In today’s ecommerce world, package tracking has become a necessity. As many as 70% of customers view package tracking as a top priority when ordering online, and for good reason.
After making a purchase online, customers don’t want to wait to be left in the dark to find out when their purchases will arrive.
Don’t worry if you’re not entirely sure how package tracking works and its importance for customer experience. We’ll be exploring its benefits and the three most important reasons to provide order tracking for your customers together!
3 Reasons to provide package tracking
Package tracking is essential for ecommerce shipping. When shopping online, customers are forced to place their trust in a business that they have no way to reach physically.
As such, order tracking plays a critical role in building customer confidence, among many other values in your business.
Cost reduction
Satisfied customers are some of the best customers to have. They’re delighted with their purchase, pleased with the customer service and will most likely make another purchase.
On the other hand, disgruntled customers can slow down your business by requiring you to respond to their inquiries about when their package will arrive or where it’s currently at.
Package tracking lets all of your customers know right from the get-go where their packages are at and when it’s slated to arrive.
Additionally, automating this process is easy and frees up time for your team to work on other tasks.
Respond to customer expectations.
We’ve mentioned above that as many as 70% of customers today prioritize order tracking as a priority. Customers don’t just want package tracking in a business landscape as competitive as ecommerce; they expect it.
The ability to track orders could be the difference between a customer shopping at your online store or making their purchase at a different online retailer.
Additionally, order tracking helps your business as much as it helps your customers. If a customer is wondering where their order is, it’s much more reassuring to know exactly where it is instead of being told you don’t know.
Keeping customers informed helps build customer confidence, loyalty and ensures that they’re satisfied.
Order fulfillment
Order fulfillment can be tricky. Between choosing the right packaging to use and deciding on your last-mile delivery provider, there are many moving parts that can cause your customers’ packages to get lost in the shuffle.
By utilizing package tracking, you can exercise more control over the fulfillment process and address any problems that might come up.
Implementing a package tracking system can help deal with customer service inquiring about the location of their packages.
What does package tracking look like?
An overwhelming majority of couriers will provide package tracking services free of charge, allowing both you and your customers to monitor a package from its source to its destination.
How package tracking works
Packaging tracking is a mostly automatic process, but there are some manual steps involved that you should know. Here’s how orders are tracked from start to finish.
- Tracking Information Submission
The first step involves choosing a method for tracking packages. There are many options to track your orders – here are the most common ones:
- Text Tracking: Customers can enter their phone number, and the courier service will provide updates via SMS text.
- App Tracking: Some courier services, like Cantec, provide, provide real-time tracking for their deliveries.
- Website Tracking: Once customers receive their tracking number, they enter it on the 5. delivery service’s website to view its status.
- Package Processing
Depending on the courier, the package will either be automatically sorted, scanned, and processed before reaching the delivery or distribution hub or manually scanned and dropped off. When a package changes hands or arrives at a sorting centre, it’s scanned to track its delivery progress.
- Delivery Depot Sorting
The delivery depot is the penultimate stop for packages before it’s delivered to its destination. Delivery depots are usually regional hubs such as local post offices.
- Last-Mile Delivery
Last-mile delivery is the final step of the delivery process. It’s the stage where a package is transported from the courier or delivery depot to its final destination. Depending on where the final destination is, last-mile delivery can be fraught with delays and expensive costs.
- Package Delivered
Once the last-mile delivery courier reaches its final destination, the package will be marked as delivered. The courier service will update the status of your package tracking to reflect the delivery, and the business will consider the order fulfilled.
How do delivery companies track packages?
With Breadstack Fulfillment, you can track all of your shipments in real-time in the Breadstack dashboard.
Customer demands surrounding fast, affordable, and efficient delivery are at an all-time high. To meet and exceed customer expectations, you need partners who understand and appreciate your business needs.
Breadstack offers itemized billing, an easy-to-use and navigate dashboard and simple integration across multiple CMS and ecommerce platforms for your convenience. This means that you won’t have to navigate numerous different websites to track where your packages are.
Shipping with Breadstack allows you to stay on top of your business and increase frequency to take your business to new heights!
Here’s how it works:
Step 1 – Enter pick-up and drop-off details.
- Select a location for drivers to pick up and drop off your package.
Step 2 – Confirm package details.
- Select the category that best fits your item.
- Prepare your parcel with packaging.
- Enter the package dimensions, weight and additional notes for the driver.
Step 3 – Review and confirm your order.
- Ensure all the inputted information is correct.
- Schedule a time for drivers to pick up your item(s)
- Add any additional information about pick-up and drop-off locations you might have.
- Authorize drivers to come and pick up the order.
Step 4 – Relax and track
- Wait for a courier to come and pick up your order.
- Sit back and track your delivery kilometre by kilometre through live tracking.
Package tracking isn’t an easy or quick process. Mistakes can happen anywhere along the supply chain that can cause your package to go missing. Don’t leave it up to chance – track all of your deliveries kilometre-by-kilometre from your store to your customer’s door.
With Breadstack, you can rest assured that your package will arrive safe and sound at your destination, no matter where that may be!
