What is Delivery Notification Software?

A delivery notification software equips brands with the ability to alert their customers about arrival times or delay information regarding their order. It should allow customers to send delivery drivers important information, like instructions for where to leave their package, without having to contact the retailer’s customer support team. Additionally, a delivery notification software should be able to send or provide updates through various channels such as email, text message, push notification, chat bot, or messenger. In the age where online shopping is the norm, it is important to offer omnichannel points of contact for your customer.

These additional touchpoints allow retailers to create an exclusive unboxing and onboarding situation that builds anticipation. Notifications that are sent during the shipping process enable retailers to find new opportunities to market special offers and personalized recommendations when customers are the most engaged.

How does delivery notification software help retailers?

Due to the complexity and moving parts of e-commerce fulfillment, it’s easy for the last mile of a delivery to get overlooked. However, failing to be proactive in communicating with customers and providing self-help tools can have some serious consequences. If customers feel neglected during the post-purchase experience, they’re unlikely to shop with your brand again.

While retailers have little control once an order is in the hands of a carrier, the customer views it differently. People tend to blame brands for order fulfillment issues even if it isn’t the retailer’s fault. By investing in the necessary delivery notification software to provide your customers with last mile tracking and regular updates, your brand can create positive delivery experiences that entice them to shop with you again in the future — and collect more revenue along the way.

Along with this, retailers notice other benefits when leveraging a delivery notification software.  Some of the benefits include:

• A decrease in Where is My Order (WISMO) calls
• Frees up customer service agents to solve more complex problems
• A decrease in order fulfillment disputes and chargebacks
• Improvement of brand experience and perception
• An increase in customer trust

Customer loyalty and trust is a great added bonus of leveraging a delivery notification software, especially one that allows carriers to provide proof of delivery when available. If customers can access a picture that shows their order has been delivered to the right address, it provides them with peace of mind. This lessens customer anxiety and increases excitement to open or retrieve the order since they know it arrived at the right location while they are not home or near their delivery drop-off point.

How does a delivery notification differ from a shipping notification?

The two terms are often used interchangeably. But the two are often differentiated because a shipping notification is an update on any operational process between leaving the warehouse until the point of delivery.

However, after an order is shipped, any update would be referred to as a delivery notification. Many people use the terms flexibly to refer to any kind of post-checkout message.