Jamie C. Winters

Appropriate Box Sizing

The first step in managing shipping damage control is determining suitable box sizes for your products.  As an e-commerce business, it’s your responsibility to ensure the items your consumer purchases arrive safely and in great condition. While it may seem like a good idea to have space in between multiple items within a shipment – it’s not.  Allowing additional space within a package increases the likelihood of damage throughout the product’s journey. You can package your items tightly by downsizing your packing methods based on what products customers order. This decreases the chance of being knocked around, bent, or otherwise damaged throughout the delivery process.

Learn more about right-size packaging.

Appropriate Package Filler

Using the right type and amount of filler is equally important to package size. Although packing filler varies by product, using common practices will lead you in the right direction. Glass, for example, should be wrapped in bubble wrap and carefully put in a box of appropriate size. Objects that are less fragile should be packed together using plastics or paper to fill extra space. Keeping each component in place with proper filler and package size reduces the chance of damage.

Improper Handling Procedures 

There are many things that can go wrong when handling products and shipments. Poor handling in-house often causes the majority of damages. Processing starts when the manufacturer delivers your products, and concludes when products are delivered to customers. There are many things that can go wrong while items are in inventory.  Stacking pallets, loose items, lack of space, and disregarded safety measures are examples of situations that ultimately lead to an accident or a ruined product.  Keeping your warehouse and inventory organized reduces the risk of product damage.

Did you know Falcon’s fulfillment team checks for product damages twice?

Manufacturer Damages 

Sometimes shipments coming directly from your manufacturer may arrive damaged. Although this may be aggravating, there are steps you can take to prevent damage.  Whether your fulfillment process is in-house or via a 3PL partner, it is critical to do quality checks on each and every delivery. This will ensure no damaged items are stocked into inventory and allow notification of reoccurring issues. To have the problem fixed, contact your manufacturer when quality inspections are complete and mistakes are discovered. By frequently communicating with your manufacturer, you can reduce the likelihood of receiving damaged items.

Moisture & Heat Damage

Conventional packing materials do not prevent the long-term harm that temperatures may inflict. That’s why it’s critical to take charge of your inventory conditions before they become an issue. It’s essential to ensure that the area in which your items are stored, is constantly kept cool and dry whether working in-house or with a 3PL fulfillment partner, allowing products to sit under a window, where they may absorb heat and sunshine, may cause damage in the long run.
If your inventory area is damp, your items may become damaged, wet, torn, or worse over time. Keeping your facilities clean, dry, and cool will help in avoiding numerous shipping damage control setbacks.

Falcon keeps warehouse temperatures between 50 and 70 degrees to keep product quality high.

Pest Contagions

It’s important to take measures against pests before they become an issue. Spraying for insects and other pests on a regular basis helps to keep your facilities clean and pest-free. As an added precaution, inspect your inventory for signs of pests on a regular basis. Chewed or torn boxes, rodent droppings, frequent insect sightings, nests, webs, and even faint sounds may all be indicators of pests. Once identified, problems may be rectified in order to prevent an infestation from developing.

COVID-19 Sanitation Procedures

COVID-19 has brought out new sanitary measures and new procedure standards. A customer’s purchase goes through many hands before it reaches their door. It is more vital than ever to ensure that all orders, products, and shipments are properly sterilized and safe for delivery. Contact your manufacturer and 3PL to ensure that the product is subject to sanitation measures prior to arriving at your inventory facility. So, when orders arrive, they are safe and ready for customers to enjoy.

Shipping Damage Control Via Carriers

Damages caused by shipping carriers are a leading concern for e-commerce businesses.  Even if you follow every shipping damage control procedure, and ensure orders have left your facility basically perfect – it still doesn’t promise a perfect arrival at your customer’s door. Here are a few tips you can use to protect your items from shipping carrier damages.

Follow Packaging Guidelines for Shipping Damage Control

Packing your orders correctly is one of the best methods to ensure they arrive at your customer’s door safely. Remember when we spoke about proper box sizes and snug-fit packaging filler? Box your orders properly and you’ll have little to no room for items to move, break, or bruise.

Fragile Labeling

Another way you can add additional precautions to the safety of your packages is by adding “fragile” or “handle with care” labels to each order.  This will ensure that shipping carriers do just that and apply extra care to your packages. Now, this isn’t a fool-proof way of guaranteeing the safety of your shipments, but it does offer a visual precaution for considerate carrier staff.

What is an Unboxing Experience?

You’ve probably seen viral videos of someone unwrapping new shoes or unpacking their new winter wardrobe collection. Companies are using these “unboxing videos” for new product launches as a clever marketing tactic.

