Deliver the best service with SMS
Is your company active in today’s transport or delivery market? Then you understand the daily challenge of keeping customers satisfied. Expectations are high – everything needs to be fast and flexible. From same-day deliveries to return parcels, customers expect a smooth and seamless customer experience in this high-pressure line of work. Controlling your delivery and transport process will significantly benefit your business. But how do you take control? SMS can make the difference!
First, why SMS tracking?
SMS is one of the easiest and most effective communication channels for business messaging. What makes SMS so trustworthy? Every mobile phone has a native SMS app built in, which gives SMS an extensive global reach. The channel doesn’t rely on an internet connection to deliver its messages – a mobile network connection suffices. As of 2023, there are almost 8,9 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide, exceeding even the global population as a growing number of people have multiple subscriptions to meet various needs.
A survey among smartphone users in the UK in 2023 found that 72% of the respondents send text or instant messages at least once a day or several times per day. In the Netherlands, 806 million SMS text messages were sent in the third quarter of 2022 alone, and in Germany, roughly 5.8 billion SMS messages were sent in 2022. These statistics prove that SMS is an incredibly powerful tool to reach your customers.
And the advantages of SMS don’t stop at its immense reach. The channel also boasts high engagement! With open rates as high as 98%, you can be sure that these SMS messages not only reach the phones of your customers, but those messages will also actually be seen. 85% of people surveyed in 2023 admitted preferring receiving text messages over email or phone calls. This is also proven by the fact that SMS Click-Through Rates (CTR) are higher compared to other digital channels, like email.
Still hesitant to adopt SMS because you think it’ll be loads of extra work? Think again! SMS can be set up within minutes. With just a few quick steps, you can send SMS notifications to your customer base.
Deliver the best service with SMS Parcel Tracking
SMS is clearly a powerful communication tool, but how can SMS help you perform in the transport and delivery industry? There are use cases where SMS truly delivers high results, and they all have something in common: Reducing failed deliveries through notifying customers. A successful strategy ensures that you can deliver on the first try. SMS tracking notifications can help inform and notify customers to make sure you’re able to deliver the desired results.
Keep customers informed during delays
Your customer was informed of the estimated delivery date and is currently awaiting the arrival of their package. While the initial communication and delivery process proceeded according to plan, unforeseen circumstances, such as traffic delays or potential misplacement of the parcel, have resulted in an unexpected delay in the delivery schedule. This delay may prompt a waiting customer to contact customer service to inquire about the status of their order, the location of their package, and other common questions.
External influences can disrupt the delivery process and make customers worried about their parcels. Providing information and reassuring customers through timely notifications will help streamline the delivery process, even during delays. You may not be able to influence all external factors, but you can take control of the delivery process by communicating clearly. Sending Parcel tracking information and status updates via SMS will keep customers informed and satisfied, and it’ll help to reduce the load on your customer support channels.
Increase delivery success with SMS
Delivery drivers follow planned routes to ensure package arrives on time. Sometimes, they arrive at the address, ready to deliver, but no one answers the door. Unfortunately, these “no-shows” happen more often than we’d like. Failed deliveries through no-shows are costly. In fact, in 2020 the average cost per failed delivery was €14,69 in Germany, and £11,6 in the UK.
How can you prevent finding closed doors? Send delivery reminders and tracking information via SMS! Sending your customers a reminder the day before the scheduled delivery will help keep the appointment top-of-mind to increase delivery success.
Streamline pick-up at service points
The package is waiting at the service point, but your customer hasn’t picked it up yet! Emails can get lost in the shuffle, so try sending SMS updates! Inboxes can get rather cluttered, which results in emails getting overlooked. SMS messages boast high open and engagement rates, ensuring your customers read the ‘ready-for-pickup’ notifications and pick up their parcels fast.
SMS tracking with Sendcloud and CM.com
Connect with customers during crucial parts of the delivery via SMS tracking to take control over the process, effectively reassuring customers and reducing no-shows to deliver the best service. Customize your SMS templates, add languages, and pick for which delivery status you want to send SMS alerts to optimize the delivery experience you offer.
Ready to take control of your deliveries? Sign up for a free 14-day trial of Sendcloud’s shipping platform, and you’ll get access to the built-in SMS tracking feature by CM.com.
Boiler plate CM.com
CM.com is a listed company (Euronext Amsterdam: CMCOM) and provides Conversational Commerce services from its cloud platform that connects enterprises and brands to the mobile phones of billions of consumers worldwide. Conversational Commerce is the convergence of messaging and payments. CM.com provides messaging and voice channels, such as SMS, Over The Top (OTT) (e.g. WhatsApp Business, Apple Business Chat, Google RCS, Facebook Messenger, and Viber), Voice API and SIP. These messaging channels can be combined with cloud platform features, like Ticketing, eSignature, Customer Contact, identity services and a Customer Data Platform.
CM.com is a licensed Payment Service Provider (PSP) offering card payments, domestic payment methods and integrated payment methods like WeChat Pay. CM.com has approximately 750 employees and offices in 18 countries globally. The platform of CM.com delivers fully integrated solutions, based on a primarily privately owned cloud and 100% in-house developed software. By doing so, CM.com can guarantee scalability, time-to market, and global redundancy and delivery.
Author’s bio
Remco Magielse is Head of Product at CM.com. CM.com is a high-tech company focusing on Conversational Commerce in The Netherlands. He has worked as a system engineer and product manager at Philips Hue. Remco has gained his Ph.D. on the dissertation titled ‘How to design for adaptive lighting environments: Embracing complexity in design’. He writes articles about product and software development, and the hard- and soft-skill required for product management. He is passionate about innovation and has contributed to approximately 50 patents.
