Shipping Reporting: A Guide for Ecommerce Brand Operators

Everything ecommerce brands should know about shipping reporting: where to get it, what your data means, and how to optimize your shipping.

Active orders report

Effective Shipping Reporting for eCommerce Brands: Boosting Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction

In eCommerce, efficient shipping and delivery are critical components of customer satisfaction and overall business success. Shipping reporting plays a crucial role in optimizing these processes. By leveraging comprehensive shipping reports, eCommerce brands can gain valuable insights into their logistics operations, improve order fulfillment, and ultimately enhance the customer experience.

Why Shipping Reporting Matters for eCommerce

There are many benefits to having access to your shipping data. Shipping reporting and analytics involves the systematic analysis of shipping data to monitor shipping performance, identify inefficiencies, and make data-driven decisions. For eCommerce brands, this means:

  • Improved Delivery Performance: By tracking delivery performance metrics, brands can identify bottlenecks and delays in the shipping process, ensuring timely deliveries and proactive shipment notifications when a delay does occur.
  • Cost Management: Shipping cost reports help eCommerce businesses understand their shipping expenses and find opportunities to reduce costs without compromising service quality. There are also some companies that exclusively work to provide ecommerce brands with shipping savings, such as ShipSigma.
  • Improved Inventory Management: Accurate shipping reports help in forecasting demand and managing inventory levels more effectively. By understanding which products are shipped most frequently and where delays occur, businesses can optimize their inventory placement and reduce the likelihood of stockouts or overstocking. This ensures that products are available when customers need them, improving overall satisfaction.
  • Data-Driven Decision Making: Shipping data analysis provides eCommerce businesses with actionable insights that can drive strategic decisions. For instance, understanding delivery times and costs can help in choosing the right shipping partners or adjusting shipping policies. This data-driven approach leads to more informed decisions that can enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction.
  • Transparency and Accountability: Shipping reporting adds a layer of transparency and accountability to the shipping process. By tracking and reporting on key metrics, businesses can ensure that all stakeholders, including carriers and logistics partners, are held accountable for their performance. This transparency fosters trust and collaboration, leading to better overall outcomes.
  • Regulatory Compliance: For eCommerce businesses operating internationally, compliance with various shipping regulations is crucial. Shipping reports can help ensure that all shipments comply with the necessary regulations, avoiding fines and legal issues. Detailed reports also facilitate smoother customs processes and reduce the risk of shipment delays.
  • Sustainability and Environmental Impact: Many consumers today are concerned about the environmental impact of their purchases. Shipping reports can help eCommerce brands track and reduce their carbon footprint by optimizing routes, choosing more sustainable shipping options, and minimizing unnecessary shipments. Demonstrating a commitment to sustainability can enhance a brand’s reputation and appeal to eco-conscious consumers.
  • Customer Communication and Satisfaction: Shipping reports enable better communication with customers by providing accurate and timely updates on their order status. This transparency reduces customer anxiety and inquiries about delivery times (which reduces WISMO support tickets), leading to a better shopping experience. Additionally, being able to predict and communicate potential delays helps manage customer expectations effectively.

Key Metrics in Shipping Reporting

To maximize the benefits of shipping reporting, eCommerce brands should focus on the following key metrics:

  • Delivery Times: Monitor the average time it takes for orders to reach customers from the moment they are shipped.
  • Shipping Costs: Track expenses related to different shipping methods, carriers, and destinations to find cost-effective solutions.
  • Order Fulfillment Rates: Measure the percentage of orders shipped on time and in full to ensure reliable service.
  • Carrier Performance: Evaluate the performance of shipping carriers to identify the most reliable partners.
  • Customer Feedback: Analyze customer feedback related to shipping and delivery to address issues and improve service.

Advanced Shipping Analytics

In addition to the basic key metrics you should pay attention to when looking at your shipping analytics, there are also some companies like Malomo that will surface advanced data that will help you optimize your shipping and delivery experience.

