There are many good reasons to seek website sales from Amazon. The platform provides access to more than 300 million users worldwide. You’re selling on a website that has a good reputation and that consumers trust.
When people shop from your Amazon store, they’re not really your customers. They belong to Amazon. While there are definitely a lot of benefits, however, there are also some disadvantages that come your way.
This comes with many drawbacks. First, you lack control and must comply with the company’s rules. If Amazon decides to drop you, there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.
Second, not owning the customer means you can’t communicate with them. Upsell them. Find additional ways to add value and interact with them.
While we aren’t discouraging you from selling on Amazon, what we do recommend is that you have a strategy for directing Amazon customers to your store – without breaking any rules.
So, without further ado, here are the best tactics you can use on Amazon to get more sales on your own website:
5 Tips for Success
1. Sell Product Bundles on Amazon While Offering Individual Products on Your Website
A great way to combine the best of both worlds is to offer bundles on Amazon but make individual products only available on your website.
For example, let’s say that you’re a company that sells razor blades and shaving accessories for men. On Amazon, you could sell bundles that consist of blades, cream, and gel.
If the customer wants to buy one of the products individually, such as the razor blade, they must go directly to your website.
2. Make Your Username on Amazon Your Website Name
A simple way of driving more traffic to your website via Amazon is to make your username on the platform the same as on your website.
For example, your website’s name is “coolsocks.com.” You can use the same name for your Amazon username if available. If not, you should do your best to make sure your username approximately resembles it.
Along with making the username the same, make sure to frequently refer to your company’s name on your Amazon profile’s different pages. That way, if the customer were to research your name on Google, they’ll easily land on your website.
3. Include Inserts into Your Amazon Package
It’s worth noting that Amazon has strict rules against inviting customers to visit other sites. However, there’s still a way you can get around this while remaining compliant with Amazon.
As part of your package, for example, you can include a thank you note with some info that connects the buyer with your customer service team.
Another tactic you can use is to encourage customers to register their products on your website. When doing this, however, don’t give a direct link to your store. Instead, create a separate landing page and link to it on your card.
If you link directly to your website, Amazon can close your business on its platform. You can always include a link to your home page on the product registration site.
4. Encourage Customers to Follow You on Social Media
As an e-commerce business, you’re likely marketing your brand on social media. While you can’t link Amazon customers to other sales channels, you can still invite them to follow and like your business on social.
For example, you can include your Instagram or Twitter username on your package. Even better, if branding is part of your packaging strategy, you can encourage customers to share a picture of their box on social media.
To get the best results with this tactic, you want first to make sure that your social media pages are on point. Check out our blog post on how e-commerce brands can get the most out of social media.
5. Use Amazon Buyer Data to Run Facebook Ads
Amazon’s platform comes with buyer data that shows you which type of customer has purchased from you before. Brands can use the same data to run Facebook ads for their target audience and win more sales on their website.
With Custom Audiences, you can target users with similar demographics. As a result, you’ll be reaching people with the same interests and attributes as your Amazon buyers.
Wrapping Things Up
Directing your Amazon customers to your website can be like walking through a minefield. A straightforward misstep and boom, Amazon could take down your store in a second. With these five tactics above, however, you can still get the best of both worlds and leverage website sales from Amazon for your site.
To make the most of Instagram, you need to be doing more than just posting pictures of products. You need a strategy that promotes your brand and attracts followers.
In this blog, we’ll dive into nine tactics you can use to engage your followers and successfully grow your audience on Instagram:
Switch to an Instagram Business Account
To get the most out of Instagram, the first thing you should do is switch to a business account.
Making the switch will make your Instagram account look more professional. It can pull your contact information from Facebook while keeping Instagram shoppable links.
The business account also comes with advanced analytics on your page, such as:
Clicks to your page
Impressions
Reach
Engagement rate
The additional perks don’t stop there. With a business account, you can promote posts as ads and add links to products on Instagram stories. However, you won’t be able to set your account to private.
Apply for a Verification Badge
Next, to take your credibility even further, your business should consider applying for a verification badge. It assures your customers that you’re the real deal and not some bogus account.
Collecting user-generated content (UGC) is one of the best ways to promote your brand on Instagram.
The reason why you want to do this is that UGC is considered 2.5X more authentic than branded content. After all, who’s better to judge your products than your own customers?
Check out this great example from top beauty brand Glossier:
They often feature pictures from their own customers on their Instagram page. It’s a great way to boost social proof and invite customers to become brand advocates for your business.
You can even include some of your UGC content from Instagram on your website homepage for instant credibility. It’s something that Onzie does on its homepage, under the “Styled On Insta” section:
Tap Into Influencer Marketing
Another tactic related to UGC is collaborating with an influencer to promote your products.
