Customer Service in Logistics: How to Improve it Using Tech

Unfortunately, the reality of weather delays, vehicle issues, driver service hour requirements, and other unforeseen problems get in the way. The worldwide logistics industry has seen a huge growth in the past decade, with an increase in the number of goods transported each year. In North America alone, the value of American imports has increased by 60 percent while imports from China have increased by over 300 percent. A good vendor scorecard enables you to optimize the performance of suppliers through regular communication and data analysis.

For example, you can provide tracking updates, weather reports, and shipment transits to ensure that your clients are well informed. This will simplify the entire process for them and increase the credibility of your brand. Being part of a high-growth business in a fast-paced industry like logistics requires support, sales, and account management reps to constantly learn. This means business leaders need to provide continual training to keep reps prepared and up to speed especially when theyre juggling a breadth of knowledge on materials, regions, and systems.

Customer Service Automation: How to Save Time and Delight Customers

Some examples of automated customer service in logistics include real-time order tracking and automated shipping/ETA/delivery notifications. Delivering exceptional customer service in logistics can be challenging, but it’s achievable. We’ll delve into common customer support hurdles and share effective strategies to overcome them, ensuring a smooth experience for your logistics clients. This is a critical aspect where logistics customers manage the entire journey of goods from sourcing to delivery. They focus on ensuring a seamless flow of products from suppliers to the final consumers.

For example, let’s say your logistics company does in-house deliveries along with having a contract with a 3PL company for delivering some of your orders. In such cases, your company is responsible for communicating to clients the status of both self-delivery and 3PL orders. Since these customer service features are right at the customers’ fingertips, they feel more empowered to communicate with your business at their convenience. Besides, DIY customer service options are much less cumbersome to use as compared to traditional customer service channels. In this post, guest writer Dhruv Mehta dives into four reasons why customer service in logistics is important. While not always feasible, providing round-the-clock customer service for different time zones addresses concerns and queries more efficiently.

3.2. Priorities for order processing

This could involve providing personalized services, offering additional insights to optimize supply chain efficiency, or suggesting cost-saving measures for customers. In the ever-evolving world of logistics, customer service plays a pivotal role in driving success and growth for companies in the industry. In this guide, we explore the importance of customer service in logistics management, examine the key characteristics of great customer service, and discuss strategies to improve customer service in logistics. Learn about the crucial role of customer service in the logistics industry and how it can improve brand image, attract more customers, and increase sales.

These roles serve as the pillars of your customer service by addressing your long-term goals. So, consider revolutionizing them to optimize operational efficiency and foster a seamless delivery experience. Unfortunately, logistics customer service is not immune from industry challenges.

Company

Discover tips on how to take your customer service to the next level by focusing on communication, transparency, technology, and internal changes. Unless you’re a SaaS company, most businesses will need a strategy to create and deliver their products. Whether you’re working B2B, have brick-and-mortar storefronts, or selling products via ecommerce, logistics will play a key role in keeping pace with customer demand. If your logistics are inefficient, you’ll have a tougher time getting your product into the hands of your customers, which can lead to friction and potential churn. Service levels set by competitors and often traditional service levels can affect the customer service and cost relationship. Sensitivity analysis can help aid a logistics operation to determine the factors that constrain the operation.

The modern supply chain is a vast and intricate network of stakeholders, from manufacturers and carriers to distributors and retailers. Dhruv Mehta is a Digital Marketing Professional who works as a brand consultant and provides solutions in the digital era. Our task was to manage a high volume of customer requests, averaging around 7,500 calls daily, covering everything from shipment tracking to advising on loyalty programs.

What is Customer Service in Logistics?

Firms continually monitor the levels of customer service they—and their competitors—offer. They might use machines to record how many times customer-service telephones ring before being answered or what percentage of requested repair parts they can deliver within a certain time span. Customers expect to be updated about the location of their products once they have been dispatched. This helps them to manage time and get ready for the last mile delivery of the goods.

