Using Shipping to Strengthen Your Business

Last week, CircleUp and Shippo hosted a joint webinar on “Using Shipping to Strengthen Your Business”. This webinar focused on retailers and brands who ship directly to consumers. In the 30-minute presentation, we went over actionable steps on how to use shipping to differentiate your customer experience, cost savings for shipping and making sure your policies are in alignment with consumer expectations.

Some of the key topics that were covered include:

• Decreasing cart abandonment with shipping
• Power of “Free Shipping”
• ​Managing the Return Process
• ​Post-purchase customer experience

The recording of Using Shipping to Strengthen Your Business webinar is available on YouTube below.

After the presentation, a Q&A session was held. We’ve highlighted some of the top questions here:

Q.  Do you have any tips and tricks for shipping perishables?

A: If you’re shipping perishable goods, you to time your shipments accordingly. Select from regular service levels (2 – 3 days) if you are shipping from Monday to Wednesday, purchase only overnight on Thursday, and aim to not ship at all on Friday.  You do not want anything perishable to be stuck in a warehouse or on a truck over the weekend.  Set consumer expectations around your shipping policies early. Most consumers will understand the reasons behind these restrictions. Another option is to opt for specific carriers who specialize in perishable and food delivery.

Q: Can you tell me more about scan based return labels?

A: A scan-based based label is a shipping label that is free to print. You will only be charged if it gets used – or “scanned” by the courier. Scan-based return labels are great for inserting right inside your box when processing the outgoing order– free to print, you’ll only be charged if the customer decides to return the item.  Scan-based return labels are offered by all of the major carriers.  An additional benefit to providing customers with a scan-based return label (whether it’s inside the outgoing box, or if you’re sending them to your customers in another method) is knowing the tracking numbers of the return. This allows you to update customer about where their returns are, in the same way you would with outbound shipments. If you’re looking at improve your return experience, we recommend reviewing our free whitepaper about setting up efficient return processes.

Shippo is a multi-carrier API and web app that helps retailers, marketplaces and platforms connect to a global network of carriers. Businesses use Shippo to get real-time rates, print labels, automate international paperwork, track packages and facilitate returns. Shippo provides the tools to help businesses succeed through shipping.