Customers have zero tolerance when it comes to a spiky online shopping experience.

Customers now expect and demand a perfectly smooth and efficient fulfilment experience, one where their online orders are delivered to them perfectly packaged, fully tracked, containing the right items, and arriving on time.

Customer satisfaction is a major factor in your e-commerce business’ success. Dissatisfied customers quickly convert into lost sales, higher returns and refunds, lower customer retention, and poor reviews. This, of course, spells disaster for your online business’ bottom line and growth.

By contrast, happy customers who have a great customer-centred experience at all touchpoints of their customer journey will give you:

• Great reviews
• Repeat sales
• Higher revenue
• Customer retention
• And decreased new customer acquisition costs

Badly packaged parcels, damaged goods, inaccurate orders, late deliveries, and bad tracking are just some examples that can ruin the trust between you and your customer. A poor returns service on top can prove to be the final straw, leaving valued customers running in the direction of your competitor. Just one bad experience can lose you customers; make two mistakes and almost 60% will never come back!

Our fulfilment services are designed to support you to deliver a perfect fulfilment experience at every touchpoint, leading to excellent reviews and great customer retention.

How We Elevate Your Customer’s Experience

1) We take care of order fulfilment from A-Z so you can take care of your customer instead

Our award-winning fulfilment solutions are driven by technology and our advanced warehouse management system. We take care of all the time-consuming logistical processes, leaving you with space and time to totally focus on optimising your customers’ experience.

2) We help you optimise your operations

We have the necessary systems, people, and processes in place to speed up the delivery process and impress your customers with the efficiencies they rightly expect from their e-commerce shopping.

Our systems give you a window into every stage of the fulfilment process, allowing you full control and visibility over your stock levels. You get to see and edit your customer orders in real-time; you can produce marketing reports from our user-friendly portal 24/7, and you have full control over your stock. We deal with the time-consuming and tricky logistical aspects of storage, picking, packing, and dispatch, giving you space to focus on optimising your internal operations and taking control of your stock.

3) We help you grow

Fulfilment sounds easy. Goods come into the warehouse, we pack them, and they go out. It is however time-consuming and easy to get wrong if you don’t have the right systems in place to ensure accuracy, proper packaging, cost-efficiencies, and swift dispatch.

We have pick accuracy rates of 99.99%, and 100% of our forecasted orders are dispatched on the same day as they were ordered. We also negotiate the best rates with over 20 couriers to ensure best prices. And we also handle your customer’s returns, a significant and often overlooked aspect of providing a good customer experience.

By freeing you up from the hands-on practical aspects of logistics, we free your time so you can focus on your growth strategy and scaling your business.

4) Information is power, and we are driven by data

Information is power, and our systems provide you with all the right data for building a customer experience that aligns with your customers’ needs. Our dedicated, experienced account managers are e-commerce experts and their job is to support your growth and success.

We give you access to our user-friendly 3PL portal, providing you with the technical information and insights you need to succeed. Because our systems are state-of-the-art, you won’t need to invest in expensive systems of your own.

We understand how tricky it is for businesses to achieve great customer satisfaction levels when customer expectations are now sky-high. This is precisely why our solutions address your online business’ every pain point. Our award-winning solutions are designed to be painless, and will help you:

• Optimise your operations
• Delight your customers
• And Grow your sales

Contact us today to discover how we can help you achieve the perfect customer experience needed to grow your sales. We will help you optimise your operations, delight your customers, and grow your business.

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Whether you are the seller or end-customer, no one likes returns.

As returns are an inevitable part of selling products online, it is vital for eCommerce brands to factor-in effective returns management as part of the customer journey.

Not only are returns inevitable, sellers also have minimum legal obligations which they must meet in this regard (www.gov.uk/accepting-returns-and-giving-refunds). Research also shows that 78% of shoppers will buy more in the long run if a retailer has a clear, free returns policy (www.klarna.com)

If returns are simply an afterthought, you risk frustrating your customers. This, in turn, could lead to negative reviews, harming your reputation and potentially causing you to lose future and repeat business.

You should think of returns management as a key part of your customers’ purchasing experience with your online store. If returns are handled well, you’ll improve shopper confidence and increase repeat purchases.

As e-commerce experts, we specialise in managing returns on behalf of many of our e-commerce clients, so we thought we would share our 10 top tips for handling your online business’ returns:

1. Great Packaging and Reputable Couriers

Products should be packaged well to avoid damaged goods returns, and also to show your customers that you really value their order.

As belt and braces, it is important to use a reliable and reputable courier to deliver your goods. At Elovate, we partner with some of the most reputable courier companies in the industry today and we only use sustainable, environmentally friendly packaging wherever possible.

