuous improvement in your picking and packing department is necessary. When the picking and packing processes are better, there are fewer errors. Orders can also be shipped quicker, helping to increase customer satisfaction.
Achieve E-Commerce Success
To summarize, you can work towards success with your business using these tips. The sooner you implement them, the sooner you’ll start to see results with your e-commerce brand. Consistency is the key here, so you’ll want to improve your systems regularly.
Focusing on KPIs, improving order tracking, and using post-purchase contact strategies are some of the best ways to see success in e-commerce. That said, your main goal should be to keep your customers happy and build trust.
