This article was written by eCommerce expert Becky Smith at leading delivery management provider Scurri. To streamline your delivery management and perfect your post-purchase emails, get in touch with Scurri today!
1. Establish your objective for shipment tracking emails
In today’s digital landscape, where over 80% of the UK population shops online, the demand for seamless e-commerce experiences is higher than ever. With over 1.29 billion deliveries made in the United Kingdom alone in 2024, customers are increasingly expecting real-time updates on their much anticipated parcels.
This makes shipment tracking emails an essential touchpoint for enhancing customer experiences.
Shipment tracking emails keep customers informed about their orders status, ensuring they’re updated in real-time. These delivery notifications not only satisfy customers’ need for information but also build trust by providing transparency. A clear, timely flow of information can significantly boost customer satisfaction.
One of the most common types of customer inquiries faced by online retailers are WISMO (Where Is My Order) questions. Failing to address these queries promptly can lead to frustrated customers, damaging satisfaction and brand loyalty. By implementing shipment tracking emails, retailers can automatically send these updates, reducing the volume of WISMO inquiries and allowing them to focus on other key aspects of their business.
2. Assess whether to use third party software for shipment tracking emails
As e-commerce continues to grow rapidly and customers eagerly await their parcels, online retailers face a critical decision: should they manage shipment tracking emails manually, or turn to third party solutions?
Third-party solutions, like Scurri Track Plus, offer a compelling option by automating tracking communications, which not only reduces WISMO queries, but also enhances the overall customer experience. Such solutions help retailers streamline their processes, providing a seamless experience while saving valuable time.The efficiency of shipment tracking emails enables retailers to allocate their resources effectively.
According to a report by Meteor Space, 51% of online shoppers want real time updates on their delivery status – making third-party solutions a must have asset for modern day retailers.
A key benefit of a third party software solution is its ability to create a seamless and reliable tracking experience. Third party solutions, like Scurri Track Plus integrate with multiple carriers, which guarantees consistent updates at all stages of delivery. Research shows that, on average, over 35% of customer support queries are WISMO related, with this figure spiking during busy shopping periods. But how does this affect your business?
For one, it places significant strain on your customer service team, diverting their attention from other critical tasks. Additionally, with modern customers expecting deliveries within 3.3 days on average, even minor delays can impact customers overall satisfaction and trust.
By having an effective tracking solution set in place, helps keep customers informed during all stages of their process, ensuring they’re never left in the dark about the whereabouts of their orders.
With a tracking solution such as Scurri Track Plus securely in place, retailers can keep their customers informed and enhance their experience at every stage of their purchase journey. While there may be up-front costs involved, the return on investment is clear: fewer WISMO queries, reduced strain on customer service teams and essentially allowing them to focus on other areas of the business. More importantly, transparent tracking strengthens trust between retailers and customers.
3. Brand your shipment tracking emails
Have you ever had to contact a carrier to find out where your parcel is, only to end up waiting days for a response? It is a frustrating experience that many customers can relate to. This is where branded tracking emails come into play. Unlike generic carrier emails, branded tracking emails provide a transparent and personalised experience that keeps customers informed at every stage of their delivery journey.
Modern customers crave simple, timely updates to eliminate the uncertainty of having to track down their parcels.
While carrier branded shipment emails may seem convenient, they often impose several challenges for retailers. Carriers generic emails do not reflect a brand’s unique identity, leaving customers with a disjointed experience that does not align with the journey they previously had with the retailer. With carrier tracking emails, retailers are missing out on several opportunities such as sending marketing messages and the chance to boost revenue by offering special offers. Not only does this result in missed revenue opportunities, but reduces the ability to reinforce the brand’s messaging which can result in being perceived negatively by customers.
This is where Scurri Track Plus can make a real difference. With Track Plus, retailers can easily send branded shipment tracking emails in the click of a button. One of Scurri Track Plus’ main features is the ability to send personalised branded emails. These emails not only keep customers updated, but also give retailers the opportunity to drive revenue by integrating product recommendations and special offers.
Personalisation is no longer just a ‘nice-to-have’ – it’s become a necessity. According to research, over 70% of consumers now expect personalised elements throughout their online shopping experience. Thanks to solutions like Scurri Track Plus, delivering this level of personalisation has never been easier.