There’s a reason why some companies are willing to invest millions of dollars in celebrity endorsements. When people see someone they admire promote a product, they’re more likely to buy it themselves.
It’s something that Daniel Wellington does regularly with their hashtag #DWPickoftheDay. They select the best influencers that use their hashtag and republish their picture on their own Instagram profile:
When it comes to finding the right influencer, follower count isn’t everything. You also want to look at their engagement rate: if an account has 100K followers but only 100 likes per post, you can already know that something is suspicious.
You don’t need to spend much to find influencers willing to work with your business. The first step is to research and find those that align with your brand and have a similar audience you’re trying to reach.
Once you’ve targeted some people who fit that description, reach out and ask about their process for working with brands. Influencers who want to be paid upfront for promotions are common; if you’re considering one of these, ask for numbers about past posts and what kind of return you should expect.
The best kind of influencers only work with brands they believe they can sell – so they will ask for a commission or percentage of the sale. This is a great way to collaborate – they are motivated to move your product, and you are only out the cost of samples and pay when sales are made.
If you know the cost to acquire customers through Facebook or other sales channels, agreeing to a 10 or 15% commission will make sense if you usually pay more to run ads.
Most brands will want samples, so make sure you create a memorable unboxing experience for them as well! While it is a lot of work finding the right ones to work with, it can be very lucrative if you can cement a long-term relationship that works for you and them.
Set Up a Click-Able Storefront
With Instagram, you can integrate your product catalog seamlessly with Instagram Shop. Users can explore your products directly from your Instagram page without landing on your website.
Here’s an example of how it looks like from Watch company MVMT:
All the customer has to do is click on “shop” to get instant access to the various watches MVMT promotes. It makes shopping more accessible for customers and creates a better online experience overall.
To make things better, you can even tag your products in Instagram pictures. Customers can click on the product link right away as they browse through your posts.
Use Instagram Ads
Instagram is a great platform to run targeted ads to promote your products. According to recent statistics:
One thing that makes Instagram ads so effective is that they look just like any shared post on the platform. As a result, they come across as less spammy to the customer.
Instagram ads get run through the Facebook Ad platform. You can run ads for sales or to raise brand awareness – either way, you can leverage the options on Facebook Ads to match your goals. For example, you can ask Instagram to find people similar to your existing customers.
Use Broad and Unique Hashtags
Using broad hashtags that apply to your brand and industry will make you come up in more searches. Including hashtags means you want to be found for that particular keyword. But don’t just use anything – make sure the hashtag actually works for what you’re trying to post.
Unique hashtags mean that anyone looking at your posts will recognize your content for yours. Having a single, unique hashtag that no one else uses will pay off in the long run as your brand awareness grows.
Organize Contests and Giveaways
A fun way to grow your following and generate new leads is to run contests for your audience on Instagram.
Contests and giveaways have been a classic business tactic for a long time. Now, with social media, it’s never been easier to run competitions that engage followers and make you stand out from the crowd.
By making your offer exciting, you’ll be able to reach new people who’ve never heard of your brand before. Here are some of the different types of contests that you can run on the platform:
Like/comment to win: This is one of the most common contests and the easiest to implement. Ask your followers to like or comment in exchange for winning a prize.
Tag a friend: Another simple contest asks followers to tag their friends in the comments. This type of giveaway is excellent for spreading awareness and letting people know about your brand.
Photo caption: Use this contest to test the creativity of your audience. Post a picture and ask them to drop a caption. The follower with the best caption wins!
UGC: You can invite customers to share UGC content with your product to win a prize. After a specific deadline, you can select the follower with the best picture and offer them your gift.
Keep Track of Analytics
Lastly, to make sure you’re getting the most out of Instagram, you want to keep track of how your page is growing over time. That includes keeping track of things such as follower base, likes, which photos get the most engagement, etc.
By keeping track of analytics, you’ll be able to identify which form of content works the best with your followers. You can then start publishing high-quality content consistently to boost your engagement.
Final Thoughts: How to Make the Most of Instagram
There you have it! With these nine tips, you should have a solid idea of where to go with your Instagram strategy. Now it’s up to you to try these tactics and see what works best for you.
For new businesses, winning in your local market is just the start. As your e-commerce store starts to scale, you should look at options for growing international sales.
Growing your business overseas requires a lot of preparation, research, and planning. Here are our best seven tips for a successful transition to an international market:
Study the Market and Product Demand
Before you aim for a new market, see if your products are getting attention in other countries.
Are you getting a lot of traffic worldwide? Do you already have repeat customers from places outside the US? Answering these questions should provide you with insights on how to adapt to a new market.
