The modern customer doesn’t just prefer personalization from retailers—they are demanding it with their dollars. A study last year shows that 80% of consumers are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences and 90% indicate that they find personalization appealing. It has become ubiquitous in email marketing, but there are ways to incorporate personalization into shipping as well. Simple shipping personalization and small gestures like the ones we will outline in this article can add up to more loyalty, which yields increased sales and less customer churn.
Packing slips and email confirmations
Let’s start with two standard elements to the shipping process: including packing slips in the box and sending email confirmations to customers when items have shipped. Some retailers may pass these items off as simply transactional, but they both offer opportunities for shipping personalization and customization. Let’s look at a couple of examples.
A name is table stakes
The minimum amount of personalization people expect nowadays is for you to use their name. You should have it and you should use it. Your confirmation email should always start with “Hello, {firstname}” or some version of that salutation. It’s not difficult to do, and is becoming so commonplace that an email without it can already feel cold or impersonal.
The packing slip is a great opportunity to include a thank you for the order, addressing your customer by name, or some other special message to make it feel personal and special. A good shipping solution should allow you to include variables and custom messaging to your packing slip templates to make this process automated and easy. We’ll talk a bit more about the opportunities available with custom packing slips in a bit.
Product recommendations
Order data offers you a powerful way to know what items your customers order, how often, and in what quantities. Why not put that order data to work and make personalized recommendations, global recommendations, or feature some of your best products that a customer may also be interested in? A simple “Thanks for your order, {firstname}! We think you may also like these:” message is easy to include in both emails and on packing slips (here’s how easy it is to do in ShippingEasy)
Shipping personalization by delivery date
The day that a package arrives at the doorstep or office of your recipient is more than just an exciting time for your customer. It can add value to your business as well. Whether it is creating an experience worth sharing or feeding future opportunities, don’t discount the importance of the delivery date.
Re-order reminders
You know your products, and you know your customers. You likely even have data on how often some customers reorder products (if you sell perishable or replaceable products). So why not put that data to work?
Use the delivery date to inform your email marketing efforts and send a personalized reminder to them that it’s just about time to reorder their supply. This shows the customer you’re paying attention, helps feed repeat business, and can all be done with some simple automation based on the delivery date. This approach is particularly effective with e-commerce sellers of items like coffee, vape juices and accessories, supplements, and other perishable items.
Consider the unboxing experience
Social media can be a powerful tool in helping create buzz and more business for your store. There are two great ways to encourage people to share their new product with the world.
- Create a unique “unboxing” experience either through how you present the items in the box or by somehow making the experience of opening the package a unique one worth sharing (keep in mind the added cost that comes along with that)
- Alternatively, ask your customers to share their experience
Check out the below example of what a uniquely packed order can look like, and how the packing itself became an interesting piece of content for one of our customers, Heritage House.
By including your social handles on a packing slip (and maybe a unique hashtag) coupled with a special call-to-action message, you can encourage your biggest fans to share their haul with their friends, family, and colleagues. That means more eyes on your products and user-generated content from a customer who is likely at peak excitement about your product(s).
You can even turn these social shares into promotional content (with permission from the customers who’ve created them). User-generated content from peers is one of the most powerful influences of shopping behavior, especially if it feels organic and not sponsored. Simply automating the call-to-action on your packing slips and following up when the content is shared could turn into a huge opportunity for your brand.
ShippingEasy makes it simple to create custom messaging on packing slips and create templates that you can quickly and easily select to include with shipments. You can even specify the emails and messages to specific stores to further personalize the experience down to the store your customer purchased from.
The more you make the experience of shopping with you feel like a one-to-one relationship, the more likely you are to build loyalty and repeat business with your customers. Shipping personalization is just one way to do that. Click below to learn more about Customer Marketing and how you can ship, manage customer relationships, and increase business, all in a single platform.
Rob Zaleski
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