Why send your own shipping notifications?
Updated
by Brian Whalley
Some carriers will allow a customer to sign up for notifications directly from the carrier, in addition to any sent by the store. It's still definitely a best practice to send your own notifications in addition to the carrier's. You can look at huge brands that deeply care about customer experience and communication like Apple, Amazon, Home Depot, and more that all send their own notifications... but why specifically should send your own shipping notifications?
Sending shipping and delivery notification emails directly from an ecommerce store, in addition to those sent by the shipping carrier, offers several benefits to both the store and its customers:
Brand consistency: By sending notifications from the store, you can maintain brand consistency in design, tone, and language, ensuring a uniform customer experience throughout the entire purchase process.
Customer trust: Customers are more likely to trust and open emails from the store they purchased from rather than a third-party carrier, reducing the risk of missed notifications or confusion. Depending on the carrier mix you use, customers may not even recognize the carrier name or its importance to their order, so sending your own message is critical.
Enhanced communication: You can provide additional information and updates in your emails, such as expected delivery dates, order tracking links, or changes in shipping status, giving customers a more comprehensive view of their order status.
Improved customer service: By taking control of shipping notifications, your store can proactively manage customer inquiries or issues related to shipping, reducing the need for customers to contact the shipping carrier directly.
Opportunities for upselling and cross-selling: Notifications can be used as a platform to promote related products, offer discounts, or encourage repeat purchases, thereby increasing customer lifetime value. These messages are transactional, but you can still include a minimal amount of promotional content (up to 20% of the message body is a best practice), or use the Tracking Page or other areas to encourage purchases.
Personalization: Sending personalized emails with tailored content, such as special offers or product recommendations, can enhance customer engagement and foster loyalty.
Control over delivery times: By monitoring shipping and delivery processes closely, you can better manage customer expectations and ensure timely delivery, leading to higher customer satisfaction.
Analyzing customer behavior: Gathering data on email open rates, click-through rates, and other engagement metrics can provide valuable insights into customer behavior, allowing for improved email marketing strategies and customer segmentation, and improving the health signals of your engaged list.
In summary, sending shipping and delivery notifications directly from an ecommerce store helps maintain brand consistency, improve communication, enhance customer service, and create additional marketing opportunities. By keeping customers informed and engaged, stores can build trust, foster loyalty, and ultimately boost their bottom line.
Some carriers also do give merchants more control over these messages - For example, Australia Post will let a merchant disable carrier notifications related to their packages, by speaking to your AusPost account manager.