It’s hard not to love Amazon Prime when you can order something knowing it will arrive at your doorstep within only two days for free. Although Amazon sets a high bar, there are several things you can do to provide reliable, cost-effective shipping that your customers will appreciate. That’s according to Jarrett Streebin, CEO of EasyPost, a company with a multi-carrier shipping API to help online businesses achieve Amazon-level shipping. Here’s how he says to do it.
1. Tell customers exactly when their package will arrive.
Amazon customers who don’t pay $99 for Prime can still get free shipping, but it’s not fast and the delivery window is fairly large. Why not offer your customers free or inexpensive shipping, but tell them exactly when it will arrive? “One takeaway from Amazon is that people care about cheap and they care about reliable,” he says. “You can provide the same level of reliability at a cheap price point. Speed is relative to cost, so providing an estimated delivery date in a shopping cart is really valuable.”
2. Give customers a tracking number immediately after they place an order.
It allows them to see exactly where an item is, even if it’s still in your warehouse. “We see this again and again–our customers implement tracking and then X percentage of their support requests go away,” he says. “Also it gives the customer a much better experience since they know that within a few hours of placing the order, when it’s going to get to them.”
3. Use your tracking emails to sell more.
Tracking-related emails convert 30 percent better than regular marketing emails, so use them to give customers extra deals, discounts and coupons. And instead of sending a customer to a carrier website to track an order’s status, why not display tracking status on your own site where there’s a better chance they’ll engage with your brand again?
4. Promise to ship your products within a short amount of time.
Whether it’s 24 hours, 12 hours or even less, customers will feel good knowing you’re getting their orders out the door quickly. “Make sure you have an efficient packing process and always [meet] your cut-offs with carriers,” he says. “You want it to be on the truck the day it’s purchased so that you get that extra day in transit as opposed to sitting in your warehouse.”