Do you know that around 47% of customers will avoid reordering if they sense a lack of visibility during the delivery process? The lack of reliable tracking methods, in the overall post-purchase experience, plays a huge role in running and sustaining a growing business.
This is especially true for companies focused on e-commerce fulfillment where logistics mean everything. That is why implementing a robust package tracking solution is crucial for fulfillment companies seeking to optimize their business.
With a comprehensive package tracking service, fulfillment service providers and companies can gain multiple facilities. This includes real-time shipment visibility, advanced exception monitoring, delivery analytics, and multi-carrier coordination among many other services. Then here is the question; how do you choose the best package tracking service for your fulfillment business?
8 Tips for Choosing the Best Order Tracking Service
In this post, we will explore key factors to evaluate when selecting the best order tracking service for your order fulfillment business. By understanding these core factors, you will be able to make an informed decision in selecting the perfect tracking solution tailored to your company’s needs.
Let’s dive in!
1. Evaluating Shipment Volume
The first thing you should jot down is the amount of shipment volume your fulfillment warehouse handles. Are you shipping 5 or 5000 orders per day? Do you operate locally or globally?
For a relatively small company that fulfills less than 500 orders per month within a confined region, a basic tracking system may suffice. However, for a company that deals with high volume shipments with complex logistic networks, an enterprise-level tracking solution may be required.
The more volume and complexity your business demands, the more you will benefit from an advanced package tracking solution. The key is to choose a tracking platform that scales with your business. Make sure you have set realistic numbers for your current and future shipment volumes. That way, the package tracking solution can also grow with your demands instead of capping out.
2. Centralized Multi-Carrier Support
As a fulfillment service provider, you are probably utilizing various popular shipping carriers such as UPS, FedEx, and USPS to meet your customer delivery needs. Some order fulfillment companies utilize niche carriers for cost-saving deliveries, such as in the case of fulfilling products with Chinese suppliers. Having to track each of these carriers individually requires using their own systems and tools, which can be time-consuming and inefficient.
Instead, look for a tracking platform that integrates with a broad spectrum of carriers and gives you a centralized view from one dashboard. By tracking all shipments in one place, you can eliminate manual data entry, compare carrier delivery times, costs, and performance, and save valuable time and resources.
The key is to ensure that the tracking solution contains your current and future most used carriers in your fulfillment regions. By consolidating multiple carriers on one platform, businesses can gain convenience, consistency, and a holistic view of their delivery network.
3. Real-Time Visibility
Fulfillment companies operate in a fast-paced environment where shipment status rapidly changes. Any lagging tracking information can lead to misinformed customers and reactive operations.
With a tracking service that provides real-time and end-to-end shipment visibility, you can be alerted immediately when exceptions occur, provide end-users with the latest ETAs, and identify and resolve bottlenecks as they happen in real-time, among many other advantages. Make sure the real-time tracking information contains vital details such as location, status changes, and history.
By taking advantage of real-time tracking, fulfillment teams can operate proactively, anticipate issues, and deliver a proper post-purchase experience to customers.
4. Scalability for Business Growth
When selecting the best parcel tracking service for your business, you should think beyond your current needs. How will your company grow or adjust in the near future? Will the tracking system be able to scale as your fulfillment operations grow over the next few years?
Although there are many, you should look for at least three main factors in a scalable tracking system. First, look for SaaS platforms with a cloud-based architecture. This allows for elastic scalability since the servers are hosted on a cloud rather than on-site. Second, check if the pricing model accommodates growth. Usage-based pricing is ideal for scalability. Third, check if the platform regularly updates new features and integrations to meet evolving needs.
A scalable shipping tracking system will allow you to cost-effectively build on your initial setup. Make sure to evaluate both the technical architecture and customer-focused elements when researching options. The right provider will be poised to support your growth for years to come.
5. Seamless Integration
To get the maximum value out of a tracking system, it needs to seamlessly integrate with your critical business systems. That is why it is important you look for a platform that offers flexible and comprehensive API capabilities. A powerful shipment tracking API will be designed for quick and fast integration with your company’s systems.
