David Lewis, Sales Director at DispatchTrack, talks about enhancing the customer experience through optimised self-scheduling.
Scheduling last mile deliveries can be difficult and costly for furniture retailers. It can often take multiple phone calls to reach the customer, consuming valuable staff time; missed connections and callbacks just make things worse for you and for your customer.
Allowing customers to schedule their own delivery, how and when they want, not only cuts down on the time you spend, but also ensures the slot is convenient for the customer and less likely to result in a costly failed delivery. Putting the customer in control of their delivery slot, is not a new concept, with sectors such as grocery offering it to their customers for years, yet it has a powerful impact on the customers experience which furniture retailers should consider.
Having a behind-the-scenes solution that knows your capacity and existing deliveries and only offers the customer time windows that maximise capacity usage within your given parameters creates a win-win situation; Your customer gets to pick a delivery time that fits their schedule; you get a delivery window that optimises your fleet capacity utilisation and miles driven.
The benefits don’t end there:
Convenience – By choosing a delivery time that aligns with a customers schedule it eliminates the need to wait for long delivery windows or take time off work to be in to receive an item.
Increased satisfaction – By giving customers control over their delivery schedules, you improve the customer experience resulting in greater satisfaction and loyalty, positive reviews and even repeat purchases.
Streamlined operations – Self-scheduling can help businesses optimise delivery routes and allocate resources more efficiently, leading to reduced delivery costs and improved operational efficiency.
Lower Costs -Self-scheduling, alongside the ability for customers to re-schedule in advance should a customers’ circumstances change, reduces the likelihood of missed deliveries and the need for costly redelivery attempts.
Overall, self-service scheduling helps furniture companies rise above the crowd with reliable last-mile deliveries while creating more loyal, informed customers.
Alongside self-scheduling, another popular option is “click and collect” service for warehouses. As with self-scheduling, the software allows customers to pick up at a time convenient for them. Allowing a customer to pick up on a day of their choice in some instances could be even more flexible than offering delivery on a day of choice. Warehouses can automatically be notified when customers are en-route to collect and have a representative there to greet them.
To learn more about how self-scheduling can increase customer satisfaction and lower costs for furniture retailers visit www.dispatchtrack.com/industries/furniture-appliance
