Shipping optimization: Boosting your bottom line

Shipping optimization is rapidly evolving the retail landscape with advancements in shipping technology. From using robotics to increase efficiency and protect workers from dangerous jobs to autonomous vehicles and drones taking items to hard-to-reach areas, shipping has drastically evolved from the infancy of ecommerce in the 1990s. 

Sure, the 90s are currently having a pop culture resurgence, but your customers don’t want their shipping experience to go retro. One of the most impactful ways to ship effectively is to use a Shipping Execution System (SES). SES is shipping optimization software that streamlines the shipping process with workflow automation, multi-carrier management, and data analytics.

Gone are the days of tracking shipments on paper and crossing your fingers that they’d arrive on time. With smart shipping, you can track and trace packages in real time and provide your customers with insights to increase trust and brand reputation. 

If you’re not currently letting your customers know when their items have been picked, packed, sent, and delivered, you’re missing out on a key piece of communication that directly impacts your revenue. 

No one likes wondering when their handcrafted ceramic duck vase will arrive or showing up empty-handed at their cousin’s bat mitzvah because their present got lost in the shipping void. By not using smart shipping and clear communication, your customers will jump ship to another company that gives them a transparent shipping experience.

Incorporating smart shipping practices is a competitive necessity if you’re looking to increase your bottom line. 

But, even before your packages are perfectly placed in their pretty packaging, there’s another key piece you need to ensure accurate shipping and delivery: address autocomplete and verification. Ok, so you need two pieces.

Smart shipping’s core: Technology 

What do we mean when we say “smart shipping”? Smart shipping is when your shipping process is optimized using advanced technology, such as address autocomplete and verification. 

Before you can ship a package, you need to collect your customer's addresses, and the best way to do this while increasing checkout speed and accuracy is by using an address autocomplete.

Address autocomplete is a form checkout feature that automatically suggests street addresses while someone types. Smarty’s US Address Autocomplete begins suggesting validated addresses from the very first keystroke, narrowing down the options as more characters are entered by the customer.

Perfect. Now, your customer has selected their valid address from a list of suggestions and moved through checkout. But, whoopsie, they accidentally tapped on the city field and added an extra Y to Seattle.

If you also have address verification, this software will catch and fix the typo, leaving your database sparkling clean and products ready to ship. 

Pairing address autocomplete and verification make shipping practically mistake-proof as far as address data is concerned. If Mark accidentally puts the wrong label on a box, we can’t help there. We haven’t figured out how to make humans oopsie-proof… yet. 

Using Smarty’s address autocomplete and verification boosts your bottom line by paying for itself in both short-term and long-term financial gains.

Cutting costs and improving profitability

Optimizing shipping processes with autocomplete and verification can lead to significant cost savings from: 

• Reducing shipping costs—The cost savings that you achieve really add up. Using autocomplete and address verification ensures that you aren’t being stuck with the return fee, paying for postage twice, and sending additional materials or providing refunds or discounts to angry customers.
• Reducing excess inventory—Storing excess inventory? You won’t have to anymore when you know your customers' purchases will likely reach them on the first try. Making space on your shelves allows you to carry more popular items (avoiding stockouts and lost business) or add variations of your products that you potentially didn’t have enough space for before. Your forecasting and demand planning just got easier.
  
• Minimizing shipping delays—Say goodbye to costly delays from undeliverable or lost mail due to bad address data. Faster shipping with accurate shipping windows is possible with address autocomplete and verification because you know every customer’s address is valid and deliverable. You’ll have happier customers, which brings in repeat business, word-of-mouth advertising, reduced customer service costs, lower refund rates, and chances that your product will be damaged by weather or thrown from carrier to carrier before getting to your customer.
• Decreasing packaging waste—Address autocomplete and verification means the packages will have a much higher chance of reaching your customer, meaning you don’t have to pay to ship, pick, pack, and wrap that package again. Neat! Address autocomplete and verification are helping your wallet and the Earth. 🌎

Here’s how Fabletics significantly increased its bottom line by boosting conversion rates by 1-9% across multiple countries it serves worldwide.

Enhancing CX 

Leveraging smart shipping solutions leads to a better customer experience because your organization can offer faster and more reliable delivery. Online checkout is also simpler and quicker. 

Customer-centric delivery options, like real-time tracking and personalized shipping choices, are more effective because all customer addresses in your system are valid.

Here’s the typical customer journey for purchasing :

1. The customer sees your stuff.
2. The customer LOVES your stuff.
3. The customer goes to buy your stuff.
4. The checkout experience is quick, easy, and accurate because you follow ecommerce best practices with address autocomplete, so they’re pleased.
5. You communicate with your customer throughout the entire process, from order confirmation to delivery. Their new item arrives on time, undamaged, and works as promised. Now they’re stoked. 
6. The customer tells everyone about how awesome your product is by leaving a review (saving you on additional marketing expenses) and increasing brand trust and reputation.
7. The customer (and all their friends and family) become repeat customers for life, becoming live testimonials for your company and product, and your ROI grows without spending an additional dime.
   

Embracing shipping optimization with autocomplete and verification

Shipping optimization with good address data is more than just a logistics upgrade—it’s a transformative tool that enhances every aspect of your operations, from cost savings to customer satisfaction. 

By integrating address autocomplete and verification, you can reduce shipping delays, minimize packaging waste, and streamline inventory management, all while delivering a seamless and satisfying customer experience. 

This boosts your bottom line and strengthens customer loyalty, driving repeat business and positive word-of-mouth. 

If you’re looking to stay competitive and increase profitability, prioritizing shipping optimization with address autocomplete and verification in your strategic planning is an essential step for long-term success. Embrace this smart shipping solution and watch your spending drop and ROI soar.

Give Smarty a call or email; we’ll even take a carrier pigeon to discuss the new heights your ROI could reach.