The delivery experience is broken
I had two package deliveries this week with stuff I bought on the internet. In both cases the experience of getting the packages was somewhat unpleasant.
Let’s look at these two examples, and the possible solutions to improve the process shall we?
Delivery 1
It was an early Tuesday and I’m on the way to work on the morning bus. I get an SMS (translation below) from Schenker (shipping company):
Translation:
Hi! We have a delivery for you. Please contact us to phone (031) 7039600 and put in your SendingID [number]. Best regards, Schenker support.
Notice that the message doesn’t mention what’s in the package. Frankly, I had no idea what was being delivered to me.
This SMS leaves me with one option; To call and figure out what it’s all about, so that’s what I did.
A robotic voice answers the phone and asks me to put in the 9 letter Shipping ID. My brain is unable to remember anything so I switch between the SMS and Phone App to put in the code and progress to the next step.
Next, the robotic voice tells me: “You are number 24 in line, estimated time around 30 minutes”.
Seriously! I have to spend all this time on the phone on this beautiful morning, and I don’t even know what is being delivered yet 😱
After 30 mins of pain and suffering (ok, it was not that bad) I finally got help from a very nice person and she gave me all the information with some follow-up questions.
Turned out it was chairs for the office that we ordered as a company 4 weeks back. Schenker wanted to know when to deliver them. I answered they could come by on Friday and call outside the office.
On the delivery day, I got into a short meeting with my colleague and missed the call. I called the delivery person right back, but it was to late. He said he could bring it early on Monday instead.
The delivery came on Monday and we were ready waiting for it. Case closed.
Delivery 2
This time, I knew what was coming. I ordered a pair of jeans from the G-Star website.
Immediately after the purchase, I get an email from UPS (shipping company) about the package on its way.
The email includes a password for me and a link to download their app to track the package.
Well, I wish I didn’t have to install an app on my phone to follow a package, but that seems to be my only option and I make it happen.
I open the app and am asked to sign in, simple right?
First question: What is my username? I have no idea. I start by trying my email. That doesn’t work, but I tried a few times more to be sure. Nope.
I give up. I can’t be bothered anymore. What I didn’t realize is that I actually got sent two emails from USP at the same time. The other email included the username for me 😕
The day the package is to arrive I get another email telling it’s coming and hopefully I will be home. It’s the middle of the day so of course I’m at work.
I got lucky as the delivery man called outside our building to ask for a pin code to get in. I was able to ask him to leave the package outside the door by confirming with an SMS. Done, case closed.
How could we improve this process?
In both these stories, I had to jump through hoops to get the package delivered.
Especially, in the first case where I had to wait on the line for 30 minutes.
There are also people on the other end, answering phone calls and doing manual work that could easily be automated.
I have two ideas how the process and user experience could be improved significantly. Let me know in the comments if you have other ideas.
Idea 1: Secret URL to the web
Instead of sending me a username and password to login to an app that I need to download, how about sending me a secret link? The link could lead to a page that is live until the package has been delivered.
Turns out I got this kind of email, but not until the day of delivery.
The page should be fast and responsive to work on my mobile phone. It should include information about the product, tracking information, estimated delivery time and questions on how to deliver the package so they get a pin code to get in.
On the delivery day, they could send a message to tell me that the delivery is coming shortly — maybe 15 minutes before they called outside the building so I can be ready to answer the phone when it arrives.
Idea 2: Conversational UI
Instead of sending me an SMS with no information about the product and asking me to call them. They could have included the information and settled the case using an SMS. A big part of this process could be automated.
