Have you put your home delivery service to the test?
So, you run a business with a home delivery operation. You’ve planned your routes; you’ve collated your loads and your vans are loaded. But what exactly happens when your driver leaves the depot? Yes, you can track the vehicle, you can monitor progress against the plan but how much do you know about the actual delivery experience for your end customers?
Recently we’ve put customer delivery experience to the test to see how the whole process works.
Try being an end-customer for a day
Now here is an interesting concept. Do you know how it feels to be your end customer? Have you ever planned an order and seen what it’s like? Your drivers are often the only face-to-face interaction that your customer has with your organisation. Are they polite? Are they smart and clearly representing their brand? What state is their vehicle in? Do you stop worrying about the delivery once it’s in the van and out on the road?
We spend so much time thinking, and talking about, delivery processes here at Podfather. We talk about the benefits of route planning, vehicle tracking and electronic proof of delivery, but a bad end customer delivery experience can do your business more damage than one inefficient route or missed ePOD opportunity.
Are you delivering on your promises?
Next time you’re reviewing your home delivery operation here are a few things you really should look into:
- Are your vehicles in a presentable state? Battered and damaged vehicles are not a good advert for your brand or your drivers.
- Are you sending your customers accurate ETA information? Just because you ‘think’ you are sending out ETA information, have you tried it out for yourself? Is the process actually working?
- Are you drivers well presented? If you issue uniforms or have certain expectations, are they being adhered to? If not, why not.
- If you are using electronic Proof of Delivery, how well is that process working for you? Are the ePODS getting to your customer and do you have full visibility of what’s going on across the process?
Now Podfather can help you only so far. We can plan the routes, capture the vehicle checks, track the deliveries, issues the ETA notifications, and capture electronic proof of delivery. But, if all that hard work, and careful planning, is undone by a negative delivery experience for the end customer, resulting in a reduction of repeat orders, and ultimately customer churn, one really does have to question if it’s worth all the effort.
A delivery experience does not end when that van leaves the transport office.
Now there’s food for thought!
