What type of service do your customers experience when your drivers make a delivery? Does each delivery reflect positively on your brand, or does the experience vary from driver to driver?
Your drivers are ideally placed to leave your customers with a positive lasting impression of your brand, but their potential is often overlooked in the search for brand ambassadors. Encouraging drivers to become better brand ambassadors can improve your customer service experience, help you avoid negative reviews and differentiate your offering from the competition. However, with the need to differentiate through customer service increasing, it is likely that your drivers are already facing a lot of pressure to meet customer satisfaction KPIs. So what can you do to keep your drivers happy and encourage them to become better brand ambassadors?
Investing in newer vehicles, training programmes or more accurate routing and scheduling software are all good options. Equipping your drivers with a proof of delivery app can also help by alleviating common frustrations, reducing time spent on administration and ensuring drivers are confident in fulfilling their daily activities. All of which makes it easier for them to focus on providing a positive customer experience.
While many retailers have adopted sign on glass technology, paper-based systems are still commonly in use. Early adopters of ePOD software may also now be struggling with technology designed for outdated devices. Updating to or adopting a modern proof of delivery system allows for quicker data capture processes and removes frustrating delays for your drivers. Drivers will have more time to focus on customer service, allowing for the introduction of new customer service initiatives and added value services such as satisfaction surveys or assembly.
Using an electronic proof of delivery application means your drivers are able to quickly access a wide range of data. Whether it is customer contact information, order data or product details, drivers have everything they need to ensure each customer is satisfied. Your drivers will also have full visibility of any special delivery instructions. Ensuring your driver is prepared can make them more relaxed and appear more professional, increasing trust in both your driver and your brand.
With the added functionality now available in the latest proof of delivery software, your office-based staff can create standard processes that all drivers can follow intuitively. The application will guide each driver through the appropriate procedures to ensure that the right level of delivery service is provided for each scenario. The delivery experience can be altered on a product by product basis, prompting drivers to capture different information or complete different tasks for high value items or products that need installing. Empowering drivers with simple to follow processes in all situations means they are free to focus on the customer, delivering a smoother on-site service, increasing customer confidence and reducing the frequency of complaints.
With automated guidance and standardised procedures your drivers do not need to call into the office for advice or wait until the end of the day to share delivery details. Instead, all data is transmitted in real-time to office-based staff, who are able to send messages directly to drivers with no SMS costs. In the event of a query the driver cannot resolve, the driver can quickly receive the answers he or she needs to fulfil the customer requirements and the customer experiences a more efficient service.
For organisations using third party logistics services to fulfil deliveries or employing temporary staff during peak periods, maintaining service consistency can be challenging and utilising drivers as a brand differentiator may seem far-fetched. However, this need not be the case. Advanced proof of delivery applications can be used across a wide range of devices and are designed to be intuitive. While consumers at peak periods like Black Friday are often focussed on price and speed of delivery, ensuring that you continue to provide a positive brand experience can help you stand out from the crowd and emerge as a winner rather than a survivor of these challenging periods.
However well a delivery issue is handled, it is still a problem in the eyes of your customer. With the latest proof of delivery software, you can identify recurring issues before a driver has to encounter them on your customer’s site. Using advanced systems like fleXipod, drivers are able to capture comprehensive data on the application, including photographs and customisable forms. All of this data is automatically collated within the management console to allow for detailed reporting and cross referencing with data from other business areas such as incoming customer complaints. If packaging for a specific product is always inadequate, or installation time always longer than expected then data capture will help you identify this problem and reduce the chances of it happening again.
An electronic proof of delivery application simplifies difficult, time-consuming and frustrating mobile activities and provides your drivers with more support when out on the road. Removing friction from the delivery process for your drivers can have a range of benefits that can positively influence your customer service and help them become better brand ambassadors. Implementing a proof of delivery app can:
As an existing resource in daily contact with your customers, your drivers can be a valuable asset in unlocking increased customer loyalty. Those organisations that take advantage of this opportunity to make drivers better brand ambassadors can strengthen their offering in an ever more competitive landscape and reap the potential rewards that this brings.
For more information on how implementing a proof of delivery system can help improve your customer service contact one of our experienced team today.
