Customer Service in Logistics: Importance, Challenges, Strategies

It also involves offering customers the ability to compare available services and prices, as well as showing them how everything functions. When you’re jumping from your TMS, to email, to Slack or Teams to chat with your team, information inevitably gets lost, and your team wastes time switching between platforms. Build a process for ongoing education to give reps continual training, on top of a regular training program for newly hired employees. This should be scheduled, structured time to go over process changes, share updates, or swap solutions that might be helpful for the rest of the team. When it comes to customer service, our #1 priority is communication, said Ben Cisneros, Sales Manager at Quality Material Handling, Inc.

It also has options to rate the delivery experience or write a review after your food arrives. If your mechanic was sent a text about the delay from her provider, she could have called you immediately to let you know about the delay. Or better yet, if she had SMS customer support, she could send you a text regarding the update, similar to the example below. It is a critical component of managing supply chain relationships and will give your brand the best chance of consistent delivery success. The importance of customer service in logistics should not be understated. And with this increased visibility, they will be able to provide better customer service and make more impactful suggestions for your operation.

PLS and customer service

Another factor in the overall customer service level is the amount of variability present in each service provided. The larger the uncertainty in a supply chain the larger the costs for safety inventories, time in transit, or cost of expedited deliveries. In the case of customer service, variability is generally considered negative to overall customer experience. Pretransaction elements of customer service mean to establish a climate for good customer service. This element of services deals with the service level and related activities in qualitative and quantitative terms. Pretransaction elements provide the roadmap to the operating personnel regarding the tactical and operational aspects of customer service activities of the company.

Your company can train dispatchers, salespeople, or have a dedicated customer service team to answer calls and queries in a timely manner. To facilitate efficient communication, your company should invest in a business phone system. This will streamline all customer service interactions, enhancing the clients’ overall experience. Effective customer service is crucial for building a strong brand reputation. It’s essential to present your products or services as high-quality to meet increasing customer demands.

Shipping Service

Remember, a well-trained workforce will not only manage day-to-day operations efficiently but also help your organization adapt to evolving industry trends. Take these figures, for instance — 48% of customer service in logistics employees want professional development opportunities to feel engaged enough to stay. For one, investing in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and automated management systems is costly,.

However, bad customer service and delivery issues will make unsatisfied clients drop negative reviews. Such complaints don’t only focus on the product delivered but may also revolve around the type of customer support people received. Yet, the bigger your company becomes, the more challenging it might be to maintain good customer service since everybody involved in the logistics process is impacting it. Even though it might be impossible to be perfect, it’s still important to improve and ensure that your clients have an easy, smooth experience when collaborating with you. “In the unpredictable and time sensitive world of supply chain, rapid internal communication is key to delivering results for customers,” she said. “It’s critical that cross functional team members can collaborate in real time to solve issues before they even reach the customer.”

This is due to the fact that more and more work is performed by specialized logistics personnel who are trained to perform certain activities. You may well know what to do regarding the continuous work loss rate and how dangerous it can be for your company’s future but are you ready for the grim truth? You’ll have to take note of some vital factors to effectively address the issue and increase the retention rate straight away.