4 Foolproof Tips to Increase Consumer Satisfaction

15 June 2022

The success of any company depends on consumer satisfaction. And this satisfaction is directly linked to the shopping experience they have. This means that offering the best product alone is not enough. It is also necessary to continuously improve the service offered.

The big players, like Amazon, have already understood this and have invested in logistics to make deliveries increasingly agile, winning over customers who want the convenience of shopping online and receiving the product quickly at home.
And this path is already being followed by other companies aiming to stand out, especially in this new scenario triggered by the pandemic.

With the need for social distancing, e-commerce has grown much faster than expected.
We have seen several companies that only served in physical stores adapt to start selling online.
Likewise, others who were already working with e-commerce took the opportunity to further strengthen it.
What draws attention in these two contexts is that the changes made place logistics as a priority, after all, to offer a high-level service, it is necessary to be efficient in stock management and order fulfillment, as well as in the transportation of goods.
Therefore, to increase consumer satisfaction, optimizing the supply chain has become a priority.

That’s why in this text we present four logistics secrets that will greatly help your company improve the service offered to its customers and, consequently, increase sales.

1 – Reduce delivery times

Not long ago, we might have suggested a tip: meet delivery times.
But today, keeping your promise is not enough to win over the consumer; imagine if you promise a delivery time of seven days and your competitor can already deliver the next day?
It seems like a distant reality, but it is not.
We recently published a news article revealing that Mercado Livre will install five new DCs to be able to make deliveries within 48 hours in 1,800 cities, representing 80% of the Brazilian population.
Similarly, other leaders are also racing for same-day delivery or next-day delivery.
This means your company can no longer adapt to long delivery times, believing that meeting them already satisfies the customer.
We must accelerate.

For this to happen, it is necessary to optimize the activity as a whole, improving inventory management, order processing, picking,
and shipping.
You need to be predictable, manage stock levels well, and know the right time to contact the supplier so that the product requested by the customer is always available.
Furthermore, to ensure the order is fulfilled quickly, having an intelligent address to reduce sorter trips and using the ideal picking method for your business makes a difference.
Shipping must also be agile, with the adoption of strategies such as organizing goods according to shipping routes.
Another fundamental requirement is to have good communication with both suppliers and carriers (if you do not have your own fleet) and, of course, trust the services they offer.

A good decision is to invest in technology.
Having a management software like WMS will be of great help, as the system automates processes, providing a huge leap in efficiency in the operation as a whole.
Another useful investment is automatic systems, such as pick-to-light, voice picking, shuttle, and sorter.
These machines greatly accelerate the separation and/or shipping process.

In addition to everything already mentioned, a measure adopted by several companies is the installation of mini hubs (like micro fulfillment centers and dark stores), located in strategic points of the city so that they are closer to customers’ homes (unlike large DCs, which are located in industrial areas), thus helping to reduce delivery times.

2 – Increase visibility and traceability of your stock

Having predictability and controlling stock well are fundamental requirements to serve the customer well, after all, there is nothing more unpleasant than stockouts.
When the consumer goes to your online store, selects the product, and receives the message “goods not available,” there is a huge chance they will migrate to your competitor.
To do this, you must have complete visibility of your stock, in real-time.
This is what the WMS system offers you, going beyond: every time the stock reaches the minimum level, the system sends a notification so that a new purchase from the supplier can be made.

Another advantage is related to traceability, as the system records all movements made, providing instant data on the status of the order.
Using WMS and an order tracking system, you provide your consumer with updated information on their order, and this is already among the requests of current customers, who want to have more delivery forecasts.

3 – Evaluate the performance of your operation

Monitoring operating indicators is essential to ensure excellence in customer service.
This is because some KPIs can indicate whether orders are being fulfilled on time, whether quality is being maintained, whether processing performance is as expected, in addition to other important data.
Indicators like OTD (On-Time Delivery), OTIF (On Time In Full), OCT (Order Cycle Time), OFR (Order Fill Rate) are fundamental for this measurement.
Another important metric is inventory accuracy.
The higher the accuracy rate, the better the control and, consequently, inventory management.

4 – Prioritize reverse logistics

With the expansion of online sales, reverse logistics has become more frequent, after all, exchanges and returns are common.
Therefore, the company must be prepared to offer excellent service in these situations.

First, to avoid return cases due to incorrect product shipment (which generates unnecessary expenses), it is necessary to have a better control process at the time of payment.
Furthermore, to manage exchanges and returns for other reasons, it is necessary to optimize return logistics, giving the correct treatment to the merchandise when it returns to the DC and speeding up the shipment of the new item to the consumer.

With the help of WMS, managing reverse logistics becomes simpler, as the system handles various aspects such as: verifying if the returned product is the same as the one sold, checking the quantity and condition of the goods, identifying its location on the dock, and its quick storage.
Another advantage is that the integration of WMS with ERP ensures the timely generation of credits and replacements, maintaining consumer satisfaction levels.