If you can’t execute these 2 things in e-commerce, shut down your store

If you can’t execute these 2 things in e-commerce, you should just shut down your online store…

Allow me to set the stage. This is a contrast of opposite experiences I had with two online orders I made this month from two different retailers.

Forget for a minute the “front end” that we tend to obsess over as e-commerce marketers (creative testing, CAC, conversion rate, etc.) or the long term (retention, loyalty, LTV, etc.). This is a comparison of two post-purchase customer experiences in the MIDDLE of the customer journey. If you're not worried about that phase because your job is only to acquire the customer and then hand it off, let me explain how missteps in the middle are going to inhibit your future sales and your ability to acquire new customers.

*Purchase 1: Bought two compression shirts for my son from a basketball apparel retailer. Cost: $76 + $11.17 for Shipping. Ordered April 2nd.

*Purchase 2: Bought a canvas painting for our living room from an art vendor on Etsy. Cost: $225 + Free Shipping. Ordered April 4th.

I will detail the two experiences while explaining the 2 things you have to be able to execute:

1. Quick & Efficient Fulfillment: Amazon’s influence on consumers’ delivery expectations is well known- 62% of online shoppers expect their orders (from any retailer, not just Amazon) to arrive in 3 business days or less. Fair or not, this is the expectation you’re up against. Whether you use a 3PL/fulfillment provider, or you pack and ship in house, speed and accuracy is crucial. And while the performance of the carrier (FedEx, UPS, etc.) is largely out of your hands, you should always be able to control and optimize getting the package ready for the carrier. In the case of both my purchases, I received the shipping tracking numbers 3 days after the order, which presumably meant it took 3 days to pick and pack the order for the carrier. Sorry- 3 days is simply too long to process something that is in stock. Again, your customer expects it to be at their doorstep in 3 days, not just handed off to the carrier. While every company has different capabilities and challenges, there needs to be a person in every e-commerce operation whose mission in life is to turn these packages around as quickly as possible. Someone who has a passion for improving that number on a day-to-day basis. If your organization is currently at 3 days on average, make it a goal to get that down to 2.5. If you are at 2.5, make it your goal to get down to 2. If you don’t know what your average fulfillment time is, start tracking it. Examine all of your systems and processes for potential optimization opportunities and just keep chipping away and making progress.
2. Responsive Customer Service: So, I received the carrier tracking numbers. Great. Now all I need to do is follow along and my items will be here in a few days, right? In the case of the Etsy order, which was shipped from the country of Turkey to here in California, that is exactly what happened. The shipment got here on the exact day estimated at order checkout. The order from the apparel retailer was a different story. Eight days after receiving the tracking number (Day 11 since the order), the tracking indicated the carrier hadn’t received it yet. I emailed the retailer’s customer service (no other contact option) for a status update. After 5 days of no response, on Day 16 I emailed customer service again asking to cancel the order and ask for a refund. The next day I received an email back confirming my cancellation and refund request. Wait…so, they didn’t respond at all while they had a chance to fix the problem and save the customer, but they responded in less than 24 hours when the situation was already irreparable? Mistakes happen, but you can usually make up for them with timely communication. Not responding to customer service requests in a prompt manner is unacceptable. If you do this, you deserve to lose customers just like this retailer lost me as a future customer. And just as you should be tracking and optimizing fulfillment time, you should also have metrics and goals around customer service response time. You can easily track this with many customer support platforms. Utilizing a time-saving customer support platform that integrates with your CRM may be one of the best investments you will ever make.

As my lead-in said, if you can’t accomplish these two crucial steps in the middle of the customer journey, you might as well not operate a store because it is unsustainable in the long term. Sure, you’ll continue to acquire those shiny new customers, but their trust in your brand will deteriorate quickly if you can’t provide a proper customer experience. Remember that the goal isn’t to sell them once, it is to nurture a relationship with the customer that leads to high LTV and recurring revenue over the long term.?

What are your thoughts? Any strategies you have around the “middle” you can share?

#ecommerce #customerexperience #fulfillment #3pl #fedex #ups #onlineshopping #logistics #customerservice