For many people, shipping is important. Customers want shipping that’s free and fast. With amazon prime being a common way that people get stuff, it’s hard to compete with fulfillment shipping.
As a business, you needed to find that balance between keeping the costs low while the customers stay happy. A strategy is good to balance this out, and enhance customer experience.
Going through shipping services can help you as well by improving conversions, loyalty, and retention.
But let’s talk about a shipping strategy.
Shipping strategies allow you to do the following:
- Adequately price the shipping in sustainable manners
- Discover the best and cheapest rates
- Pick the right services for shipping
- Offer the best couriers for it
Here are some steps to take to make sure that the shipping service entices customers and doesn’t break your wallet.
Consider the customers
Al customers have certain locations and preferences, so you definitely want to consider a good strategy. With the age of amazon, there’s many customers who want same-day shipping, and some who expect free shipping.
If you’re selling certain products for the younger crowd, you may want free shipping. For the older crowds, you may not need it, but insurance is also good.
Looking at delivery speed and costs is good, since products are a big factor, since buyers will be more patient with the higher-valued items or bulkier items instead of the smaller and cheaper items.
Make sure your strategy appeals to your audience.
Weight the Products and Measure
Next, weigh and measure them before you send them out.
Shipping companies base their rates on the following:
- the weight
- The dimensions
- Destination
- Delivery lead time (the speed)
- Value for features including insurance, signatures, and the like
Take all of these things and pay attention to them. Unless you’re doing flat rate, this is probably the best way to make sure you get the most for your items.
Compare Rates
The next thing is to conduct research. Some shipping services are cheaper but may take a bit longer, but of course, you want a service that offers fast delivery, without sacrificing the savings all too much to make it work for you.
Factor in Global Situations
Obviously you should factor in selling globally.
When you ship overseas, there are import duties, customs, and taxes. This can be levied towards you, and of course, that eats up costs. Obviously, factor all of that in when you’re shipping, since of course, it can offer better services for the customers, and of course, you can charge a fee that fits the costs of shipping internationally,
Account for returns.
Finally, understand that you need to account for returns.
It’s becoming both costly and common, and it can be a big eat into your profit margins. However, every 3 of 4 site visitors do purchase if the company lists that they can return, and of course that the process is easy for them. About 2/3 of people say that they will read to see the return policy of a company before they try to purchase.
Make your returns as easy and as convenient as possible, but you also need to make sure that it won’t cost you too much to ship back s well. If you have a lot of returns, try to make it as simple as possible. At that point, you can calculate the shipping costs that factor into this, and make sure that you take some time and offer the best shipping possible for your customers as well.