Free, or Speed? Which is Better for Clients, and Business?

What’s More Important to Clients? Free or Speed?

Imagine you’re driving and you come to a fork in the road. You have the option to drive down a curvy path, muddled with a few too many speed bumps, or, you can pay a couple bucks to drive straight through, free of speed bumps (and notice how I used “free” here). What do you choose?

Since I’m usually running late, I will almost always choose the latter and pay my way clear. Then I’ll speed like a maniac. Let’s just say, it’s a good thing I’m a writer.

The point here is that even if it’s “free,” it will cost you somehow. You know that old bit: nothing’s really “free.” It just depends on what expense you’re willing to take. Free or fast.

Can free and fast exist in harmony? Well that’s exactly what this comes down to. You could offer your clients two options: fast delivery for a price and free delivery at a pace. Or, you could understand the demands of your clients and optimize accordingly.

Product Delivery

When it comes to product deliveries, clients prefer security and speed. It’s important to get your clients what they want as soon as possible. Without speed, customers might start to doubt the security of their purchases. Without security, what do you have?

We’ve all been under the weight of the unknown status of a paid purchase. Helpless, you think, “oh when will my order arrive? Aunty Em, Aunt Em.” Poor communication, plus product not yet delivered, equals panic.

It’s an e-world. Ecommerce allows your customers to conveniently order and pay online. There is no excuse to not keep them in the loop with every movement of their orders.

Timely and secure deliveries save stress and show that your business is reliable, and that’s something worth a couple extra bucks.

So how can you guarantee to satisfy your clients without taking a financial dive yourself? Let’s find out. Since we’re focusing on delivery speed and security, you ought to be weighing some options in order to optimize your product delivery.

You should set standards and communicate them to both delivery staff and customers. If your standards are reasonable and everyone is onboard, it’s hard to disappoint. Deviations can be dealt with by your awesome customer service skills. Setting standards becomes easy when you use graphics and KPIs. Keep your employees accountable and your customers informed, otherwise everyone pays for it in the end, whether a customer’s additional waiting time, your additional delivery costs, or your soiled reputation after a bad review.

Weed through your delivery options. See through the consumer’s eyes and choose the best delivery fit. You should consider packaging based on your product. Is the speed of delivery going to affect the caution workers use during transport, and can your product securely make the trip? What return policies do you have in place that can reassure your customers? You should consider all of this to avoid getting burned.

I mentioned before that consumers are used to “instant gratification.” I don’t need to prove that speed is more important than free product delivery. Amazon Prime did it for me. Prime members can pay $12.99USD for lightning fast delivery. Consumers are not afraid to pay for speed. Now let’s switch gears.

Service Delivery

In some cases, delivery fees can kill a product purchase regardless of the speed. It’s a running joke. Laying down $100.00 on books is no problem, but slap on a $5.00 delivery fee? No way! I’m also not an Amazon Prime member. Generally, this is not the case for a service purchase.

Services are special; skilled service workers can’t just be packaged and sent off. This requires great scheduling, availability, and timeliness. To effectively manage service delivery, (I said it before and I’ll say it again) your business should be an effective communicator with your clients.

Above all, your services rely on quality and reputation, and nobody can offer a better quality service for cheaper, right? Your standards shouldn’t suffer to add speed. If you’re going to do the job, you’d better do it right.

Every once in a while (how often, I won’t admit) I’ll order a pizza in haste, and suffer in terms of quality due to my impatience.

Does slow and steady win the race? No, it doesn’t (singular, because I’m imagining a turtle). But quality, speed, and fair pricing do. Your business shouldn’t reflect the issues between The Tortoise and the Hare. Don’t be either one of them. Be a bat. Use the internet like echolocation, be agile with your deliveries, and look cool doing it all. Maybe work during business hours. There’s probably a better animal representation, afterall.

As much as I believe in your business, I doubt it can offer the best speed, price, and quality. You can be amazing at two and competitive with one. You’ll just have to market it right.

Payments

Consumers appreciate and expect real-time payments.

There’s this handy tool called the internet. It allows for efficiency in terms of all that communication I was talking about (shareable files, notifications, receipts, reminders), secure online payments, and money transfers (see Veem). Also, fun fact: did you know you can declare goods through customs online to save time?

Online payments make paperwork obsolete. Who doesn’t love saving paper? Don’t tell Michael Scott I said that.

Seriously, save some paper.

Back to payments: Paying to get paid doesn’t sound right, does it? Payment processing costs can be hefty and complicated. In terms of credit card/debit processing fees, the best suit for your business when considering speed vs. cost depends on the volume of processes. Here’s a great resource to help you understand these fees.

It should be easy to pay you. You could offer a wide variety of payment options to ensure your clients have all available routes. Fiserv claims that “offering an array of payment channels and options at compelling cost points is … a driver of enhanced consumer engagement, since consumers are busy.”

Lastly, international wire transfer fees can hurt and delay payments. Whether you’re sending, receiving, or requesting funds, Veem makes payments simple. Get started now and save on wire fees to 96 countries.