In the past, it was considered a norm to leave the customer’s experience journey to the carriers. However, with the rise in the expectations of the last mile journey, leaving your customers dissatisfied is no longer acceptable. Putting together an impressive post-purchase experience is one of the most impactful decisions you can make for your business - it not only improves customer satisfaction but also helps you shine amongst your competitors.

To make an informed decision, there are must-haves you should know about that only the very best and robust package tracking solutions provide.

1. Data-first e-commerce logistics 

Logistics data can be complex, with hundreds of logistics partners updating the whereabouts of their deliveries with different events, across time zones, in multiple languages and with inconsistent location data. If you want to use the data all the players in the ecosystem provide, it is essential to standardize it while making sure to not lose any details. A data-centric provider will capture all data points, differentiate between the various delivery modes, parcel locations, recipients and so on. A general rule? The more standard events your provider has, the more information will be captured for you to work with.

2. Global multi-carrier integration 

What would be a parcel tracking solution if 100% of all your parcels cannot be tracked? 

Are you dealing with different logistics companies and pallets on your inbound and parcels on the outbound? The right solution will be carrier-independent and will cover all modes of delivery integrated into one UI. They should provide fully automated data aggregation when parcels are handed over between different postal organizations and customize your handover points for tracking data to be identified and unified in one parcel, even when the shipment was delivered by multiple carriers. Trust us, it's possible. In the unlikely scenario that you have a carrier that is not covered by the solution, a great provider is flexible and can onboard them without any issue. At Parcel Perform this only takes about 2 weeks. Bottom line: The more global your provider’s coverage, the more seamless it will be to support your growth across providers, products and countries.

3. Branded Tracking for Customers 

For businesses that operate on time-sensitive deliveries and different destinations as well as service levels, it is important that your solution provider understands this and caters to it. Ensure that update cycles for deliveries can be adjusted towards the delivery methods - same day deliveries surely need tighter monitoring and your customers shouldn’t miss an update.

With the right solution, you will not need to rely on carrier data to let you know when there is an issue with the delivery or it’s delayed. Being able to showcase updates to your customers even when the parcel is not yet picked up by the carrier can break the awkward silence after checkout. Find a provider that allows you to include order and warehousing events for your customers to never have to wonder about what happened to their delivery. To keep your customers informed and engaged throughout the experience, include all these details in your own, branded tracking page that can be easily embedded in the order summary and FAQ.

4. Tailor-made customer communication 

Parcel tracking and delivery notifications not only help engage customers and retain loyalty but also take out the “risk” of buying online. A comprehensive logistics data-enabled tracking solution with branded tracking page and custom communication features will provide high visibility and help build trust with your customers. While some providers offer limited triggers as their data is not as diverse to pick up nuances of your shipping patterns, a provider that offers unlimited triggers for your email and SMS notifications which are both event-based and time-based is the right one to delight your customers.

You should be able to also configure individual carrier-specific service level agreements and measure against them. This way you will know when something is late before the carrier and proactively inform your customers. Customers appreciate the heads up, and you can further delight them with a little voucher in the email or SMS notification. 

Going beyond standard notification best practices, check if the provider you are considering can analyse your actual logistics data, take a deep dive into every case of re-delivery, collection points and other edge cases and then recommend a custom notification strategy tailored to suit your business goal. It’s a standard offering we proudly provide at Parcel Perform.

5. Scalability & flexibility for your business needs 

Don’t you wish there was a filter for enterprise-ready companies with the flexibility to cater to your requirements? 

The right parcel tracking solution should be able to grow with you. Choose an established provider that has an experienced team and offers customizations to cater to your business requirements. Cloud-based solutions can scale up development to not only support standard system integrations but also offer customized features like single sign-on and custom reports, charts and SLA compliance calculations that can be deployed within weeks. Think countless additional analysis and triggers that can be adjusted and recreated as per your needs. A platform so scalable & flexible that it processes more than 40 million parcels every month. 

6. 24/7 responsive & dedicated support

We value an outstanding experience as much as you do. That's why we know you need a much better post-sales service experience than what you might receive from traditional carriers. Offering a dedicated Account Manager to support clients as a Single Point of Contact is an absolute service standard. But a great provider will also be available for you and all your users 24/7. Believe us, being able to ask questions at any point in time with immediate feedback from an expert makes case resolution so much more efficient and enables business productivity.

Deliver the best post-purchase experience in e-commerce

Parcel Perform’s enterprise-ready SaaS solution provides streamlined logistics data and helps businesses gain transparency on carrier performance, drive efficiency in customer service, and enable a better post-purchase experience. Our clients enjoy branded tracking pages, delivery notifications in 30+ languages, and accurate Date of Arrival Predictions by leveraging machine learning. Talk to our Sales team to learn more about how we can together transform the e-commerce delivery experience for your customers worldwide.