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Have you ever had a customer ask you about the status of a delivery? Have you ever discovered a note left at your door because you weren’t home to receive a package? Have you ever had a delivery that failed, was lost, or stolen?
While shopping online offers convenience upfront, getting a package to your doorstep can be challenging at times. When the scenarios above happen, it can lead to frustrations for all. The good news is there are free tools out there to help prevent just that.
A great example is UPS My Choice®, a delivery management tool that is available for anyone receiving a package shipped via UPS. This type of service lets anyone who ordered a package decide how, where, and when home deliveries occur to fit their schedule.
As a consumer, this shifts the package delivery experience from being beyond your control to having the power to set preferences at your fingertips. As an online retailer, this decreases the number of inquiries you receive while improving the customer experience.
According to UPS, My Choice members are 38% less likely to ever call customer service. They are also less likely to have a package returned to sender, as they have several options to enable successful delivery attempts.
As you can imagine, this becomes especially important during the holiday rush, given the increase in the volume of orders.
Why encourage customers to schedule or pick up deliveries?
Tailoring delivery settings offers benefits to both you and your customers. According to the 2019 UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper study, 20% of global shoppers prefer an alternate delivery location to a home delivery.
1. Increase convenience
When you order an item online, you can’t always predict when it will arrive, or time it so that you will be home. By using the My Choice delivery management features, customers can provide instructions to the driver (e.g., to leave your package with a neighbouror designate a spot for your package to be placed), sign for a package electronically, place vacation holds on packages when no one is available to receive them, and more.
There is no need to take time off work or leave early, change plans, or stay home to wait for a package to arrive. From same-day delivery to a rough estimate, you can stay in the know.
2. Reduce the possibility of theft
We’d like to think that all packages are delivered safely and securely to residential addresses, but as unfortunate as it, theft happens. The best way to prevent packages from being stolen is to make sure the receiver is home when it’s delivered. Because that’s not always possible, it’s important to have other options.
Free services like UPS Access Point™, also part of My Choice, let consumers pick up their packages at convenient neighborhood locations that provide extended hours over home delivery. Consumers can even proactively redirect packages to their preferred designated location.
3. Stay in the loop
Another important aspect of having packages delivered is to receive frequent status notifications. This level of tracking improves the customer experience by providing visibility throughout delivery – from getting estimated arrival windows to receiving progress alerts via text or email for packages the day before, the day of, and upon delivery.
4. Get rewarded
Consumers in the US who set a UPS Access Point preference between October 31, 2019 and January 12, 2020 can earn rewards for packages received. Eligible shipments earn consumers total rewards valued at up to $35.
By alternating delivery sites to any of the 15,000 locations across the UPS Access Point network (including The UPS Store, Michaels, and local businesses such as neighborhood delis, dry cleaners, and flower shops), holiday shoppers can pick up deliveries when convenient for them and even earn other perks.
Spread the word
These free services can dramatically improve the online shopping and delivery experience for consumers. Of course, your customers need to know they exist to use them. Any ecommerce business owner can encourage customers to enrol in services like My Choice for free to have more control and flexibility with their home deliveries. The better experience your customers have ordering products from you, the more likely they may be to buy in the future.
Learn more
Learn how to attract more customers and turn them into repeat buyers with the shipping methods they want. Download the ShipBob 2-Day Express Shipping guide or request a pricing quote from ShipBob below to see if our fulfilment services are a good fit for your business.
