Father’s Day is here, and this year, Dad decides to buy himself a new grill. After doing some research, he hits the ‘Buy’ button, his order is confirmed, and he finds out that the Promise Date is next Friday. Excited to grill, he invites his neighbors over for a Sunday barbecue.

Dad is far more trusting of the large-item eCommerce experience than most. According to a Convey survey, 54% of shoppers hesitate to order large items online because of delivery concerns. When consumers do order online, only 11% percent of consumers said delivery added to retailers’ strengths, meaning that shippers are missing the mark during a crucial time.

With an abundance of blind spots in the last mile of delivery, it’s up to Dad’s shipper to not disappoint during his big cookout. Behind the scenes, they’re taking steps to make sure that Dad’s Father’s Day delivery is amazing:

  1. Communicate with the customer at every point in the delivery process, giving them confidence in their experience.

    With the party fast approaching, Dad was getting anxious to know exactly where the grill was, and when he could schedule his delivery appointment. In this case, Dad was surprisingly normal, with 93% of customers wanting to receive proactive communication for their deliveries, and 41% wanting to know immediately if a delivery goes sideways.

    Because Dad received a branded tracking page with the ability to subscribe to additional notifications, he knew exactly where his grill was, and he was able to sleep soundly knowing his party would go off without a hitch. In our survey of 1,500 shoppers, 50% said they preferred to receive email notifications, while 21% opted to receive SMS notifications.

  2. Identify delivery issues, and collaborate with carriers to resolve them before they impact the customer.

    Even with the right carrier selection and visibility into the shipment, things happen. When the carrier dropped Dad’s grill off the loading dock, it was still up to the shipper to make sure that Dad’s party could go on.

    While 96% of customers expect their shippers to communicate in the event of a damaged item exception, no customer wants to call the customer service line to ensure they will get their package on time — in fact, ⅓ of shoppers would rather clean a toilet than call a 1-800 number.

    While having visibility is important, knowing where experience issues occur during the delivery process is only half of the challenge — the next step is putting an escalation plan in place to solve the issue. Instead of leaving it up to the customer service team to respond reactively to an angry phone call from Dad, the shipper was able to identify that there was an issue early on, communicate that they were aware of the situation, and work together with the carrier to make sure Dad’s day was perfect.

    After sending notes to the carrier to place a hold on the original shipment and return the damaged grill back, the shipper expedited a new grill out to Dad’s address, so the shipper could still keep its delivery promise to him.

  3. Give your customers control over their delivery experience with self service options.

    While consumers want their shippers to take responsibility for the shipping experience from cart to door, they also want some options to help make the process more convenient for them. According to our shopper survey, the universal expectation, regardless of issue, is that all shoppers (97.5%) expect to either be able to self-serve or interact with the retailer directly to resolve delivery issues.

    When Dad received a branded email update allowing him to choose between a pick-up window at his terminal or white glove delivery options for his home, he was excited that he could get back to what was most important — his cookout. On Saturday afternoon, he had the grill dropped off in his backyard, and by Sunday — Father’s Day — he had no worries left, save for what vegetables he wanted to throw on the grill.

When shippers go above and beyond in the delivery process, like the one in this scenario, they are likely to reap the long-term benefits. Shoppers are 73% more likely to return if they have a positive delivery experience. In order for retailers to gain long-lasting loyalty, shoppers must feel empowered with the knowledge and confidence that their retailers will be on their side if a delivery goes awry.

Because Dad’s retailer was able to identify issues early on and easily maneuver through critical points of collaboration with carriers, it was able to keep a delivery promise and save Father’s Day. Learn how our customer, Uncommon Goods, also won the hearts of its customers by making sure that no gift destined for Dad would miss its deadline.