7 Ecommerce Shipping Mistakes Every Store Owner Should Avoid

In the age of the internet, ecommerce has become one exciting avenue for success.

But starting an ecommerce demands hard work and the right step to do well enough to generate much revenue. Because when thinking about how to run an ecommerce business successfully, there are a bunch of factors to take into account. And product shipping is definitely one essential part of any ecommerce business.

After all, even if you have identified a high-quality product, found the right channel to promote your brand, developed a user-friendly e-commerce site, and are ready to take orders, your work doesn’t end here. Shipping and fulfilling your customer’s order is what matters at the very end. Or else a lack of proper ecommerce shipping strategy for your online store may put you in a pickle.

Now without further ado, let’s jump in to see what makes ecommerce shipping so important.

Importance of ecommerce shipping

Ecommerce shipping, simply put, encompasses the process of receiving and managing orders by picking, packing and shipping for the delivery to the customer’s doorstep. It matters because your customers care about it. Studies show that about 60% of customers seem to purchase from ecommerce companies that come with easy and convenient shipping solutions when a negative shipping experience maximises the cart abandonment rate.

Hence, nowadays, ecommerce, from giants to medium to small, is striving hard to offer a seamless shipping experience to outperform the competitors by winning customers.

So in case you are an owner or planning to start an ecommerce business, you need to pick the right shipping strategies while skipping all possible mistakes to take care of the commitment you put towards your customers. And you can start by identifying the mistakes carried out by other owners because a tiny ecommerce shipping mistake can end up affecting your business.

Some common ecommerce shipping errors one should be aware of

Shipping is not just about merely delivering items to clients. There are many issues that can go wrong when it comes to ecommerce shipping. But why hold any risk?

So, before you end up creating unhappy customers and losing sales, let’s look at some common mistakes to prevent any shipping errors.

Not allowing the customer to select the shipment option

Offering multiple shipping options is good because your online store’s shipment options can work as the ‘make or break factor. However, every customer comes with a different requirement; when some will look for a same-day delivery service paying extra charges, others might seek the free delivery offering. Or else, if you are not offering any particular delivery option, eventually, your sale will suffer.

Hence, you need to allow your customers to select the shipping option as per their choices while selling online. More shipping options lead to higher sales because customers view checkout choices whenever they are going to purchase any product.

But if you keep the options limited at checkout and don’t provide vast shipping choices to your customers, chances that your prospects will move to another retailer who does offer shipping and delivery in line with their needs. And to do it right, you can have a local pickup option, free shipping service, flat rate shipping, conditional shipping or multi-address delivery option that you can implement to delight your customers with more choices.

Ignoring customer feedback

Through customer feedback, you can learn what customers really think about your shipping services. Once you miss listening to their comments and taking action, you will be missing out on tremendous opportunities. Not only does it cause you to lose customers, but it creates reputational damage. That is why you should not make the mistake of deleting or ignoring any negative posts or comments.

Instead, you need to respond as fast as possible to the complaints you get. Because what customers find frustrating is not getting a response. But constant monitoring of your brand mentions and interactions gives you an overall idea about your business performance, including delivery and shipping.

For example, to quickly collect ecommerce feedback and gauge sentiment from customers, you can either do one-on-one outreach, monitor social media or check website feedback boxes. And the best time to ask for feedback could be if they have recently abandoned their cart or exited your page after spending a ton of time. Also, if they have just bought a product from you, try to get some feedback on the thank-you page.

Manually managing the shipping process

Shipping ecommerce products manually requires tons of time and effort to do correctly. Also, manual planning is prone to human errors and filled with complexity because it involves manual work to process a shipping method for each package with no use of shipping labels and automated systems. And unlike the automated shipment process, the manual process creates extra work as each shipment needs to be tracked manually and allows more mistakes when it comes to filling out shipping labels.

However, since packing, checking and sorting orders requires many touches, automating this process can make the job much easier to handle. For example, shipping levels are automatically filled out with the provided customer’s information and tracking the delivery can be done effortlessly once the product is delivered is on its way.

