Fast Delivery: a key strategy for your E-commerce

The vast majority of online shoppers favor free shipping as delivery method. According to a study published by Baymard Institute, 16% of them abandon their cart because the delivery is too slow.

In the field of e-commerce, delivery becomes a key factor in converting prospects into real customers. They first study the price of different delivery methods, but their second criterion remains speed.

The strategy of a fast expedition can then boost your sales, maximize your customer loyalty and reduce the number of dissatisfactions received by the customer service .

How do delivery times influence the conversion rate?

Delivery time can be a source of stress for the customer. The faster it is, the less customers will give up their shopping cart and the more they will come back. Thanks to fast delivery options your e-commerce will be more competitive.

Reduction of cart abandonment

70% is the average cart abandonment rate on a website. Imagine that 100 Internet users visit your shop. 50 of them will look at the products, 10 will add a product to their cart and only 3 will finalize the purchase.

There are several reasons for shopping cart abandonment. Some users give up buying because shipping costs are too high, while others find that the website does not offer enough delivery methods. If the delivery options offered to the customer do not meet his needs, he will not hesitate to go to another online store.

The speed of delivery thus guarantees a happy customer, as well as a reduction in cart abandonment. And if customers are satisfied with their delivery, then they will tend to return to your online store.

Increase in Customer Lifetime Value

The Customer Lifetime Value (often CLTV) represents a key predictor of customer retention strategies. Customer value is the sum of expected average profits over the life of a typical customer.

It is based on the average life of a customer and the theoretical evolution of consumption. Fast shipping is an option more and more expected by customers. By adding it to your delivery methods, it will maximize the loyalty of your customers.

Competitive research results

Marketplaces favor products for which fast delivery is offered. By filtering his research, the buyer could decide to see only products delivered quickly. In addition marketplaces, such as Amazon or eBay, offer better visibility to this kind of product.

• The Amazon Buy Box: this is the yellow button on which is written “add to cart”. It allows you to place the order faster, but also to catch the eye in such an important product flow.
• eBay Guaranteed Delivery: sellers increase the visibility of their products and buyers receive their order in just 3 days. It also allows to have better reviews and less delay in deliveries. If the deadlines are not respected, there is a Fast ‘N Free protection, but this option exists only in the USA for the moment.

Multiple delivery options

84% of Internet users are ready to change website if it does not offer enough delivery methods. By having faster and more profitable options, your e-commerce will be more attractive and will have more chances to convert prospects into customers.

This strategy also makes it possible to adapt on a case by case basis and thus to better meet the needs of buyers. It could be the key to gaining a bigger market share and better position yourself among your competitors.

3 Essential Things to Know Before Starting a Fast Delivery Strategy

Fast delivery also brings a lot of problems. Indeed, if the volume of sales increases rapidly, you must adapt effectively. To prevent it from being detrimental to your conversion rate, it is important to properly manage shipments.

The cost of deliveries

Here, the most important thing is to find a balance between the service and its cost. Of course, express deliveries are more expensive than standard ones. Therefore, they must be offered for products with a high profit margin.

For sellers, the most difficult thing is to manage shipments made with several carriers. With ShippyPro, it is not only possible to create labels for each shipment, but also to automatically compare the shipping costs of all your carriers and offer the best to your buyers.

The accuracy of deliveries

Missing a fast delivery can be disastrous. The delivery experience directly influences customer satisfaction. Almost half of them do not come back in case of missed shipment and one in five do not come back at all. In addition, if the promises of delivery time are not kept, the customer will tend to leave a negative opinion on your shop.

To avoid this kind of situation, ShippyPro offers the possibility for your customers to track their package and receive personalized shipping notifications through Track & Trace. This system makes possible to visualize all your shipments on a simple easy to use dashboard that allows to search with advanced filters such as marketplace, carrier, date, customer name and tracking number. This dashboard also displays late shipments for an overall view of shipments.

Management of several sales channels

By selling on several marketplaces, the volume of sales necessarily increases. To successfully manage this flow of orders, the most important thing is not to allocate more resources or manpower. In order not to get tangled up and not waste precious time, it’s smart to invest in a management tool that allows you to manage multiple sales channels on a single platform.

Thanks to ShippyPro, you can synchronize your online store and receive all your orders to be sent on the same platform. Apart from creating shipping labels, comparing different shipping costs to find the best carrier and tracking packages, ShippyPro offers a complete experience by also handling returns.

5 advantages to offer fast delivery

• Increase your conversion rate
• Maximize your customer satisfaction and loyalty
• Reduce shopping cart abandonment
• Give better visibility to your products on marketplaces
• Being more competitive and gaining a bigger market share

When your sales volume increases, the most important thing is to be ready. If you do not keep your delivery promises, all those efforts would have been in vain.

To be able to manage your shipments at best, there are management tools like ShippyPro that reduce order preparation time and automate the shipping process.