24/7 Customer Service in Logistics Management: Why Prioritizing Support is Vital
24/7 customer service in logistics is more than solving their problems. It’s about efficient logistics management. Providing round-the-clock support is vital for logistics companies and their customers’ bottom line.
Businesses rely on logistics providers to ship their commodities safely and successfully. In return, logistics providers rely on businesses to pay for their services. Otherwise, customers will find a more qualified company to work with if they can’t get the logistics solutions they need.
Whether it’s answering questions or troubleshooting order issues, learn why having 24/7 customer logistics support is worth the investment on both sides.
How is Customer Service Related to Logistics Management?
Customer service and logistics go hand-in-hand. They’re involved throughout the entire logistical process, including ordering, processing, purchasing, shipping, and delivering. With comprehensive operations, here’s how customer service promotes successful logistics management and why it’s critical to prioritize.
Consistent Customer Inquiries
Each customer is unique. Some businesses have more logistics experience than others when understanding how their products are transported. Regardless of knowledge, they’ll have questions from start to finish. That’s why having 24/7 customer service in logistics should be standard.
Common customer inquiries include:
- Price Quotes: Estimated costs to transport goods, what’s included in the quote, potential additional fees, etc.
- Service Inquiries: Prior experience shipping specific goods, estimated delivery dates, cargo insurance coverage, etc.
- General Inquiries: Transport mode recommendations, specialty transport requests, account login issues, etc.
Customers will have questions at each step. Offering 24/7 support helps ensure their satisfaction and smoother logistics management.
Order Issues Will Happen
Logistics companies play a significant role in the supply chain. For this reason, order issues that fall out of their hands will inevitably happen as there are many touchpoints. Inclement weather can delay supplier deliveries or damage goods while in transit. The supply chain industry also reported a 57% increase in cargo theft last year.
While risk mitigation strategies like freight tracking software and fraud prevention technology exist, logistics providers must give timely resolutions to their customers when unexpected order issues occur.
Specialty Transport Requests
As mentioned above, each customer is different. When businesses ship commodities, it’s not uncommon for them to have specialty transport requests.
Healthcare sectors need temperature-controlled trailers to transport pharmaceuticals to prevent them from spoiling during transit. The Oil & Gas industry transports hazmat materials, requiring specialized tankers to ship them safely.
Agricultural markets have time-sensitive commodities like perishable foods and may need expedited shipments. Construction providers have irregularly shaped and heavy freight equipment, like tractors and lumber, needing specific trailers to support them while meeting legal height limits.
Consistent customer service in logistics gives consumers the personalized support they need to ship specialized commodities.
5 Reasons Why 24/7 Customer Service in Logistics is Crucial for Your Bottom Line
24/7 customer service in the logistics industry is especially crucial. Businesses rely on shipping commodities to their customers efficiently for their bottom line. It’s also important for logistics companies to provide quality customer support for their bottom line as well.
Here are five reasons why.
1. Maintains Your Professional Reputation
Providing a positive customer experience builds your brand’s reputation. That’s why, maintaining clear communication when transporting cargo is necessary for your customers. It maintains your professional reliability, which can be ruined by poor customer service and logistics management.
If customers have a negative experience with your operations, like delayed responses to lost goods or no transparency about their delivery routes, it can result in consequences for your brand. Customers may leave low-rated reviews, or word-of-mouth will spread that you don’t prioritize their needs after they invested in your services.
2. Promotes Repeat Business
Efficient logistics management and 24/7 support strengthen customer relationships for repeat business. When logistics companies have a reliable reputation, it can result in referrals and positive word-of-mouth marketing from loyal customers.
Repeat customers have the highest ROI. Studies show that increasing customer retention by just 5% can increase business profitability between 25% and 95%. It lowers customer acquisition and retention costs because of the increased number of returning customers. When you build trust with exceptional customer service, you’re more likely to retain them.
3. Optimizes Your Logistical Operations
Having 24/7 customer service in logistics is cost-effective. Recent reports show that logistics providers can reduce operational costs by 25% compared to companies with lower levels of customer service.
Responding quickly to resolve customer issues can prevent supply chain bottlenecks, which can be more costly to fix. This is especially crucial for logistics providers with international networks and the rise of e-commerce—which is projected to reach over $535 billion in value by 2025!
Continuous customer support optimizes KPIs like time to resolution (TTR) and first response time (FRT) rates. It also improves your resilience to respond to common industry risks, like supply chain disruptions, with efficient logistics management.
4. Scales Your Business
Investing in 24/7 customer service logistics promotes business growth by satisfying new and existing customers. While it costs more to offer this service, it still maintains a more profitable net profit than without it. According to the Logistics Bureau, lowering supply chain costs by just 5% can double net profits.
Whether you outsource a 24/7 customer support team, expand in-house, or integrate website chatbots, there are many ways to scale your business with this service.
5. Gives Your Company a Competitive Advantage
24/7 customer service in the logistics industry isn’t nice to have. It’s a necessity. Logistics companies that prioritize customer support stand out from the competition. In fact, 90% of businesses nowadays prefer to pay more for logistics services if it’s personalized with higher quality.
Effective customer service strategies that give a competitive advantage include:
- Order tracking technology with delivery route alerts
- Technical issue support for online customer platforms
- 24/7 multi-lingual and omnichannel support (live chat, email, text, phone)
- Customer feedback requests to improve logistics management
- Delivery slot selection, next-day, and same-day delivery
Offering quality customer support can make you the top choice amongst your competitors.
Work With a Logistics Company That Prioritizes 24/7 Customer Logistics Support
As a business owner or key stakeholder, you should work with a logistics provider that prioritizes your company’s needs. At Lone Star Logistics, we understand the importance of timely customer support for your bottom line.
Our 24/7 bi-lingual support team is here to answer any questions or resolve any issues you may have. We’re a federally licensed and non-asset-based freight forwarder offering quality logistical services. Working with a logistics provider with these credentials ensures your commodities are transported properly—as they should be.
We have the technology to track freight with timely route alerts. You’ll always know where your products are so you don’t need to consistently reach out for status updates. We take pride in empowering our customers with visibility.
Ready to get the logistical services and support you need?
Get a free quote, or contact us for more information today!
