Damaged Shipment? Here's How to Make It Right

You’ve worked hard to create products that appeal to the marketplace, and your efforts are paying off in sales. The last thing you need as you strive to maintain your positive reputation, is for customers to be disappointed by damaged goods.

Unfortunately, packages do get damaged and products are broken while in the shipping stream. In fact, according to a widely reported study by analysts at customer service software and data provider StellaService, as many as 1 in 10 packages sustains damage in-transit. While you cannot control whether a shipper handles a package properly, you can control how you respond to an incident.

“While you cannot control whether a shipper handles a package properly, you can control how you respond to an incident.” TWEET THIS

How Customer Service Affects Customer Experience

If your product is damaged during shipping and you fail to address the situation proactively with your customer, the results can be detrimental, including:

• ✔ Loss of revenue on the current order. The customer may refuse to pay for the product or contest the charges on his credit card.
• ✔ Loss of future business from this customer. It’s safe to say that if you don’t resolve this type of issue to the customer’s satisfaction, he won’t be purchasing from you again.
• ✔ Loss of future business from others. Consumers today have many platforms for expressing their displeasure about a company’s customer service. If their complaint gets shared widely on social media, this one incident can cost you future sales.
• ✔ Loss of standing with watchdog organizations. Too many unresolved customer service issues and you may find your rating with entities like the Better Business Bureau dropping. This can hurt your business for months or years to come.

On the flip side, even an unfortunate situation like the receipt of damaged product can produce a positive outcome if you respond by putting yourself in your customers shoes.  People who receive exceptional, attentive customer service are likely to:

• ✔ Tell their friends and family.
• ✔ Share their experience on social media (often with a smiling photo of them holding the replacement item!).
• ✔ Provide a positive testimonial you can use on your website or in marketing materials.

In other words, the time and effort you expend in creating a positive customer service outcome in response to a problem, tends to pay off many times over.

6 Steps for Dealing with Damaged Goods

What does an exceptional customer service response to damaged product look like? Below are six steps your team can take to turn disappointment into delight.

1. Respond to the customer’s inquiry promptly — within minutes if possible; by the end of day if need be. No one likes to be kept waiting when they reach out to a company. That is especially true of someone looking to resolve a problem.
2. Take full responsibility. While the shipper may have damaged the package, you chose the shipper. The customer will appreciate you being accountable.
3. Get as much information as you can from the customer. Ask the customer to provide descriptions of the damage, photos if they are able to send them, etc. Be sure you have their accurate contact information.
4. Promise immediate action and a prompt resolution. And, of course, follow through on those promises.
5. Expedite the replacement. A few extra dollars for faster shipping will buy a great deal of goodwill.
6. Provide an incentive for future orders. Include coupons or a discount with the replacement shipment. Your attentive handling of this issue coupled with a subsequent purchase that goes smoothly will likely earn the customer’s forgiveness and future business.

Other Considerations

Ideally you want to keep product damage from occurring in the first place. Packaging your merchandise in corrugated cartons surrounded by adequate padding and sealed with strong, water-activated tape (WAT) is a good start.

It’s also important to thoroughly research your shippers and steer clear of those known for a higher incidence of package damage. Once you’ve selected a shipper, be sure to learn about their damage policies. For example, what kind of insurance do they offer and how are damage claims filed and processed?

By taking great care both in how you ship your packages and how you address shipping incidents, you can help ensure that your customers are thrilled with their interactions with your company and become vocal advocates for it.

If you have questions about our water-activated tape, water-activated tape dispensers, and other products, please contact us at your convenience. 

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[This post republished from the Better Packages Blog]

7 Ways to Protect Your Packages from Rainy Days

Rain is one of the major challenges facing E-commerce businesses. How do you protect your packages?

In today’s competitive business environment, it is critical that the products you ship to customers arrive in excellent condition. Fail to meet a person’s expectations, and not only will they be disappointed and expect a replacement, they are likely to share criticism on social media and then find another provider. So, not only do you lose their business, it is likely that prospective customers in their social circle will be reluctant to shop with you as well.

