Delivery, trust, and the post purchase experience

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Are you obsessing about customer acquisition, checkout and user experience?

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Because that's not where it's at. The moment that actually defines what a customer thinks about your brand isn't in your beautiful

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store or your slick website or even the product.

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It's about the delivery and the returns process.

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Welcome to Retail Reckoning. On the 3rd of February, I was a panellist at the Delivery Conference and I was talking about two

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the delivery process and how that influences customer experience,

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and returns. And it's got me thinking — delivery isn't a backend operation, that's just a process to follow.

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It's really genuinely the final and most emotional touchpoint — because if you get that wrong,

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you can undo months of careful brand building, product development, promotions, marketing and store design.

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If you nail it, you can turn logistics into loyalty, trust, and repeat purchases.

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But then again, I — many, many moons ago — did the postgraduate diploma with the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

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I am a supply chain professional. I do believe in the art of demand forecasting, capacity planning,

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logistics planning and so on. So I'm probably a little bit biased.

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But this does tie perfectly to the previous episodes, because delivery and after-sales aren't separate.

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They're a continuum — and together they make or break your post-purchase experience.

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I'm going to zone in on why delivery matters more than you might think.

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And it's an uncomfortable truth. Customers cannot separate your brand, product, in-store experience,

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website, slick checkout from their delivery experience.

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They don't think, "oh, the brand is great, but the courier was slow." It's all the same thing —

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because delivery leaves a lasting impression.

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And I'm sure everybody listening knows that, because they'll have felt it themselves.

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This is the final checkpoint in the customer's emotional journey.

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This is when expectations meet reality. The trust in that brand is tested and the brand promises either land or fail.

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But retailers are still getting this wrong.

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I don't understand in this day and age how that's happening.

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I mean, we've had online retail since — I think 1997 was the first online transaction,

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prior to that mail order. Prior to that, you'd go into the store, specify your sofa,

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and in X number of weeks it turns up. And yet we're still getting it wrong.

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We over-promise and under-deliver, there's poor communications, late arrivals and damages and mistakes,

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and these are significant irritations. In fact, to be fair, they're brand disasters in a world of social media —

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and that means those brand disasters end up online for the world to see.

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And it's really, really hard to turn a detractor back into a customer, let alone an advocate.

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But for me, it's all about setting expectations.

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Setting expectations and keeping promises beats speed of delivery every time.

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So I don't think it's important to have fast delivery at any cost — because speed's irrelevant.

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If it's unpredictable — today, tomorrow, next week — just tell me when it's coming,

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so I can make sure I've not booked a call.

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I mean, I work from home personally, so I don't want my delivery to turn up early.

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I certainly don't want it to turn up late, but I want it to turn up when they said it will.

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Clarity, transparency and reliability are just so essential to my experience, because I'll plan my calendar around when I'm told

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something will turn up. And I'll avoid booking a meeting if I receive a message to say:

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your delivery will come between one and 2pm on whatever date it is.

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And I'll think, okay, well I won't make any commitments at that time.

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If it then turns up at half past twelve and I'm on a meeting or not at home — that's really annoying.

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So setting the expectations — it's going to arrive on this day between this time —

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sending updates if anything changes, and allowing me to be able to say, well, actually that's not convenient.

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I'm going to need you to rework that. And not trying to hide problems — that's super important in terms of the whole trust and

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brand relationship. So I would actually go the other way and I'd say — it's more common sense maybe,

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but maybe not to everybody, because it's not happening — and that is to under-promise and over-communicate.

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Because I think customers — well, certainly I — would forgive a delay more than an early surprise,

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because I can plan for that. I don't like the surprise.

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Early, late, goodness knows what's happening or when it's happening, being kept in the dark —

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that doesn't work for me. And that's because it's quite emotional.

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A lot of people treat the delivery process as operational when it's emotional.

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Let me restate that. A lot of people treat the delivery process as operational when it's emotional.

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If you think about it, a customer has already parted with their cash and is waiting for their product to turn up.

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This is meant to be like instant gratification — like going to a store.

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It's meant to be convenient. It's meant to make life easier, and you plan your life around the delivery.