You can look at this using Google Analytics. If you don’t have the tracking pixel installed on your website, you can learn more about doing it here.
Also, research to find out if there’s a high demand for the type of product you sell. If there’s a need that’s not met in one country, you can be there to fill that gap by growing international sales.
You can also use Google Trends to see what people are searching.
Translate Your Website to the Local Language
Make sure that international customers can understand your website in their own language. No one will buy your item if they can’t read your product description.
However, don’t settle for simple translation tools such as Google Translate. You want to make sure to hire a professional translator who can write good e-commerce content.
Otherwise, there may be inaccuracies in your copy that might throw off your audience.
Aside from translating your website, also make sure that your store converts prices into their local currencies. Many tools on Shopify help you do this, such as Transcy, for example.
Do Research on the Country’s Culture and Customs
While translating your website is a must, it won’t be enough to adapt to a new market overseas. You’ll also have to research the country’s culture and customs.
For example, selling products made out of ivory is illegal in many European nations, such as Italy. Countries also have different definitions of what they consider “ethical marketing” as well.
Find brands that align with yours that are currently selling in those markets. You can research to see what they are doing, even contact the brand and ask them what it is like.
Get International Payment Options Ready
As you get ready to scale overseas, start thinking about how you’ll be accepting international payments.
The preferred payment method of the customer will depend from country to country. For example, cheques are still commonly used in France, while German buyers prefer to purchase directly.
Consider adding PayPal as a payment option on your website. The platform makes it possible to take payments from over 200 countries in 25 currencies. It also has a good reputation regarding security and purchase protection.
While translating your website is a must, it won’t be enough to adapt to a new market overseas. You’ll also have to research the country’s culture and customs
Get All the Legal Documents Required
A not-so-fun part of expanding your business overseas is getting yourself legally ready. Some countries will require specific documentation before you can operate in their territory.
You’ll also have to research how you plan to pay taxes in the country. You’ll have to adhere to the laws determined by the IRS and the tax authority of the country you’re selling in.
Figuring all of this out by yourself can be a headache. That’s why we help our customers take the stress off their backs by handling all the documentation needed to ship internationally.
Provide Excellent Customer Support
A vital factor to consider as you shift your business overseas is how you will handle customer service. Remember that your customers will be in different time zones and may not speak English.
To overcome these roadblocks, you can invest in chatbot technology to answer customer questions anytime. Another strategy is to hire an international remote team that can provide customer support even during late times.
Make sure you include tracking information for any shipments, as well as posting expected transit times for overseas shipments.
Make International Shipping Affordable to Customers
Lastly, your shipping strategy could make or break your success overseas.
Unexpected shipping costs can drive your potential customers overseas away. In fact, high shipping costs are one of the most common reasons why customers abandon their carts.
If you’re a small or medium-sized business, however, it can be difficult to find competitive rates on international shipping. Many roadblocks can get in the way, such as paperwork, negotiating deals with carriers outside the US, and managing international returns.
At eHub, we help take care of international shipping so you can get started selling internationally right away. We have hundreds of connections with carriers worldwide to ensure you get the best rates every time – especially internationally!
Wrapping Things Up
If you’re serious about growth, international markets offer a unique opportunity to scale quickly. It will require careful planning on your end, but the results can be very lucrative in the long run.
eHub can help you transition seamlessly as you enter a new market. Our platform allows you to scale your shipping to multiple countries without having to negotiate rates or hurt your profit margins. Contact us today for a free demo to learn more.
Shipping delays can negatively impact your brand reputation and sales.
If your item doesn’t arrive on time, customers won’t feel they can trust you with their money and won’t return to your store for more.
Even worse, they can post negative reviews and spread the word to their friends and family. It doesn’t take long for bad reviews to spread.
Why do Shipping Delays Happen?
Even if you think everything’s under control, no one can truly predict what happens to your package once it leaves the warehouse. Your item’s delivery could get delayed for various reasons, which include:
World Events
World events can have a significant impact on shipping operations. Just take a look at what happened this year with COVID-19 — with new social distancing measures put in place and thousands of business shutdowns, many stores had a hard time making sure their package got into the hands of customers.
With more e-commerce orders than ever, all major carriers are struggling. The USPS has had the most challenging time since they have the most significant volume.
Unexpected Weather and Natural Disasters
Sudden weather changes can prevent your orders from arriving on time to the customer’s doorstep. It’s something that’s unfortunately beyond your control, but there are tactics you can use to handle the situation (which we’ll get into later).
Domestic & International Customs
Your package can get held back if it doesn’t respect customs procedures. For example, if you’re trying to ship ivory products to Italy (where the material is banned), your package might even get destroyed. That’s why you need to do your research on customs before shipping the item to the customer.
