Using SMS Surveys for Delivery Feedback

While there are several ways to send surveys to your customers, SMS is one of the best among them. It is quick, easy, cost-effective, and can reach a wide range of customers. Almost everybody uses a cellphone, and Short Messaging Service is one of the basic features of every cellphone. Whether it is a smartphone, iPhone, or any mobile phone, the option to send and receive SMS is always there.

Whether it is the young generation or older generation, everybody checks the messages they receive. Studies suggest that 83% of millennials open text messages within 90 seconds of receiving them. Whether you are using the latest smartphone or iPhone fully loaded with various features, SMS is something you can never stop yourself from checking. That is why SMS has the largest open rate of 98%, more than three times compared to Email. So you can use SMS Surveys as a reliable medium to gather feedback from your customers.

Why is Delivery Feedback Important?

Imagine you order a dress online. Your order is placed within seconds, and you get a notification of receiving your product within two days. But you do not get it for seven days, and you miss wearing it on occasion, which was five days after you placed your order. How would you feel? Of course terrible, because the delivery is very late than expected and ruined the wholesale purpose of buying that dress.

Similarly, if you receive the delivery on time, but the delivery staff is impolite, you will never feel good while taking delivery because it will make your Delivery Experience awful and ultimately affect your overall shopping experience. You may choose to switch to another online shopping platform or delivery service.

The same is with your customers. So if you are into the online store business, you cannot afford to ignore the delivery aspect.

Why use SMS Surveys for Delivery Feedback?

The online orders process includes registering a mobile number, and most of the online orders are made through phones only. Whether ordering a pizza or purchasing a dress for a party, a phone number is mandatory to provide. Therefore, SMS becomes a channel that you can use anytime to provide information about the customers’ orders.

You can provide delivery status like ‘Packed,’ ‘Out for Delivery,’ or ‘Delivered’ through SMS. Similarly, you can use this channel to send short surveys to the customers to obtain Delivery Feedback.

Although channels like Email and social media are also accessible easily with the increased use of smartphones, still, SMS is an unbeaten mode of communication that never loses its value. 75% of the young generation also prefer to receive communications regarding deliveries, promotions, and surveys through text messages. Here are some Benefits of SMS surveys to be sent to obtain Delivery Feedback.

Useful Features of SMS Surveys for Delivery Feedback

Here are some features of SMS Surveys that make them helpful in collecting Delivery Feedback.

1. SMS Survey Tools can be integrated with your POS and Delivery platforms 
2. SMS Surveys can be scheduled 
3. SMS Surveys can be customized and personalized
4. SMS Surveys can be tracked 

Let’s learn more about these benefits and how you can derive them.

1. SMS Survey Tools can be integrated with your POS and Delivery platforms

It is nearly impossible to manage to send SMS Surveys to all your customers manually in a real-life scenario. That's why it's a great idea to integrate your SMS Survey Tool with your Point-of-Sales and Delivery platforms. With integration, you can set up rules to trigger SMS Surveys once the status of the order changes to 'Delivered' in your POS or delivery platform. This ensures that your SMS Surveys are sent seamlessly and automatically at the right time.

2. SMS Surveys can be scheduled

Another benefit of sending SMS Surveys is that you can schedule them as per your requirement. With SMS Survey Tools, you can also set delays in sending your Feedback SMSes. For instance, if you're seeking feedback about the product quality and not just the delivery, it may be ideal sending the SMS after a delay of 3 days instead of right away. This will give your customers enough time to experience the product. Similarly, it is a great idea to send the Feedback SMS after 2-3 hours in case of food delivery, giving the customer enough time to have had their meal.

3. SMS Surveys can be customized and personalized

You can ask any questions you like in your surveys and completely customize them. You can also white-label them by adding your company branding, logo, background, and more, and set your SMS Sender ID as well. Add logic to make your SMS Surveys more intuitive. For instance, if your customer is unhappy with the delivery (based on your first survey question), follow it up with a question to ask the reasons for dissatisfaction. You could give this as a comment box for customers to share their opinion or give them options to choose from like packaging, delay, quality, etc.

You can also personalize your SMS when sending the survey. Include customers' names, refer to the product they purchased or any other identifiable information, including your brand name, and more to put a better impression and help improve response rate. Studies suggest that 80% of customers are likely to make purchases from a brand providing them a personalized experience compared to other brands.

You also get the option to personalize your SMS surveys as per the product and delivery. You can use placeholders for this purpose. Placeholders help you insert details like the Customer’s Name, Product Purchased, and any other information relevant to the order or delivery required in the SMS. In this way, you don’t need to draft a new message manually every time. It will automatically take the details and include them in the content of the text message.

You can collect Delivery Feedback through SMS whenever a delivery is involved in your business. Be it a courier delivery or a food delivery; Delivery Feedback is relevant for all, and SMS is the best way to gather it. Here are some use cases of SMS Surveys for gathering Delivery Feedback.

