As an ecommerce store owner, you might be in total control of various factors of your business operations like, your store’s representation & looks, set up, images of your products, etc. All these are important aspects to attract customers to your online store. However, the one aspect that you might have overlooked entirely is “shipping methods”. For any eCommerce store, shipping strategy is the backbone of business operation. Choosing ideal shipping methods is imperative if you want to satisfy your customers.
If you use a sloppy shipping process, it may easily lead to the customers’ dissatisfaction. It may result in delayed package deliveries, lack of tracking data or damaged shipping items or other hurdles. This may make your buyer rethink about their purchases from your store. Today, with a wide technology stack, online stores are made advanced. Strategically planned shipping methods can help increase the relationship between business and customers.
Let’s have a quick look at top 5 shipping strategies that you must include for your ecommerce business growth.
1. Partner With the Leading Shipping Services Provider
Cutting costs on fees charged by shipping partners by going for an unknown or untested shipping partner may prove to be a costly mistake in the long run. The shipping experience you provide your customers will determine their loyalty to your store. Hence always go with leading shipping partners in your country. For example if you are in US you can have UPS or Fedex as your shipping partners. If you are in Australia you should have Australia Post as your shipping partner. If your ecommerce site is Magento based you have the option of adding shipping extensions to fetch live rates. For example, Australia Post Shipping is a leading Magento extension for fetching live rates from Australia Post.
2. Add Personal Touch To Shipping Packages
When it comes to your shipping packages, personalize them with small gestures – add little surprises and give a personal touch. Shipping may be the most routine part of your daily business efforts – time consuming and boring. The more you make your shipping package personal, the closer your customers will be to you.
You can write a short handwritten note and attach it with your new customers’ first orders. You can even keep your signature and thank them for trying out your items. It is a good way to delight your customers. Display your store’s identity in a way that is guaranteed to make your buyer’s smile. This is how you can make them buy your products in the future.
3. Professional Looking Custom Shipping Labels
Being an online merchant, you must always ensure that you use a professional shipping label. This will not only add value to your shipping process, but also help you to be compatible with main shipping partners. This means, the shipping labels you choose will need to work with your preferred shipping methods.
Remember, a professional yet smart shipping label is a great time saver. Shipping labels help you have benefits since they can be printed from a standard laser printer or an inkjet printer.
4. Analyze Your Test Results
Look at the impact of your shipping changes by conducting surveys or tests. You can specifically look for increase in the percentage of visitors who become customers, known as the “Conversion Rate”. To analyze your shipping strategy, take the help of tools like Google Analytics and measure changes. Key points to test are,
- The ratio of users abandoning your checkout page without finishing their purchase or payment.
- The boost in eCommerce store revenue and profit against the cost of covering the shipping costs to the business.
- Repeat customers and usage levels. You are surely to experience an increase that indicates, the changes you made to your shipping process have a positive effect on the number of repeat customers.
5. Turn Old Inventory Into Gifts Or Bonus
At times you may have unsold stock of particular products, which, as per your estimates, won’t sell anymore. Instead of making these deadstock go waste take it as an opportunity to boost customer experience by adding such products in the shipping package as “surprise gifts” for some of your buyers. This is a good way to say “thank you” to your good old customers or welcome new ones.
To Conclude
Implementing the above methods may take several months; it depends on what type of products you are selling and how often buyers tend to make additional purchases. Improving your ecommerce shipping strategies would help you ensure your store’s success by increasing sales, improving conversion rates, increasing average order value and making your best selling products grow.