Scurri Track Plus helps encourage add-on sales based on previous purchases and offers exclusive promotions or discounts to help increase revenue. What was once a simple tracking update can now be transformed into a valuable marketing tool, allowing online retailers to engage with customers well beyond the checkout.
By strategically using branded shipment tracking emails, retailers can reinforce their brand message with every communication. They enable retailers to provide a seamless, cohesive brand experience that customers can recognize across all touchpoints they engage with, enhancing loyalty and retention.
4. Establish how to track the effectiveness of your shipment tracking emails
Providing customers with shipment tracking emails is a great start, but understanding how effective these emails actually are is key to improving your customer experience. These emails provide retailers with valuable insights into their customers’ behaviour, while also driving business benefits. They can boost revenue by featuring product recommendations, reduce WISMO queries by keeping the customer informed, and enhance the overall post purchase experience. However, to truly maximise the potential of these emails, retailers must track key performance indicators, such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates and engagement metrics.
With an astounding 4.5 billion email users recorded in 2024, it’s quite hard to ignore the potential of emails as a tool for gaining customer insights.
Why wouldn’t you want to use this abundance of data to improve your shipment tracking emails?
With a solution like Scurri Track Plus, retailers can dive deeper into their shipment tracking emails performance. As eager customers await their parcels, you essentially have their full attention. With the average customer checking their delivery status 4 or 5 times while they wait, this is a prime opportunity to engage with them.
Use this time to deliver timely updates and relevant content that can enhance user experience and drive additional sales. This feature enables retailers to view their open rates to track who actually opens and engages with their shipment tracking emails, it also enables them to keep track of their click through rates and monitor if any viewers interacted with any additional links. Such features allows retailers to really analyse their customers’ interactions with their emails, and allows them to make important decisions based on their tracked behavior in an attempt to enhance their experience.
Beyond all of this, Scurri Track Plus enables retailers to measure how long their customers are spending on a specific page or if they are engaging with any of the added features. Are they strictly only checking their delivery status, or are they browsing other offerings?
By analysing all metrics that come with this solution, retailers can alter their shipment tracking emails to make them more relevant and personalised, which customers enjoy. These insights give retailers the tools they need to improve their post-purchase communications.
5. Review and improve your shipment tracking emails
Shipment tracking emails are a crucial part of the post-purchase customer journey, acting as a bridge between the initial order and the final delivery. They are more than just a notification; they play an essential role in shaping customer satisfaction. Not only do they deliver key information, but build trust and loyalty between the customer and the retailer.
Regularly reviewing and optimiSing shipment tracking emails is key to ensuring they continue to meet customer expectations and objectives. By analysing metrics, retailers gain insights into customer behaviour. With all of these insights retailers can transform their simple status updates into powerful tools for enhancing user experience additionally reducing costs and driving additional revenue.
To truly optimise your shipment tracking emails, personalisation is key. By tailoring your emails to individual customer preferences and behaviours, you can significantly improve engagement. Personalisation is more than just addressing your customers by name, it involves delivering content that resonates with them and makes sense giving their previous purchases. This will further enhance customers’ trust as they feel valued by your business.
Like previously mentioned, in this evolving world, customers expect access to information anytime and anywhere.
In a report by Audience Point, estimated that between 50-60% of emails were opened on a mobile device in 2024. This showcases the importance of ensuring that shipment tracking emails are fully optimised and viewable on both desktop and mobile. Customers should be able to access and read their delivery status emails with ease, without any frustrations. This small yet effective feature provides a more efficient and enjoyable customer journey.
Incorporating the best practices for optimising shipment tracking emails can truly transform your post-purchase communications.
Scurri Track Plus helps retailers avail of this process by offering a platform that delivers real-time accurate delivery updates, personalised communications and seamless integration with multiple carriers. With such a platform, retailers are not only meeting customers expectations, but exceeding them.
Examples of branded shipment tracking emails
Here’s an example of a Delivered email using Scurri Track Plus, featuring Scurri’s demo brand, Le Mark. The layout is clear and engaging, with a strong focus on brand consistency and customer satisfaction.
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Enter your details below to instantly receive a series of automated branded tracking emails from our demo brand ‘Le Mark’, including links to explore a branded tracking timeline page.