A single automated shipping system can significantly minimise an operation’s labour cost, which can ultimately lead to the reduction of overall shipping costs. It also increases the order accuracy rate, which will translate into fewer returns and happy customers.

Not paying attention to packaging

Another common ecommerce shipping mistake is dispatching products with improper packaging. Packaging is the process that encloses and protects the customer’s order during the shipping and delivering process. However, often businesses neglect the quality of packaging and end up using wrong-sized boxes or sending poor tapping shipments, which lead to a box opening while out for delivery. And this mistake can be a huge annoyance for customers and a costly mistake for businesses as it forces customers to initiate the return process.

Utilising proper shipping packaging is definitely crucial because though being underrated, this mistake can easily lead to huge losses. Even it is not just about creating a strong and secure package. It is necessary for businesses to stand out in this highly competitive world of ecommerce.

So along with the right size and proper sealing, companies need to go for customised packaging to create a thoughtful and unique look. And for custom packaging, you can include a custom sticker, tape or paper using your brand’s logo or colour.

Incorrect delivery address

Invalid or wrong shipping addresses might spell disaster for your business’s reputation and customer experience. It can result in a delivery delay, including the cost of loss or return. A parcel with an invalid delivery address complicates the delivery process because a wrong address will return the parcel to the loading dock to investigate the reason.

Then once you correct the problem, you need to re-address and re-box the same item to resend the package to the dock again. So it maximises the shipping costs as well as the labour cost too. Also, an incorrect delivery address can cost you several consequences, including the loss of lifetime customer value, order cancellation, or negative reviews.

Often the lack of valid shipping addresses occurs due to incomplete information or ecommerce errors. For example, simply the missing apartment number or road number can cause address errors. So ensuring the delivery address quality will definitely provide a better end-user customer experience while saving your money and time.

Not delivering the product on the committed shipment day

In the era of faster delivery and higher customer expectation, if you run over a deadline, it can have a severe effect on your business. It’s crucial to meet your customer’s expectations and deliver on your committed day because studies show that a maximum number of buyers are less likely to shop in your store again if they don’t get their purchase on the promised delivery date.

And late deliveries minimise your customer retention rate and increase your customer acquisition cost. In addition, this will negatively impact your online store’s reputation, making it difficult to attract new customers and retain an existing one.

So unless you step in quickly to deal with the delayed shipment issue, time to do so before it ends up breaking all your customer’s trust. While declaring the committed shipment day, you should consider traffic, major roadblocks, high volumes and vehicle trouble for domestic shipping, and for international shipping, consider custom requirements. Also, to overcome this issue, you can try on acquiring automated logistic software and avoid shipment delays.

Depending on the single shipping carrier

In case you run a medium or large scale ecommerce business, relying on a single shipping carrier can impact your business as it comes with many disadvantages. It will not let you provide multiple shipping options to your customers at check out, like same day or next day shipping. Also, during the peak season, when the rate of parcel shipping volume increases, you will struggle to get the product out the door at the right time and meet the delivery promises with a single shipping carrier. And this will hold you back from outperforming your competitor.

But when you look for multiple currier services, you can choose them depending on their flexibility and scalability, considering the geographical factor. Because there are many shipping carriers available in the market where all of them come with unique offerings as one couldn’t possibly deliver on all your needs.

Since customers also expect choices, with a multi-carrier approach, you can come up with the best shipping deal for them. And this will also help you to build loyalty among your customers and exceed their expectations.

Conclusion

With all these, it can be said that if your ecommerce shipping policy or strategy is not up to the mark, it can cost your business in many ways. Even after doing all the hard parts, making your audiences aware of your business and attracting them to your business site, a simple ecommerce shipping mistake can prevent your visitors from converting into customers.

Therefore, building and maintaining an accurate shipping process is vital while skipping all the common shipping mistakes. So until something occurs that can cause a significant headache, keep all the above-mentioned shipping mistakes in mind to run a successful ecommerce business and provide an enriched customer experience. After all, proper execution is a key to a smooth ecommerce service.