You’re probably familiar with the experience of purchasing something online, then waiting in anticipation for the impending notification—your parcel has been shipped! Then begins the delivery tracking as it makes its way to your door.

Your customers have the same experience and this interaction can leave a lasting impression. Delivery tracking is a key part of the way customers experience your brand.

Step by step

A parcel will go through several key stages before arriving with your customer. The most common of these are:

  • Booked for delivery – the merchant has requested a pick up from the courier
  • In transit – the parcel has been scanned by a courier and has left the merchant
  • With driver – the delivery driver has the parcel and is on the way to the delivery location
  • Delivery attempted – the courier attempted to deliver the parcel but has not been successful. Depending on the courier, the parcel may be taken to a post office or another delivery may be attempted
  • Complete – the parcel has been successfully delivered

Track your shipping progress

Check out our support page for more detailed definitions for each step of the delivery process.

But how does it actually work?

Once you have packed an order, you can schedule a courier. They should scan the parcel at pick up and your customer should receive a tracking notification. At this time, the tracking status will have already moved from Booked for delivery to In transit.

Merchants with tracking enabled on Shippit don’t need to rely on couriers to send out tracking information. Tracking notifications are automatically sent to customers and they can access all of their tracking information on the one page, regardless of the courier or delivery type. Users can even configure their settings to choose which tracking stages to notify customers.

branded delivery tracking

Great delivery tracking = excellent customer service

Mark Teperson, Chief Digital Officer at the Accent Group says that the key to outstanding service is consistency. It can be very frustrating for customers to have an amazing experience with your marketing, website and checkout process, only to receive incorrect, incomplete or untimely tracking notifications.

Product is what they buy from us, but the experience is why they buy from us.

– Mark Teperson, Chief Digital Officer at the Accent Group

Poor delivery tracking, like other shipping fails, leaves your customers with the impression that your business is unreliable and disorganised.

Get a step by step guide to improving your delivery tracking with our comprehensive eBook.