Can Route Planning Software for Deliveries Impact Your CSAT Scores?

When you’re assessing your options in the realm of route planning software for deliveries, you probably have your eye on a few different KPIs: cost-per-delivery, route density, planned vs actual delivery costs, etc.

But one of the KPIs that smarter, faster, and more accurate routing can impact the most significantly is actually your CSAT scores. The right routing software improves delivery performance in a way that directly improves customer delivery experience. 

Here are some of the ways that route optimization software makes that happen:

6 Ways that Route Planning Software for Deliveries Directly Impacts Customer Satisfaction

Cost efficiency and customer satisfaction go hand in hand in the last mile. After all, your customers want you to deliver orders quickly and accurately just as much as you do. 

When your routes are right, that’s exactly what you can accomplish—it’s a win-win.

1. On-Time Deliveries

Nobody enjoys waiting. And late deliveries can severely damage your business' reputation.

But if you’re using legacy routing software—or pen and paper—then you're potentially setting yourself up for late deliveries. There are many factors to consider when planning routes such as traffic, customer availability, driver skill, service times—in other words, much more than you can account for on the back of an envelope.  

There are so many variables involved that any route you come up with using a manual process will likely be flawed. Your delivery teams will hit obstacles like road closures and unrealistic ETAs. Pretty soon, they’ll be running behind schedule and stops will have to get dropped. 

The best routes require route planning software. In less than 30 seconds, modern route optimization tools can take into account all the different factors affecting your routes and generate the most efficient and cost-effective ones for your particular set of parameters. In this way, you can empower delivery teams to consistently deliver on-time.

Your customers will appreciate you for delivering when you promised, so they'll be less likely to switch to your competitors. Apart from helping you keep your present customers, providing an excellent customer delivery experience will help you attract new clients, since happy customers naturally promote your business to family, friends, and co-workers.

As it happens, this can move the needle on your cost KPIs as well. When your deliveries are consistently on time, you don’t need to make as many costly redelivery attempts—meaning you can cut down your average cost per delivery by a meaningful margin. 

2. Tighter Delivery Windows

The expectations of your customers will be for narrow time windows and short lead times. Why should someone have to block out four hours of their day to receive a delivery? When you have route optimization that actually works, you can estimate delivery windows more precisely—and pass that precision on to the customer. 

Sure, you can add some buffer time to the windows that you show customers, but if you can cut those windows from 4 hours down to 2, you can greatly improve customer satisfaction. The shorter the window, the less likely it is that the customer will flake out and fail to accept the delivery—saving everyone involved a good amount of heartache and frustration. 

3. More Flexible Deliveries

Delivery runs rarely go precisely as planned. A particular installation might take much more time than expected, throwing off the schedule for future stops. Or a client may call in to let you know that the time window they requested doesn’t work for them anymore. Using advanced route planning software, you'll be able to adapt on the spot. 

It’s not uncommon for customers to change their minds, or for changes to crop up at the last minute. When you can actually work with your customers to keep both your deliveries and their days on track, it’s a win-win. 

This is another reason to avoid planning your routes with pen and paper or any technology that takes a long time to route stops. When you plan using conventional route planning methods in that situation, it won’t be possible to work around the customer's request. Just figuring out a new route wouldn't be possible in time.

On the other hand, with scalable, AI-powered route planning software for deliveries, it’s easier to accommodate last minute requests. Your routes can be changed and re-optimized in just a few seconds. 

4. Live, Accurate ETAs

Again, reliable and consistent delivery times are important to customers. Accuracy in transportation planning and arrival prediction is of paramount importance. It’s possible to improve this by using route planning software that takes into account the different variables affecting delivery times and can track the exact location and status of the delivery teams to update estimated times of arrival (ETAs) over the course of the day. 

When your customers can access live ETA estimates for their orders, they don’t have to call in to customer service for updates and they’re less likely to miss a delivery. 

This kind of customer transparency can also be aided with the targeted use of AI in the supply chain. By implementing an AI-powered chat agent within your customer communications workflow, you can set it up so that customers can get instant answers to questions about delivery ETAs and order details. 

The best practice here is to give your chat agent clear parameters about when to escalate to a human team member. You can learn more about how to implement AI for customer experience here. 

5. Last Mile Customer Experience from End-to-End

Of course, on-time delivery isn’t just about hitting the bullseye with your timing. If you deliver right on time, but you don’t keep the customer updated on when to expect the delivery, they’re still stuck twiddling their thumbs while they wait for their orders to arrive.

That’s why the best route planners provide a customer portal where customers can see where the vehicle is in real-time. This makes it easy for your customers to access delivery information—giving them a sense of confidence and reducing delivery-related anxiety.   

Additionally, the best route optimizer has delivery notification and alert features for customers. You should be able to send an automated text or email message to the customer when the delivery has been routed, when the team is on its way, and when that particular customer’s stop is next. This kind of advance notice can have a big impact for your customers.

6. Continuous CX Improvement via Analytics

Reporting and analytics from a route planner can show you employee performance on the road, the number of actual deliveries vs. how many were planned, and how much time delivery teams spend on each drop-off.

By analyzing this data, you can improve your business performance over time. This can help you pinpoint your weaknesses and strengths, allowing you to make more data-driven business decisions—particularly around customer experience. 

More and more businesses are becoming focused on their delivery operations as a means of differentiating themselves from their competitors. Good customer service varies from one sector to another—but there is one constant: you have to make good on your promises. 

This starts with accurate ETAs and constant customer communication. Advanced route planning software helps you do just that while lowering your operating costs at the same time.

Conclusion: Delivery Route Planning Software That Works for Your Customers and Your Bottom Line

We’ve seen how improving your routes can improve your CSAT scores—and we’ve delved into many of the ways that improving customer experience can dovetail with decreasing delivery costs. At best, you get a virtuous circle where the entire delivery and fulfillment process works better for everyone. 

But not all route optimization software solutions are created equal. Choosing the right solution is crucial—which is why it’s so important to have all the potential impacts in mind. If you can select a software solution that can actually provide the customer experience improvements we’ve been describing, you can rapidly achieve ROI and lay the foundation for business growth.