We live in an era where anything and everything is purchased online and delivered to the doorstep. With high demand and also a constant increase in the need for delivering items door-to-door, things can go wrong during any step of delivering.
For instance, delivering the wrong product or the wrong size other than the ordered one might lead to a product. E-commerce returns can be a massive burden on online distributors and retailers.
Most of the owners consider it a plague that vigorously attacks their profit margins, undermines conversions, and ultimately endangers e-commerce businesses. To solve this problem, a few trends from 2019 suggest that return orders can be significantly reduced using relevant shipping software.
Shipping Software Helps in reducing Returns
Every customer wants free returns just as much as they yearn for free shipping on their orders placed. And when they don’t find what they want from you, they shift to shop somewhere else.
However, if you are into selling a premium product or a high-cost item on your e-commerce website, then free returns are a must in your ‘shipment and returns’ policy. But since the dealing of courier partners and the cost of processing a return order is too much, free returns might not seem like a practical option for you.
This is why e-commerce shipping software nowadays has proven to decrease return orders significantly. Whether it is the ease in monitoring your inventory or shipping at low costs, such software simplifies shipping for an e-commerce business to a greater extent. Here’s how it provides to overcome the hassles on your return orders:
- Less prone to shipment errors
Market research reports support the fact that one of the significant reasons for e-commerce returns is the inefficiency of the courier partners that you collaborate with. Damaged items, late deliveries, etc. contribute to an increase in return orders. This can be minimized by choosing a smart option when it comes to partnering with a courier service.
On the other hand there are many things which can go wrong in between the process of when you receive the order to when you ship the order.
For example:-
- Wrong product packed
- Different size sent to customer
- Quantity mismatch
- Free item went missing
- Incorrect information sent to carrier
- Incorrect Cash on Delivery Amount being sent to carrier
- Customer updated the order but you have already packed the item etc
With the help of a Shipping software most of the things can be automated and which in turn can reduce your returns as well as RTOs
With features like
- Auto assigning of carriers
- Auto manifestation data
- Automatic pickups
- Automatic address update
- Scan & Ship etc
All these issues are reduced to almost ZERO which in turn increase your efficiency and your system becomes less prone to Carrier errors
- Automated tool helps you find the right partner and service type
Shipping software generally has a well-written algorithm inside them that help you pick the right courier partner for you. It takes your return orders into account and recommends a courier partner from time to time. This device is usually a recommendation engine embedded in the software that runs on a machine learning algorithm, which eventually helps you select a befitting courier for any particular shipment.
For instance, let’s say you were taking back the returns that may have been caused due to a courier’s incapability to deliver packages on time.
For example Fedex has different set of Zipcodes for Surface shipments & Express Shipments,
same goes true for Prepaid & Cash on Delivery shipments
With this courier selection engine in the software, you could go through the best-rated courier partners, whose ratings depend on your delivery zone and select them to finish it. This could minimize your returns notably and not hinder your day-to-day other e-commerce activities.
- Keeping customers informed throughout the process
Customers are tech-savvy and love to have regular updates about their orders status and shipment deliveries.
They usually search for status updates and contact customer service, but that only causes more frustration because of the waiting period and ends up costing you time, money, and resources.
Shipping software can be your saviour, but it may seem like an investment in your business. But it has much of a payoff, and it will be something your customers will appreciate. It can even be as simple as providing a tracking link for their shipment and sending an email notification or an automated SMS once their return, replacement, and/or refund has been processed. These things not only reduce your customer queries & returns but in turn increase your delivery percentage & increase your happy customer ratio as well.
Integrating systems and specific automated processes for better returns tracking are also beneficial in many ways. It will be easier to generate reports and in turn, help you better investing in product developments. Better returns tracking interprets way better profit margins with shipping software.
How Ezyslips and Shipway can Make a Difference
Shipway and Ezyslips are two new products that are already making the rounds in the market to improve e-commerce business experiences. Shipway.in supplies accurate product tracking and order reviews to receive the right kind of feedback needed for your company’s after-sales services while Ezyslips is an automated shipping solution that provides fulfillment panels to process shipping labels, invoices, request for pick up, etc. Both the software also offer automatic courier integration, which means they are reliable e-commerce shipping software that focuses on automation and efficiency.
Managing returns can be complicated for any e-commerce company, especially with the added burden of shipping expectations. Luckily, Ezyslips is here to take the weight off from your already running-a-business problems. Rather than regulating the shipping process on your own, they can work out the returns quickly for both domestic and international transactions, handling outbound shipments and making settlements for potential returns before your inventory even leaves the distribution center.
Ezyslips offers two convenient options for return management based on your needs. You can use Ezyslips to either automatically email a return label when an item is shipped, or pack a return label in with each shipment, or alternatively email a return label at a later date. You can go through their self-service return label generator, where you can give your customers the option to generate their own return labels.
Shipway can simplify your returns process like never before, giving your customers everything necessary to send back any item at any time. From initial shipments to managing inventory returns, Shipway can become your go-to resource for logistics support. They offer returns with their courier partner integrations like DHL, Australia Post, StarTrack, Speedex Couriers, and 200+ other partners.
You already know that returns are always going to happen in any e-commerce business. But with efficient supervision from a robust returns management process, it can be minimized. With appropriate solutions from Shipway and Ezyslips, you can turn your returns into better mediums of profits. The sooner you start using shipping software, the faster you begin witnessing results!