“54% of shoppers have used social media to view an unboxing picture or video.”

It takes more than a branded box and some tissue paper to provide a great unboxing experience. It’s the actual impression you provide a customer with when they buy something from your shop.

When you deliver a long-awaited purchase to a customer, the impression you leave should be carefully considered. Some of the most memorable experiences include easy-to-open boxes, personalization, handwritten thank you notes, complimentary samples, and aesthetically pleasing packaging.

Customers will be more likely to buy again if they believe they will get the same level of quality and personalization as they did the first time they made a purchase.

Why is it Important?

A buyer’s unboxing experience serves as a vital component of your brand. While it’s relatively straightforward to maintain your brand through D2C channels, it gets complicated when you sell through multiple channels and the buyer receives their order in a generic Amazon box.

Your brand will be entirely dismissed when they open an unbranded box, only to find their lonely item smooshed in with package filler. Even if the item is of exceptional quality, the unboxing experience has the potential to devalue the order’s perceived worth.

What it Can Do for Your Brand 

Unboxing is the final impression you get to attract customers back as repeat buyers. Customer loyalty is built on excellent products, service, and a memorable unboxing experience.

Here are a few examples of why and how to create a memorable unboxing experience for your e-commerce brand.

Helps Your Brand Tell Its Story

Having a compelling story for your e-commerce business is critical for engaging with consumers and presenting them with a genuine reason why they should select you above other competitors. Your brand’s voice, purpose, and values should be a part of a customer’s unboxing experience. This will help them become more loyal to your company and more satisfied with their purchases.

For example, a candle company might send its customers a handwritten thank you card along with a few of their popular tea light candles as a sample.

Another example, a children’s toy company might provide brightly-colored packaging, a small discount for their next purchase, and a fun crossword for children to solve on the packaging before it’s recycled.

There are countless ways you can personalize your unboxing experience to not only tell the story of your brand but also express what is most important to your company. Personalization will connect you with your customers and provide them with an experience they will look forward to receiving again and again.

Drives Customer Loyalty

As we said above, the experience your customer has after your product leaves your hands and arrives in theirs is very important when it comes to whether or not they will make another purchase from you. Once the package is delivered to your customer you will have one last opportunity to make a positive impression and earn their continued business.

Apple is a great example of a company that provides a unique unboxing experience that drives consumer loyalty, repeat purchases, and referrals. Their packaging matches their brand’s clean, beautiful, and simple design.

“Consumers say they are 40% more likely to recommend a product to a friend if it comes in branded packaging.”

Customers all around the globe are filming their unwrapping of a new iPhone or Apple accessories, and guess what? Those videos go viral.

Going Viral

Establishing a distinct branded unboxing experience will no doubt stir up some excitement for online shoppers. Packaging that has character, aesthetic, or provides a unique experience will draw buyers to record their unboxing journey, take photos of their product, and write reviews.

60% of consumers share the content of products with premium packaging. Who doesn’t love free advertising?

As people like and share your content millions are potentially exposed to your brand and will be influenced to buy your products. If establishing an audience of online social media gurus isn’t something you want to achieve by yourself over the course of time try working with influencers.

“Youtube videos with the word ‘unboxing’ included in the title have increased by over 871% since 2010.”

Utilizing Influencers

It’s possible to reach a larger audience via online influencers who are particularly fond of unpacking videos. This could include anything from fashion and accessories to cosmetics and makeup. There is an influencer for everything and they’re waiting for you to find them.

Find someone online with a large following (20K followers or more) and a relatively high audience engagement and you can offer to recruit them, collaborate with them, or simply pay them to review a few of your items. Influencers often give honest reviews (unless paid otherwise) and will provide genuine feedback on their experience.

These details will then be shared with their following and your brand will be in front of thousands of target customers.

Although online influencers are still a relatively new concept, the rise of social commerce and the trend of influencers being integrated into big businesses is only growing with time.

If you haven’t taken advantage of utilizing the celebrities of YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok it’s time to start.

Increase Customer Retention with E-commerce Shipping Solutions

Fast Shipping

After Amazon introduced 2-day shipping, it’s all anyone talked about. Now, 80% of shoppers are choosing same-day shipping and nearly 61% of shoppers want their package within 3 hours or less.

The delivery timeframe is growing shorter and shorter each quarter.

By utilizing faster delivery options, e-commerce brands will entice new buyers and retain existing ones.

Did you know: orders placed before 2PM with Falcon Fulfillment ship out same-day?

Free Shipping

Another important contributor to customer retention is free shipping. Nearly 75% of consumers expect delivery to be free, but how does that impact online purchases?

According to a survey, 77% of shoppers have abandoned their shopping cart because shipping was not free. That’s a lot of potential revenue lost.

