ECOMMERCE
eCommerce Shipping Best Practices (BigCommerce Partners, Integrations, And Tips)
Table of Contents
As a store owner, you want to ensure that your online customers have the best eCommerce customer experience possible when they visit your website. You create product pages, strive to sell the best items at the best prices, and send out newsletters regularly. Your main goal is to make every customer happy.
As an eCommerce business owner, you must employ the most effective strategy for increasing brand recognition. If one of your consumers receives the goods late or damaged, it can harm your brand.
With so many online retailers, it is critical to ensure that your company stands out from the crowd, and you must continuously monitor your customers’ needs. So, if you want to succeed in eCommerce, you must use eCommerce shipping best practices.
What Are eCommerce Shipping Best Practices For Your Online eCommerce Business?
Working with a successful shipping agency or implementing the best eCommerce shipping solutions can have a significant effect on your online business.
The key goal of working with a shipping agency and developing your plan is to maximise coverage and acceptance while remaining cost-effective.
You must have a sophisticated system in place to monitor your shipments at every point.
Here are eCommerce shipping best practices that any business size (SMBs to large enterprises) can follow.
Define your shipping strategy’s objectives
Once you’ve defined the main teams in your organisation that will be active in developing your plan, you’ll need to identify what you want to achieve with your eCommerce shipping strategy.
Sample eCommerce Goals:
- Boost conversions
- Boost the average order value
- Market audience or target group expansion
- Define a Shipping Policy
- Reduce costs
- Enhance your customer’s shipping experience
Best Practices for Choosing the Right Shipping Options for Your E-Commerce Shipping
Working with a successful shipping agency or implementing the best eCommerce shipping solutions can have a significant positive effect on your online business. The key goal of working with a shipping agency and developing your plan is to maximise coverage and acceptance while remaining cost-effective. You must have a sophisticated system in place to monitor your shipments at every point.
Here are eCommerce shipping best practices that any business size (SMBs to large enterprises) can follow.
Make Shipping Costs Visible During Checkout
Business owners must be wise in choosing the right shipping options for their e-commerce shipping best practices. Not all businesses can afford free shipping, particularly if they are looking for money on shipping. However, an effective shipping strategy can attract potential customers and increase customer satisfaction.
Even if you don’t offer free shipping, or if you just offer it on orders above a certain dollar amount, you can make shipping costs clear at checkout. You can do this by adding features to your shopping cart so that when a customer enters their ZIP code, shipping fees are automatically applied to the subtotal when they display the order summary page.
Why is shipping costs visibility important? Customers, in some situations, don’t mind paying for delivery – but they don’t like surprises. If your customers can’t see shipping costs before the end of the checkout phase, or if they’re surprised by an extremely high shipping rate, they’re more likely to abandon their cart. According to some estimates, shipping costs account for up to 55% of all abandoned carts.
As a result, you must make shipping costs clear at checkout. If the goods you sell are all relatively similar in size, shape, and weight, you may want to consider implementing a flat-rate shipping system – this will help consumers know what to expect while shopping and prevent them from abandoning their carts due to unexpected shipping costs.
Optimise Your Online Stores With BigCommerce Integrations
ERP, customer service, business analytics tools, accounting software, reporting suites, and cart abandonment rates are only a few examples of software platforms and technologies that can be used to meet organisational needs. Third-party applications and integrations that integrate with third-party shipping APIs will provide you with competitive shipping rates and services.
They also minimise manual labour and save you time by improving the quality of catalogue data, SEO information, product descriptions and attributes, and photographs. How can BigCommerce optimise your online business fully? Read our complete BigCommerce review for more information.
Bigcommerce Partners for 3PL (Third-Party Logistics)
AfterShip
Shippo
Aliexpress Dropshipping
Here is the full list of BigCommerce integrations (third-party apps) for the fulfilment, product sourcing, and more.
Ship Products With Care
A part of fulfilment marketing, customised order fulfilment is a method of integrating fulfilment and marketing to improve the customer experience. It is a technique that employs existing customer data to build a one-of-a-kind order fulfilment experience with each delivery. It levels the playing field and leaves a good impression by using branded boxes with a specific emblem, slogan, pattern, or design. While making a pleasant appearance on the outside of the box is an important part of personalised delivery, it is also important to consider what goes inside the box (other than a well-wrapped product). This may include coupons, posters, inserts, and other items that are personalised for the recipient.
However, if your product is delicate, you can also ensure that it is shipped in a correctly shaped package and tightly wrapped. This will also contribute to fewer returns due to breakage.
Keep Your Customers Informed During The Shipping Process
One of the most critical eCommerce shipping best practices we have is to inform the customers of the entire shipping process. Simply talk about a variety of factors such as product price, packaging costs, or shipping partners that you have so that customer expectations and online reviews will have positive results.
When it comes to shipping, it’s a smart idea to put in place a contact system that keeps the customers informed. A large number of customers say that getting email confirmations regarding their orders leads to a positive experience.
When a customer places an order, you can give them an order confirmation and a shipping confirmation once the order has been delivered to the delivery service. This will help to create confidence and ensure that the customer is kept updated during the entire process.
As Soon As A Shipping Problem Is Reported, Take Action – And Accept Responsibility
Although shipments lost or damaged by a carrier are not always your fault, your customers will not see it that way. Sure, you did not cause the shipment to be lost – but you did choose the carrier that did. That means you’re responsible for making things right. As a result, as soon as a shipping issue is registered, you should take action.
Here are some steps you should do when a shipping problem is reported:
Check the shipment’s tracking information online
Check to see if the address and contact details were correctly entered
Check with the carrier to see if it was shipped and to ask about its current status
Contact the carrier and keep in touch until the problem is resolved
Send your customer a replacement item as soon as possible
You want to keep the customers satisfied and happy, so having them wait for delivery before the package carrier finds a missing shipment is unethical.
Ship a replacement– you’ll finally recoup your loss when the package carrier finds your item, or you might be able to get reimbursement from your package carrier for a missing or damaged shipment.