Shipping insurance protects you from any drastic financial loss and takes extra stress off your shoulders
Holidays
E-commerce sales tend to skyrocket during holiday seasons or important dates. As a result of record items being ordered, carriers can’t consistently deliver to your customer on time, which is not practical when everyone expects to receive their gift quickly (or by a specific date).
Poor Inventory Management from Your 3PL
Your item’s shipping delay could also result from poor management of your 3PL.
While investing in a logistics provider can provide you with many benefits in the long term, choosing the wrong one can be detrimental to your brand. Check our blog post on picking the right 3PL for your business to avoid making this mistake.
The Best Tactics You Can Use to Handle Shipping Delays
Get Shipping Insurance
Preparing yourself in advance goes a long way. Before shipping the item to your customer, you should consider investing in shipping insurance to protect yourself from any trouble during delivery.
Shipping insurance protects you from any drastic financial loss and takes extra stress off your shoulders. If the customer demands a refund because of the delay in delivery, you’ll have the means to give it to them without hurting your profits.
Be Upfront With The Customer
When your shipping is delayed, you’ll need to let the customer know what’s going on, especially as the world still battles with COVID-19.
Make sure to follow up with them via email, social media, and SMS. Apologize, explain the current situation to the customer, and how you plan to solve it. Holding yourself accountable proves to the customer that you’re someone they can trust.
Offer Order Tracking on the Delayed Item
Not having an order delivered on time can cause a lot of anxiety for the customer. To give them peace of mind, you can give them a tracking number to monitor their package.
With eHub, each item you ship comes with order tracking to get updates as they happen for your customers. We can also provide insurance if your package doesn’t arrive or is stolen during delivery.
Offer Special Discounts and Deals
Shipping deals can be an unpleasant experience for the customer. To make up for it, you can offer them special discounts and promotions on future orders.
Giving customers discounts proves that you value them and take their satisfaction seriously. For example, if your package doesn’t arrive on time, you can offer free shipping for their next order or a 20% discount on future items.
Use Multiple Shipping Carriers
Regarding shipping, it’s essential not to put all your eggs in one basket. Using multiple carriers ensures your package arrives on time if one fails to deliver.
Finding suitable shipping carriers, however, takes a bit of time and search. That’s why we do the hard work for you by connecting all major carriers in one place on our platform.
Offer Multiple Shipping Options at Checkout
Providing transparency into expected delivery times is vital to the ordering experience. Showing customers two options (at least) – one for expedited and the other for slow delivery – lets them choose what will work best for them.
If you’re offering free shipping on the slower service, then the value of the expedited shipping will be improved. While many people expect free shipping, they are willing to pay for faster delivery times when it is essential to them.
Conclusion
Shipping delays don’t have to be the end of the world. Handled effectively, you can still shine in the eyes of your customers and retain their trust.
If you’re looking for a platform covering everything you need to manage shipping effectively, we can help. From inventory management to order tracking, our platform gives you all the tools you need for smooth delivery.
The checkout page is the last step in creating a customer from a visitor. Optimizing checkout is a key to reducing cart abandonment and driving sales.
Here are some essential practices you can implement on your checkout page to deliver significant results:
8 Things You Must Be Doing During Checkout
Include Customer Testimonials & Trust Symbols
One-Page Checkout
Offer Free Shipping
Optimize Your Checkout Page for Mobile
Highlight Upsell Offers
Use Exit-Intent Pop-Ups
Offer “Save Item” as an Option
Let’s dive into each and see how you can easily upgrade your checkout.
Include Customer Testimonials & Trust Symbols
To get the customer to purchase, you first have to gain their trust.
Adding customer testimonials on your checkout page reassures the prospect they’re making the right choice. Seeing others enjoy your product gives them the confidence to make the purchase.
Furthermore, if they don’t know you’re brand, they may hesitate on the quality of your product and service. You can promote trust by using testimonial & review apps like Okendo, Product Reviews by Shopify, or Stamped.io.
These apps make it easy to collect and publish reviews on your home, product, or checkout pages.
Security is also a big concern for customers since you handle their payment information. A good tactic to give them peace of mind is to include security badges on your checkout page, such as the below:
If customers know their payments are in good hands, they’ll be more likely to follow through with their purchase.
One-Page Checkout
Any friction during the buying process will cause customers to drop their carts. No one wants to go through loops and holes to make a final purchase.
The checkout process must be as simple and straightforward as possible. The best way to simplify your checkout page and get customers across the finish line is to offer a one-page checkout:
One-page checkout works because it’s shorter and reduces the steps the customer has to go through. It’s convenient and can lead to better conversions.
However, we recommend testing multi-page and single-page to see what works best for you.
