What you need to know about tracking updates

We feel neglected when we don’t get enough of them, annoyed when we get too many, and don’t give them a second thought when we get just enough. We’re talking about order tracking notifications (of course).

But while the world of tracking might seem a bit banal to most of us, it keeps plenty a retailer up at night as an essential ingredient in the ‘after-purchase experience.’

Let’s take a look at the subtleties of tracking, and why there’s more to it than we might think.

Giving customers control

With tracking notifications, customers get to follow every step of their order’s journey as it makes its way to them. This keeps them informed and gives them a sense of control, which is a good thing when they’re out of pocket and waiting hungrily.

Customers want to see notifs in the right place, preferably their go-to messaging apps, and smart retailers make strategic use of these channels, even letting customers choose. The trick is to send the right update in the right place at the right time.

Saving retailers money

Informed customers make fewer enquiries, which means less work for retailers who will want to keep customers at bay with timely updates like Shipped, In Transit, and Delivered.

Internally, however, retailers will want to monitor an order’s whole journey with every non customer-facing touchpoint, including orders that are pending, waiting, returned or lost.

This ‘logistics intelligence’ is not just about preempting problems but measuring each step in the journey, as well as the overall performance of couriers over time. With so many moving parts, it pays to be proactive.