If you want to stand out from the crowd with your trucking or delivery fleet, you’ll need to score top marks of excellence across the board, from damage-free deliveries through to competitive pricing—all while providing a flawless customer experience.
Why is customer experience important?
Not only are well looked-after customers more loyal—they’re also more engaged and more likely to tell others about their great experience. This means more business for you.
In fact, according to an American Express 2019 customer service study, U.S. consumers say they’re willing to spend 17% more to deal with companies that deliver excellent service—a figure that is up 14% from 2014. So, not only has it always been important, it’s something that’s gaining relevance as time goes on.
Of course, this works both ways. If your customers have a bad experience, they’ll make that well-known too. Recent research from NewVoiceMedia reveals that an estimated $62 billion is lost by U.S. businesses each year due to bad customer service.
These days, people expect full transparency and instant communication, and they want it 24/7. Service reps simply aren’t able to provide this level of service. Short of hiring an entire round-the-clock customer service team, what can you do?
This is where technology investments pay off. If your business relies on making efficient deliveries, telematics should be your first stop when it comes to providing best-in-class customer service. It can help you in a multitude of ways—from improving communication to cutting costs. Read on to learn how telematics tech can help you keep your clients smiling.
Enhanced Visibility
Nowadays, people want to know exactly where their order is—from the moment it’s placed right up until it’s in their hands.
With integrated fleet management software, drivers can be more visible when they’re on the road, and data can be shared automatically between the driver, fleet manager, and customer without the need for phone calls and text messages.
There features that allow you to draw virtual boundaries around an area of interest, so you can set an automatic alert for your customer once the vehicle crosses that virtual boundary to notify them of the delivery. This is especially handy if you deliver to that same customer more than once. Automating notifications will not only make your life easier, but also your customer service—outstanding.
This enhanced communication and transparency makes your business look good—while a higher rate of on-time deliveries means customers are more likely to use your service again.
Click here to see how one of our clients is using telematics for better customer service
Accurate ETAs and Better Transparency
No one likes hanging around all day waiting for a delivery.
ETAs provide valuable transparency. They’re also handy in the event a delivery is delayed as the driver can provide the customer with a new ETA to keep them in the loop. After all, if there’s one thing more annoying than a late delivery, it’s expecting something that never arrives.
Calling in with drivers one by one several times a day is time-consuming to say the least, but with telematics, that job can be fully automated. GPS fleet tracking software collects accurate data that you can monitor in real time on your computer screen or mobile device and use this information to make timely estimates for your customers.
Performance Retrospectives
In sales teams, it’s popular to have a leaderboard that shows everyone’s score. It’s a great way to celebrate success and encourage a little friendly rivalry—which is why team leaders do it.
You can bring this same camaraderie into your fleet. Use driver stats to create league tables, then use this information for incentives.
It can also help you check to see whether everyone’s hitting their targets. Being able to pick up on issues means you’ll be able to provide targeted feedback, as well as speak to the team as a whole regarding the organization’s goals and performance. As the infographic below shows, the more clarity, training, and opportunities you provide, the more motivated your employees will be. Meanwhile, your customers will benefit from enthusiastic drivers who strive to provide the best possible service.
More Accurate Billing
Billing is often a time-consuming process. With telematics, fleet managers can hand over much of the admin to the software, which can:
- Generate reports on hours worked and miles driven
- Provide accurate overview of daily travel time and routes taken
- GPS-stamp location and time upon arrival and departure
- Track metrics, including fuel consumption
This information can also help you better plan for seasonal work. If you see a significant spike in work orders every year in the same month, you can preemptively hire more contractors to help out and keep the business going like a well-oiled machine.
Bigger Savings for You (and the Customer)
With data in hand, you can keep a tighter grip on things like fuel consumption, unauthorized usage, and better route planning—as well as maintenance.
This can help you increase your profit margin, while your customer can benefit through price reductions. It also provides more accurate billing, which can be achieved through automatically recorded driver hours and mileage. This not only means their bills will be accurate—it also increases their trust in you.
Better Relationships with Your Clients
As a fleet manager, your ultimate goal is to help your customers thrive. Technology plays a vital part in this. As well as helping you manage your fleet, it can help you foster a culture of regular communication between customers and your team, from tracking and billing through to pickup, delivery, and reviews. Telematics software can assist with this via some of the aforementioned functions, including:
- Automatic notifications to give customers real-time delivery stats
- Timely alerts and personal calls when there are issues or delays
- Accurate billing that includes driver hours and mileage
Great customer service isn’t just a nice thing to do—it’s good for business. If you want to use telematics to improve your customer experience, learn more by requesting our Fleet Complete demo.
Purchasing a fleet management solution for your business does not have to be a tedious effort. Consult one of our business solution specialists to learn more about the benefits of telematics by calling 1-844-944-0824 or book a meeting here.
