If we lived in an ideal world where nothing ever went wrong, we could imagine that everyone receives their orders on time – and that everything happens exactly as it’s supposed to. Unfortunately, that’s just not how the world works, and the shipping industry can have occasional shipping delays. Have you ever had a company emergency that leads to fulfilling customer orders later than the items were promised? Dealing with delayed shipments can either save the reputation of your company or cause a host of bad reviews if not handled properly.
How Do You Deal with Delayed Shipments?
Here’s what to do if you’re faced with a shipment delay that has affected some of your customers.
1. Expect the Unexpected Delay
The shipping industry involves thousands of companies that work together to get orders fulfilled. If there’s one delay in the supply chain, then you can bet that there are going to be delays for another company along the same chain.
Sometimes, this company is yours.
The important thing to remember is that delays can happen to any company, and they often do. Conglomerates like Amazon still have shipping delays like everyone else: they just respond to it much quicker, and have a plan in place for when it happens.
2. Communicate with Customers
Always communicate with customers in the event of a late order. When companies fail to communicate with their customers (or pretend that there’s no problem with the order), it breaks the customer’s trust without solving the issue.
If you let customers know that there’s a delay in the order, but that you’re doing everything you can to fix it, customers have added reassurance – and they actually know what’s going on.
Customers can quickly lose trust in a company that keeps them in the dark.
If you have an issue with shipments, transparency is what saves your reputation. Communicate!
3. Follow the Shipment
A responsible shipping company follows the shipment so that they know when there’s a delay in the rest of the commerce chain. This is done with careful inventory management and effective partner software that tracks orders on the road.
If you don’t know there’s a delay in the first place, you can let your customers know anything useful about their order. By tracking orders, you can always give customers well-informed feedback about what they ordered – and where it is right this very second.
4. Respond to Customer Feedback
Smart companies respond to their customers, especially if the question relates to an issue with an order. Even if a customer has asked the same question a hundred times, the company retains a responsibility to provide an answer.
Does a customer want to know where the order is… again?
Make sure that you’re able to provide a sensical answer, even if you (as the company) still have to work on fixing the problem.
5. Implement Live Order Tracking
Live order tracking can solve several problems at once. Customers are more likely to be reassured when they can track the delivery status of their own orders.
Simple order tracking software can also inform customers of how long their order might take. This gives you, as the shipping company, one more great way to retain your customer’s trust in your transparency.
The Junction LLC | Truckload Shipping
As a leader in the transportation industry, we demand excellence from our entire team. Our team at The Junction LLC strives to deliver the best possible customer service. We help our customers solve the toughest transportation and supply chain needs.
Our team is dedicated to serving our customers and will take the necessary action to deliver our customers’ products safely, efficiently, and on time. In fact, this is our promise to you!
Nationwide Services include:
- FTL (Full Truck Load) Shipping
- LTL (Less Than Truck Load) Shipping
- Transportation of refrigerated, dry, and bulk shipments
- 3PL Warehousing and Logistics
- Contract Warehousing
- Trucking Freight Brokerage
Trucking & Freight Shipping Services:
- Overweight,
- Over-dimension
- Time-sensitive shipments
- LTL (Less-Than-Truckload)
- FTL (Full Truckload)
- Flatbed
- Flatbed LTLRGN (removable gooseneck lowboy)
- RGN (removable gooseneck lowboy)
- Maxi’s / A-Train / B-Train
- Heavy Haul
- Over Dimensional
- Dry Van
- Dry Van LTL
- Refrigerated
- Refrigerated LTL
- Power Only
Additional Services:
- Our sister companies can also provide warehousing in our food-grade facilities, cross-docking, and contract warehousing.
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