Gone are the days where customer service was an afterthought. Regardless of what business you are in, monitoring customer service on your logistics is now more important than ever. If you are not convinced of its importance, then let us help break it down a bit more for you.
Why Monitor Customer Service on your logistics
To keep up in today’s real time fast paced world, it is critical for businesses to monitor the service they provide to their customers. This not only includes monitoring the quality of product or direct service they provide, but it must also extend to the service that their partners provide, particularly in logistics. For many online businesses the last touchpoint with their customer is their logistics provider.
As a result, monitoring this service is critical as if your logistics providers’s service is sub standard and you don’t monitor this performance, you will often only hear about it by your lack of repeat business.
Importance of Customer Service when choosing your logistics provider
Most logistic providers sight their on-time delivery and fill rate as an indicator of their customer service domination. When choosing a logistics provider something that is critical and often over looked is the ability by this provider to monitor their own performance.
Professional logistics providers like Freight People and Smarter Freight provide their customers with KPI performance tracking and monitoring on a regular basis, to enable their customers to easily assess the ongoing performance of their logistics provider. When choosing your logistics provider make this a key criteria, and ask to see examples of the reporting they provide as standard practice.
What to Keep in Mind
Your logistics provider should do several things for you. These include:
- Easily work with you and your customers
- Be proactive in their service
- Offer visibility of your shipment while in transit
- Provide reporting of key metrics such as % on time delivery, break down of cost over time, geographic breakdown of freight shipped.
If your logistics provider cannot maintain these key performance indicators then you probably shouldn’t work with them. You won’t know whether or not they offer these services if you aren’t properly monitoring your experience with them.
Your logistics provider should also assist you in answering calls and satisfying new freight quote requests, provide technology integration options to improve and automate your freight processes, and produce excellent customer service feedback. If they aren’t, then you may be using the wrong logistics provider for your freight requirements. This could be costing you big time, in particular in repeat customers, so paying attention to what’s actually happening is the key to expanding your business.
Don’t let your logistics take away from the quality service you offer. By monitoring your current system, you stand a better chance of making your customers happy and increasing your business. Working with a trusted provider such as Freight People will ensure the above concerns are taken care of.