90% of consumers want brands to engage with them proactively during the delivery phase. Modern e-commerce companies have picked up on this consumer sentiment and are setting new industry standards for exceptional delivery experiences. What makes them so successful? They include smart triggered messaging and personalization in their post-checkout messaging.  Learn how to build a personalized notification strategy even when you work with hundreds of carriers and get thousands of order updates daily. 

The Parcel Perform Data Advantage

Parcel Perform normalizes raw tracking data across 850+ carriers, multiple time zones, and locations into one standardized set of data you can work with. With our granular data mapping of 140+ standard shipping event types in 30+ languages, you can customize triggers to leverage them for complex notification use cases. 

With our delivery experience platform, we offer an unmatched selection of notification triggers - 30+ standard notifications with custom-build options. As we closely collaborate with many e-commerce players from single brands to global marketplaces, we have developed a set of 10+ new, smart ‘Time-based Notification Triggers’ that enables you to personalize touchpoints and precisely time notifications to effectively engage with your customers during the most emotional phase of the purchase: the anticipation of the delivery.

What are Time-based Notification Triggers?

A notification trigger is a condition that defines when a particular notification needs to be sent out. With Time-Based Notification Triggers, you can set “timers” for delivery notifications based on the shipping events and certain time frames after the event. This makes them ideal for use cases when you want to precisely time an email or SMS update after the occurrence of a preceding shipping event. 

What makes Time-Based triggers smarter than Event-Based triggers?

While event-based delivery notifications are the norm and common with most carriers, they are not the smartest solution since they are sent automatically based on event updates in your shipment regardless of the time of day or any additional logic. Time-based triggers on the other hand allow you to pick the right time to follow up, taking your delivery communication personalization to the next level. 

Event-based vs Time-based SMS Notifications

47% of consumers say they won’t order again from a retailer with poor delivery alerts. That’s reason enough for successful brands to elevate their strategy, and that’s why we have developed these smart, sophisticated triggers to fit strategic moments in your brand’s customer journey. You have full control and flexibility to precisely time triggers which are tailored to serve your shipping options, product types & business model. While Parcel Perform triggers are fully customizable, here are some standard use cases and templates to get started with. 

Collection Reminder Notifications

With the growing popularity of shipping options like collection points and out-of-home deliveries, it's essential to incorporate accurate collection reminder notifications to elevate post-checkout journeys. While consumers use these options for convenience and speed, the onus remains on brands to prompt their customers to collect their shipment to avoid ambiguity about whether the parcel was received. Don’t leave this critical engagement opportunity to the carriers.  Utilize time-based triggers to send reminders to collect parcels after X hours of delivery at the collection point. Parcel Perform’s triggers are designed to suit various locations such as parcel lockers, parcel shops, post offices, or even from the neighbor if the recipient was not at home. You can select generic triggers with 12, 24, 48, 72 hours variations or customize other timings.

1. Remind the recipient if the shipment has not been collected from the parcel locker 

• Shipment updated with the event ‘Received at Parcel Locker’, 12 hours have passed by and it has not been updated with event ‘Shipment collected/Shipment collected at Parcel Locker’ → send out a reminder to the customer to collect parcel

Email Notification for Parcel Collection Reminder after 12 hours 

2. Remind the recipient to collect the parcel left at a shed or another safe place

• Shipment updated with the event ‘Successfully delivered/Successfully delivered - <custom location>’, and 6 hours have passed→ send out a reminder to the customer to collect the parcel from <custom location>

3. Remind the recipient to collect a parcel left with the neighbor 

• Shipment updated with the event ‘Successfully delivered/Successfully delivered - Neighbour’, and 4 hours have passed → send out a reminder to the customer to collect the parcel 

Product Review & Net Promoter Score collection

Delivery update notifications are essential to drive repeat sales and foster brand loyalty - but they have the potential to turn your happy customer into a brand promoter. All you have to do is ask for a product review at the right time. The 2-12 hour window after successful delivery is a sweet spot you don’t want to miss when trying to engage with your customers. 70% of consumers state they will give a review if they are asked to - but it has to happen at the right moment - the emotional phase when the customer had a successful delivery and is ready to give back to the brand. With time-based triggers, you can set your notification across 24, 26, 48, 60, 72 hour variations depending on the commodity and the type of feedback you are collecting. Use a review collection tool like Zenloop, Reviews or others. Simply share a link within your email or SMS template. You can also customize and embed a review collection widget within the email notifications. 

1. Ask for a Product Review after the recipient received their shipment

• Shipment updated with the event ‘Successfully delivered’ or ‘Shipment collected’, 12 hours have passed by → send out product review survey to customer

2. Request Delivery Feedback after the recipient received their shipment

• Shipment updated with the event ‘Successfully delivered’, 2 hours have passed by → send email to your customer to ask them to provide feedback on the delivery

SMS Notification for Delivery Feedback after 2 hours 

Elevate your notification strategy with Parcel Perform

Every day, our platform tracks over 100M event-driven parcel updates and actively sends thousands of personalized, customer-centric notifications across the globe.

With time-based notification triggers, build a personalized post-checkout journey that drives customer retention.  Do you need help to build your brand’s advanced delivery notification strategy? Do you have other use cases that require customizations? Get in touch today for a demo with our product experts.