Did you know that many e-commerces fail because of their delivery options? It might be the cost is too high, the lack of delivery options, or quite simply that customers don’t trust the delivery promise. Therefore, you can drastically improve your online sales by simply focusing some attention on your delivery strategy and acting upon areas that your customers feel need work.

Let’s look at what we mean by delivery strategy.

Your delivery strategy covers everything to do with the delivery of your products and will be dictated by what your customers expect of you. Everything from how you present the delivery information on your e-commerce website and in your marketing, right down to the product that arrives on the doorstep will be shaped by these demands, as well as your ability to meet these requirements in terms of volumes, finances, or manpower.

How Can Your Delivery Strategy Increase Sales?

As previously mentioned, delivery is one of the main reasons why people don’t buy online, so how can you entice people to trust you? Quite simply, you need to offer the kind of delivery options your customers want. Survey your regulars to see whether speed, convenience or cost is the most important for your customers. This is especially important if you’re running a specialist business like a cheese shop or vintner. Once you’ve identified what your clients want, find the couriers that can best serve your needs.

The delivery space is one of the fastest-growing aspects of e-commerce at the present time, and the options for smaller businesses are constantly improving. This makes it well worth scouting the marketplace periodically to make sure you have the best delivery service for your business.

Once you have the right services in place, make sure you are presenting them clearly on your website. You need to get it right in all these places:

• On every page: a header with the headline offering, and then a link to the delivery options. Avoid hiding the prices.
• Clear information on every product page. Is it in stock? When will it dispatch? Relevant postage prices.
• Clearly explain it on the checkout and basket pages too.

Offers on delivery are one of the most powerful promotional tools you have at your disposal. Any promotion is your opportunity to get the customer to do what you want them to do as cheaply as possible – in other words, with minimal impact on your margins. If you are already offering free P&P on everything then use “Free upgrade to [better delivery service]” as the big promotion. A permanent free P&P offer of some sort can also be very powerful. For example, if your average order value is $50, then give anyone who spends more than $50 free P&P.

How A Good Delivery Strategy Can Encourage Repeat Purchases

E-commerces are all looking to turn buyers into repeat customers, and your delivery strategy can play a vital role in making this happen. You need to approach the first order someone places with you as a test. The customer wants to see if they can trust you, so you need to make sure you do an excellent job on the order.

This means delivering on your promises – the right goods must be delivered on time, in one piece and as promised. And that’s just the bare minimum. You also need to have a robust plan to fall back on if things go wrong. Rather than looking at it as a problem to be solved, look at every issue as an opportunity to build more trust in your brand.

If you really want to get that second order, you need to be proactive. Put a clear call to action into that package to ask for the next order and wow the customer as well. For instance, you could add

• a copy of your catalogue (if you have one);
• a leaflet featuring your bestselling products;
• an offer such as free P&P on your next order, or a code for a discount on the next order.

Even if you can’t add anything to the package, you might want to consider putting a promotional message on the dispatch paperwork.

If you’re looking to wow your customers, here are a few suggestions:

• Brand your packaging – This could be as simple as a sticker or a stamp (some find this helps recruit new customers when their parcels arrive in offices).
• Include a surprise gift: This doesn’t need not be big or complicated. A coaster, pen, sticker or bookmark can have a big impact.
• Wrap the products nicely in tissue paper or anything else you can do to make opening that parcel feel special.
• Add a “packed by” card from the person who actually packed it – creating a human connection always helps.

We hope this article has helped you realize the power of delivery for an e-commerce. If you would like to learn more, or have your own online platform created by a professional team, contact Linkeo Ltd today and enquire about the Deliver By Linkeo line of products.