8 Sure-Fire Ways to Improve Your Delivery Service

No matter whether you suffer from careless workers causing you traffic fines such as this one, or you only want to boost your ratings in the field of delivery, performance is key. Your delivery flow impacts your employees as well as customer experience.

With the right technology and the best processes available today, optimizing your business is easier than ever. Let’s take a look at some good practices that you can adopt to have your businesses functioning as efficiently as possible.

Develop Clear Definitions

Clearly defining what you provide customers is important for any service-based industry. It also helps you handle expectations. Make sure that you and your customers are on the same page when it comes to what they can (and can not) expect from your offers.

Be transparent on your website. Include what your company can do, possible limitations, eligibility, all costs, and customer service numbers. Plus, be sure that all your employees understand their roles in the process.

Automate Whenever Possible

The second trick towards running a successful delivery business is automating as much as possible. There are pieces of software that tackle the entire procedure from the moment a new order is placed. The software then tracks everything between receiving the order and delivering it, checking off the boxes of the process.

Doing this is beneficial for both you and the customer, by saving on manual labor costs and for showing you where an error occurred, should one happen. It enables complete transparency of the delivery for both you and the customer.

Moreover, here are three ways good software can help your company.

• Provide Delivery Time to Customers

Your customers will appreciate getting an estimated time of arrival of their product. Plus, you could ask them to pick a preferred time if they plan on placing an order for later in the day.

• Let Customers Track Package

Your customers will trust you much more if you invest in an excellent tracking system. They will also get more control over the delivery. If you team up with a trusted courier provider, the deliveries will become even more timely and efficient.

• Increase Accuracy

Computerized systems record the addresses and orders of the customers, preventing delays in manual note-taking.  Before asking for payment, you can also set up an option to display every item being purchased and if they chose to customize the order. Plus, the system can create a database for future reference.

Find Trusted Partners 

You need to be in full control of both the situation in your warehouse and delivery service providers. When it comes to storage, use scanning devices to stay up-to-date with your stock. 

You will rely on your team to gather the items, but automating parts of the task makes it more accurate. 

Also, make sure that you always have well-known, reliable courier services handy. Depending on the location and desired delivery time, some types will work better than others. Enable your customers to choose by listing available services with weight and destination info on your website, so they have a better estimate of how much shipping will cost. 

Also, don’t shy away from public postal services! They tend to be slower than private companies, but at times, they are the best choice, especially if you are shipping somewhere nearby.

Check Your Routes

Your knowledge as a business manager is vital to the success of the company, including delivery. This is where tools like driver ratings software can be very helpful. It’s also a good idea, though, to use the insights of your drivers to improve the service. They may have some info you lack. For example:

• They are aware of peak times and common traffic bottlenecks
• They may be more familiar with certain areas, making delivery faster in those locations. This way, you can assign tasks more efficiently
• They know which customers don’t respect delivery schedules, so you count on them spending more time on those tasks

With help from your drivers, making adjustments to routes will be a piece of cake. In this area, you could also take advantage of route optimization technology.

Encourage High-Quality Services

Your employees need to juggle several tasks at once to create an efficient delivery service. They should be on board to make it work best. What you can do for encouragement is to tie delivery performance and employee incentives. Reward them for a work well done.

Another critical thing to keep in mind is that your philosophy must be – customer first. When you’re implementing new methods, try to see how it will affect the customers. Will it improve the experience? Also, how will it affect your employees; this is an important question because your employees must be able to implement any changes made. 

Answer these questions before deciding on a course of action, and your service will become more customer-centric. Trust us; those customers will appreciate this approach, so much so they might choose you over a more significant name in the industry.

The Bottom Line 

Again, trying to view your service from the perspective of a waiting customer is essential. Think of how slowly time passes for them as they await. Then, provide them with information about the status of the package. 

This approach applies to most areas of service improvement and is an excellent rule of thumb. Finally, remember that you’ll never run out of ways to improve your delivery performance. 

Don’t stop seeking routes to improvement, but don’t get discouraged that you’re not managing it all, either. Development takes time, and each small boost is another step towards the best services.