Singapore consumers are well-known to be the most demanding with their e-commerce experience. However, a recent survey shows that Singaporeans are happy with the state of e-commerce delivery with over 75% giving a 5/5 star rating in terms of delivery satisfaction. The catch, however, is the speed of delivery: 75% of consumers rate 5/5 if the delivery transit time is between 0-3 days, 60% when delivery transit time is 3-6 days and falling drastically to 34% when delivery transit time lengthens to 6-9 days.
This was revealed in a new survey by Parcel Perform and iPrice Group, conducted with over 80,000 consumers across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. Parcel Perform is a global software-as-a-service (SaaS) parcel tracking solution tracking over 600 logistics carriers globally. iPrice Group is a meta-search website operating in seven countries across Southeast Asia.
Across Southeast Asia, 34% of consumers continue to see parcel delivery as the biggest pain point in e-commerce. In addition, over 90% of customer complaints and negative feedback are related to late delivery or a lack of communication about delivery statuses.
Faster deliveries continue to make consumers happy, with customer satisfaction rates decreasing as transit time increases. Comparing across countries in Southeast Asia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam consumers are more satisfied with their e-commerce delivery experience as compared to Indonesia and Malaysia.
“With every parcel delivery, there is an average of 4.6 consumer touchpoints available during the delivery process. These are excellent opportunities to engage consumers after checkout. By improving the post-purchase experience customer engagement, we have seen our customers improve their customer lifetime value by 40%.” said Arne Jeroschewski, Founder and CEO, Parcel Perform.
“Due to the proliferation of options in online retail today, consumers in Southeast Asia are extremely savvy e-commerce shoppers and are increasingly more discerning when it comes to selecting when, how and who they purchase from. Besides making price comparisons across platforms, consumers are also getting more demanding in the post-purchase delivery process. Merchants will have an edge if they provide a fully visible post-purchase delivery experience with constant communication and engagement.” said Jeremy Chew, Head of Content Marketing, iPrice Group.
According to the study, faster parcel deliveries lead to higher customer satisfaction ratings. As transit time increases, happy customers (satisfaction rating of 4-5) decrease by 10-15% for each time bracket. The direct relationship between parcel transit time and customer satisfaction ratings shows that quick, punctual and responsive customer service continues to rank high in importance towards customer satisfaction in e-commerce.
At present. 34% of customers are unhappy with their delivery service (satisfaction rating 1-2). Malaysia sees the most one-star ratings, followed by Vietnam and Indonesia. As customer satisfaction is a key factor for customer retention, optimizing the delivery experience is crucial to improving customer lifetime value.
Proactively communicating with customers on expected delivery time and meeting expectations will improve customer satisfaction ratings. Customer expectations on delivery can be managed with proactive communication and updates. Most of the one-star ratings relate to a lack of communication during the delivery period. Consumers expect regular delivery notifications, updates, and expect estimate delivery dates to be fulfilled.
Local carriers should provide estimated delivery dates when available. Further analysis shows that the bulk of carriers with Estimated Delivery Date data are mostly international carriers who operate globally. Local carriers in Southeast Asia can take this opportunity to enhance their logistics data with estimates on delivery dates to enhance their customer satisfaction ratings.
Over 90% of customer complaints and negative feedback are tied to transit time and late delivery. Over 90% of customer complaints and negative feedback are related to transit time, late delivery and a lack of communication in parcel delivery status, with some complaints around the carrier’s service quality (whether the parcel is damaged while in transit and the quality of the carrier’s customer service). Positive feedback is usually shorter, with some customers using emojis to communicate. Conversely, negative feedback is more comprehensive, more emotional and longer.
