Taking Delivery Management to a Whole New Level

With all the major retailers providing 48-hour deliveries, digital ordering, and delivery tracking — demand for quick deliveries has skyrocketed. Customers now expect a certain level of speed and transparency when it comes to the deliveries they're receiving. How do you keep up?

From a McKinsey & Company article “Mastering the digital advantage in transforming customer experience,” they describe the value of centering your focus around the customer, which extends to packages and deliveries.

“Improving customer experience delivers real benefits to companies that successfully execute customer-centric strategies. Across sectors, satisfied customers spend more, exhibit deeper loyalty to companies, and create conditions that allow companies to have lower costs and higher levels of employee engagement. In that dynamic of value creation and durable competitive advantage, delivering digital services and operations has emerged as a prime mover in reshaping customer experience in almost every sector.” 

Leveraging a delivery management solution like Dispatch Connect is one way your business can improve customer experience, exceed customer expectations, and still maintain a streamlined delivery process. On top of our already easy-to-use Connect Starter package, we now have Connect Professional — a new subscription level with expanded features that you’ll find indispensable with your everyday delivery planning. In this article we will discuss these features and how they can best be utilized.

What’s New

Customer Branded Notifications

Building customer loyalty is key and can mean repeat business and referrals. With our customer branded notifications feature, you now have the option to upload your company logo in the Connect Settings. It will then appear in all SMS and email delivery notifications sent out. Your logo will also be displayed when you view the delivery status page and serve as a reminder that you contributed to the smooth sailing of every delivery.

Viewing Historical Routes

There may be details you’d like to see from a previous delivery, such as viewing when a delivery arrived. To view historical routes, select the Delivery Management tab to see all your former fulfillments. There is no limit to how far you can go back with Connect Professional. You may also use the Calendar Ribbon or Search function to look for a specific delivery.

Plan My Routes

Route planning has never been easier! Especially if you’re using a whiteboard, an excel sheet, or pen and paper to plan your driver’s day. The Plan My Routes functionality automatically distributes unassigned deliveries efficiently across your vehicles, prioritizing capacity, number of available vehicles, and the time windows specified for an on-time pickup and delivery. Simply place deliveries in Connect, and with the push of a button, routes are assigned and ready to go.

When a route or multiple routes are ready, you will see deliveries in the proposed order. Edit as needed with the drag and drop capability, or send it to your driver. If there are any unassigned deliveries you will see them displayed at the top.

Real-Time Driver Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA)*

Real-time driver updates are expected by customers with anything being delivered to them. ETAs let you provide just that –– giving them confidence in your business and allowing them to plan their schedules accordingly. This eliminates the frustration of having to wait around all day for a delivery or wondering if it’ll even show up.  

ETAs will also give you visibility into all of your deliveries, so you'll know exactly when your driver is expected to arrive at their drop-off location or if the driver is behind schedule.

Updates will show at each stop. ETAs will use real-time traffic or historical data trends and can be viewed in the Dashboard once routes are sent to drivers.

*This new feature is available in both the Starter and Professional tiers.

Using Dispatch Marketplace to Fulfill Connect Deliveries

When your internal fleet doesn’t have the capacity to complete all of your deliveries, you can use the Dispatch Marketplace for delivery fulfillment. You can send any delivery to Marketplace, but common scenarios and examples include the following:

• When you have a hot shot (time-sensitive) delivery
• When you've reached capacity with your fleet
• When there is only a small part to deliver
• When your staff doesn't want to take time away from their core responsibilities
• When it's outside your normal delivery area
• When you experience peak seasons
  

Upload My Deliveries

A brand new feature available in both Connect Starter and Connect Professional is the Upload My Deliveries bulk import. You can now send us your route data to add into Connect. We do it all for you –– further streamlining your delivery planning process and saving you even more time! Find this on the Connect Dashboard.

Connect Starter Package Details

Dispatch Connect Professional has all this PLUS everything included in the Connect Starter Package:

Dispatch Connect Professional has everything you need to manage your deliveries in a manner that enables you to focus on your bottom line while providing top-notch customer service. Reach out to us to learn more or to get started today.

About Dispatch Connect 

Dispatch Connect allows you to gain visibility and share the status of each delivery — enabling you to connect the dots between your business, your drivers, your customers, and your bottom line. With Connect, you’ll be able to manage your deliveries, stay organized, send updates, and give your customers a better delivery experience.