Any customer buying online is taking a leap of faith. They’re trusting that the item they’re buying is everything they think it is, and they’re trusting that the website they’re buying from is honest.
As an ecommerce seller, the best way to assure customers that you won’t be running off with their money is to provide a window into your fulfillment process. Let your customers know at every step that their items are reliably on their way. This way, they will feel confident in their purchase and feel good about you as a seller. The window you provide is called order tracking.
We’re going to take a close look at order tracking: what it does, its benefits, and how to make the best use of it.
Order tracking software is part of, and runs in tandem with, an order management system (OMS). This software knows where an order is at every stage of the fulfillment process and can post that information for the buyer as, and when, requested.
Here’s basically what the order tracking software does:
All this reporting is in real time.
Order tracking gives your company transparency. It’s like you’re opening your doors to your buyers and inviting them to see how you operate. And when you do that, there’s no reason for them to mistrust you.
Customer trust is the foundation of repeat business. While this maxim applies to all sales businesses, it’s especially true for ecommerce where there’s no personal connection and where products can only be seen in an image.
Being able to follow their orders through the system also gives buyers a sense of control, and that will leave them feeling that they’ve had a good shopping experience. It’s the kind of satisfaction that will also lead to repeat business; plus, it will give your buyers a reason to recommend you to their friends.
Ecommerce sites that don’t have an order tracking feature will have to dedicate precious customer service hours to dealing with inquiries about order status. If your customer service staff have to spend all their time doing this, (a) they won’t be able to do anything else, and (b) you’re going to have to hire a lot of them.
With an order tracking feature your customers can use at any time, your customer support staff can focus on resolving those rare issues when things go wrong for the buyer. That, in turn, will make even those shoppers who’ve had complaints feel they’ve had a good experience with your company.
The order tracking software doesn’t just let buyers know the status of their orders, it tells you where every item is in the system. Monitoring in this way provides a valuable way for you to gauge how well your fulfillment process is working. It will tell you where bottlenecks are occurring and identify areas that aren’t running as efficiently as they could. With this information, you can make adjustments to smooth things out.
You have to keep your buyers in the loop at all times, and you have to do this from the minute they’ve placed an order to the minute it’s delivered to them. Start with an email that confirms you’ve received the order and have processed their payment. Use this email to let your buyers know that the order you have is correct by listing every item and all relevant information about those items. Then provide the tracking number you’ve assigned the order, explain what it is, and provide the URL of your site and the page they should open for tracking.
The following, ideally, should be included:
This information should be in real time.
In addition to posting up-to-date tracking information on your site, you could also update customers via email and text. It’s a simple enough thing to do with the software, and it tells your buyers you care about them.
Since you know your buyers are going to visit your online tracking page regularly, it provides a great opportunity to upsell or cross-sell your other products.
Don’t be shy about asking your customers to rate your performance as a company as well as giving an opinion on the products they’ve received. You can also ask them how they felt about the shipping company that delivered the goods. It’s information you can put to good use, and gives your customers more input into the process.
Cin7 Omni can take care of all the aspects of order tracking described above and more. The perfect tool, it can accept orders from several different platforms, keeping them in their separate silos as the software logs and reports tracking details. These platforms include Amazon, Shopify and WooCommerce, as well as social media sites and your own website.
Call one of our experts today and book a free demo.