• The package is supposed to arrive on December 22, at your home in plenty of time for wrapping and you are pleasantly pleased with the free shipping offered.
• This system ensures that customers experience the highest level of satisfaction throughout their entire transaction journey and even after its completion.
• Customers just want to feel confident that your business can give them a solution.
• The firm’s logistics department also is responsible for logistics management, control, and planning.
• And if you want to know some strategies you can use to have an amazing sales performance, then download our free eBook “Practical Guide to Boost your Sales”.
• 84% of consumers that have an issue with a brand will never complain directly to the brand itself, they’ll go straight to social media.

The ideal solution is still the optimum balance between quality and cost; this should be weighed heavily in all analysis of the constraints. It is obvious that low-quality customer service has tremendous side effects in any sort of business. Additionally, a business could lose the loyalty of the valued customers and there are risks of losing the best employees because whenever companies have a customer service problem. The best employees are obliged to fill up the slack for other employees, so they search for better opportunities for their talents. An industry survey revealed many penalties of bad customer service and their significance on businesses.

Strategies for Effective Customer Service in Logistics

If you provide vague information or don’t answer your customers’ questions, they’ll have a harder time trusting that this same delay won’t happen again. Customer service in logistics is an often-overlooked aspect of a provider’s capabilities. REVE Chat is an omnichannel customer communication platform that offers AI-powered chatbot, live chat, video chat, co-browsing, etc.

However, it’s essential to research the company before partnering with them, so you know how they operate and what they offer. In addition, you always want a company with superior technology that can help you support your mission. If a customer can rely on your company, they will continue to use your business.

If you have new workers, you can also partner them with the most experienced customer service reps in your team. Making your customers happy will be close to impossible if your staff are unhappy. Every contact made by an unqualified and unsatisfied employee can adversely affect your business. For your business to operate smoothly and productively, your staff needs to be well-organized, communicate properly, and implement effective strategies. Even if the entire process is as simple as just a pickup, the satisfaction of customers boils down to what else the company can offer. Keep them informed about their delivery and let them know from the onset what will happen with their package.

Order constraints also help with the order planning as the restrictions are known ahead of time. Presetting specifications also help low volume markets serve reliable and efficiently in a continuous manner. The next customer service in logistics important element of an order cycle is the steps required for order processing and order assembly. To some extent, order processing and assembly occurs concurrently to save time for both of these operations.

By considering customer needs like this, you’ll make your customers much happier. In a way, it’s like a convolutional neural network definition, intertwining your knowledge of customer service with your knowledge of logistics to benefit your business. Once an order has been placed, good logistics management means providing your customers with various updates and progress reports. Typical order cycle time may change significantly for the goods delivered in their destinations as damaged or unusable. In that situation order cycle time significantly increase as reorder, replacement, or repair has to happen. Depending on the factors for setting standards for the packaged goods including design, returning and replacing processes if needed for the incorrect, damaged goods, the cycle of order time may vary.

• It ensures that goods are delivered on time and in perfect condition, which is essential for a successful logistics operation.
• “It is the end customer who decides whether the creation and functioning of the entire supply chain are justified” (Długosz, 2010).
• The exact relationship between sales and customer service varies by industry and specific business.
• One way to reduce friction in your logistics process is to partner with other businesses that can help you store or distribute resources.
• As services increase above the level offered by the competition, sales gain can be expected as superior customer service increases the retention of existing customers and attract new customers.
• Good customer service ensures that a logistics company has customers in the first place.

It involves providing continuous support and solutions to customers even after their initial purchase is completed, ensuring their satisfaction and loyalty. In the logistics business, customers are the determining factor of what is known as quality service. They affect the reputation a freight forwarding company has in the market. And their level of happiness can make a business stand out from its competitors. Thats why quality customer service has become the biggest business differentiator in the logistics industry. It’s a must-have that customers demand and your business cant afford to ignore.

Electronic data interchange is often used in place of paper for the documentation process. Promoting self-service options to your customers can also save you time and money as you can redirect the human resources to work on other tasks important to your business operation. If you are a logistics operation that is looking to step up your customer service, going through the following points will help you understand its importance and put things to practice. Miscommunications, whether about delivery schedules or resolving issues, can cause misunderstandings and frustration. Customers depend on logistics firms to handle their goods carefully and ensure they arrive in perfect condition. This includes offering multilingual support to cater to a diverse customer base and providing assistance through various channels like phone, email, live chat, etc.