Your customers are obsessed with tracking their shipments. Research indicates that 91% of consumers track their packages, 39% track daily, and 19% track multiple times daily. Your customers want to know where their deliveries are at any given moment, and you need to have answers if you want to create outstanding customer experiences and generate repeat business.
Real-time tracking and delivery updates are even more important in the last mile. Continue reading to learn more about the connection between real-time tracking and delivery updates and the last mile customer experience. Get started with FRAYT to partner with a last mile service provider that understands and provides real-time tracking and delivery updates for your customers.
The Rise of Customer Expectations
Once upon a time, there were limited expectations around the shipping experience. Customers would place orders and wait the allotted time to receive their shipments. A simple phone call letting customers know about an upcoming delivery window would suffice.
Things are different in 2024. The shipping experience with Amazon has conditioned consumers to expect fast, inexpensive (or even free) shipping with real-time tracking capabilities and delivery updates. Even in non-e-commerce shipping situations, delivery recipients still hold the same expectations because they’ve grown accustomed to the shipment experience they enjoy with large retailers like Amazon.
A full 90% of customers want real-time visibility into the location of their orders at any given time. That’s a tough standard to live up to — but it’s one that shippers can meet when they secure the right delivery partners.
Challenges in Last Mile Delivery
Why is it so hard to meet customer expectations today? Mostly because last mile delivery is so challenging. Last mile delivery is:
- Expensive: Last mile delivery accounts for 53% of any shipment’s total cost. It’s difficult to limit costs while still delivering a high level of customer service.
- Inefficient: During the first and middle miles, products and goods are moving en masse from manufacturing centers to distribution hubs. Things get more complicated in the last mile as those products and goods need to be delivered to individual customers, making the process highly inefficient.
- Prone to disruption: Last mile deliveries are made in different geographies under different circumstances, and they often require different types of vehicles (depending on the nature of the shipment). These variables leave last mile deliveries prone to disruption.
The good news is that these last-mile challenges have a single solution — modern technology — that, when properly implemented, can give shippers a huge competitive advantage.
The Role of Technology in Enhancing Delivery Services
Relying on manual processes and analog tools makes providing real-time tracking and delivery updates impossible. Modern technology is required to configure a system that keeps your customers fully apprised of shipment locations throughout the delivery cycle.
GPS tracking and IoT (Internet of Things) devices can be used to provide real-time tracking. Mobile apps and automated communications platforms (email, SMS, phone) can then pass real-time tracking updates along to a shipment’s recipient.
The key is to create an ecosystem of integrated platforms and devices that seamlessly connect location data to the customers who want it. Shippers can try to build their own ecosystems, but it’s far more time- and cost-efficient to partner with delivery service providers that already have this ecosystem ready and waiting.
FRAYT: A Solution to Last Mile Delivery Challenges
Success in the future will be defined by the customer experience, and last mile delivery will have a disproportionate impact on the customer experience for all shippers. Finding the right last mile delivery partner will be essential to implementing the technology needed to provide the real-time tracking and delivery updates that customers want and expect.
At FRAYT, we partner with industrial suppliers, construction companies, manufacturers, 3PLs, retailers, ecommerce merchants, and others that are aiming to use the last mile to create amazing customer experiences. We offer:
- A platform that integrates with your business to streamline the delivery process.
- Communication systems that enhance the delivery of customer support.
- Efficient delivery that helps you balance costs with service excellence.
- A fleet that allows you to find the ideal vehicle for specific types of deliveries.
- Drivers that understand their role in creating positive customer experiences.
- A presence in key markets across the United States.
You can read the success stories of shippers that have partnered with FRAYT to make their last mile challenges disappear while creating outstanding customer experiences. If you’re ready to establish your future as a shipper that delights its customers, we’re here to help. Start shipping with FRAYT now.
