Ordering a product online is often like a black box. You order. If you are lucky, you get an order confirmation with a tracking number. However you typically get very little visibility into the process.
A more advanced order method is the one Dominos Pizza uses. You get to see where your pizza is in the order making and delivery process. You can see if there are any problems. The progress tracker is a great approach for keeping customers informed.
Today, I had an amazing experience that takes the order process one step further.
I love magic and decided to place an order with Penguin Magic. Although I’ve order thousands of items from dozens of online retailers over the years, this is the first time that I’ve received a video of my order being packed. Check it out. It is really cool! I can’t wait to place my next order with them.
During customer interactions – orders, shipments, inquiries, problem resolution, claims, etc – is your process a black box? Or do you give your customers visibility into the process and progress?
P.S. I worked with UPS back in 1991, helping them roll out the tracking of ground packages. Prior to that, only air shipments were tracked. This process added a lot of complexity to the business from both a technological and package handling perspective. Interestingly, they invested in ground tracking via barcode scanner not to help the company (UPS) track packages, but to give customers more comfort/visibility to the process. Although this was a huge investment on their part, it did wonders for customer satisfaction.