Shipping can be quite a hassle during the holiday season, when there is a surge in orders. WooCommerce stores need to be equipped to deal with this influx without affecting the delivery of the orders.
Delays in orders, especially during holidays, can cause customers to be angry and not come back for another purchase. Keeping this in mind, you have set your store to deal with the large number of orders and ship them on time.
This blog focuses on the different tips you can incorporate to ensure faster and more stable WooCommerce shipping.
Understanding Holiday Shipping Challenges
Common Issues Faced by WooCommerce Stores
Most of the shipping difficulties or delays come due to the inability to handle a sudden increase in orders and the lack of ability for the business to deal with low inventory. The hike in shipping rates and fluctuations can also result in late deliveries and confusion.
It is necessary to have a clear-cut system devised to communicate with the customers about the delivery timelines so that they can plan well in advance with an understanding of the estimated delivery dates.
Prepare your WooCommerce Store Before the Rush
- Audit and Update Shipping Zones, Rates, and Methods: Before starting the shipping for the holiday season, make sure to update the shipping zones to the countries and geographical locations you are serving. You can use a shipping calculator like ReachShip to get hold of real-time shipping rates.
Make sure that your shipping methods are chosen, giving due respect to the shipping options like flat-rate, free shipping, live rates, etc. - Test the Checkout Flow: It is necessary to evaluate the flow of checkout to that of shipping. So, try placing test orders from different addresses and see how quickly shipping options and rates are coming up. This needs to be considered during BCFM deals as it can cause congestion and a drop in sales.
- Stock Up Packaging Materials: During the BFCM deals, it can be quite chaotic. If you aren’t stocking up well on packaging supplies, it can lead to bad packaging. Pack it beforehand, and schedule shipping carriers early to avoid last-minute issues.
Smart Shipping Strategies for the Holiday Season
Have a plan for shipping mishaps
The holiday season will be a hectic time for most shipping carriers. So, there will be more chances that a shipment might get lost or damaged. You need to consider the probability of a mishap more during the holiday season than at other times. Preventive as well as damage control measures should be thought of well in advance to be prepared. Because a lost shipment that can’t be traced would leave your customers really frustrated. Chances are big that those customers will ever order from you again. Here are a few things that you can do to avoid such a scenario
Provide tracking information to customers
Providing tracking information to customers is one of the best ways to avoid the hassles of a delayed shipment. Once you provide tracking information to customers with the carrier details, they will be able to keep track of the shipment at all times. In fact, this will help to reduce customer support calls asking about the delivery status.
There are several WooCommerce shipping plugins that would help you provide tracking information automatically in the order completion email. Choosing such a plugin would be one of the first steps to avoid tracking-related queries on your store. Find a list of WooCommerce shipping plugins here.
Track delayed and missing shipments
When a shipment is uncharacteristically delayed or goes missing, things can get really complicated for an eCommerce store owner. That’s why several prominent shipping carriers offer added services to help you find a missing shipment.
USPS offers a feature called Missing Mail to help you track missing packages. When a shipment has not reached the destination address after 7 days, you can submit a request on Missing Mail. You need to provide all the details regarding your shipment, including the origin and destination addresses, details of the items in the package, and, if possible, even photographs. They will keep you updated about the search progress with periodic updates.
When you choose a shipping carrier that has an option to search for missing packages, you are reducing one of the possible headaches during the holiday season. Here is a list of WooCommerce shipping plugins that will help integrate USPS services on your store.
Plan B for delays due to bad weather
Another unavoidable scenario in shipping is the delays due to bad weather conditions. One strategy would be to take into account possible delays and slightly extend the estimated delivery time for an order. This way, customers will be more prepared for a delay. Another option would be to identify weather delays at particular locations and accordingly handle those packages differently. Based on the situation, you can inform the customers about the possibility of a delay due to inclement weather conditions. Another good strategy would be to give priority to shipments that go to such areas where bad weather is clearly causing trouble.
