The author of the bestselling help book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill, once said, “There is always room for those who can be relied upon to deliver the goods when they say they will.”
This statement has never been more true than it is today. Whether it is food delivery or grocery shopping, every industry that sells products online wants to deliver outstanding customer experiences every time they ship something.
One of the major reasons for this is the sudden increase in the demand for all products ever since we got struck by the pandemic. As a result, more and more people prefer to have their orders delivered rather than going out and putting themselves at risk.
But that’s not the only change out there. Today, customers are accustomed to instant gratification, which reflects how they expect their orders to be delivered. They want everything to reach them the same day or as soon as possible.
No matter how big your brand is, if you take too long to deliver an order, the chances are that you will lose the customer forever, and receive the delayed package back at the warehouse. But wait, it gets worse. How? Heard of bad word-of-mouth? Yes, negative publicity destroys a brand quicker than a bad marketing strategy.
How Can You Improve the Turn-Around Time for Deliveries?
Implementing new strategies to reduce the turnaround time for deliveries is easier said than done. If you try to optimize delivery times, you will end up disrupting the entire supply chain to some extent. But if you are willing to take the pain to do so, then you will end up with reduced delivery times, lower running costs, efficient fleet performance, and most importantly, more satisfied customers.
Before we dive into some practical tips to reduce your delivery times, you need to understand the nuances of the industry in which you operate. Note down your current performance and set up realistic goals distributed across different milestones.
Please note: Reducing delivery times can vary for different use cases. For example, reducing delivery times for gadgets to the same day is a great improvement, but if you expect to deliver the same in 30 minutes like a food order, then you are setting unrealistic expectations.
Without further ado, here are some tips that you can use to grow your business and reduce delivery times:
Work With Trusted Carriers
Are your shipments delivered late routinely? Then, there is definitely a problem with the delivery team’s work ethic. It is not uncommon for a business to have multiple delivery partners, but while creating new partnerships for delivery, make sure you only finalize the trustworthy names.
Evaluate a delivery team based on their past record and OTIF (On Time In Full) performance. A diligent delivery partner will positively impact your delivery costs and help you deliver better customer experiences.
Use Geofencing to Assign Orders to Agents Nearby
Geofencing can be a game-changer if you get it right. By restricting the order assignment to a specific team within a geographical area, you can reduce the amount of fuel burnt in picking up deliveries from long distances. Agents familiar with an area also know the fastest routes and can use a delivery management system’s in-built navigation system to expedite the delivery runs.
Optimize Routes Regularly
If you are using an AI-powered delivery management system, route optimization works like a breeze. Once your agents are confined to a geographical area, you can use route optimization capabilities to carve a path of all the deliveries assigned to them. As a result, it saves time in doing repeat runs to delivery stations, improves fuel economy, and ensures faster last-mile delivery.
Share Delivery Requirements with Carriers Before Hiring Them
If you want to change how your delivery process works, it is important to keep the delivery teams in the loop. Inform them that you are going to change the operations and that they should be prepared to deliver packages faster. It will also help you address any concerns they might have and offer solutions before the changes occur.
Create and Manage an In-House Delivery Team
You should outsource if you cannot find the vendors that can meet your requirements and have the budget to develop an in-house delivery team. No matter what a third-party solution provider might say, they will never be able to imbibe every little detail you ask them to. Creating your team is a permanent solution and reduces your delivery times in a financially feasible way. In addition to that, you end up with a better growth infrastructure and increased opportunities for scaling up your business.
Automate Your Delivery Operations
Once you have a delivery fleet at your disposal, it is time to automate your everyday operations with a delivery management system. Here are a few things to consider when creating automated workflows for your business:
- Easy order/job/task assignment capabilities for administrators
- Push notifications to inform agents about incoming tasks
- Access to customer information on the resource app
- Clear communication between administrators, agents and customers when delivering an order
- ETAs for an order once a delivery starts
- Automatic feedback from customer after a delivery
If your delivery management system can help you with the aforementioned tasks and more, then you are going to be able to complete your deliveries in a timely manner.
Improve Communications
To create an optimum delivery experience, you need to have all hands on deck. It means that all your core teams should collaborate internally and establish a clear line of communication to avoid creating any unnecessary delays in the delivery process.
Delivery agents should receive notifications about incoming tasks from the administration team. In addition, the delivery agents should be able to accept or reject tasks/jobs. If the agent rejects the task/job, the platform can auto-assign the task to the best suitable agent without manual intervention.
When the delivery starts, the customer should be able to get in touch with the delivery agent and vice versa. They should be able to interact with each other over the phone or via text and receive regular updates about any changes in the delivery. Whether the customer wants to reschedule or if the courier is delayed for some reason, clear communication makes things easier for everyone involved.
Get a Delivery Management Software for Your Business
Now the big question is, how can you implement the tips mentioned above?
All you need to do is invest in a delivery management software (DMS) like NetworkON. It is an AI-powered, intelligent and intuitive solution for services and delivery management. It is created with a customer-centric approach with a clear focus on ensuring on-time delivery and delivering enhanced customer experiences.
NetworkON streamlines the entire logistics arm of your business and automates the everyday tasks to create a smoother, error free and economical delivery operation for your organization. You can automate dispatch, gain complete fleet visibility in real-time, track orders, optimize route and generate analytics reports for performance management.
Ready to Reduce Delivery Time and Increase Profits?
Get in touch with our experts today and get started with NetworkON for free. To know more about how NetworkON can integrate with your existing technology stack, get in touch with us today.
You can send your queries on info@networkon.io or visit our website. Remember, the time saved in deliveries delights your customers and encourages them to spend more with your brand, thus, increasing your revenue all the way.
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