4. SMS Surveys can be tracked

With Zonka Feedback, you track all the SMS Surveys you sent — view how many SMSes were sent, to whom, and when. Check delivery dates and time. View if the survey was opened and was responded to or not.

1. Using SMS Surveys for Delivery Feedback
2. Feedback for Product Delivery
3. Feedback for Restaurant and Food Delivery 
4. Delivery for Couriers and Packages 

Let’s explore how and where you can use SMS Surveys for obtaining Delivery Feedback.

1. Delivery of Products purchased through Online Shopping

Online shopping has become a part of the lives of many. There are different types of products that people purchase online. Be it clothes, linen suits, accessories, decor items, groceries, or even medicines; almost all products are available online for people to buy. Especially after the advent of the pandemic of COVID19, online shopping has increased to a large extent. 49% of the global customers do more online shopping than they used to do before the pandemic, and this number is 62% in the U.S.

As online shopping increases, so is the home delivery of products because delivery is a significant part of online shopping. It is something that strongly affects customers’ experiences. You can use Delivery Feedback Surveys to gauge satisfaction about various aspects of product delivery:

• If you want to capture only delivery feedback, it is ideal sending a delivery survey right after the product has been delivered. Here is an example:

Hey [Name], thanks for purchasing with us. Your [product] was delivered today at [time]. We would love to know your delivery feedback. [Feedback Link] - [Company Name]

If you want to obtain feedback regarding the quality and satisfaction with the product, it is ideal to schedule it 2-3 days after the delivery. Here is an example:

Hey [Name], thanks for purchasing with us. Your [product] was delivered on [date]. We would love to know your feedback about how satisfied you are with the product quality.  [Feedback Link] - [Company Name]

You can also use these templates for creating delivery feedback surveys.

Using SMS Surveys for Delivery Feedback will ensure you get the accurate picture and customer insights of how the delivery of your products was. You can trigger SMS Surveys to be sent to the customers as soon as delivery happens and the status is changed to ‘Delivered’.

2. Food Delivery and Restaurant Home Delivery Feedback

 
Like online shopping has increased, the delivery of food has also increased to a large extent. Researches suggest that every year, food delivery in the U.S. increases by 20%. Moreover, the pandemic has also led to the fast growth of food delivery globally. People don't feel safe and comfortable eating outside. 43% of Americans feel more comfortable getting home delivery of food rather than dining at a restaurant.

So if you have a restaurant or a takeaway restaurant, Food Delivery is a significant area to focus on. Delivery has a substantial effect on the quality of food delivered. Delay in food delivery can finish the freshness of food and make the food items stale and difficult to consume.

Moreover, the behavior of your delivery staff directly showcases your hospitality. So you need to ensure your delivery staff behaves in a pleasant like your waiters act with the customers at the restaurant. A Delivery Survey helps you to do that. You can ask these types of questions in a Food Delivery Survey:

• How was the delivery?
• Was the delivery person courteous?
• Was the food delivered on time?
• Was the food delivered packaged well?
• Was the food hot and fresh when delivered?

For this purpose, you can trigger SMS surveys as soon your delivery staff delivers the food. Here is an example of a survey message you can send to collect food delivery feedback.

Hey [Name], thanks for giving us an opportunity to serve you. Your food was delivered today at [time]. We would love to know your feedback about how much you are satisfied with the quality of food and delivery service. [Feedback Link] - [Company Name]

Sending a Delivery Survey at the right time will enable you to get real-time customer insights. You will be in a position to improve Customer Experience in case you receive negative feedback. If you send SMS Surveys just after delivery, the customers can share their experience, and you can quickly take appropriate action on it. This way, you can even convert negative feedback into a positive one.

3. Delivery of Couriers

Delivery of Couriers across the globe is increasing. The global courier industry consists of more than 580,950 businesses employing around 4.1 million people. Reports suggest that the sector recorded a growth of 4% than the previous year, with total revenue amounting to $325 billion in 2019.

If you are into Courier services, delivery of goods is the mainstream work in your business. Here, capturing Delivery Feedback becomes a priority because Delivery Experience is the only thing that can take your business towards success or failure.

So whenever you deliver a shipment, you should send SMS Surveys to your customers. You can also send messages informing that the consignment is delivered and, in the same SMS, include a survey link asking for feedback. Here is an example of such a message:

Hey [Name], thanks for using our courier services. Your shipment was delivered today at [time]. We would love to know your feedback about our courier services. [Feedback Link] - [Company Name]

Sending such a message and capturing Courier Delivery Feedback will enable you to know about and improve the Customer Experience by focussing on the improvement areas of your delivery service.

You can use SMS Surveys to capture Delivery Feedback in all the above cases and any business where delivery of goods is involved.