Reduce the “where is my order?” »: the five-step method

In the industry, it is called WISMO — where is my order. For most merchants, it is the leading reason customers make contact, and by far the least interesting request to handle: the answer already exists somewhere, in a system the customer cannot access.

The good news is that you can reduce this volume methodically. Here is the order to follow: each step costs less than the next.

1. Measure before changing anything

Review the last hundred messages you received and sort them into five categories: tracking, returns, products, billing and other. This takes an hour and reveals three crucial things: the actual share of tracking requests, the average time between an order and the first question, and the exact wording your customers use.

The last point is the most useful for what follows. “I haven’t received anything”, “what’s happening with my order”, “tracking hasn’t changed” and “parcel stuck” describe different situations and need different answers.

Note the timing too. If half the questions arrive before dispatch, your problem is not tracking: it is the delivery promise you made.

2. Make tracking easy to find without contacting you

Customers write when they cannot find the answer. Check three things, in this order:

• Does the confirmation email contain a clickable tracking link? A link, rather than a number to copy onto the carrier’s website.
• Is there a tracking page in your store? Accessible without an account, using the order number and email address.
• Can customers reach that page from the footer and help menu? That is where a customer who deleted the email will look.

On most platforms, this needs no additional tool. It still removes a substantial share of messages because it removes the reason to send them.

3. Notify customers before they need to ask

Passive tracking is not enough: take the initiative. Three notifications do most of the work.

1. At dispatch, with the tracking link and estimated delivery date.
2. When a delay is detected — a parcel that has not moved for 48 hours — with an explanation of what you are doing, rather than empty apologies.
3. When the parcel is ready at a collection point, with the address and collection deadline.

The second is the notification almost nobody sends, yet it is the most valuable: it turns a customer about to write in anger into an informed customer. It requires monitoring tracking events, which most logistics extensions already do.

4. Make an honest delivery promise

Some tracking requests are not tracking problems but expectation problems. If a product page promises “2 to 3 days” and the actual average is five days, you will predictably receive messages on day four.

Review your actual delivery times, carrier by carrier, and display them. Promising five days and delivering in four does not cost a sale; promising two days and delivering in five costs a message, a reply and sometimes a customer.

5. Automate what remains

After these four steps, some questions still require an individual answer: customers want to know about their own order, now, often on a Sunday evening.

This is where a tool becomes useful — provided it is connected to the store and carrier. An assistant that only rephrases your help page solves nothing; it adds a step before the message. An agent that reads the order, checks tracking and answers with the actual date handles the request from start to finish.

Three criteria help you check that it really does this:

• it finds an order from an email address or order number without making the customer repeat themselves;
• it gives a dated status rather than a holding response;
• it flags problems rather than dressing them up — a parcel that has not moved for four days should be brought to your attention.

What to do first

If you do one thing this week, send the detected-delay notification. It is the cheapest step and prevents the most difficult messages. If you do three things: add the tracking page, send delay notifications and align your delivery promises with reality.

Automation comes afterwards, when you have already reduced the volume — and therefore the bill. This is also why we charge per conversation: reducing requests at the source reduces what you pay us.