  • Revenue Generated from Order Tracking: Drive more revenue while your customers are waiting for their order.
  • Active Orders: See what orders are currently being shipped and ensure you're on it when it comes to live orders.
  • Time In Transit: Dive into all in-transit data to optimize your delivery times.
  • Problem Orders: See and proactively solve for problem orders when they arise.
  • Shipping Performance: Slice and dice your shipping data by timeframe to see seasonality trends and export reports to share with your team. Make better carrier decisions and improve your CX.

Analyzing Your Shipping Performance

Once you have access to your shipping data, analyzing shipping performance is essential to ensure efficient operations and maintain high levels of customer satisfaction. Here is a brief step-by-step process for how merchants can effectively analyze their shipping performance:

  1. Collecting Data: Finding carrier and shipping data can be difficult. One of the easiest ways to find your data is to add a technology platform to your tech stack that collects and surfaces your data in one place (like Malomo).
  2. Utilizing Analytics Tools: This could be anything from Excel/Google Sheets to Shopify or a third-party analytical tool. Odds are that if you are collecting shipping data through a third-party system they will also offer analytics.
  3. Tracking Key Metrics: Keep an eye on those metrics we spoke to earlier.
  4. Identifying Patterns and Inefficiencies: By analyzing the collected data, merchants can identify patterns and inefficiencies in their shipping process.
  5. Making Data-Driven Decisions: Once patterns and inefficiencies are identified, merchants can make informed decisions to optimize their shipping operations.
  6. Implementing Continuous Improvements: Shipping performance analysis should be an ongoing process, which is why it's recommended to rely on a reporting and analytics system through a third-party app that continuously monitors.
  7. Enhancing Customer Communication: Transparent and proactive communication with customers is crucial. Use insights from shipping performance analysis to improve and segment customer communication.

What To Look For When Purchasing Shipping Reporting Software

When a Shopify eCommerce brand is looking for a shipping reporting platform, there are several key features and capabilities they should consider to ensure the platform meets their needs and enhances their shipping operations. Here’s a detailed list of what to look for:

  1. Integration with Shopify
    1. Seamless Integration: The platform should integrate smoothly with Shopify, allowing for easy data synchronization between the store and the reporting tool.
    2. Real-Time Data Sync: Ensure the platform can pull real-time data from Shopify, providing up-to-date shipping and order information.
  2. Comprehensive Reporting Features
    1. Detailed Shipping Reports: Look for a platform that offers detailed reports on various aspects of shipping, including delivery times, shipping costs, and carrier performance.
    2. Customizable Reports: The ability to customize reports to focus on specific metrics or timeframes relevant to the business.
    3. Automated Reporting: Automated generation and scheduling of reports to save time and ensure consistent analysis.
  3. User-Friendly Interface
    1. Ease of Use: The platform should have an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it easy for team members to navigate and use.
    2. Dashboards: Visual dashboards that provide a quick overview of key shipping metrics and performance indicators.

Shipping reporting is a vital tool for eCommerce brands aiming to optimize their logistics operations and enhance customer satisfaction. By focusing on key metrics, utilizing advanced reporting tools, and integrating shipping data with eCommerce platforms, brands can achieve significant improvements in delivery performance, cost management, and overall efficiency.

Investing in comprehensive shipping reports is not just a tactical move; it's a strategic imperative that can drive growth, improve operational efficiency, and ensure your brand stands out in a competitive eCommerce landscape.

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Examples of shipping notifications

In addition to advanced shipping reporting, Malomo allows you to brand your transactional notifications and order tracking page. If you're a visual person, check out our resource library with some examples of email & SMS shipping notifications!

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Briogeo tells their customers their order is shipping soon! What's their open rate and CTR on these transactional emails? 59% and 33%. Check out how they get those results

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Honeylove sends their customers a transactional sms through our Klaviyo integration to let them know that their order has been delivered!

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DRMTLGY built a fully custom order tracking page with the Malomo.js through our Shopify Integration. They also use Klaviyo, Attentive, Rebuy, Octane AI, and Gorgias to strengthen their post-purchase experience.

Sophistiplate

Sophistiplate submitted their Tracking Page design to the Design Contest and focused on showcasing their different collections and seasonality to their customers.

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