2: Customer-Centric technology: The right amount of reassurance

The number one word that customers use when we ask them to describe their lives? BUSY

We work long hours, we commute long distances and we divide our free time between family & friends. Busy lives mean the allure and speed and convenience of online shopping and subscription boxes continues to rise, so even though we’re spending long hours away from home we’re having more delivered there than ever.

Most people can sympathise with the uncertainty of not knowing where a delivery is followed by the disappointment of a sorry-we-missed-you card. To avoid this, and to counter the rise of doorstop package thefts, companies are looking for more ways to assure customers they can be confident they’ll get their packages on time, safe and sound.

Last year in the UK, Amazon Logistics began using photo delivery confirmations to reassure customers for just these reasons. They don’t bombard you with relentless texts at every stage of the delivery but communicate compellingly at the ‘most right’ moment. Personally, I’ve found Hermes delivery to suffer from over-communication, they inform me when they’ve received my package, it’s getting ready for dispatch, its dispatched, it’s on it way and finally, it was unable to be delivered. I want to know what day the package will be delivered and that its delivered safely, all other communication is an interruption to my day and rather than building excitement it creates nuisance.

In fact, receiving that photo does more than just tell you your package is there and secure, it also removes the prospect of ‘package phase 2 – organising collection or re-delivery’ which is rolling around at the back of your mind. Instead, earlier than expected, Amazon gives you an ‘…and relax’ mini-moment which reduces your ‘busy’ and endears you to the brand.