2. Clear Returns Policy

One of the key aspects of returns management is being very clear on your written returns policy which reassures your customers upfront. Your policy should be easy to read and accessible. It should answer FAQs about your returns policy and provide transparency between you and the customer. This enables more positive communication from the beginning as your stand on returns will be clear.

Our tip is that you can make your returns policy more readily accessible by linking it on your website’s footer so it can be viewed from any page. You could also include it in the order confirmation email and delivery note.

3. Customers Love Free Returns

Customers respond positively to e-commerce brands offering hassle free returns with free shipping. In fact, according to a study by Klarna, 78% of shoppers said they would buy more with a retailer over time if they offered free shipping, with 86% saying that free returns make them loyal and more likely to return to a brand. So, if you want strong customer retention and repeat business, as well as great reviews, it be a good idea to start offering free returns!

4. Consider setting up a store credit system

Offering store credit as an option instead of a refund can be useful for eCommerce businesses because this means that you don’t have to refund the customer, saving time and money.

It’s also beneficial for the customer as they still get their money back in the form of credit, so they can buy an alternative product that they are more likely to keep. Shopify, one of the most popular e-commerce platforms explains more about giving store credits in this article here.

5. Every picture tells a story

One of the top reasons items are returned is that they don’t match customer expectations based on the pictures provided. Great photos are imperative for e-commerce businesses for this reason. Not only do people rely on photos to see exactly what they are buying, any unwelcome surprises at the point of delivery will result in increased returns.

In view of this, high quality photographs of your products are vital – ideally ones which are taken from different angles and zoomed in.

Video content is also a great addition to showcase your product, whether how to use it or let your customers see what it looks like in use. The more product visibility customers have before buying it, the more accurate their expectations and the fewer their returns. Boldist share their guide on increasing e-commerce sales with product video here.

6. Audit Process for Returned Stock

Do you keep track on the reasons your products are returned? Having an audit process in place, means that you will quickly pick up on return patterns and any recurring and easily fixable issues such as a manufacturing fault.

Having a fulfilment solution provider like Elovate can help make tasks like these a lot easier. Elovate can manage your returns and carry out regular audits for you in no time given its tech-driven approach. Return issues and trends such as a recurring fault can be flushed out and resolved quickly with the help of a dedicated account manager, saving your business time, hassle and money.

7. Encourage Reviews

Product reviews are key to building up trust in your brand and can be key in the purchasing decision. Having a review process in place can reduce returns as it helps customers form clearer expectations around the product they are ordering.

Many eCommerce brands gain reviews and testimonials by simply sending an automated email a few days after a customer has received their product, asking them to leave a review.

Many e-commerce businesses use verified customer review platforms such as Trustpilot or Feefo. Research by Feefo revealed that 94% of shoppers read reviews, with 43% trusting verified reviews the most.

8. Customer Feedback Can Improve your Service

By encouraging reviews, you’re also opening yourself up to negative feedback of course. It is however possible to turn negative reviews into positive reviews. The way you handle customer complaints is critical and can make or break a business. Reputation is everything, and this article explains how to turn a negative review into a positive one.

Giving customers a chance to vent can be really beneficial because it helps you identify and fix issues with your products, processes, service or pricing. You also get to see the honest reasons for products being returned, which helps you address the root cause.

If you listen and act promptly on feedback, whether positive or negative, you’ll not only improve customer experience, you should hopefully grow your business and reputation as a result.

9. Manage and Respond to Complaints Quickly

Receiving a complaint can be frustrating, and potentially damaging to your online business’ reputation. But if you respond to the complaint quickly and address the issue behind it, you are far more likely to gain that customer’s respect and have a chance to win them back.

If all of this sounds overwhelming and time consuming, perhaps consider outsourcing returns management to your fulfilment service provider, such as Elovate, instead. Elovate’s datahub technology enables speedy reporting and resolution of complaints, thus enhancing the customer experience.

10. Ensure Every Order is Right, First Time

The easiest way to reduce returns is to get orders right first time. Avoid mistakes by investing in your order processing systems, ensuring that the customer receives the right item. It’s also important to have a good quality assurance system in place, so that customers don’t receive faulty or damaged goods.

If you would like to avoid the pitfalls of returns management and outsource this aspect of your business, saving you time, hassle and resource, Elovate offer comprehensive eCommerce returns management as part of their fulfilment services.

Get in touch with the team Elovate and we’ll help you get every order right first time.

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Christmas is around the corner and the annual rush of everyone buying enough food, drink, and the main thing, presents to have a successful season is underway.

