The busy season is upon us! With more people shopping online for the holidays than ever before, it’s time for e-commerce retailers to start ramping up their data quality efforts to make sure their direct mail, and at this time of year more importantly, packages arrive on time. Online retailers are going to need to meet the shipping demands of their customers if they want to thrive this holiday season.
The first bit of friendly advice is to consider free shipping, especially during the holiday season. According to FreeShipping.org, 90% of online shoppers said they’re more inclined to spend more if the shipping is free – so why not? They’ll also be more apt to coming back later from their memory of the good customer experience.
Keep in mind that during the holidays, consumers have higher expectations for on-time delivery. If something is delivered late, your customers see that as your fault, not the mail carrier’s. Keep customers happy by setting expectations and trying to deliver ahead of schedule if you can.
If ever you’re going to make sure that your address information is correct and up-to-date, this is the time. It’s all too common that someone entering their own address online can have ‘fat-finger’ syndrome, or even not know what their actual mailing zip code. Make sure to perform a database cleanse, adding the extra ZIP+4® to make sure that your customer will be getting their order in a timely fashion. Happy shipping, and happy holidays!