1) Introduction
Arming yourself with the right tools to track international shipments is really important for your eCommerce business.
While it is comparatively easy to get customers to purchase your beautiful products from your eCommerce business’s webstore, the first step to establishing your dependability and trustworthiness as a business comes much before the shipment reaches the consumer.
Between placing an order and receiving the package, a customer experiences anxiety and a healthy dose of post-purchase remorse. No matter the value of your product, its uniqueness or quality, a customer, one who especially has no prior no experience with your brand and its products is bound to feel the two in copious amounts. Especially when you choose to ship through standard instead of express delivery.
With over 70% of eCommerce business customers checking their shipping status more than once, it is important to have a well performing tracking system in place.
Almost 100% of eCommerce business customers agree that their shipping experience affects their brand loyalty and more than 80% vowed they would never return to a business after a negative shipping experience.
2) How does Tracking International Shipments Work for eCommerce Businesses
Tracking international shipments for your eCommerce business is a breeze with Order Tracking.
Order tracking is a feature that helps you locate your packages through air waybill or tracking numbers from the time they leave your warehouse all the way to their destination.
Order tracking enables you to monitor shipment status and communicate the same with customers through sms and emails.
Providing your customer with real-time shipping updates and information helps you improve the customer’s brand experience.
3) How Do Airwaybill or Tracking Numbers Work?
Shipping companies code the entirety of shipping information pertaining to a package in the form of airwaybill or tracking numbers.
An airwaybill is generated with a set of numbers, usually 11, and contains all the information about the package and allows it to be tracked.
A legal agreement between the shipper and the logistics company, it also serves as a contract of carriage and is enforceable by law.
While it contains information such as shipper’s and receiver’s address and contact information, goods information such as quantity, weight and description, it also holds information about the conditions of the contract such as terms and conditions, claims, liability and charges that apply.
In short, a tracking number is a convenient shorthand code that ensures everyone involved with the various stages of shipping are updated with the same information.
4) Top 10 Reasons Why Tracking International Shipments is Important for Your eCommerce Business
4.1) Trust Building
The most important reason to provide tracking information to your customers is to improve customer loyalty which results in better sales. Gain a customer’s trust and confidence through simple tracking systems showcasing transparency in shipping by your business.
4.2) Information Load
eCommerce business customers love to be bombarded with information regarding their purchases. With real-time shipping alerts, it’s easy to build anticipation and excitement in the customer as opposed to the anxiety and remorse that would develop otherwise in radio silence.
4.3) Stay in the Pack
Literally every business now offers package tracking as a norm. If there was ever a time to not be a rebel and stay inside the box, this would be it. Not offering this basic tool will definitely lead to your business haemorrhaging customers.
4.4) Troubleshoot
While information tracking is great for your customers, it can also help you spot a problem a mile away and sort it out before the customer’s none the wiser. You could use this data to either fix the issue or alert the customer in advance.
4.5) Stay Calm
Tracking your shipment is great for your customers as well as yourself. With regular updates at both ends, there’s no shock awaiting you in the mail or a barrage of angry demands for answers.
4.6) Info Highway
By opening up communication lines between the sacred commerce triad - business, shipping company, customer, there’s really no way anything can go wrong. It's beneficial to all parties especially in the case of special requests or modifications where your business wouldn't need to step in and resolve issues and clarifications every time this happens.
4.7) Cut Down Costs
Over time, you can learn more about the steps involved in shipping to International countries and see how and where you can save some money. Maybe multimodal transportation could work cheaper for certain destinations, or maybe there’s a way you can bypass heavy custom fees and taxes. With a little experience in studying your past shipping data, you can often find more desirable shipping options.
4.8) Where’s The Package?
With the ability to read the logs and data entered at various points in the shipping journey, the case of the missing package is no longer a thing to fear. Both you and your customer will have access to the “last seen” spot and be able to track it down.
4.9) Plan Ahead
With international tracking for shipments comes the bonus feature of being able to schedule your deliveries leading to more efficient order fulfillment. This will ensure you are never jumped with scary inventory surprises and every little detail is planned well in advance leaving you with a solid buffer for the odd circumstance when something unfavourable crops up.
4.10) Just In Case
Although it is highly unlikely that the customer will reach out to you for clarifications, it is always great to have all the information you’ll need to field those tricky questions at hand. And with detailed tracking information for international shipments, you are armed and prepared for any queries.
5) Conclusion
With all of your shipment’s information packed into a tiny code that makes the airway bill number, consider your sleuthing days over. As an eCommerce business owner, or even when you are a customer, it is easy to spot your packages while sitting miles away. It takes mere seconds to load the tracking number onto the website or tracking tool, and voila, you have the answers. Tracking International shipments online removes the hassle of tedious phone calls with sleep-inducing (or rage inducing) elevator tunes while you remain on hold for hours to get an update on your precious cargo. Talking with a dozen nameless and faceless people to get some semblance of information that even Sherlock couldn’t piece together is no longer needed. Simply put, tracking international shipments is important for your eCommerce business as it allows you to plan ahead of time, cut costs, track the cargo in real time, solve any issues that may crop up, and for everyone’s peace of mind.