However, this year it is all different, there will not be as many consumers wading through shopping centres. Most will more than likely be spending this festive season in the comfort of their own home doing online shopping.

While a large amount of physical stores and retailers without a digital presence have felt a hard impact due to COVID-19 restrictions throughout 2020, there is one area of the industry that is flying high in the online shopping, this is the packaging sector, especially materials such as cardboard and paper packaging.

According to a report written by Smithers Pira, packaging from the eCommerce sector has had an incredible increase and in 2020, the global consumption of online order packaging has increased 40% higher than in 2019.

The eCommerce sector is one of the most important markets for companies and suppliers that provide the materials for packaging. It is estimated that by 2025 the market will be valued at $113.5 billion!!

Consumer Preference and Material Sustainability

The success of cardboard has come from its sustainability of the raw material and consumer preference for its environmentally friendly packaging. Smurfit Kappa released a new study and found that consumers have a new demand of more sustainable packaging from fashion brands.

The study took place in the UK, Germany, Ireland and The Netherlands, and it found that 41% of online fashion shoppers have become more eco-conscious when purchasing, this occurred at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, having 35% people stating they wouldn’t buy from a brand if they found out that their packaging wasn’t sustainable.

The Success of Cardboard

The success of cardboard as you may have gathered is from is vital benefit of being re-useable, being able to recirculate it numerous times, with it comprising 50% recycled material, with some going all the way to 100%. To make it even more successful, the online shopping market is still on a rapid increase, meaning there should be no shortage of cardboard in the system for a very long time.

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In our ever-evolving digital world, understanding the interconnectivity between smart devices and their human operators is key for any eCommerce business.

Both in trying to identify consumer habits and in seeking to prevent any potential long-term blockers to purchase.

Via the use of real-time analytics eCommerce businesses open themselves up to actionable insights that have the power to transform entire operations through informed data-driven decisions come uplifts effectiveness and ultimately lead to a structured framework for future activities and business success.

When approaching operations with an analytical mindset, real-time data visualisation points can be collected showing the users journey, highlighting any pain-points within the acquisition process, where, if found they can be quickly resolved and the customer experience not just improved, but enhanced.

The opposite can be said of those not utilising data analytics. In competitive and evolving marketplaces failing to rapidly respond or adapt to any encountered issues or changes within user habits, will leave the customer with a poor experience, perhaps feeling forgotten and seeking to buy elsewhere.

Through real-time reporting eCommerce business can empower the customer, leveraging countless actionable insights to refine a campaign strategy that better understands the individual, that targets and serves them in the best way possible and ultimately outlining campaign expectation.

Real-time reporting metrics can be applied across any channel and an almost inexhaustible amount of information collected, data that when passed to Elovate can be analysed and processed into key trends to improve customer interactions, sales forecasting and campaign understanding.

With a quick and seamless setup, Elovate via our robust and secure IT infrastructure, can integrate cross-channel and with any major plugin or marketplace to receive and report on your sales data, returning accurate and analysed information ahead of those desired actions to be taken.

Elovate is proud to be recognised for our innovative approach to data, with reliability and exceptional performance bookending our service provision and providing real solutions that can benefit any mission-critical business process.

The technology and infrastructure employed at Elovate, facilities best-of-breed solutions across all the disciplines provided by the business.

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The World of eCommerce has and continues to outpace its predecessor in the form of brick and mortar stores.

But despite the obvious benefits that selling online brings, for many the puzzle around payment processing and how eCommerce payments are received remains.

For new businesses, building their online stores means that they are opening up their operation to a vast world of potential new customers. And with 86% of UK purchases having been made online in 2019, businesses without an online presence should now be asking when, rather than why we’re taking the business online.

A key fundamental in establishing the store is the payment processing metrics and thankfully, understanding the basics of this need not be a complicated matter, after all, your customers are entrusting their financial and personal information to you and so having a base understanding of how it works should be essential.

Put simply the basics of payment processing boil down to three distinct areas:

• The Payment Gateway – The gateway allows for the customers’ card to be charged on-site and connects the payment request with the processor and ultimately with the provider (e.g. PayPal, Visa and Mastercard).
• The Payment Processor – The processor receives the payment request and approves it, acting as the middle-man between the website and the customers’ bank.
• The Merchant Account – Once the payment is approved, the funds are deposited into the merchant account ahead of being released.

Throughout each phase of the payment processing journey various checks and validating services come into play before passing onto the next, in turn checking the legitimacy of the customer, the card and the availability of the funds. Above all else, these steps ensure this information gathered is kept safe and your customers protected.

