5 Free Shopify Order Tracking Apps For Your Dropshipping Store
Customers expect that every dropshipping business provides a means of tracking orders.
The customer experience is now the focus of eCommerce businesses including those operating in a dropshipping model. A major part of that experience is the reliability of order management. The customers want to keep track of the progress of their purchases from the day it is shipped until it arrives on their doorstep. By providing the estimated delivery date, tracking number, and delivery notifications to them, they’ll feel secure about shopping online. To provide this info, you need to install a Shopify order tracking app in your dropshipping store.
Order tracking apps give you a way to monitor your orders and shipments online and update your customers on order status at any point in time. These apps have components like estimated delivery dates, shipment tracking, and frequent order status updates. All these things are essential in the customer experience because the customers will know when to expect the arrival of their package and be notified in case there are delays.
Why provide order tracking?
Although there are third-party websites that allow customers to track the progress of their shipments for free, providing an order tracking service in your site will be more convenient for them. It also creates a more professional impression of your site. When you have order tracking capabilities in place, you’ll get the following advantages:
Reduce the costs of customer service.
Handling customer inquiries and complaints is very expensive in the long-term. After some time you might resort to outsourcing customer service or using a bot to respond to every complaint. You cannot forego answering emails from customers either because you’ll end up with negative customer reviews. Bad reviews can hurt your dropshipping business and in extreme circumstances, may cause it to fall.
If you have installed an order tracking app on your store, inquiries will be significantly lesser. The customer just enters the required details and he will be automatically provided the tracking information. You can save time and money because order tracking is automated without extra work for you or your customer support team.
Meet the expectations of customers.
Customers expect to monitor their purchases during the shipping process. As they are already accustomed to seeing the status of their orders online, it will be mandatory that you put a tracking system in place so you will not lose customers to major retailers like Amazon. If you provide this service to shoppers, they are more likely to leave you a good review, tell their friends about you, or become repeat customers.
More control over the order fulfillment process.
Your job is only done when the customers received their purchases and are satisfied with them. If you can monitor the shipment from day one through an order tracking system, you can easily address any issues that the customers may have. There will be no backlog of emails from unhappy customers because important tracking data can be quickly provided to them. Order tracking can lessen issues, increase customer lifetime value, and get more sales.
There is plenty of Shopify order tracking apps you can get out there with free and paid plans. A free subscription lets you use the basic features of an app while a paid subscription gives you access to more advanced features. If you are not confident in investing money for a premium plan, you can begin with a free plan or free trial and scale later on to a paid subscription when you’re satisfied with the service.
The key to finding the right order tracking app for your business is to try every app yourself. As it won’t be practical to try out all the available apps in the market, you can start with those that have already reviews online like the following free Shopify order tracking apps.
- Order Status Tracker
This app is free and easy-to-install. You could easily understand and use it to track customer orders. The statistical report lets you view the number of customers who have tracked their purchases using this order tracking app. The customer just enters his or her email address to find the order number and click on it to view the real-time order status.
- Tracktor Order Tracking
An app that integrates with over 800 carriers, Tracktor allows customers to track orders in real-time with or without an account in your store. Customers will be able to check the status of their shipped orders anytime they want in your store. Tractor offers a free plan and a paid plan starts at $14.99/month.
- Parcel Panel Order Tracking
Parcel Panel handles everything inside Shopify. It allows customization of order status so you can show only the information that you wanted the customer to see. You can also translate the tracking page to your local language. It integrates with more than 500 major carriers and allows carrier matching so you can track the actual carrier even if it is not supported by Shopify. This includes ePacket(China EMS) & Aliexpress standard tracking. Paid plan starts at $9/month but the free plan is also available.
- ReConvert Post Purchase Upsell
This app was designed to turn customers into repeat customers by optimizing the thank you page. Among its numerous features is order tracking with the 17Track order tracking widget. The customer will be able to check the status of his order using the tracking number. It supports multiple languages such as English, German, Japanese, French, and more. The free plan is offered and free 30-day trial but you can get a paid subscription for as low as $7.99/month.
- AfterShip Track & Notify
Considered to be the most popular order tracking app on the Shopify app store, After Ship integrates with 500 plus carriers worldwide including China Post (ePacket) and China EMS. Customers can look up tracking information by entering their order number+email or tracking number. You can send an automated text or email notifications with a one-click tracking link to the customers using this app. Aftership has a free plan, a 14-day free trial, and a paid subscription that starts at $9/month.
Final Thoughts
The ability to track their orders is a priority for customers buying items online. It has become essential for dropshipping stores who want to give a good customer experience as a way to retain their business. Make sure that you have an order tracking system in place when dropshipping products to stay competitive with both small and major retailers out there. Try the order tracking app yourself and take advantage of the free plans for starters. You can always scale when you find the right app for your business.
Want to learn more on dropshipping?
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