Offer Shipping Insurance
Most shipping carriers provide an insurance option for their services. With insurance, you can be assured that in case of a lost shipment or damaged goods, you will be able to refund your customers. However, you might have to incur an additional expense in the insurance premium. Though the extra expense might not be desirable, it saves you from a lot of future hassles.
According to a study, a considerable percentage of online shipments arrive at the customers damaged. And that can be a definite cause for returns. If you have shipping insurance that protects you against product damage, you can breathe easy in such scenarios.
EasyPost, a third-party shipping company, offers services of several leading shipping carriers through their API. They offer shipping insurance at a premium of 1% of the package value. EasyPost will handle all the claims and, in most cases, settle them within 30 working days. You can find a good WooCommerce extension to integrate EasyPost services on your store here.
Return policy
Another very important responsibility of an eCommerce store owner is to devise a clear and reasonable return policy. In this age, where choices are many, customers would obviously prefer a store that has a hassle-free return policy. A good, detailed return policy helps new customers form a good first impression of your store. In fact, a return policy can influence conversion rate, particularly during the holiday season.
However, having a good return policy will only do half the job. You need to execute returns and refunds in a trouble-free manner so that customers are not bothered. Getting the assistance of a useful plugin that would let you handle returns effectively can make a lot of difference. Here is a plugin that you can use for better management of returns and refunds.
Provide Customers with Options for Gift Messages
During the holiday season, a lot of online purchases are gifts for friends and family. Obviously, there will be certain additional demands for customers in the form of gift wrapping requests or adding custom messages. This needs to be taken care of by your fulfillment team carefully. How can you manage this on your WooCommerce store? Here is a solution that would help you deal with this more effectively.
WooCommerce Checkout Add-ons
This plugin would help you add extra fields on your checkout page to collect inputs from customers. Additional requests, such as gift wrapping or custom messages from customers, can be taken through these fields. The plugin allows you to make these services paid (set up an amount or percentage fee) or free, based on your store strategy. Once an order is placed with additional checkout fields, it will be visible to the order management team. You can even filter orders based on the presence of additional checkout fields. This will help the fulfillment team identify orders with additional requests and handle them more effectively. You can even offer an insurance option this way.
The single-site subscription of this plugin would cost you $79.
Managing the inventory
Another important aspect you need to look into during the holiday season is the management of your inventory. First of all, you will need more space to store the additional products that you might need to stock during the sales period. This is something you need to evaluate well in advance, because finding a place last minute for storage can be an added stress. If you are maintaining multiple warehouses, a good inventory management solution will help you sync all of them. Here are a few solutions that will help you manage your inventory better.
Offer Free Shipping with Better Control
One of the simplest ways to increase conversions during a holiday sale event is to offer free shipping on your WooCommerce store. However, free shipping really can’t be a strategy that you can apply to all your orders. This is because shipping is a costly affair, and subsequently, you will feel the burden. A great way to manage this would be to offer free shipping in a controlled manner. You can create threshold order values above which you can offer free shipping. Here is an article that will give you more information regarding setting up free shipping on your WooCommerce store.
An innovative way to juggle between multiple shipping methods would be to offer them based on the available user roles on your store.
Conclusion
Hope the tips and tools mentioned in this article will help you handle the added challenges to your WooCommerce shipping strategy during this holiday season. The most important aspect is to prepare all aspects of shipping, from inventory management to returns handling, well in advance. Let us know in the comments section if you want to add an insight to this article.
FAQs
How can I prepare my WooCommerce store for the holiday shipping rush?
Audit your shipping settings, update carrier rates, and set clear order cut-off dates before the season begins.
What’s the best way to handle delayed shipments in WooCommerce?
Use real-time tracking and automated email updates to keep customers informed about any delays.
How do I reduce shipping costs during the holidays?
Compare multiple carrier rates, offer free shipping above a threshold, and use flat-rate options for bulk orders.
Can I automate my WooCommerce shipping process?
Yes. Use plugins like ELEX EasyPost or ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin to automate label printing, rate calculation, and tracking updates.