One of the many shipping challenges e-commerce businesses face are the weather conditions packages are exposed to while in transit. Precipitation can wreak havoc on a package and its contents. You can’t stop the rain, but there are ways to minimize the risk of water damage to the items you ship.

“One of the major shipping challenges e-commerce businesses face is the environmental conditions packages are exposed to while in transit.” TWEET THIS

Strategies for Ensuring Your Products Arrive Dry and Undamaged

It is safe to say that there are no cost-effective, fully waterproof packaging options. However, there are strategies for making standard packaging more water-resistant and providing greater protectionfor your products. If the time of year, shipping destination, or both give you reason to believe your package may be delivered on a rainy day, try one or more of the following:

• ✔ Ship in corrugated cartons. Compared to cardboard, the three-layer construction of corrugated packaging not only provides a greater degree of water resistance, it is also stronger and less likely to tear while in transit.
• ✔ Use reinforced water-activated tape (WAT). Also known as paper tape, gummed tape, or Kraft paper tape, WAT creates a stronger seal that holds tight even in the worst weather conditions. 
• ✔ Pack items in new shipping cartons. While a previously used shipping carton may look like it has maintained its structural integrity, it has probably been weakened by the journey and is more vulnerable to weather conditions.
• ✔ Tape interior and exterior seams. Run tape along the interior seams of a carton before it is packed and sealed to help keep water out. Do the same to the exterior seams to provide even greater protection.
• ✔ Use watertight interior packaging. Shipping cartons are not fully waterproof, but the packaging you use within them can be. Place items in a sealed plastic bag to keep water that makes its way into the carton from affecting the product.
• ✔ Pad the shipment with non-absorbent packing materials. Padding options like air pillows will protect the contents of a carton without retaining water that can damage an item.
• ✔ Use padding to elevate the item. A package delivered on a rainy day may, unfortunately, sit outside in pooling water until the recipient retrieves it. Add ample packaging material to the bottom of the shipping carton to keep the product out of the reach of water that may work its way into the box.

Other Shipping Considerations

In addition to the actions you take to make a shipping carton more water resistant and its contents better protected from moisture, there are other considerations to keep in mind. For example, some shippers may have a better reputation for how they handle packages, especially in bad weather. The one that regularly takes the extra step to place a package in a sheltered area at the destination should get your business.

Also, you might consider alerting customers as they make their purchase that packages are delivered in all weather conditions. This reminder may prompt them to choose a delivery destination where the package will be protected or received in person.

Don’t Let Mother Nature Rain on Your (Product) Parade!

Your shipments don’t have to be at the mercy of the weather. With proper packaging materials, including WAT, and an extra step or two to increase a shipping carton’s water resistance, you can help ensure that products arrive undamaged and that your customers are delighted.

If you have questions about our water-activated tape, electric water-activated tape dispensers, and other products, please contact us at your convenience.

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[This post republished from the Better Packages Blog]

A Year of Disasters – What Comes Next?

2017 has been a very tough year for the United States with weather-related damage and natural disasters impacting practically the entire nation. Flooding, hurricanes, fire, and tornadoes have impacted more than half the people in the US and its territories. Disasters like these inevitably lead to property damage and even worse–human and animal health problems such as “mold cold,” infections, antibiotic-resistant injuries, meningitis, Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) and even PTSD.

Moody’s Analytics estimates that hurricanes Harvey and Irma alone may cost the US economy $150-200 billion in damage and lost productivity, not to mention health-related costs.

Remediation (abatement) and restoration companies are responding to these disasters. They are setting up temporary locations and fortifying existing locations in the areas impacted by the disasters. Response has been tremendous.

Cleaning up and providing adequate safety measures are essential to the response. Items such as polysheeting and tapes are used to help provide safe conditions and limit exposure by helping to contain the harmful toxins such as mold, asbestos (exposed in old building materials that have been damaged) and fungi. Versatile tapes such as duct tape, polyethylene (PE) tape and masking tapes are essential in hanging barriers, sealing containment areas and tying up bags filled with old building material and waste.

To learn more about the appropriate tape solutions to use in disaster clean-up, see IPG’s Remediation & Restoration page.

Jeff Coats

Director - Market Development
Intertape Polymer Group