How to Choose the Right Courier for Your eCommerce Business

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How to Choose the Right Courier for Your eCommerce Business

eCommerce is one of the fastest-growing industries out there. In 2021, retail eCommerce generated over $4.921 trillion. As an eCommerce brand, you’re innately aware of this potential.

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As the world moves from brick and mortar to click and mortar, having a reliable and quality courier delivery service is essential. Getting your products safely from storage to your customer’s door is the bedrock of a good eCommerce business.

Choosing a courier is often a part of eCommerce that many retailers fail to consider fully before they set up, which can lead to frustration. In addition, your options have a lot of variety, so finding the right courier for your business can be tricky. 

To help you figure out which courier will be the best partner for your brand, there are a few things you need to look out for. To ensure you find the perfect fit, here is a list of some of the most important characteristics of a great eCommerce courier.

Most important qualities of an eCommerce courier

As an eCommerce business, you know firsthand how demanding online customers can be. 

Not only do today’s digital consumers expect quality products, they expect them to look as good as they appear online and arrive almost instantly. Often at little to no cost while appearing safely and well-packaged.

How to Choose the Right Courier for Your eCommerce Business

The right eCommerce courier is capable of delivering that. Pun intended. Bearing that in mind, there are a few key qualities to look for in your potential courier to give your customers the best experience.

  • A guarantee of safe delivery

As an eCommerce business, one of the main reasons your customers choose to do business with you is convenience

They assume that when buying your products, they will not be delivered quickly but safely too. 

A guarantee of safe delivery - How to Choose the Right Courier for Your eCommerce Business
A guarantee of safe delivery

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Your eCommerce business is only as good as your products. 

If your products arrive at the customer’s destination broken or damaged, your business will face complaints and negative reviews. Even if you handle the situation and offer a replacement, losing a product is never good for your business or reputation.

Choosing a courier with a clear and detailed package safety policy will go a long way. This should outline how they verify delivery, their delivery procedure, and any safety guarantees they make.

You need to ensure your products are insured for anything that can go wrong during delivery. There are many options, but CoverWallet trucking insurance is a great example of one that’s both comprehensive and affordable.

Combining these two qualities should ensure your products arrive at their destination safely. This is a must for any eCommerce business – especially if you’re dealing with expensive products.

  • Providing tracking abilities

As an eCommerce business, you’re keenly aware of the power and impact of technology. There are new digital and technological innovations practically every day, and it’s important to keep up.

For example, we are using a GPS technology app to track the movement of a product – from dispatch to delivery. 

Providing tracking abilities
Providing tracking abilities

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The ability to track an order from its release from your warehouse to its destination is becoming increasingly common in the eCommerce industry. Integrating tracking tools with your platform is necessary if you want your customers to trust you and your brand.

By acting as a symbol of trust, it creates loyal customers who want to keep buying from you in the future.

Transparency and knowing where a product is during its journey to your customer are vital in today’s instant consumer market.

  • Quality, responsive customer service

Customer service is a must-have when choosing a courier dealing with your products. Both for you as a business, as well as for the customers that are the lifeblood of your company.

Quality, responsive customer service
Quality, responsive customer service

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While you want a partner to ensure no problems while transporting your goods, as a business owner,  you know that things don’t always go according to plan

You want to know that when that does happen, you have a supportive, readily available customer service team on standby. 

Great customer service is incredibly important in those high-stress situations. 

Make sure you select a courier that allows you to speak to a human being when severe problems arise rather than a machine, especially if they can answer your calls quickly and solve problems effectively. In a stressful situation, dial tones and lengthy waiting times are the last things you want

If your courier can answer all your questions patiently and with attention to your business and its unique needs, you’re headed in the right direction.

  • Proven track record

As an eCommerce brand, you’re uniquely positioned to understand how important good reviews and testimonials are. So it should be no surprise that 94% of online shoppers say negative reviews have made them avoid interacting with a business.

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Great customer reviews and testimonials are the best indicators of a courier’s ability to live up to its promises. Quality services will have customers that vouch for them and would gladly refer them to other businesses.

You work in an online industry, so using tools like Google Reviews to check out a courier’s online reputation can help you narrow down your options.

Experience is another intangible that you’ll want to consider. 

A great track record requires having been in a field long enough to know the ins and outs. In addition, you need to know that the courier you choose has been and will continue to be around no matter what changes in the world.

With the increasing popularity of online shopping, reliability and consistency are crucial.

  • The need for speed

The idea of instant delivery is incredibly integrated with the concept of eCommerce. If the journey from click to the customer is slow, you won’t see that customer again.

The need for speed
The need for speed

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Same-day delivery has become increasingly popular, and speed is set to become a customer’s primary concern when they purchase goods. Amazon has been a trailblazer regarding delivery, so online consumers frequently see their standard as THE standard for online delivery.

Two-day delivery is becoming increasingly common. So, if you can find a courier to help you provide safe, reliable same-day delivery, you’re well on beating the competition. 

This can be a major asset to making your customers happier, more loyal customers that will act as a word-of-mouth marketing tool for your brand. 

  • A relevant area of service

Given the seemingly infinite reach of the internet, it can be easy to imagine eCommerce businesses are equally limitless, reach-wise. 

While businesses online don’t have the same limitations as brick-and-mortar businesses, they are still limited by the reach of their delivery service.

A relevant area of service
A relevant area of service

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Your courier’s geographic limitations will play a big part in the service you can offer your customers. To be successful as an eCommerce brand, you need a courier that can deliver locally, nationally, and potentially internationally.

The last thing you want is to turn away potential customers because you don’t deliver to their area. Therefore, your courier needs to guarantee delivery in certain areas, even if they require additional charges to deliver outside that radius. Couriers that use specific route management techniques can be a major asset for local, same-day delivery.

While couriers that promise reliable international delivery may be more costly than local couriers, it may be well worth the investment if you have a wide enough client base. 

Ultimately, the more customers you can reach, the more revenue and profit you generate.

  • Value for money

The cost of any service will always be a part of the consideration. More so if you’re a new eCommerce business or a startup. You want to ensure that the service you partner with is worth every dollar.

While this is still important when looking for the right courier for your eCommerce business, it shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all.

When it comes to a courier service, lower costs can often indicate that they lack something. Experience, tracking, customer service, etc., are vital components of a good courier, and if you’re sacrificing one to cut costs, you’re taking a big risk.

Stay as close to your budget as possible, but don’t be afraid to spend more than you had planned. It’s important to ensure that the fantastic products you’re selling to your customers arrive the way they expect them to. 

Final Thoughts

Quality courier services are inherently linked with profitable, effective, and popular eCommerce businesses. If you want to grow as an eCommerce brand, you need to make sure you have a partner that will value your business and its customers just as much as you.

The right courier will do just that.

The modern world is all about convenience, and it’s that principle that most couriers will have built their name. So if you can find one that’s also customer-centric, with positive reviews, industry experience, and speedy and safe delivery, you’re off to a good start.

A courier service can make or break an eCommerce business, no matter how great your products are. So choosing the right one is one of your most important business decisions.

Using the guidelines we’ve outlined, you’re guaranteed (pun intended) to make the right choice.

How to Choose the Right Courier for Your eCommerce Business

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