Order Fulfillment: 5 Tips For Successful Outsourcing (Tip 5)

The fifth and final tip for successful outsourcing is to realize that your brand is at stake.

Order Fulfillment

This is the final segment in our series on how to achieve success when outsourcing order fulfillment. If you missed our earlier articles, we invite you to read those tips:

• #1: Know your goals
• #2: Learn to recognize the differences among fulfillment companies
• #3: Choose people you’d love to work with
• #4: Never skimp on safety or security

So now it’s time to pull it all together.

Tip #5: Your brand is at stake

Fulfillment isn’t some adjunct service. It is mission-critical when it comes to pleasing (and even attracting) customers. Your company cannot grow and thrive by providing a lackluster experience. Maybe you haven’t been thinking “high touch” in so many words, but in reality, every touch point must impress your customer.

Your customer care agents and process have to be spot-on:

• Friendly and US-based, for comfortable conversation
• Available 24/7 via phone, email, or live chat
• Knowledgeable about your products, to easily answer questions and make recommendations
• Equipped with the latest technology, to respond quickly and ensure accurate availability information

Order processing has to be spot-on, too — consistently fast and accurate. Nothing reinforces brand quality like receiving exactly what you ordered. If it arrives early, well, that’s icing on the cake. But what if your customer receives a package that is so impressive that delivery becomes an “unboxing event”? Exceptional brands do exceptional things for their customers.

Most fulfillment companies, even good ones, ship boxes of stuff. But delivering a package that is unexpectedly beautiful not only pleases customers, it transforms them into Customers for Life. It inspires online sharing and powerful reviews that can attract new customers.

These are the impressions we call high touch.

It’s our business philosophy at USA Fulfillment – essentially the Golden Rule we all learned as children, put to work in a business setting. We treat your customers as we want to be treated. As we know you treat them. Because they are the lifeblood of your company.

Every single thing your outsourcing partner does reflects on your brand. Choose well, and your company can soar to new heights. Choose poorly, and you’ll surely be disappointed.

There are many details to consider – far more than we could cover in this 5-part series. So we recommend reading our free e-book, “How to Choose the Right Fulfillment House for Your Company.” And, as we’ve suggested throughout this series, we recommend starting your search by grading your current fulfillment efforts. Make a list of what’s going well, what’s not, and what’s missing. That way you won’t overlook any details during your selection process.