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I know it sounds silly, but even if it's just a small thing — a letterbox-sized item —

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I still expect it to arrive on time. And crikey, if it's something like a piece of furniture where I'm going to have to let people

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into the house, have them traipsing around, potentially unboxing, potentially building furniture or putting things together and

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then leaving with the waste — that takes up a reasonable amount of my life.

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So I want it to go smoothly, and at the end of it I want to feel happy because I've got myself a new thing and the instant

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gratification has now been rewarded. And if it doesn't go to plan, I just feel frustration,

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disappointment, doubt — and I want to share that with someone.

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Obviously the polite thing to do is share that with the brand themselves.

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And yeah, people do take to social media, take some photographs and have a rant.

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Can anybody really afford that kind of negative feedback these days?

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And it's really the small touches that make the difference.

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So things like real-time tracking that actually works — it doesn't just say it's on the way.

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Okay, it's on the way, but it's been on the way for two days.

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I mean, where on the way is it? Is it five minutes down the road or is it two days more?

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And then you have things like the politeness and the genuine empathy when things go wrong —

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so customer services, people who handle returns, complaints and so on.

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Who are empowered to not just read a script, but actually talk to you like a human being and say,

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what can I do to make this better for you?

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Sometimes you just want to be listened to.

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Sometimes you want them to refund you the cost of the delivery and get it sorted out as soon as possible.

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And there are a million and one different spectrums in between.

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Also having the ability — if something does go wrong, if something is delayed — it should be really easy and seamless for the

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customer to change what's required. So the self-service adjustments: leave it with a neighbour,

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bring it on this day — because actually the day you're telling me you're going to bring it now is no good for me anymore.

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And it's about good packaging. Packaging needs to protect the product.

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It also needs to represent the brand. And there are certain lower-cost online clothing retailers that stuff the clothes into the

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tightest, cheapest, nastiest polythene packaging — and it doesn't feel good when you receive it and everything's scrunched up

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anyway. And yes, okay, I've not paid a fortune for it.

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But if it was just nicely packaged in a recyclable cardboard box with some tissue paper so that everything doesn't get crumpled

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and disgusting, I would feel so much better — and I'd be happy to pay a little more for delivery.

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Do you want premium delivery — and it'll come in a box with tissue paper — or low-cost delivery where it comes scrunched up in a

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polythene bag? But also there's the sustainability point.

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It's surely better for brands — and pretty much every brand — to be able to present their delivery in a nice,

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clean, sustainable way, even if we all know it costs a little more.

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And I guess this is where the logistics and the supply chain meets branding.

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And I've always had arguments with colleagues in marketing in the past — I'd say:

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without supply chain, you wouldn't have anything to sell.

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And marketing would say: without us, there wouldn't be any demand.

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And I think we're both right. And that's where we have to break down the silos and work together.

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Because the reliability and consistency of delivery helps build confidence with customers,

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and sloppy approaches can erode both really quickly.

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So no one's a winner. And I think it's also important to consider that delivery is part of the wider customer journey —

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because for many retailers, if you're online only, how else are you going to get the product to the customer?

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Now, we can use collection lockers. One of my good friends works with a company called E Lockers.

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There are so many different options available for 24/7 collection, which might be more convenient than home delivery.

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But it only really works with products that fit within the locker size.

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And I think retailers miss the fact that you haven't got a store in every single neighbourhood.

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Well, some people do — but very few do. So delivery cannot stand alone.

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It is still part of the customer experience.

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And if it goes badly, it really does affect our choices as to where we'll shop in the future.

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And it also flows into things like the returns, the exchanges, and the post-purchase communications.

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So for me, everything that happens after the point that I've parted with my cash is still part of my customer journey.

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It hasn't ended at the transaction. Smooth deliveries lead to a level of trust, recommendations,

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advocacy, very positive reviews and post-purchase interactions.

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And of course, it leads to repeat purchase — because that's all down to trust.

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But if the delivery process is messy and confusing, it leads to frustration, lack of trust,

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negative reviews, potentially quite angry social media reactions, and almost certainly lost future business —

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not just from the customer, but from the people in their network who see that they've had a bad experience and think,

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well, I won't buy from them then. So I would say — with my process and systems hat on —

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that you have to map the end-to-end experience.