Through direct integrations with your website the payment processing systems will run concurrently with the site, so the customer can remain on-site, and checkout with far fewer clicks, creating a simple and effective user experience that reduces basket abandonment rates.

Depending on the system you use be it a popular shopping cart like Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce or OpenCart, Mosaic can integrate with any web service API, marketplace or third-party software. The purchase information is then passed to us for stock information and our award-winning order fulfilment services.

For more information on payment processing, integrations with Elovate and how our leading fulfilment solutions could help take your organisation to the next level, contact us today.

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To understand just how your business is performing, you have to know more than just how many products you’re selling.

You must have an honest and effective method of measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) and subsequently analysing this information to get a wider view of your business’ success.

Whilst the bottom-line is sales figures, looking solely at the end of the purchase funnel is a dangerous approach that could see those very sales, start to dry up. Alongside the many aspects of business management, there are numerous KPIs to focus on to make a long-term success of your order fulfilment operation.

When looking at fulfilment exclusively, these KPI metrics can be boiled down across the following areas:

The Customer KPI & Order Cycle Process KPI

Specifically, The Customer KPI should be focused around the customer’s order to shipped timings. That is to say the percentage of orders that were shipped on (or before) the requested shipping date. This KPI will show just how effective your shipping process is and where, if found, any improvements can be made across the picking and packing times. In failing to set a desired KPI goal for this process, businesses run a very real risk of a decline in both standards and customer satisfaction.

Secondly, is The Order-Cycle Process KPI or, the time it takes from purchase for the customer to receive the physical product. As before this KPI explores the customer relationship to your internal processes but looks at the time taken from the order being placed to it being received on the doorstop. Similar to the above point this will take into account the effectiveness of your warehouse but also the elements not directly in your control, such as courier partners and invoicing. In essence if your order cycle times are declining, so too is the mood of the customer.

The Process KPI

There are any number of possible KPIs that could fall into this grouping depending on the level of detail one wishes to go into (the more the merrier). Important to consider as a wider group revolve around two specific accuracy KPIs which I’ve dubbed: The Flawless KPI & The Precision KPI. With any number of possible metrics, The Flawless KPI looks into the handling skill of your warehouse staff in moving products without damage or loss and ensuring orders arrive on time, undamaged and with the associated correct invoicing information all intact. The Precision KPI however, looks simply at the accuracy of your order-picking process and returns a percentage showing the number of picked correctly ahead of shipping.

With both these process KPIs a mindful take is taken again, against customer satisfaction. Receiving a slightly damaged product is one thing, but the wrong product entirely is completely unacceptable. In either case if these figures drop below your desired KPIs then it could be time to review the process from top-to-toe surrounding staffing or even your inventory management processes.

As mentioned, there are other KPIs to consider such as Order Pick Rates; Product Restocking; actual Accuracy in the Delivery (correct address) and with these or indeed any Process KPIs if you do, you can and indeed should be assigning a desired KPI goal towards the activity.

The Engine-Room KPIs

Throughout this post we’ve looked at the key performance indicators around put loosely your order fulfilment operation and whilst key to your overall success I’ve left what I’ve dubbed ‘The Engine-Room KPI’ until last. The engine-room is your warehouse, the home of the order fulfilment process, without which none of the above would be possible and so it requires a few words of its own. Looking at KPIs for this area and there are perhaps only two main considerations; The Goods-In KPI & The Inventory KPI.

In the case of the former, this is about the speed of product being taken in and how it is subsequently held. Receiving stock thus, is the fuel to the engine, without it you won’t go anywhere, so accurately recording its receipt and storage safely is of the utmost importance. A KPI here could revolve around speed of stock orders being received from purchase, or the time taken from delivery to storage.

From the Goods-In KPI comes the accurate recording of stock, or inventory management if you will. Ensuring the inventory is booked-in and your warehouse management system (WMS) updated enables the sales process to continue. Failing to do this often leads to shortfalls in stock, the dreaded “out of stock” message and unnecessary re-ordering of product, leading to higher overall costs. An inventory KPI thus, could be a physical stock check scheduled accordingly and measured against what the WMS is displaying.

However, you choose to label your KPIs its essential the process start immediately, the result will be a more efficient environment, a possible uplift in cost management and most importantly more satisfied customers. You must pick the KPIs that will benefit your business’ performance the most. Even if you find you are hitting these targets regularly, keeping an eye on them will ensure your business remains at its peak and importantly, in the black.

To learn more about the KPI metrics we use at Elovate and for more information about how our order fulfilment services could work for you contact us today.

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