The exponential growth of online transactions and intense competition among service and retail businesses is at an all-time high. As a result, companies offering product delivery and service appointments are accelerating their technology needs for increased customer transparency and overall last mile visibility. So let’s take a quick Glympse at the challenges businesses, and their customers face in the last mile.
What is last mile visibility?
Last mile visibility allows businesses and their customers to have better control and insight into their product delivery or service appointment, so they never have to be left wondering where they are. But, of course, it goes without saying that customers are expecting more information from their orders in today’s advancing market and accelerating pandemic living standards.
Without a proper last mile solution in place to meet accelerating customer standards, a business often suffers from overwhelmed call centers, missed deliveries and customer no-shows, and decreased customer satisfaction, making it highly likely to lose customers to a competitor.
Challenges You and Your Customers Are Facing in the Last Mile
The challenges that a company faces when conquering last mile visibility continue to evolve. Email and SMS are no longer enough – they are slow, unengaging, and often don’t provide two-way communication. The leaders in the industry are the companies who innovate and don’t fall behind on customer experience and demands. These are the challenges that industry leaders are addressing now:
Lack of Transparency
According to a consumer study conducted by Digital Commerce 360, 93% of customers want to stay informed throughout the delivery process, from in-transit status to final arrival date. Additionally, 47% of customers will not order again from brands with poor delivery visibility, and 98% said delivery is a crucial aspect of their brand loyalty.
Companies with increased last mile visibility on their delivery and service appointment data can take action immediately when issues arise, such as damaged packages or unexpected delays. Additionally, customers want real-time updates to know exactly when their delivery or service technician will arrive. The feeling of being “trapped in their home” or wasting a day of PTO are the top reasons customers look elsewhere for products or services.
Unable to Solve Issues Promptly
When giving customers decision-making over their order or service appointment, they are more likely to return as satisfied customers and maintain brand loyalty. For instance, if a package is damaged during shipment without a customer’s knowledge, they will receive damaged goods that they would have otherwise not accepted. The customer will have to wait additional days while holding onto a damaged product, creating customer dissatisfaction.
However, if the customer received notification of the issue during the shipment process, they could have opted to start the exchange process before the completed delivery. By doing this, the customer doesn’t have to receive a damaged product and could potentially have their new item arrive sooner.
Missed Appointments and Deliveries
Businesses that suffer from missed appointments for delivery and service appointments show lower productivity, revenue loss, and slower business growth.
When a company neglects to provide real-time visibility to their customer for their upcoming delivery or service appointment, they risk a missed delivery or customer no-show. First, the company loses time and money and will need to work to reschedule with the customer. Second, the customer is left frustrated because they didn’t have insight into exact ETAs and now have to find a new time to reschedule – a common scenario seen across industries. In fact, the average no-show rate is as high as 15%.
Solving Last Mile Visibility Challenges
So how can a business address these challenges? Easy – with a location-powered intelligence solution. Communicating with your customers about upcoming appointments or deliveries and giving real-time ETAs can go a long way with their customer satisfaction. Additionally, giving customers the ability to reschedule or ask questions with 2-way communication can significantly cut down on calls to customer care.
Having a proper last mile visibility solution can reduce customer care calls by 47%, increase average customer NPS scores by 10 points, and reduce customer not-at-home by 12%. In addition, as a business expands, the importance of customer satisfaction and brand loyalty increases significantly.
One of our proud partners, TruGreen, implemented Glympse to allow their customers live tracking and ETAs of their lawn care providers, easy communication and rescheduling with 2-way communication, and notifications when their service is complete. Since integrating with Glympse, TruGreen has seen a positive increase in customer satisfaction.
The cost of not implementing a real-time visibility solution in the last mile is detrimental to customer loyalty. However, it is easier now than ever to implement solutions like Glympse, primarily if platforms such as Salesforce Field Service Lightning, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and others are already in place.
To learn more about location-powered solutions to boost your customer experience, contact Glympse for a demo and learn about our 90-day free trial.