As a small business, however, you may not be in a position to offer free shipping. Free shipping isn’t free to you and can hurt your profit margins in the long term if you’re not careful. If you’re wondering how to decrease your shipping costs, you may be interested in the cubic pricing program.
Optimize Your Checkout Page for Mobile
More and more customers are using their smartphones to shop. By next year, mobile sales will represent a whopping 54% of total e-commerce revenue. It’s the reason why your checkout page needs to be mobile-responsive.
You must also ensure your checkout page loads fast on mobile, especially when the customer gives you their payment information. 53%of visitors will ditch your site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
Highlight Upsell Offers
Upselling is a sales technique to persuade the customer to buy more items, upgrades, or add-ons once they make a purchase. It’s a tactic used by top brands such as Amazon, GoDaddy, and Booking.com.
Your checkout page represents extra sales for your store. As the customer is about to checkout, you can recommend complementary products.
It’s a great way to boost your customer lifetime value (CLV) and make prospects come back. Here’s an example from Dollar Shave Club for inspiration:
The best tool we recommend to help you do this is Carthook. Once the customer checks out, Carthook sends them three different upsell offers. The platform auto-fills the page with the customer’s details, so they don’t have to re-enter their payment information.
Use Exit-Intent Popups
Just as a customer abandons their cart or is about to leave your site, you can launch exit-intent popups to promote discounts they can use for their purchase:
Exit-intent pop-ups work well for two reasons. First off, it gives the customer an incentive to stay on your checkout page. Secondly, your store gets a second chance to make a sale.
There are various tools you can download on Shopify that help you capture the customer’s attention with pop-ups. Check out our 8 top picks of pop-up tools for boosting sales.
Remove Any Distractions on the Checkout Page
A key theme that we’re repeating here is keeping everything as simple as possible. To maximize your conversions, you need to eliminate any distractions that might draw the customer away from making a purchase.
There are various ways to do this. You want to avoid having any ads, navigation bars, or eye-catching graphics that might get in the way. You also don’t want to surprise customers with hidden fees they weren’t aware of before.
Offer “Save Item” as an Option
Lastly, there are many reasons why your customer doesn’t follow through with their purchase. They may not be ready to buy, or something distracted them as they were about to check out.
To help returning visitors, make it possible for them to save your product so they can go back to checkout whenever they have time. Amazon does this on their store with their “wishlist” feature, so customers can come back at any time to finish their purchase:
Conclusion
The checkout is the final and most critical part of the buyer’s journey. Even with the best marketing and products in the world, customers will ditch your store if the checkout process is not optimized the right way. By applying our tips above, you’ll be on your way to setting up a killer checkout page and boosting your sales.
A customer just bought a product from your store. You collect their mailing address, set up your branded packaging, and ship their ordered item.
But have you thought about what happens if your product gets broken or lost during the delivery process?
No one knows what can happen to your product during its transportation to the customer. Your business needs a game plan to prepare in case things go wrong.
What is Shipping Insurance?
When people hear “insurance,” they typically think of insurance for their health or home. But little do people know that it’s also possible to get insurance on products you ship to customers.
Shipping insurance covers the delivery fees and costs of your item in case something goes wrong during transportation. Let’s dive into the reasons why investing in shipping insurance is a smart move for your business.
Why You Should Consider Shipping Insurance
It’s impossible to predict the future, even if you think that you have everything under control. Your product could get lost or broken during delivery, leading to a disappointed customer. Some of the benefits of getting shipping insurance include:
Peace of Mind
Without insurance, you’ll be in charge of covering shipping costs and refunds if your item doesn’t arrive at the customer’s doorstep. It’s a process that adds extra stress to your workload, and you probably already have a busy schedule.
Getting shipping insurance takes stress off your back. No matter what happens to your package, you get peace of mind knowing that your item is always covered.
It Protects You From Any Financial Loss
Your item is in good hands when you get shipping insurance. The process might require a bit of paperwork, but the insurer will handle everything to ensure you get your money.
It’s also possible to get insurance for high-value items. Some carriers cover items up to $50,000, which we’ll explore later.
Getting Shipping Insurance Is Fast and Easy
Getting shipping insurance doesn’t have to be a complicated process. There are plenty of options at your disposal to get your items insured quickly. It’s even faster when you integrate a tool like eHub, which makes it simple to incorporate insurance.
The Different Types of Shipping Insurance Available
Here are the two main types of shipping insurance that you can choose:
Carrier Insurance
Different companies such as UPS, USPS, and FedEx all offer insurance for items you ship. Price varies from carrier to carrier, and each has limits on the maximum value of products that are covered.
Third-Party Software
You can also get insurance by integrating shipping software into your store. A shipping platform can ensure you get insurance on each item and offers the best shipping rates to customers.
