Lost shipments are one of the biggest concerns of sellers who operate their businesses through the Internet. By adopting effective best practices, you can decrease cases of lost shipments and deliver your products on time.
In this blog post, we will discuss how to handle lost shipments efficiently and optimise your approach to dealing with losses when they do happen. From correct labelling and product protection to order tracking and multiple delivery choices, we will examine the strategies you can use to reduce lost orders and keep your business running smoothly.
A Closer Look at Lost Shipments: Understanding the Key Issues
Before learning how to handle lost shipments efficiently, you need to know what leads to lost shipments and their effects on your business. Shipments are usually lost through various human errors or mistakes, such as misidentification, mislabelling, or mishandling, which could lead to damage to goods while in transit. When these damages are severe, they may cause the shipment to be unusable or even discarded, which may lead to the shipment being considered lost.
These issues could cost you a lot, as they may result in customers asking for refunds. When customers ask for a refund on damaged goods, you incur a loss. Repetition of such issues could lead to loss of customers’ trust.
Preventing Shipment Loss: Proactive Approaches
Risk prevention is the first and most effective step to be taken to avoid potential losses in shipment. Here are some proven tactics in more detail:
1. Ensure Accurate Location Details:
You need to make sure that all the address information such as the postcodes, apartment/flat numbers, city, state, etc., is correct. This will help to reduce the incidences of delayed deliveries since it’ll prevent the courier (or any delivery means) from missing the recipient and vice versa. When shipments are delayed, this could create chances of miscommunication, incorrect tracking and mishandling.
For example, a minor error, such as writing an apartment number as APT instead of Apt., can lead to difficulties in locating the right destination. You can address this by hiring a carrier that offers address correction features that correct the customer’s address if there is any error.
2. Use Secure Packaging:
High-quality boxes can help prevent shipment loss. They are typically made from materials that can withstand pressure and rough handling, reducing the risk of damaged shipments during transit. They often have features such as tamper-evident seals and strong adhesives to prevent the goods from theft.
Choose the packaging material that best suits each item. If there are empty spaces, fill them with foam pellets or bubble wrap to ensure the item does not move unnecessarily. Other services, such as signature on delivery, are also effective since they provide an additional layer of security.
3. Use a Carrier Offering Real-time Tracking:
Tracking gives visibility and transparency to orders in transit. You should partner with a logistics service provider that can alert customers via email or SMS about every new update on the shipment. Updates such as when the package was picked up or when it is scheduled for delivery, etc, will help you quickly detect if anything has happened to the package.
4. Provide Delivery Options:
By offering flexible delivery options, you allow customers to control when and where their package is delivered. This could include scheduling deliveries for specific times or choosing alternative locations. For high-value items, consider offering a “signature required” option. Though a simple measure, it adds an additional layer of security, ensuring the package is received by the intended recipient.
Locating a customer’s home can be stressful due to incorrect, incomplete, or unclear addresses. Instead of delivering directly to their homes, you can offer alternative options such as delivering to the nearest pick-up location or holding for pick-up at the carrier branch. If a pickup or door-to-door delivery is requested, you can use a strong form of authentication, like one-time passwords (OTP) sent to the registered mobile number or email ID, to prevent fraud or theft.
5. Invest in Insurance:
You should ensure high-value goods since their loss would significantly affect your business. Be cautious about insurance terms and conditions concerning limits to avoid unexpected problems. Keep the proofs of delivery and photos of products sent to the carrier or customer. These records can assist in resolving issues, such as damage claims or partial deliveries.
These proofs of delivery will help you verify that the shipment was handed over to the carrier or delivered to the customer. The photos can show the condition of the items before shipping, which helps settle claims for damages or missing contents.
Extra Tips and Tactics for Preventing Shipment Loss
Beyond the preventative techniques discussed above, a few extra tactics you can implement are:
1. Blind packaging: Strategically removing your brand images or logos and using plain packaging reduces the risk of lost shipments, especially theft. That’s because “cherry pickers” are likely to choose high-valued products—which, in general, are products of a well-known and branded company.
2. Secure carrier handoff: Carefully research and select logistics service providers that incorporate transit scans and blockchain technology to develop a transparent, unalterable record of your shipments’ journey in real-time. Shiprocket makes it easy to track shipments from pick-up to when they are delivered to the customers.
3. Advanced tracking technologies: The usefulness of advanced tracking technologies in shipping goods can not be overstated. These technologies provide real-time notifications on environmental conditions, orientation, location, etc., that would help identify any damage, theft, or logistic issues while in transit.
4. Streamline internal workflows: Pay attention to process audits and scrutinise packs/dispatch workflows for risks. Remind employees periodically about secure packaging, first-mile hand-off, and so on. Promote cross-departmental communication, as it helps to close gaps quickly in solving issues.
5. Consolidation centres: Choose vendors with fulfillment centres near the customers’ locations to combine shipment delivery. This reduces the number of delivery steps and lowers the risk of lost packages.
Using a multi-layered approach rather than relying on a single solution significantly strengthens your prevention framework, enabling you to handle challenges more effectively.
How to Handle Lost Shipments Efficiently
Misplaced or damaged packages may occasionally occur when transporting goods across borders, resulting in a lost shipment. It is essential to deal with such a mistake wherever it occurs. Here’s how you can respond to customer’s queries about lost shipments and communicate with your courier service provider.
Responding to Clients
- When you notice a lost shipment, the first thing you should do is notify the customer.
- Apologize to the customer for the delay and inform them about the steps you are taking towards locating the lost shipment.
- Inform them regularly about the tracking progress. If the courier has any additional details, ensure appropriate communication is provided.
- Express your gratitude for their patronage and ask for more feedback in the future. Reassure them that support is available until the shipment is found.
Communicating with Courier Services
- Contact the courier service provider and explain your issue. Provide them with the necessary information concerning the shipment.
- If the item is not found during the check or needs more details, report the case and ask for a more extensive search and inquiry.
- Continue to review the matter periodically until its status changes. Write down details of the employee assisting and update the timelines given.
- If your shipment is not found within the promised time, request compensation according to policies. Get a time-bound resolution plan in writing.
- Express appreciation for the support and share feedback from the clients. Ask for preventative measures to stop such incidents from recurring as a way of regaining trust and credibility.
Conclusion
Being proactive in preventing shipment losses and learning how to handle lost shipments is essential to running a successful eCommerce business. Implementing tactics like accurate address labelling, secure packaging, and offering order tracking options can help you effectively manage and reduce the number of missing shipments. Partnering with reliable logistics providers like Shiprocket can help make the delivery process easier to manage and safer.
You should respond quickly when an order is lost and ensure the affected customer receives full compensation as soon as possible. Measures such as quick money-back guarantees or replacement with insurance support can turn dissatisfied customers into loyal ones again.
