Businesses that regularly ship merchandise to clients would be wise to seek out dependable shipping services. The right shipping service can mean the difference between a shipment being delivered on time and damage-free and a shipment arriving late with noticeable damage. That being the case, no enterprise that wishes to maintain a satisfied client base can afford to treat their choice of shipping company as an afterthought. When searching for the right shipping company, take care to prioritize the following qualities.
- Timeliness
Timeliness is a vitally important quality for a shipping service to possess. Consistent failure to make deliveries by projected dates often puts both senders and recipients in an awkward position. Even if a late delivery is in no way the fault of your business, some clients are likely to be less than understanding. With this in mind, seek out a shipping service with a proven track record of timeliness. While it’s true that circumstances outside of anyone’s control are sometimes to blame for late shipments, many missed deliveries are directly attributable to errors on the part of shipping services. With this in mind, limit your choices to shipping services that meticulously meet their delivery dates.
- Caution
In addition to exhibiting timeliness, the ideal shipping service will also treat packages with a high level of care and caution. Even if a shipment reaches its destination in an expedient manner, timeliness means nothing if the cargo is damaged or outright destroyed. While the damage may not be the fault of your business, clients are liable to lump you in with the shipping service and think twice before reaching out in the future. For this reason, it’s crucial that your preferred shipping service treat packages with the utmost care throughout the packing and shipping phases. To help confirm whether a shipping service is being as delicate as they claim, consider equipping your packages with responsive logging tools. For example, a good shock watch or impact monitor can give you a solid idea of the conditions a package endured throughout its journey.
- Humility
Any shipping service with which you do business should be willing to accept responsibility for its own mistakes. When some companies blow past projected delivery dates or damage packages, they’ll claim the fault lies elsewhere and refuse to compensate either the sender or recipient for their error. Needless to say, this approach to customer service can be frustrating for anyone on the receiving end. The occasional shipping or delivery slip-up is unavoidable for most companies, and a company’s willingness to accept responsibility can say a lot about how they operate.
If your business develops a reputation for late and/or damaged shipments, you’re liable to have trouble growing your client base and hanging on to existing customers. As such, it behooves every enterprise that prioritizes client satisfaction to seek out a reliable shipping service. Even if you’ve been doing business with a company for years, there’s no reason to stick with them if they’ve proven themselves consistently unreliable. To ensure timely and damage-free shipments, enlist the aid of a shipping service that exhibits the qualities discussed above.
