According to RetailWire, 85 percent of customers will buy from a retailer again if they are able to track their orders. Likewise, 47 percent of shoppers won’t buy from the same online store if that store provides a poor tracking experience.
If you want to keep your customers, you better have a solid delivery notification strategy.
What are Delivery Notification Texts?
Delivery notification texts or SMS are text messages that alert customers about the delivery status of the product they’ve ordered. They are usually automatically triggered whenever an order is placed, gets shipped, is delayed, and has been delivered.
As such, delivery notification text messages form a link between a customer and your brand after they’ve hit the “purchase” button. They offer a way to keep customers informed, manage their expectations, and lessen their worries once they’ve trusted you with their money.
The Benefits of Sending Text Delivery Notifications
When set up correctly, delivery notification text messages can bring your ecommerce business various benefits.
Improve customer experience, satisfaction, and loyalty
People like to know what’s happening with their orders. By sending them SMS shipping and delivery updates, you satisfy that desire. An additional benefit is that delivery notification texts keep customers engaged and nurture the excitement they have for their purchase.
SMS delivery status notifications also allow customers to be home when their package arrives, saving them from the frustration of having to contact the courier service or needing to drive to a pick-up point.
Avoid multiple delivery attempts
If you need your customers to personally receive product deliveries, then you want them to know when they need to be home. If they don’t, you might end up losing a lot of time and money making multiple delivery attempts.
Even when you’re using a delivery service, you’re delaying the gratification the customer will get from receiving the package by not letting them know when it’ll arrive. And the longer they have to wait, the more their enthusiasm will wane.
Increase supply chain visibility
By providing real-time updates, customers know what’s going on and will be more likely to understand when a delivery is delayed. A lack of supply materials, a massive storm, or other unforeseen circumstances are things you can communicate with your customers so they not only know that they’ll need to wait a bit longer for their package, but also why.
If you have a valid, clearly communicated reason for not getting their purchase to them on time, they’re more likely to be forgiving.
Decrease customer support load
When shoppers don’t know what’s happening with their purchase, they’ll contact customer support to find out. This can mean a significant increase in workload for something that could easily be automated.
Resolve delivery issues faster
Deliveries don’t always go as planned. Sometimes the courier is in a hurry and drops the package at the front door, or leaves it with your customer’s neighbor. If the package goes missing before your customer gets home or if they don’t realize their neighbor has it, that puts you in an awkward position.
However, if you send them an SMS delivery notification, they’ll know the package has been delivered even though they weren’t home, and they can contact the courier service to find out what happened or go ring their neighbor’s bell.
While neither option is ideal, they’re better than not having the customer know their package has been delivered.
Delivery Notification Text Best Practices
Growing your SMS list is crucial to get the most benefit from delivery notification texts.
The more customers subscribe to your list, the more customers you should send delivery updates to where they’re most likely to see them: on their phones.
Send these notification updates
In general, there are three types of delivery updates each ecommerce business should send as needed:
1. Shipping confirmations
Shipping confirmation texts let the customer know their order is on its way. They can look something like this:
[store name]: Hi {first name}, Your order {order number} is on its way to you! Track it here: {tracking link}. Got questions? Reply “HELP” for support.
2. Delay updates
Delay notification SMS let the customer know when the delivery of their order is delayed. An example could be:
[store name]: Hi {first name}, Your order {order number} forgot to set its alarm and now it’s a bit delayed. Follow its progress here: {tracking link}. Got questions? Reply “HELP” for support.
3. Delivery confirmations
Just like email delivery confirmations, SMS delivery confirmations let the customer know their order has been delivered. A delivery confirmation text could look like this:
[store name]: Hi {first name}, Your order {order number} has been delivered. We hope you enjoy it! Didn’t receive anything? Check the tracking link {tracking link} or reply “HELP” for support.
Stay on-brand
Delivery updates may not be the most exciting texts to send, but it’s still important that they’re on-brand. Not only does this make your updates more recognizable, but it also builds brand consistency and makes it easier for people to remember you.
If you usually send funny, casual texts, add a pun or some spunk to your delivery notifications. And if you sell luxury items, you want to ensure that your customers keep feeling like VIPs even after they’ve placed their order.
Finding it hard to let your brand personality shine through in something as short as a text message? Our database contains hundreds of SMS marketing examples from ecommerce brands to use as inspiration.
Include order details
You never know if a customer went on a shopping spree and doesn’t remember what they ordered. Or maybe they ordered something from your store and then ordered something else just a few days later.
The point is, it’s a good idea to include something in your delivery notifications that allows the customer to know which order the notification is for. That could be the name of the product, the order number, or both.
Include a tracking number and link
Include a tracking number and link in your text so customers know where their order is at any given moment. It creates a good experience for them and prevents customers from repeatedly contacting your support team to find out what’s happening with their delivery.
Provide an estimated delivery time
It’s good practice to always include a tracking link in your delivery updates. But if you want to go the extra mile, tell your customers when they can expect their package to arrive. A good place for this is your shipping confirmation text.
Communicate delays
As mentioned above, delay notifications should be part of your delivery notification arsenal. Hopefully, you won’t need to send them often, but when an order does suffer a delay, it’s best to let the customer know. By communicating clearly, you decrease the risk that they’ll get frustrated.
Confirm deliveries
When a customer receives a text message delivery confirmation but they haven’t actually received their package, they know something’s up and can more quickly investigate what happened rather than waiting and getting frustrated because there is no news about their order.
You also want to confirm deliveries for customers who asked to deliver their order to one of your brick-and-mortar stores or to a pick-up point. The delivery notification lets them know their order is awaiting them and they can go pick it up.
Don’t Stop at the Sale
A great post-purchase experience keeps customers coming back. A large part of that experience is providing them with order updates. Shipping and delivery notification text messages allow the customer to stay in the know about the status of their order and relieve your support team of having to answer questions around the same.
When customers receive delivery notifications, they can also make sure to be home when the courier comes, and won’t think there’s a delay when the package has been left with their neighbor.
There are so many benefits to sending delivery updates. By following the tips in this article, you can use them to create a better shopping experience and build customer loyalty.
You can only send delivery notifications when customers buy from your store. Sign up for MailCharts today and see how other ecommerce brands are using SMS marketing to increase their revenue.
