Having a great product is key to ecommerce success, but so is making sure it gets to customers safely. In order to protect your inventory and customer experience, it’s vital that you understand the key components of keeping your orders safe when en route, know how to track them as they travel, and grasp the meanings behind different delivery status notifications. That’s where the shipping experts at ShipMonk come in. We’re here to walk you through this vital info so you can face the different facets of tracking shipments with your head held high!

Keeping Shipments Safe

Different shipping services and shipping carriers have their own policies regarding limited liability. This type of shipping “insurance” can be complimentary or paid depending on the package and the estimated cost of the contents inside. However, while shipping companies will vary in terms of their policies, with ShipMonk, ecommerce clients don’t have to stress about keeping their packages safe because we have MonkProtect.

MonkProtect is a post-purchase suite that helps ecommerce brands “stress less and grow more” by helping customers “stress less and buy more.” While ShipMonk as a 3PL handles the picking, packing, and shipping components of the order fulfillment process across our 12 state-of-the-art fulfillment facilities, MonkProtect handles the PROTECT part of every ecommerce order. This advanced post-purchase suite empowers ecommerce brands with:

1. Package Protection for Lost, Stolen, Damaged, or Incorrect Orders 
2. An Automated Claims Portal
3. Additional Revenue Streams Per Order
4. Branded Tracking
5. Excellent Post-Purchase Experience
6. Seamless Integration with ShipMonk
7. Rapid Claims Resolution and Instant Reships

Tracking Information

It’s vital that an ecommerce brand offer a method for orders to be tracked and keep customers notified about their status. Once a package gets sent out, the shipping label gives the package a unique barcode and tracking number. That barcode is scanned every time the package is moved, for example when it:

• Departs the Fulfillment Center on the Carrier’s Truck
• Arrives at the Carrier’s Processing Facility
• Leaves the Carrier’s Processing Facility
• Arrives at or Leaves Another Processing Facility
• Travels on a Truck out for Delivery
• Reaches the Customer’s Door

All parties involved in a shipment have access to tracking information and can opt-in to receive delivery status notification, which we’ll review shortly. Each shipping carrier has its own methodology for creating tracking numbers and a software platform that updates the package’s status each time the label is scanned and the order’s journey updates. 

Delivery Status Notifications 

Notifications are also pivotal on the ecommerce business side so you can keep up-to-date on delivery. This is easy when you work with a 3PL that has enabled software integrations between the shipping carrier and order management system. Here are the core updates and types of delivery status notifications you’ll want to be aware of:

In Transit means your package is “en route” on a plane, train, ship, or truck. Its status won’t change until it arrives at its next location and is scanned.

Scheduled Delivery Pending means that for reasons outside of their control, the carrier can no longer meet the expected delivery date, and does not yet have a new date to give you. 

Out for Delivery means your postal carrier or local FedEx, UPS, or DHL driver has the package on their truck.

Awaiting Delivery Scan means the package was out for delivery, but has not yet been scanned at the door. This doesn’t necessarily mean the package wasn’t delivered—sometimes the mail carrier simply forgets to scan the package, or the system hasn’t updated its status yet. Unfortunately, it might also mean the carrier didn’t see the package, ran out of time, or there wasn’t enough room on the truck. 

Delivery Exception indicates that the package could not be delivered as planned. A few reasons may include weather, delivery vehicle trouble, a signature was required and no one was home. Some delivery exceptions are the shipping carrier’s fault. 

Exception: Action Required is a notification you receive when an issue needs to be addressed on your (the business’s or the shipper’s) end before a package can move further. Most often, the action involves verifying an address due to a damaged label, or correcting an incorrect address. 

Delivery Not Attempted is the message you’ll see when a package was out for delivery, but something prevented the driver from delivering it. They may simply have run out of time in the day, or they physically could not get there, due to weather for instance.

Delivery Status Notifications 

Learning how to keep track of shipments goes hand in hand with keeping them safe and, as a result, keeping customers happy! We hope these shipping insights help you feel more confident with all the acumen that comes with this part of industry, and the different logistical layers behind getting a package from Point A to Point B. Keep visiting our 3PL blog for more shipping insights, and contact ShipMonk’s experts today to get your ecommerce business started with the best in the logistics business.