The Impact of Overnight Shipping on Customer Loyalty and Repeat Business

Table of Contents

• What is Overnight Shipping - Key Insights
• How Fast is Overnight Shipping - Interpreting Standard Delivery Times
• Impact of Overnight Shipping on Customer Brand Loyalty
• ​​Encouraging Repeat Business with Fast Shipping
• Grow Your Business with Overnight Shipping

Thanks to online shopping's advanced technology and at-home delivery solutions, businesses of all sizes can appeal to more consumers. As a result, many consumers have higher expectations for convenience and, frankly, instant gratification.

This is why overnight shipping, aka ‘next-day delivery,’ is a powerful feature in e-commerce. Let's discuss the inner workings of overnight shipping and how it can help your business prosper in the competitive online shopping industry.

What is Overnight Shipping - Key Insights

Overnight shipping is the fastest delivery option offered to customers. It guarantees that shipping carriers will deliver customer orders on the next business day. To meet this promise, carriers must process and deliver the orders within 24 hours or the next possible business day.

Shipping carriers can only guarantee overnight shipping on orders received before their daily cutoff times, which vary by carrier, location, and shipping service. Generally, most carriers have a cutoff time of around 4 PM local time for overnight shipments. To ensure you have the correct cutoff time, contact your local carrier. Some carriers and shipping services only offer overnight shipping on weekdays and two-day shipping for orders placed on weekends. 

How Fast is Overnight Shipping - Interpreting Standard Delivery Times

Overnight shipping, also known as next-day delivery, requires shipping companies to have extensive transportation networks to handle the quick delivery window. These systems typically cover most of the U.S., allowing customers to drop off next-day delivery orders conveniently almost anywhere in the country.

Here are the three major carriers' standard and fastest overnight delivery times to help you review how long overnight shipping can take.

• FedEx: FedEx Standard Overnight* delivers by 5 PM for businesses and 8:30 PM for residences. The FedEx First Overnight delivers by 8:00-9:30 AM.
• UPS: UPS Next Day Air* delivers by 4:30 PM. The Next Day Air Early delivers by 8 or 9 AM.
• USPS: USPS Priority Mail Express* has a next-day to 2-day guarantee by 6 PM.

* Shippo offers exclusive discounted rates for these service levels. 

Although USPS Priority Mail may take relatively longer compared to these other service levels, it may best fit your needs if you have a business like Anomalie, one of Shippo’s success stories and an online bridal dress shop that uses USPS exclusively to ship custom wedding dresses promptly and consistently. 

Impact of Overnight Shipping on Customer Brand Loyalty

Three in four U.S. shoppers identify customer experience as a crucial reason to stay with a brand. Since delivery speed is vital to a positive customer experience, overnight shipping can significantly impact customer brand loyalty. Consider these statistics.

• A recent survey found that over 50% of retailers offer overnight shipping.
•  A PWC survey revealed that 80% of consumers consider delivery speed essential to a positive customer experience.
• Salesforce research found that 88% of customers consider customer experience more important than a company's product or services.
•  86% of customers said they would give up on a brand after two or three bad customer experiences.

Encouraging Repeat Business with Fast Shipping

Countless statistics highlight the power of delivery speed as a significant element of customer satisfaction. Offering overnight shipping can increase your chances of earning repeat business. A survey by Dotcom Distribution reported that 87% of online shoppers felt shipping speed was a primary factor in determining whether they would shop with a brand again.

However, offering overnight shipping alone doesn't guarantee consistent fast delivery. It also requires streamlining logistics, efficient fulfillment, tight inventory management, and proper labeling. This is where Shippo helps you leverage overnight shipping for repeat business and greater revenue. We can help your business by:

• Printing labels for all your e-commerce stores in one place
• Helping you get access to and easily compare the best rates from over forty carriers, including discounted rates for overnight shipping services from FedEx, UPS, and USPS
• Allowing you to bulk edit and print labels for multiple orders at once
• Offering the ability to set up shipping automation and defaults in order to ship faster
• Offering easy tracking and returns to your customers

By connecting directly to e-commerce stores, Shippo offers high-volume shippers a cost-effective way to manage overnight shipping with impressive speed.

Grow Your Business with Overnight Shipping

Adding overnight shipping to your business customer experience package will significantly increase consumer expectations for convenience and speedy transactions. As a result, it can help grow your business by increasing customer loyalty, new orders, and repeat business. Get started by joining Shippo.