How Much Does Shipping Insurance Cost?
If you decide to get your shipping insurance from a carrier, here’s how much you can expect to pay:
Things To Take Into Consideration Before Getting Insurance
International Restrictions
Remember that international restrictions influence whether your item qualifies for coverage or not. There are certain countries that carriers will not insure. For example, if your item gets lost in Paraguay, you won’t be able to obtain shipping insurance since it goes against US trade rules.
Certain countries also block you from importing certain goods. You cannot get coverage on items prohibited from shipping in the country you are targeting.
It’s impossible to predict the future, even if you think that you have everything under control
Terms and Conditions of the Insurance Contract
You must also be careful of the terms and conditions that come with shipping insurance. Some items don’t qualify for coverage, even if you ship them domestically.
Maximum Item Value
Carriers also offer limits to shipping insurance based on the item’s value. Let’s take a look at them below:
How to File an Insurance Claim
Next, you may wonder how to file an insurance claim on a lost or damaged product. Some carriers require you to file a claim within 60 days, while others give you up to nine months.
Here’s what you’ll need to do to get insurance for your product.
Your Package Got Lost During Delivery
If a customer reports that they’ve never received your item and can’t track it online, you’ll need proof of loss. Here are the documents that you’ll have to prepare in advance:
Evidence of pickup from your warehouse
The sender and recipient address
Tracking information
Package information: size, type of product, and more
Your Package Got Damaged
How you respond when your package gets damaged depends on your carrier. You’ll likely have to take pictures of the damaged packaging to compare it with the package’s photos in its normal condition.
It will also be required to provide documentation such as the original invoice, recipient address, declared value, and more. The carrier might inspect the package as well.
Your Package Got Stolen
Getting one of your items stolen is a tricky situation to be in. If you’re tracking an order, but it never seems to arrive to the customer, here’s the documentation you need to prepare:
Order tracking number
Description of what’s in the package
Recipient and sender mailing address
Proof of damage and value
Resources to Help You Out
If you need more information on how to file your insurance claim, check out these main couriers’ resources:
Running a business can be stressful enough. If you’re seeking extra peace of mind, getting shipping insurance goes a long way. No matter what happens to your item during delivery, you can rest assured that you’ll be covered if things go unexpectedly.
Your shipping bill consists of vital information about your package, from details about the recipient to how much you can expect to pay for a shipment. To avoid any nasty surprises or accidentally overpaying for shipping, you want to make sure to read your invoices carefully.
In this post, we’ll look at three leading carriers (FedEx, UPS, and DHL) and the structure that each of their shipping bills follows.
Reading Your FedEx Bill
Here is the format that each shipping bill from FedEx follows:
1. Contact / Bank Information
The first thing you’ll see on your shipping invoice is your contact and bank information. Here are the different things that it will consist of:
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT): Your EFT will include your account name, bank, IBAN, and BIC.
Credit cards: FedEx makes it possible to choose which major credit card you want to use to pay your shipping bill.
Direct debit.
2. Invoice Type
There are two invoice types when it comes to FedEx shipping bills. These include:
Freight invoice: This consists of the transportation charges incurred per Air Waybill.
Duty tax invoice: It details all the clearance charges imposed in the destination region or country.
3. Shipping Information
This part of the invoice covers all of your package’s shipping information, such as:
Shipping number information
Ship date
Reference
Taxable/non-taxable / Total charges
4. Shipper Details
Next, your invoice will include all of the information about the shipper. These details include:
Company name
Postal code
City
Etc.
5. Charges
Here, you’ll see a breakdown of charges incurred at the Air Waybill level.
6. Proof of Delivery
This part of the shipping invoice confirms that your recipient received the order. The bill will show you the signature, date, and time of your shipment to show proof.
7. Overall Summary of All Charges & Total Amount Due
As you reach the end of the shipping bill, you’ll see a summary of all charges, such as taxes, discounts, and more factors that could affect the price.
8. Payment Remittance Address
Finally, the invoice ends with the remittance address to the UPS office.
To avoid any nasty surprises or accidentally overpaying for shipping, you want to make sure to read your invoices carefully
Reading Your UPS Bill
UPS is another popular option to get your shipping and packaging handled. Here’s how shipping bills from UPS are formatted:
1. Account Status Summary
On each UPS invoice, you get a summary of your account, which includes your previous invoices with the provider.
2. Payment Terms
The bill will have a section that outlines UPS’s payment terms and what they entail.
3. Outbound Shipping Charges
In this section of the bill, you’ll get an overview of any outbound shipments during the invoicing period and a tracking number for your package. It will also include information on your shipping zone and product weight.