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Every single touchpoint from the checkout to the doorstep, to that moment of gratification when you're holding the product you

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paid for — potentially having waited some time — in your hands.

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And it meets with the quality expectations you had of the product, because that's all part of the whole post-delivery experience.

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how did the delivery go? Were you happy with the product?

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That's the email marketing side of things that engages the customer — not spamming them,

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but asking how they feel, getting truthful feedback.

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Because you can then say: if it didn't go to plan, we'd love your feedback so we can improve for next time.

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And at least it makes you feel honest and real.

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And if you get this whole chain of events right, your operational efficiency improves —

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because getting things right first time, as the Japanese say with Kaizen, is the answer to reducing waste —

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and it turns your operations into a profit factor and a strategic advantage.

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So I think that retailers need to focus on a couple of things first.

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And if you are new to delivery, or a smaller business and you've not done this before,

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my recommendations are: start with clear and very realistic delivery promises.

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No marketing fluff — and you need to be able to meet those promises.

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It's better to say it'll take longer and be truthful than to over-promise and under-deliver.

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And then there's the communication. There are so many tools out there that give live updates,

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trackings and help set expectations. Proactive communications — you do not want a customer asking,

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where is my order? You want to be telling the customer where their order is before they need to ask you.

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Because that means they feel cared about.

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And also use the correct communication channels — you could ask the customer: how would you rather be updated?

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Email, WhatsApp, SMS, phone — anything. Carrier pigeons, probably not the most effective.

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And then it's about training as well. I always bang on about training and making sure people are empowered,

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because they have to be able to deal with exceptions with empathy.

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Customers don't want to be met with a blank face and a person who has to follow a script or be referred up to a manager.

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Customers want to know that the people they speak to can just deal with it.

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They don't want to wait for somebody else to come on the line or for a callback in two hours.

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That's just further frustration and further friction to the process.

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And we also have to think end to end. It starts with the transaction, then delivery.

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But there are cases where we need to manage returns — whether that's a quality issue or simply that someone ordered three

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different sizes and three different colours just to try.

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And then all of the post-purchase engagement.

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Imagine selling a sofa and, six months down the line, you say to the customer: fluff up your cushions,

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don't forget to do this, don't forget to do that.

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You can use the hoover, you can wash the covers — and this is how you'll give your sofa the most extended lifetime.

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And that makes a customer think: they're not just trying to get the next sale out of me.

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They're actually telling me how to look after my product — one I've probably invested several thousand pounds in.

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So the whole end-to-end engagement from the transaction and beyond is really important.

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And I think those four things mean that delivery can go from being just a necessary evil —

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a logistical and operational activity — to something that helps define the brand and the brand values,

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and helps people feel more connected, more loyal and more likely to recommend.

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So to wrap up, I want to bring it all back to trust.

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Trust is becoming, more and more, almost the currency of retail.

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And I feel like after-sales service is often overlooked — but I think that's where trust is earned.

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Because if you can't walk out of the store with the product you've just parted with your hard-earned cash for,

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you enter a kind of anxious zone, and that anxiety lasts until it turns up.

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You've given them your money, but you haven't got your product yet.

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So trust is essential, and delivery is where it's earned or lost.

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And customers are going to judge you on the very last thing they remember — that last-mile moment.

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So if the person who delivers just throws it over the fence, versus someone who is uniformed and makes a point of saying,

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"have a good day" — it makes a difference.

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It needs to be seamless, it needs to be transparent, but also human — so that they'll remember it,

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and they'll remember you. If you get this wrong, all the months of careful brand building and marketing can quickly unravel.

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Because the bottom line is: delivery isn't a logistics problem.

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It's a commercial opportunity disguised as operations.

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If you nail it, you're not just doing parcel delivery — you are actually delivering trust and customer promises.

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Well, that's my thoughts on this, and it was inspired by the Delivery Conference where I spoke on the 3rd of February.

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I'm Clare Bailey, the Retail Champion, and you've been listening to Retail Reckoning.