The impact of the delivery experience

Whether you are a business, customer or courier, the impact of the delivery experience is key within this vital chain. Customer loyalty is not a dead cert these days. We know this from car insurance for example – many people are willing to switch providers year after year to get a better deal and a cheaper policy. Attracting customers is one thing, keeping them and having return business off them is something entirely different.

How does the delivery experience impact a courier / delivery company? We at Rock Solid Deliveries are professionals at same day delivery, having many repeat customers, so we know just how important customer loyalty is to our business.

Research has shown that over 80% of customers would not use a retailer again if they had a poor delivery experience. This percentage would almost certainly stretch to delivery and courier companies too. There have been many attempts to study customer loyalty and what is actually important. Many would say this is obvious – the price of the service and how quick the items arrive are the most central factors. Whilst this is true, there is so much more to the delivery experience than just this. Anyone who does not look beyond what is in front of their eyes is clearly falling well short.

One study points to the fact that the delivery experience and customer loyalty is down to two distinct set of variables – those than can be controlled and those which are uncontrollable (at least to a certain extent.)

Controllable factors for this purpose include things such as:

* The speed of delivery.

* The cost of delivery.

* The availability of delivery. E.g. Is there a click and collect service. Can the courier pick up from home, or can the customer use a drop-off point?

Uncontrollable factors for this purpose include:

* The green credentials of the business and their attempts to encourage and adopt sustainability within the business model.

* The importance of an item to the customer personally and how this will determine what company they will use.

Some would argue that all these too are controllable. Perhaps to a certain extent, but there is much more overlap and grey areas on this latter set of criteria.

The study finds that for too long, companies have focused too much on the controllable factors of the delivery experience. It would of course make sense to do so, but just because there are uncontrollable factors at work, does not mean these should be ignored either. Taking time to research these ‘uncontrollable’ factors are variables and seeing how they impact the courier business model, can present itself as a massive opportunity and appeal to a target audience.

Without too much thought it does speak for itself. Would you want a courier who is fast and easy on the pocket, or one who is those things plus environmentally friendly and receptive to you personally rather than just seeing each customer as ‘another number.’

Here at Rock Solid Deliveries we like to think our popularity is because we have spent time listening to our customers. This has led us to think about both some of these controllable and uncontrollable factors in the delivery process and how we can not only appeal to all, but exceed expectations also.

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