4. Adjustments and Other Charges
There may be other additional costs that impact the total cost of your bill. These can include late payment charges, same-day pickup, and other factors.
Your package’s dimensions can also add extra charges. UPS determines how much you can expect to pay by taking into account the length, width, and height of your package.
5. Taxes
The invoice will cover which taxes you’ll have to pay for each item you ship.
6. Return Portion
If you’re paying by cheque, this section includes the amount due and the return form to fill out.
Reading your DHL Bill
DHL is one of the global leaders in the logistics industry. Here’s how to read the format of each of their shipping bills:
1. Type of Invoice
DHL has different forms for shipping bills, such as:
Inbound invoice
Outbound invoice
Credit adjustment
Debit adjustment
Your shipping bill starts by identifying which one corresponds to your package.
2. Customer’s Billing Information
Next, your DHL bill will cover all of your customer’s billing information, which includes:
Invoice number
Account number
Invoice date
Payment due date
3. Shipment and Package Information
This part of the bill covers the shipment origin details of the package and the destination receiver. It includes the total number of pieces associated with each waybill and the total weight of the shipment.
4. Service Description and Extra Charges
It’s possible that you chose a particular form of service and have some extra charges that impact the price of your shipping bill. They will all be covered in this section.
5. Total Due
By taking everything above into account, the invoice shows you how much you can expect to pay in total.
6. Billing and Payment Information
The invoice ends with all the bill and payment information (including the customer’s billing address), so you can proceed to pay the invoice in full.
Conclusion
Make sure you take the time to read your shipping bill carefully. While shipping invoices may defer from carrier to carrier, they all provide you with information on the recipient and consider extra charges that could impact the cost.
If your store struggles with cart abandonment, you are not alone.
While it’s impossible to eliminate cart abandonment, there are various ways you can minimize it. In this article, we will review the top 4 reasons customers abandon their carts and determine the tactics you can use to eliminate those problems.
Top 4 Reasons Why Customers Abandon Their Cart
There are many reasons why customers don’t follow through with their purchases. Here are the most common ones:
High shipping costs
A complicated checkout process
Lack of payment options
Glitchy or slow website
Let’s get a little more in-depth with each of these.
High Shipping Costs
The #1 reason why customers abandon their cart is because of unexpected shipping costs.
When customers see that what they’re paying is more than expected, it gives them a reason to leave the checkout page. As a result, they might check out what rates your competition is offering and buy from them instead (also known as checking on Amazon for Prime delivery).
If you’re not offering free shipping, you should seriously consider doing it. There are tactics you can use to make it work for you financially; free shipping isn’t just about straight profit/cost.
A Complicated Checkout Process
Another big reason for cart abandonment is a checkout process that’s too difficult to follow. Online customers are impatient — they don’t want to jump through hoops to make their purchases—too many windows, boxes, and form fields to fill out.
The checkout process should be as fast and straightforward as possible, which we’ll get into later in this blog post.
Lack of Payment Options
Customers have different preferences when it comes to making their payments online. Some prefer to use their credit card, while others want to pay with PayPal.
Ideally, you want to provide customers with as many payment methods as possible. A lack of choice can lead certain customers to leave their cart since they can’t find a payment option that fits their needs.
Glitchy or Slow Website
Lastly, your website’s speed has a vital role in your online conversions.
According to Google, 53% of visitors will ditch your site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. If your website is too slow or glitchy, customers will bounce and won’t bother buying anything.
The quicker your website performs, the higher your conversion rate will be.
The Best Tactics You Can Use to Prevent Cart Abandonment
Now that you know why customers leave their carts, you may wonder how to prevent it. Here are our best recommendations to make sure customers go past checkout:
Use Exit-Intent Popups
You need creative ways to engage web visitors. One of the best ways to do this is by implementing exit-intent popups on your site.
Exit popups track the visitor’s mouse movements to capture their attention as they’re about to leave your website. It’s super helpful on checkout pages, where you can offer customers a discount for the product they plan to buy.
Offering a discount or promotion to customers gives them an extra incentive to stay on your page. As a result, they may change their mind and follow through with their purchase.
Here’s a great example from Roadside Vapes. Not only is it fun with its imagery and copy (“Can’t You Stay a Little Longer?”), customers can get 10% off their first order by entering their email address.
Implement a Buy Now, Pay Later Payment Option
Your success in e-commerce depends on adapting to changes in consumer behavior.
86% of consumers are now looking for payment options that are more flexible and help them save money. It’s why Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is becoming popular among consumers, particularly with millennials and overseas.
BNPL is pretty much the modern version of layaway. Instead of paying the total price upfront, customers can buy your products in installments. It’s a payment method that helps customers split their budgets better and encourages them to make larger orders.
