We teamed up with Volusion last week to host an E-Commerce Holiday Bootcamp webinar, and the ShipEngine team had a great time sharing tips, tricks, and best practices with small businesses looking to maximize their holiday selling season. With more than 2.5 billion packages shipped through UPS, USPS and FedEx during last year’s holiday season, it’s no surprise to business owners that this time of year is ripe for online growth.
One of the keys to success is standing apart from your competition. This includes everything from the way you promote your brand, to the way your customers experience your order fulfillment process.
During the webinar, our Solutions Architect Anne O’Reilly highlighted the top three ways you can differentiate your company’s shipping process this holiday season. With these tips, you’ll be able to create a shipping workflow that both delights customers and fits within your existing processes.
1. Deliver Orders Affordably & Reliably
One of the best ways to ensure repeat customers is by making sure their order fulfillment process goes smoothly. No one likes late, damaged or pricey packages. By comparing multiple carrier rates before you ship, you’re able to ensure the best postage prices for both you and your customer. The way we like to think about it: the more you save, the more savings you’re able to extend.
Our unique carrier partnerships also give us the opportunity to extend discounted rates to users, helping you save significantly on select carrier services.
2. Extend Your Brand Presence
How many times have you ordered something online and, upon receiving the shipping notification, realized that you’ll have to redirect to a carrier’s website for tracking? This is a prime example of when branding falls short in the fulfillment process.
Many businesses know the impact creating a branded experience can have on customer loyalty. This understanding has inspired them to implement strategies like branded promotional inserts or tissue paper in boxes, or perhaps even custom packaging. Unfortunately, branded tracking pages and shipping labels are often left off that list. Until now!
With ShipEngine, users are able to create a branded tracking page and branded shipping labels that feature logos of their choice.
3. Create an Amazon-like Experience
With Amazon recently moving to Prime free 1-day shipping, the pressure is even higher to try and compete with the growing consumer expectation of quick delivery. While 1-day and free shipping isn’t an economical option for most e-commerce businesses, there are ways to relieve this pain point and shrink the gap.
All three of the differentiators listed above are great ways to make a lasting impression on your customers and to help relieve some of the stress around optimizing your holiday shipping workflow.
To check out a full video of the webinar, click below:
Interested in how ShipEngine can help improve your shipping workflow? Get a free API key to start building out your platform. Or, contact one of our shipping experts for more information.
We also invite you to check out our ShipEngine Gear Shop for a great demonstration on how our shipping API works when integrated with an e-commerce platform or independent website. After adding swag to your cart, proceed to checkout. Whether or not you decide to purchase, you will be able to witness—in real-time—the validation of your address rate shopping through multiple carriers. Contact our sales team to get a 100%-off discount code to use on Gear Shop products.
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