For B2B companies selling physical goods, providing accurate estimated delivery dates on your website is more than just a nice-to-have feature – it’s a crucial sales and customer experience driver that can significantly impact top-line sales while controlling bottom-line costs.
The Delivery Date Difference
Research shows that B2B buyers who are given accurate delivery timeframes upfront are 7% more likely to complete their purchase. That’s an astounding 700 basis point increase in conversion rates just from displaying accurate dates, instead of date-ranges.
In today’s impatient world, buyers want an accurate promise made for when their order will arrive. Conversely, uncertain delivery timelines create frustration and cart abandonment. Trust is what’s at stake, and promises made that aren’t kept erode your brand’s value.
Providing clarity manages expectations and increases the likelihood of conversion. Customers appreciate the transparency and know they can continue to trust you.
The Operational Obstacle Course
While the benefits are clear, successfully displaying accurate delivery dates for B2B orders is a monumental challenge involving interdependent systems across the entire supply chain. Here’s just a glimpse of the complex logistics:
Order Management System – Capturing up-to-date inventory data, processing rules, order prioritization, etc.
Labor Scheduling – Having enough warehouse/distribution staff for timely order fulfillment.
Distribution Carriers – Integration with carrier tracking and ETAs based on destination.
Manufacturing Visibility – For companies producing goods, insight into real-time production status.
Even a small hiccup or lack of data synchronization between these nodes can snowball and throw off your entire delivery date calculation. The underlying data, more importantly the dynamic nature of that data, is also a main cause of delays in the delivery promise. The effect is a well-intended effort to ensure a timely delivery that without the proper controls is dependent on a well-integrated set of systems and their underlying data.
The Competitive Advantage
For mid-size B2B companies, implementing an accurate, reliable delivery date system may seem daunting. But those who invest to get it right gain a powerful competitive advantage over peers still defaulting to vague “5-8 business day†shipment windows.
By bridging potential gaps between order management, production, warehouse management, distribution, and logistics systems, suppliers can provide the real-time delivery transparency that B2B buyers crave. And capture more of that 7% revenue boost from increased conversion rates.
The Path to Precise Delivery Dates
While complex, confidently displaying delivery dates is an attainable goal.
It starts with a thorough assessment of your existing IT systems, data streams, process flows, and potential integration hurdles. Creating calculated, defensible delivery estimates also requires accurately modeling historical transit times and real-world delays from issues like weather events.
With a clear map of technical requirements and proactively designing fallback reporting when exceptions occur, B2B companies can deploy delivery date capabilities that delight customers and drive more sales versus leaving that revenue on the table.
For many companies, going at it alone seems to be the best route given limited financial and human capital. While we’re all being asked to do more with less, this approach may backfire, as the path to showing delivery dates and continuing to optimize on the promise is ripe with risk along the way.
There’s no sense in going at it alone if you’re able to access guidance from a firm with specialization in this specific area. Supply chain technology partners that have delivered similar solutions can provide expertise in tying together multi-vendor systems, identifying risk areas, configuring data mappings, and optimizing delivery date logic for your unique business.
Contact us today to discuss how we can implement robust, accurate delivery date capabilities.
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