Let Shipping Data Drive Your Business Forward
by EasyPost
Ready. Set. Ship
Ready. Set. Ship. is a thought leadership series highlighting creative solutions businesses have found in dealing with shipping and logistics pain points. In this episode, we speak with Tom Butt, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Elevate, the retail industry's first analytics service platform that improves business performance with actionable insights.
Omnichannel retailing prioritizes the customer experience across all channels, tracking data to ensure a smooth experience. One of those channels, shipping logistics, can make or break customer satisfaction-controlling when and how packages are received will keep your customers happy or sour the experience if the package is late, lost, or damaged.
So how do you make sure your efforts lead to the right outcomes? First, you need to provide holistic visibility to your entire operational landscape. And according to Tom Butt, it starts with asking the right questions, focusing on fundamentals, and balancing can vs. should.
- Ask the right questions. Use shipping data to frame questions that provide a holistic view of the operational landscape. Asking the right questions leads to actionable insights that will improve your shipping and keep everything running smoothly.
- Focus on fundamentals. Nail down flawless execution of the fundamentals before moving to higher-order functions. Make sure data is coming in from all systems in a balanced way, for example, before implementing machine learning. A strong foundation allows businesses to build on solid ground.
- Keep in mind can vs. should. Leadership needs to leverage their team's ability to complete a task against the financial impact of getting it done, looking closely at time and resources spent against the cost-benefit. Just because a team can do something doesn't mean they should, and data will shine a light on the areas to focus on for optimal outcomes.
Elevate translates shipping data supplied by EasyPost into actionable opportunities to improve outcomes. This improved visibility drives ecommerce businesses forward by allowing them to make data-driven decisions, enhance customer experience, and keep costs down.
Benefits of shipping data analytics
A business may be tracking shipping data, but too often, the data is outdated before it leads to action items. Out-of-the-box analytics suites like Elevate provide a shortcut by quickly identifying data visibility gaps in shipping logistics. Moreover, they can do it more cost-effectively than the business. The analysis provided will show where processes are out of sync and find bottlenecks occurring in fulfillment so they can be fixed. A couple of examples will help illustrate how data can uncover inefficiencies and point to improved processes.
Meeting expectations
Company A promises 5-day shipping on all of their product purchases, and they consistently deliver. In fact, they usually beat their guaranteed delivery date by a couple of days, getting packages on the doorstep in only three days. Sounds good, right? Customers are happy-what could be wrong?
The company is spending more on shipping than they need to. Getting packages to customers two days ahead of schedule is exceeding expectations and costing more than it should. It's better to find a carrier that reliably hits your sweet spot and saves you money doing it. Over serving can lead to overspending. It's important to optimize your shipping using a tool that will help you deliver on time and save money. Shipping data analytics will uncover areas like this that will save dollars and maintain efficiency.
Turning data into action
Company B was looking for actionable visibility that would improve its operations. They received a high volume of data from several logistics partners, but it was challenging to synthesize the data into actionable insights. As a result, they became lost in the weeds and couldn't translate the data into a plan before circumstances changed.
They found a solution that provided comprehensive analytics services that allowed them the immediate visibility they needed to improve the customer experience. As a result, they could be proactive with delivery issues, identify problems more quickly, and uncover costly inefficiencies, saving around $1 million every month.
Shipping data analytics will drive a business forward by maximizing outcomes and minimizing spending. Businesses focused on getting customers their packages on time and in full will benefit from analytics with a holistic view of shipping logistics and operations. Analytics as service platforms like Elevate give businesses action insights derived directly from current data to provide a seamless experience for customers.