Perfect CX Series Part 6— Delivery Experience
Here we are at the last blog of our series. Previously, we discussed the various types of experiences that combine to form Customer Experience.
We dived into the concepts of CX around the brand, product, service, contact center, and in-store. The only aspect missing is Delivery.
With a boom in the online shopping culture and doorstep delivery of products and even services, Delivery Experience has become an important part of Customer Experience.
In the case where your brand deals in e-commerce, all your customer touchpoints get generated online. And only delivery is the time when your customer gets directly in touch with company personnel.
So, the experience your customer gets while interacting with them will create a difference in their perception.
In this blog, we will discuss what delivery experience means in CX, how it makes a difference for your customers, and understand the major challenges and methods to deal with them through the vase of American Express.
Let’s begin!
What does Deliver Experience mean for your eCommerce Platforms?
Recall the last time you ordered online. Once your order gets placed all you do is keep on tracking where your order is and when it will be delivered to you. You want to be involved in each step.
And when your package arrived, recall how it was delivered. How was it packed? What was the delivery person’s interaction like? Was the package in good condition?
Answers to all these questions are what forms your Delivery Experience. In simple terms, a positive delivery experience is the successful, secure, fast, and transparent delivery of a customer order.
Anything otherwise will result in a negative experience for the customers. And according to a survey by GetConvey, about 84% of customers quit a brand, they were previously loyal to, after one poor delivery experience.
So what matters to customers when we talk about delivery experience? Let us understand.
Why does it Matter to Customers?
If your brand deals online through e-commerce, getting an edge on price, and quality is not quite enough. Customers judge a brand by the overall experience.
Online buyers are more concerned about the actual delivery of their orders. Buyers expect fast delivery. They hate to wait. And most customers order on the edge when they are in dire need of a product.
For instance, you have a party on Saturday evening, there are 80% chances you’ll order a dress online a day or two before. And that’s why you need the product in your hands fast.
Online buyers also appreciate free standard delivery as they expect all costs to be included in the price.
According to McKinsey & Company, 70% of customers expect free delivery while 25% of them are willing to pay a premium for same-day delivery.
Another unsaid expectation of online customers is to receive products that are not damaged in transit. At times some goods may get ruined in transportation. According to DropOff, around 56% of customers received damaged products in 2018.
Another important consideration is that the goods delivered match the description of the product ordered. Variation in color, size, quality, etc. may result in ruining the customer experience.
Many times customers also end up receiving incorrect packages from other customers while their orders seem to be lost. Statistics from Parcel Monitor reveal that 36% of customers received incorrect packages while 31% of packages went missing.
It also matters to the customers when the delivery of their order is transparent and they can track and get involved at every step from order placement to actual delivery. They want real-time updates about dispatch, shipping, locations, and stuff like that.
And lastly, with COVID in our lives, customers desire safety in the delivery of products. They expect brands to be conscious about the pandemic-related precautions and actively adhere to them.
They expect delivery persons to wear masks and the package to be properly sanitized. Some brands also provide a health check slip of the delivery person along with the bill containing their temperature and oxygen level measure before delivery.
When these expectations are not met, it results in a poor delivery experience which has an irreparable impact on customer relationships. Meeting these expectations is not easy and so there are many challenges in enhancing the delivery experience.
The Roadblocks in Delivery Experience
Major hurdles in the creation of a seamless delivery experience are:
- Logistics: To ensure fast delivery, logistics need to be smooth. But that is not the case always. Transportation and location-related issues may make it difficult to provide same-day delivery as expected by customers.
- Damages: In-transit damages can be reduced to an extent by improving the packaging of products. However, this cannot be ascertained for sure. There’s always scope that the packaging may be ruined and well get damaged.
- Delivery personnel: E-commerce platforms do not always have their delivery system. They depend on courier services for the same. In such a case, the delivery person doesn’t belong to your brand. But their behavior with the customer will impact your brand image.
- Sorting and coding: Packages that get misplaced or exchanged are because of the huge quantity of orders and a weak coding system. This results in confusion and spoils the delivery experience.
Let’s analyze how AmEx has achieved excellence in improvising delivery experience overcoming these challenges.
Case: American Express Delivery
AmEx cards are easy to apply and receive. AmEx takes utmost care to ensure that its customers face no issues while applying and receiving their cards. It also focuses on aspects of security and privacy.
You can apply for AmEx cards online as well as offline. Once the application process is completed, an application number gets generated. The new card is delivered to the applicant’s home address as listed in the application.
The card takes from 7–10 days to arrive. It is specifically mailed in a white envelope with the American Express logo on it from Omaha, NE return address.
After receiving the card, an online confirmation is required to ensure that you have received your card. In case of a delay from the stipulated time, you can request a replacement from an online account or by calling at 1–800–297–8500.
You can now set up your online account, change your billing address, pay bills and enroll for features.
For some eligible customers, an Instant Card Number gets generated on the application which can be used for online shopping and other digital payments even before the card arrive in the mail.
To maintain transparency, customers can also check their card’s status on the official website.
Visit the cards section, fill in the details of your application like reference number, application form number, and mobile number or date of birth and you can start viewing the progress on your card.
Conclusion
To sum it all, the delivery experience can be a strong differentiator when combined with innovation to enhance your overall CX. When combined with a focused product, service, and contact center experience, this powerful union can be directed towards the enhancement of the brand experience.
Customer Experience needs to be explored by individually understanding the varied experiences that contribute towards building it. Only then can you dedicatedly analyze and improve on areas where you lag and leverage the benefits of CX for your brand.
In the other parts of this series, we will learn more about each of the six varied types of experiences forming Customer Experience
