This blog is part one in a four-part series about ways that order fulfillment impacts customer satisfaction. To download the complete guide “4 Ways Fulfillment Can Make (or Break) Your Next Sale”, click here.
The order fulfillment process is pretty complex, but it lives and dies by the delivery date. Very few customers spend any amount of time appreciating the many tasks it takes to assemble their orders, but if you miss a delivery deadline, forget about it! Delays, mix-ups, or missed deliveries can run a customer off for life. On the flip side, an order that arrives lightning-fast excites buyers like no other and will generate all kinds of love for your brand.
So what can you do to ensure that your fulfillment operations are making the sale (and not breaking it)? Here are a few suggestions:
- Don’t be set-in-stone on your carriers or fulfillment methods. If carriers are missing deadlines or not living up to service level agreements, switch! If the problem is inefficiencies during the pick-pack-ship process, examine what’s going on and explore if better options exist.
- Bring it in-house, or find a vendor who can. If you’re experiencing order delays due to shipping products in and out for personalization, refurbishment, or something else, consider bringing that service into the warehouse – or partnering with an outsourced fulfillment provider who can do it all for you.
- Promotions need operations’ blessing to be successful. Don’t ever plan a promotion that could jeopardize your fulfillment operations’ ability to deliver. Earning some extra sales in crunch time isn’t worth it if your orders go undelivered and your customers end up extremely angry.
Download our resource guide with even more tips – and keep checking back to learn other ways that fulfillment can impact customer satisfaction!