Shipping delays are more common than ever these days. In fact, about 11% of all shipments are affected by delivery status exceptions.
When a customer experiences a late delivery, they don’t hesitate to voice their grievances on social media. They may also contact the carrier or the company with WISMO calls or file a complaint.
As eCommerce continues to grow, you’ve got to stay one step ahead when it comes to efficiency and customer satisfaction. As a shipper, you need to know why the delays happen because then you can figure out how to avoid them.
What Is a Delivery Exception?
Delivery exception status refers to a shipment that is delayed while in transit. The delay can be the result of one or more unintentional factors. Whatever the cause of a delay might be, the customer may look for someone to blame.
The six most common causes of delivery exception are:
- Weather conditions
- Holidays
- Incorrect addresses
- Lost packages
- Damaged shipping labels
- Missed drop-offs
The logistics of shipping a package are complex, leaving many opportunities for something to go wrong. Obviously, you want to avoid delivery status exceptions whenever possible.
So what does exception mean on a delivery status and how can your company avoid delayed shipments, keep customers happy, and protect your brand’s reputation? Let’s look at some practical strategies that can help.
How to Avoid Delivery Exception Status
Ecommerce has become more competitive in recent years, and meeting customer demands is more challenging than ever. An emphasis on last-mile logistics is the latest trend in shipping today. As such, shippers are struggling to get more products delivered faster, safer, and more cost-effectively.
Getting a shipment to its final destination without delays requires a carefully coordinated process of communication, visibility, tracking, and analytics. Partnering with a private logistics company is the best solution for managing these complex components of moving freight. Here are some of the ways a logistics company helps shippers to better coordinate the process from origination to delivery.
Logistics
A logistics company handles all aspects of supply chain management. They begin by assessing your company’s needs and crafting a plan for the efficient, profitable movement of your products from the point of origin to the consumer.
Advanced technology systems provide methods to check and double-check addresses, determine locations of the package in real-time, and issue alerts on delivery status exceptions if they occur.
Tracking
For seamless package delivery, logistics companies use advanced technology platforms to provide real-time tracking of a shipment. Shippers and customers can know where the package is at all times with just a few clicks on their computers.
Analytics
Predictive analytics provides information that allows you to prevent mistakes. A logistics company compiles and uses data from three levels of input:
- Shipment level
- Visibility level
- Invoicing level
Shippers improve their performance by tracking exception status incidents to identify patterns and take preventative measures on future shipments. Analytics provide accurate ETAs on shipment statuses that keep your team informed and responsive.
Action
With real-time tracking, shippers and carriers can more readily respond to any situations that may result in an exception delivery status. This allows shippers to fix potential problems before they can get worse.
Real-time data can aid in preventing delays in loading or unloading and avoid missed pickups or deliveries.
Example of a Delivery Exception
What does exception mean on the delivery status? First, they can happen at any time for many reasons.
One of the most common causes is national holidays. Whether the holiday occurs in the country of origin or the destination country, when carriers observe the holiday, they will not be operating on that day. As a result of having a day off, they may be further delayed in trying to catch up on the backlogged shipments.
How to Respond to an Exception Delivery Status
Knowing how to respond to a delivery status exception is vital to maintaining customer satisfaction. Sometimes, the customer will find out about the delay before you do. If this happens, you should work quickly to ensure the customer that you are aware of the problem and take steps to resolve it right away.
Contact
If you know the reason for the delay of a shipment, you can inform the customer, apologize, and thank the customer for their patience.
Direct contact with customers can help to circumvent negative customer reviews, improve customer relations, and ensure future orders.
Refunds and Discounts
A delivery exception is not the customer’s fault. You should be willing to offer a refund if necessary to prevent bad customer relations. You may even choose to offer a discount on future purchases.
In some cases, you may be able to get a refund from the carrier if the delivery status exception was due to problems on their end.
Coordinate with the Carrier
When notification of delivery exception status is received, you should contact the carrier to get more information. Knowing the full extent of the problem allows you to develop a plan of action to minimize customer dissatisfaction.
Enlist the Services of a 3PL Company
The most viable way to avoid delivery issues is to partner with a third-party fulfillment and logistics company. These professionals can handle everything from warehousing to delivery. They also use the latest technologies to provide real-time data about your shipments.
With their expertise, you can avoid shipping delays or an exception delivery status on the front end.
Avoid Delivery Exceptions the Easy Way
Building your Ecommerce business is not easy, especially given the array of things that demand your attention. You can simplify the process by partnering with a logistics company.
As supply chain experts, a logistics team can coordinate all aspects of your shipping process. They also have measures in place to handle delivery status exceptions to ensure excellence in customer service.
FAQ
A status of “exception undeliverable” means the parcel will be held at a specified location until the problem is resolved. Undeliverable shipments happen for a range of reasons, such as a wrong address, improper packaging, inclement weather, and more.
The duration of the exception depends on what caused the delay. In most cases, the issue is resolved in several days.
Four things you can do if you get a delivery exception notice are to contact the carrier, contact the customer, resend the package, or issue a refund.
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