1. Shipping Cost
2. Delivery Time
3. Return Policy
How you handle these three buyer concerns can and most likely will be the difference as to whether customers purchase from your site or your competitors. Now let’s dive a little deeper into these three concerns.
Shipping Cost- Forrester Research, an independent technology and market research company did a study on how shipping costs affect consumer buying decisions. They found that 61% of the people they surveyed would buy online more often from retailers that offered Free Shipping. More and more companies are capitalizing on this and either creating or expanding their Free Shipping program. Consumers are smart enough to understand that nothing is necessarily free and when companies offer Free Shipping, they may already be factoring it into the price of the product. Additionally, companies that have successful Free Shipping programs often utilize lower-cost shipping options available to ensure they are using the most economical option available. Transportation and Supply Chain companies can often provide some assistance with benchmarking what other companies are doing.
Are you utilizing Free Shipping to drive top line revenue?
How often do you review your shipping program?
Delivery Time- A second question consumers buying online often have is how soon will my shipment arrive? There is often great anticipation for the order to arrive and having an accurate delivery window is a great way to satisfy your customers and ensure they become repeat customers. Studies show that consumers do prefer faster shipping but at the point that shipping cost more, their priorities may change. Amazon Prime is a great success story in terms of offering a transit speed upgrade program. It is a shipping program that Amazon.com launched that gives their customer’s unlimited fast shipping for an annual fee. Amazon has noticed that the growth as a result of this program was not in attracting more consumers to the site but getting them to come more often to purchase. Their Sr. VP and CFO Thomas Szkutak said“We're seeing customers do a lot more cross shopping than they have previously.”
Do you provide your customers with an accurate expected delivery window? How often do you review this?
Do you give your customers options to upgrade to a faster delivery?
Return Policy- A no-hassle returns process is critical for both customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. In addition there is a strong relationship between return policies and customer purchasing behavior. When consumers first started shopping online, returns was a very big concern. Many people did not feel comfortable buying someone without first having touched it. Although companies have come a long way since then, companies often struggle to provide just the right return policy that is not to stringent to prevent customers from buying from them while at the same time not motivating their customers to return their products. A fairly recent survey found that 69% of consumers would not likely shop again with an online retailer if the returns process was inconvenient. Returns can also be a big headache for a company as well as there is money tied up not only in the inventory but in the labor to handle the returns as well. The more automated and easier you make the return process the more satisfaction your customers will enjoy and will get you a better chance to turn them into a repeat customer.
How convenient is your Return Policy?
How often do you review your Return Policy?