Some of the key aspects you should look for in an API include the availability of complete API documentation online. This ensures technical transparency and that your development team can easily and quickly integrate the tracking system without requiring external support. Other aspects include multiple programming language support, data security compliance, and support for other third-party platform integrations.
The better the API integration, the more seamlessly tracking data flows through your business systems. This makes your work faster and more efficient.
6. Proactive Shipment Monitoring
Exceptions and delays are bound to happen, no matter how optimized your logistics network is. However, not being prepared for unexpected shipment disruptions can inevitably lead to unhappy customers.
A good package tracking service can help you stay on top of potential disasters by acting as an early warning system. With real-time monitoring capabilities, the tracking platform can alert you as soon as exceptions occur with automated notifications.
By setting up rules-based alerting, fulfillment teams can stay ahead of disruptions before customers start asking questions. Proactive notifications via SMS or email empower companies to keep customers informed with delivery updates, swiftly resolve exceptions before they escalate, and optimize contingencies for future exceptions.
7. Pricing Model
While shipment tracking delivers immense value, a fulfillment company will need a solution that is cost-effective. This depends on your shipment volume and its nature, depending on your business forecast.
Do you expect your business to scale up its shipping volume? If yes, then try to find services with usage-based pricing so that you only pay according to your demand. If you can somewhat predict your volume demand, then go for tracking platforms that offer a volume band pricing model.
See what features are being offered in which tracking package. It becomes clear which paid plan you will choose once you have shortlisted your essential requirements. Many parcel tracking services also offer a free plan so you can first try out their service without any budgetary repercussions.
Ultimately, it comes down to price per shipment tracking and how much your business can make the most out of it. Avoid choosing solely based on sticker price and do some brief research and calculations before selecting your perfect tracking service.
8. Reliable Customer Support
Although, ideally, the platform is intuitive enough that no queries will arise, you will still face the possibility of rising issues that will require customer support. When relying on a package tracking service, you will want assurance that issues in your order fulfillment business get resolved quickly.
Check if the parcel tracking platform provides a dedicated customer support service. You should also look for more customer support aspects, like multiple support channels such as email, SMS, call, etc. Other aspects include 24/7 support availability, troubleshooting documents, fast response times, and provisions for a dedicated account manager.
A good customer support system indicates that the tracking service is a reliable partner for the long term. A good customer support system also shares your goal is keeping your customers happy and satisfied.
Learning from Real Cases
Now that we have discussed the factors in choosing the ideal order tracking service, let’s talk about real-life cases!
Passport Shipping and Flowspace are two well-known names in the fulfillment industry and they both use TrackingMore to supercharge their fulfillment business. Why did they choose and settle on TrackingMore out of many tracking services?
For Passport Shipping, the choice to integrate TrackingMore API in their systems was due to the latter’s capability to scale flexibly. Passport Shipping order demands grew in the holiday seasons which made it difficult to manage the huge amount of shipment data. By auditing TrackingMore capabilities and then integrating the API, Passport Shipping managed to improve its on-time delivery rates by nearly 5%.
TrackingMore was also the obvious choice for Flowspace, a SaaS company that provides a cutting-edge order management platform for fulfillment services. Although all the above factors did count toward the decision-making, the prime reason was TrackingMore’s fast and seamless integration with Flowspace’s tech stack. With more efficiency, Flowspace now saves up to 13% in its operational costs.
Key Takeaways
When selecting a tracking service, keep these core considerations in mind, summarized from above:
- Find a platform that integrates all your major carriers.
- Ensure scalability to support your growth.
- Leverage real-time data for proactive management.
- Seek robust API options for custom integrations.
- Evaluate customer support and UI friendliness.
The right tracking provider becomes a strategic partner in taking your fulfillment to the next level.
Next Steps
Ready to transform your fulfillment with a complete tracking solution?
We recommend TrackingMore, one of the best package tracking services currently available.
You can:
- Sign up for a free trial of TrackingMore to experience the platform firsthand.
- Contact one of our experts to evaluate your specific tracking needs and recommendations.