Two options we love for BNPL are Sezzle and Klarna. Both are interest-free and provide you with the money upfront to make sure you get paid. They take care of collecting from the customer, so you see an immediate boost to sales from people who weren’t sure they could afford the purchase up front.
Have a Clear and Generous Returns Policy
Around 66% of customers read a store’s returns policy before purchasing. If your returns policy is complex to read or is unfair, customers may decide to go with your competition instead.
You need to make sure that you write your returns policy with simple language and no complicated jargon. Another good tip is to extend the return deadline — up to 365 days if you can.
Customers want to know that if the item doesn’t fit them, they can always return it with no problem. Ikea is a great example, with a 365-day return policy on an item bought from their store.
Keep in mind that one of the biggest reasons why customers love shopping online is convenience, but one of the biggest problems is that you aren’t there to see how the items look, fit, or feel. You must overcome any worry or fear about returns to grab the purchase and create a loyal customer.
Providing simple and free returns overcomes this problem and assures customers they can expect a smooth and fun shopping experience with your brand!
State Your Shipping Rates
As mentioned earlier, shipping rates are one of the top reasons customers abandon their carts. No one likes to find out they’re paying more than they initially thought.
If you offer free shipping, state it clearly on every page. That’s a great reminder for customers that they won’t have to pay for shipping.
If you don’t offer free shipping, offer an incentive to earn it. Minimum order thresholds for free shipping should be clearly stated on every page. That does two things:
Incentivize customers to add more to their cart to get free shipping
Subtly tell your customers that they will have to pay for shipping at checkout
Clear communication in e-commerce is critical.
Offer Guest-Checkout
Any friction during the buying process will cause customers to abandon their shopping cart.
A common issue among e-commerce stores is that customers must create an account before buying their items. That can feel like extra work for customers who want to purchase quickly.
Instead, your brand should allow customers to checkout as guests. Ask them to give you their email address, and they’re ready.
Offering a membership program is a great way to engage with repeat and loyal customers. Instead of focusing on setting up accounts for everyone trying to buy from you, focus on retaining the best, repeat customers.
Abandoned Cart Emails
A classic way to recover lost sales is to send abandoned cart emails. Ecommerce 101.
Don’t make boring emails. On-brand humor is engaging and much more likely to get the win. You should be using sequences for abandoned cart emails. Here’s an example:
One hour after leaving the cart: simple reminder email. Favorite subject line: “Did life get in the way?”
Twenty-four hours after leaving the cart: something more engaging and funny.
Forty-eight hours after leaving the cart: offer a discount or another incentive.
Simple A/B testing can help you find the right messaging or incentives that resonate with your customers.
Don’t give away the discount immediately; this is a common strategy for people looking for better deals, and sometimes people are just thinking about it. Remember that with abandoned cart emails, you need to keep things creative. Online shoppers see a lot of these and will ignore them, so keep it light, fun, and on brand.
Here’s an excellent example from Dote. Notice the creative copywriting — your shopping cart has abandonment issues. It’s a fun and creative way for customers to finish their purchases.
Install a Facebook Messenger Chatbot
65% of customers prefer using a messaging app to contact brands. On top of that, Facebook Messenger typically has a 90% open rate compared to 15-20% for email.
An alternative to abandoned cart emails is to use a Facebook Messenger chatbot. When customers abandon their cart, you can send them a personalized message on Facebook to invite them back to your store.
Facebook chatbots are also helpful when it comes to answering questions customers may have about your product. They improve the buyer’s journey and cut your customer service work in half.
Anything that makes the checkout process simpler will get customers to buy their cart.
Autofill takes your customer’s details and includes them on your form, so they don’t manually do it themselves. With their information already in place, customers will be more likely to continue their purchase.
Optimize Your Website’s Speed and Responsiveness
The best products worldwide will never make up for a slow and glitchy website. There’s nothing worse for a customer than to run into some technical problems as they’re about to checkout.
You also must make sure that your website is mobile-friendly. By next year, brands can expect 54% of e-commerce traffic to come from mobile. If you’re using Shopify, you can expect a fast and responsive website by default. If you’re on WordPress, then you’ll need to ensure that your developer is on top of page load speeds.
An excellent way to optimize your website is to invest in PWA technology, which offers faster speed, fewer glitches, and better UI for your website. It also makes your website easy to browse during periods of high traffic or poor internet connection.
Wrapping Things Up
Cart abandonment can be a significant headache for businesses. Understanding how your customers purchase and what is important to them makes it possible to increase conversions and drive more sales. Like anything, you must implement and test to see what works. After implementing the best practices mentioned in this article, start by testing one thing at a time to see how abandoned cart rates improve.