Learn 10 ways you can offer free shipping to retain customers, improve customer experience, and create satisfied buyers.

Damage-free Shipping

It’s no secret that some items arrive with damage. Sometimes it happens during transit, during packing, or it arrives that way directly from the manufacturer.

Making sure your company has a proper damage control process will avoid the dreaded moment a customer opens a long-awaited package and – BOOM, broken, tarnished, and almost immediately slapped with a return label.

30% of shoppers receive a damaged product.

Did you know: Falcon staff check items for damages once when being picked and again when being packed?

Eco-friendly Shipping

In 2022, it’s trendy to care about the earth. That’s why 31% of shoppers are willing to pay extra for greener shipping options and 76% would leave preferred brands for a greener competitor.

Equipping your e-commerce with a means of greener delivery or carbon offset programs is a great way to not only give back to the environment but also improve overall customer retention. By appealing to shoppers who might be looking for a greener alternative, you attract new buyers while retaining those wanting greener options.

Did you know: Falcon uses right-size shipping containers and consolidates outbound delivery carriers to reduce vehicle emissions?

Customer Satisfaction

The foundation of an e-commerce business is satisfied customers. Without them, there would be nothing to sell and no profit to make.

That’s why it’s critical to provide your buyers with a fast and hassle-free shipping experience.

• 29% of shoppers said they would abandon a brand if their package was delayed just once.
• 55% said they would switch brands when their package was delayed two or more times.
• 69% said they would be less likely to make a repeat purchase if an order was delayed by 2 or more days.

According to Supply Chain Brain

Acquiring a new customer can cost 5 to 25 times more than retaining an existing one.

How Falcon’s E-commerce Shipping Solutions Increase Customer Retention

Reduces Damages and Incorrect Orders

Once a customer places an order through the integrated e-commerce platform, Falcon employees begin picking each item individually to reduce and minimize wrong items, damages, or other mishaps that decrease the overall quality of a buyer’s experience.

Items are then packed and prepared to ship by hand, giving an additional team a second opportunity to check for imperfections and provide your loyal shoppers with a package nothing short of perfect.

Falcon Fulfillment has a 99.996% pick and pack accuracy.

Reducing errors in your pick and pack process will increase customer retention and minimize the need for returns and refunds. Because it often costs more to refund or accept returns, creating a more seamless and hassle-free buying experience will improve your profit margins and likely reduce your company’s overall carbon footprint.

Meets Rising Customer Expectations with 2-Day Shipping

It’s essential as we enter 2022 that your e-commerce provides 2-day shipping to stay competitive. It’s common for consumers to now expect the “Prime Effect” from everyday e-commerce brands.

Falcon Fulfillment has a 96.4% 2-day delivery accuracy.

By utilizing ground shipping and multiple inventory locations, Falcon is able to provide your customers with 2-day and same-day shipping on orders placed before 2PM.

Additionally, Falcon operates 7 days a week order processing. This means that purchases made throughout the week and weekend are being fulfilled in a timely manner. No more waiting through the weekend to see if an order has begun to process. Instead, orders will be waiting on the front lines for carriers to pick up and deliver to their forever home.

Increases Customer Retention with Eco-friendly Shipping

Nearly 45% of consumers are interested in shopping with brands that value sustainability. That’s why Falcon uses right-size shipping containers and consolidates outbound delivery carriers to reduce the carbon emissions given off by delivery vehicles.

Not only does Falcon do its part in reducing vehicle emissions, but it also helps reduce waste on their part, and your customer’s part. By using right-size boxes and bundling orders, Falcon is able to decrease waste and increase the amount of material going to customers that can be recycled or reused.

Falcon can help brands transition to 100% recyclable e-commerce shipping solutions.

Whether you’re ready to step into the fulfillment world or you’re making it work in-house, retaining customers is a high priority. By meeting the various shipping standards of customers and creating a high-quality delivery experience, your e-commerce brand can increase customer retention and attract new shoppers.

Additionally, partnering with Falcon and utilizing their e-commerce shipping solutions is a great option when in-house fulfillment becomes old.

What is Amazon FBA?

Selling with Amazon FBA or Fulfillment by Amazon: A fulfillment service offered by Amazon to third-party e-commerce sellers as a way to fulfill and ship orders to customers.

An Expanded Network

When partnering with a reputable 3PL provider, you invest in an expanded network that provides greater customer access and exposure.  Mid to intermediate-level 3PL companies typically have multiple fulfillment centers.

Expanded access to multi-site warehouse facilities gives you the opportunity to offer 1-2 day ground shipping. This allows your products to reach customers faster.