February 19 2018

What type of delivery service should you offer?

How your delivery offer can build brand experience.

Carefully building a brand means creating consistent experiences that touch every point of the customer journey - deepening customer engagement every step of the way.

For businesses operating in the competitive online retail market, every aspect of the customer journey is key, and choosing the right delivery service is an important part of the package. 

A recent survey to explore which delivery options influence online shoppers found 93 per cent of fashion sector shoppers prioritise parcel tracking and notifications as a must-have. Another key driver was next day delivery  as 81 per cent said this was key,   with 76 per cent who said they would prefer a two-hour delivery window on the morning of the delivery.

These customer demands are easily met - our Xpect service offers next day delivery, , with a two-hour delivery window notification on the morning of delivery, six days a week as standard. This service also offers parcel tracking and customer notifications via web, app, email and SMS.

But what about retailers who want to go one step further and ensure their delivery experience reflects their brand?

Exploring sector-based customer expectation is helpful, but in a busy marketplace, retailers with clearly delineated brands will be looking to deliver even more specific experiences to their customers. These should mirror their brand identities and provide a tangible expression of their brand values at every possible point of the customer journey.

Retailers operating in the same sector may choose to offer their shoppers different delivery options because they align better with their brand and create a consistent customer experience.

Shoppers who are drawn to high-end, luxury brands, will expect a variety of delivery options including express delivery, next day, nominated day, timed delivery windows, timely notifications and variety of returns options to suit them. While shoppers, who are after a real bargain and prioritise price over experience, may not feel as strongly about the delivery experience and might be less concerned about knowing exactly when their product will arrive..

This gives brands the opportunity to decide how they balance their needs with those of the shoppers’ and to what extent they should tailor their delivery options to create a customer journey, which mirrors their brand. To provide a consistent experience for their customers, brands should be thinking about whether their delivery experience matches the retail experience their brand delivers in other areas. For example, retailers may want to explore whether customer experience and loyalty would improve if their brand remained prominent throughout their shopper’s purchase and delivery experience.  Why do so many retailers focus on a sleek customer journey to check out then allow third-party notifications and branding to enter the equation via the delivery partner? Why have customers accepted this as the norm?

The customer consciously choses a retailer’s product and brand when they make a purchase. Would they feel more valued if the retailer’s brand remained front of mind throughout their experience, all the way to the knock on the door?

As online retailing becomes more competitive, brands will be looking to create points of difference, and delivery and other associated element of a transaction, could be key to this.  

We are currently launching our Xperience service, offering retailer branded notifications and integrated parcel tracking to create a seamless delivery and tracking experience through an API.  Integrated tracking allows customers to visit the retailer’s website to follow their parcels journey rather being directed to the delivery partner’s website.  This creates more opportunity for the retailer to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty through the owning the shoppers brand experience.

If you would like to learn more about how your delivery offer can build brand experience, contact us sales.enquiries@yodel.co.uk.