5 Prooven Strategies to Achieve Top Delivery Speed

Meeting customer expectations for delivery speed can be difficult. Surpassing those expectations is like winning a business marathon. It takes effort and faces tough competition, but it leads to lasting success for your brand.

With eLogii, we've succeeded in helping many clients succeed in the delivery race, and we want to help you too. In this article, we'll give you useful tips from our experience with delivery teams worldwide. Learn how to use eLogii to minimize delays in delivery times, improve efficiency, and more.

Delivery Speed Affects Your Business

The speed of delivery holds importance for businesses of every scale, but don't just take our word for it.

The promptness of shipping holds significant sway over the overall consumer experience. A desire for quicker order fulfillment is consistently expressed by customers, with a clear preference for swift delivery. This demand extends to a majority seeking same-day shipping services. Notably, the speed of delivery emerges as a crucial factor influencing consumer loyalty to a brand. This emphasis on timely and efficient shipping shapes customer preferences. It also plays a pivotal role in their decision-making within the retail landscape.

Fast shipping is not just a nice extra for customers; they see it as a must-have. Successful online stores are catching on to this trend. For instance, Amazon is upping its game by offering Prime members one-day shipping instead of the usual two days. Walmart is also getting in on the action. They provide free NextDay delivery to online shoppers without any membership fees. Businesses, big and small, are using speedy shipping to attract more customers. That is especially true during the bustling holiday shopping periods.

To be successful in the modern marketplace, a solid strategy and resilient technology are crucial.

5 Strategies for Quick Deliveries

Unlock five strategies to speed up deliveries—eLogii is the key tool to implement them easily. eLogii is crafted to assist you in achieving these goals in no time.

Strategy #1: Optimize Delivery Routes

To achieve speedy deliveries, start by optimizing your delivery routes. This involves choosing the fastest and most cost-effective path.

Doing this with manual delivery software or with basic mapping tools becomes challenging. That is especially true with a larger fleet or many daily orders. Route optimization software becomes invaluable in that case.

eLogii effortlessly computes the most efficient routes. It enables businesses to achieve exceptional on-time delivery rates.  In a matter of seconds, it can compute the routes for hundreds of drivers and thousands of orders for up to five weeks. Leveraging the right software, such as eLogii, empowers your entire team. From delivery drivers and fleet managers to leadership teams, they can perform their roles swiftly and efficiently.

Strategy #2: Plan in Advance

If you aim for quicker deliveries, planning is crucial. The more time you have to plan, the smoother your execution will be. Planning only a week ahead leaves little room for adjustments. It also increases the risk of surprises.

For instance, imagine a holiday rush starting two weeks earlier than expected. Planning five weeks ahead allows you ample time to schedule extra drivers. In addition, it allows you to meet the increased demand successfully. On the other hand, if you only plan five business days ahead, you might struggle to react in time. That may result in a potential loss of customers.

eLogii's advance-planning capabilities help businesses like Crocus, an online garden center, ensure smooth deliveries. Since they lacked the flexibility to respond to demand quickly, they needed a system that might optimize routes After switching to eLogii, they saw a 75% reduction in planning time. Crocus also enjoyed a 65% improvement in driver productivity. The overall result was streamlined operations, increased profits, and an improved customer experience.

Due to the efficiency of eLogii's automated route optimization and planning, Crocus was able to streamline this process. They also improved customer service by saving hours per day on customer calls, resulting in happy customers.

Strategy #3: Adjust Routes in Real Time

While planning ahead is crucial, being able to change the plan when unexpected issues come up is equally important. Just like any journey, delivery routes can have surprises. Drivers might encounter traffic, spend extra time helping a customer during a delivery, or face a flat tire.

To avoid long waits, dispatchers must be notified promptly of any unexpected delays.

With real-time analytics in eLogii, you can check data for the current day, continuously updating as drivers complete tasks. You can take care of anything that has not been addressed by going to the planning screen.

Set up customer notifications and live tracking via email or SMS in the Configuration ⇒ Notifications section. Customize notifications for different task stages, including email and SMS content. Each notification includes a tracking link with real-time details. These include Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA), live driver tracking, task history with Proof of Delivery (POD), and an option for driver rating and feedback. These accessible and mobile-friendly notifications improve customer communication and transparency.

Strategy #4: Prioritize for Efficient Deliveries

Arranging stops in the right order ensures you reach customers quickly and efficiently. Setting priorities for your delivery route is crucial, considering various factors. For example, a customer paying extra for next-day delivery gets a higher priority than a standard delivery. Also, if a rush order is nearby, it might make sense to deliver non-rush orders on the way.

Consider how orders are assigned to drivers, avoiding uneven workloads. Some stops may need specific skills, especially if you offer installation along with deliveries. Finding the right balance helps drivers meet deadlines without unnecessary delays.

To achieve top delivery speed for your team, use eLogii's adaptable software. Fleet managers can prioritize cost-effective routing and even workloads. It helps them adjust routes as priorities change.

Strategy #5: Integrate Forward and Reverse Logistics

Efficiently merge pick-up routes for reverse logistics with drop-off routes for forward logistics. It helps to halve both travel and planning time. When a delivery driver is already heading to an area for drop-offs, it's more logical to have them pick up items from a nearby destination instead of sending another driver.

Many businesses from many different sectors combine both forward and reverse logistics planning to increase their efficiency and turnaround times. By factoring in each vehicle’s unique capacity you can simultaneously plan drop-offs and pick-ups.

Ramp up Your Delivery Speed Today

Utilizing eLogii's software has never been easier. Simply follow these steps:

• Tell us about your Distribution or Field Service business and book a demo here.
• Import your orders from an Excel spreadsheet or any other document.
• Display tasks based on priority. Filter tasks for a particular date during planning using various parameters.
• Plan and optimize routes on a team level and make adjustments as needed.
• Instruct your drivers to install the eLogii Driver App and dispatch routes to them.

• Begin delivering to your customers exceptionally fast.

Even more so, whether you're planning routes for the upcoming week or engaged in broader capacity planning for the next season, you'll receive actionable data. This information can be used to improve your delivery speed and more.